A FIRE AND A CLASS REUNION

After lounging around the house all day doing nothing, when Cassie got up from her 3 hour nap we went to my folks place to see what was going on. We weren't there too long and the fire whistle blew so my dad raced out of the yard since he's a volunteer fire fighter for Leeds. He got back about 2 1/2 hours after he left and said that it was a quonset fire. I local farmer, Dale Elverude, was working on his tractor in his quonset and there was some gas that leaked on the floor and a spark from the tractor battery caught the gas on fire. Dad said amazingly the only thing that was lost was the tractor, they were able to save the quonset.

While I was there my brother called and wanted to know if Darren and I could help him move on Sunday. I wasn't sure if Darren wanted to do that or not so I called Darren's cell phone and left a message for him to call Mike. Mike called back and told my mom that he spoke to Darren and that Darren wanted to go up to Willow City on Saturday after he's done with work, spend the night, and then we could head to Rolla from Willow. I had no clue he wanted to go to Willow. He has a class reunion but over the weekend he said that there really wasn't anyone he wanted to talk to but one guy from his class and that they girls were prissy so he didn't want to go. Besides, the thing that is going on Saturday evening is a bonfire at someone's farm. If I wasn't pregnant, that would be a lot of fun, but at this stage I am not in the mood to sit around in smoke while he chats with people that I do not know at all while they all drink....and just because I am pregnant does not automatically designate me as the DD either. I will be extremely pissed if someone ever drags me along thinking "hey, she can't drink so it won't be a problem. She can be our DD" WRONG!!! Also, this bonfire isn't until the evening and Cassie's bedtime is 8:30. Darren isn't going to get home until 6 pm on Saturday and I am sure he is going to want to shower and eat before we leave. He can go, but I don't think Cassie and I will. We can just plan on meeting him up in Rolla on Sunday....and the trailer we are taking to help move Mikes stuff doesn't have lights so Darren can't take it after dark anyway. I am hoping that Darren tells me that he is planning this before the day he comes home.

NOT FINISHED

Well we didn't get the whole house finished like we planned, but most of it is done and hopefully we can get it finished when Darren comes home this weekend. Darren has to do another truck load sale this Saturday until 4 pm so he won't be home until close to 6 pm again and will only have Sunday to do something. I was thinking that if my mom wanted to, she could watch Cassie for me for a few hours and then maybe I can replace the few smaller pieces of paneling on the back of the house then my dad and I could put the house wrap on sometime then it would be done when Darren got home and then he wouldn't have to worry about doing it. I might try that and see how it goes. I am used to doing this kind of work with my dad when my dad did trailer home repair. Next on the home list is a screen door.

Today I need to run into Devils Lake and deposit a check in the bank for Darren. I am going to take Billy and AJ with me cause it's easier when there is another person to help watch the children when you do things. Billy and I have gotten really good at the "buddy system". Then I was thinking about checking out the Wal-Mart and K-Mart to see if I can find anything that I might want for the baby. Then we both need to run to the grocery store and we will probably have a late lunch somewhere. I am hoping to get home before Cassie's nap.

We didn't get the bed up to Mike. We didn't get to Rolla at all so my mom and I are planning on going sometime this week when she gets off early from work.

WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AMY'S PARENTS

Darren said that he heard on the radio that there was a house fire just east of the Mini-H rest area that killed a person. The only place that we could think of being just east of the rest area are Amy's parents. Darren said that they didn't release a name or anything, and they probably won't until the entire family has been notified, but we are just a little worried. We like Amy and don't want anything to happen to her fam. I don't know how many people have her number but I was thinking of calling April and asking if she knew about it and to see if she had Amy's digits to check in on her. I am hoping it's that crazy neighbor farmer of theirs that almost burned down their house about five years ago and not her mom or anything. You hate for something like that to happen to anyone, but I definitely don't want it to happen to someone that I do know.

I'VE GOT WOOD

I am so excited and proud of my husband. I have gotten a couple of sheets of plywood replaced on the house and the only pieces of siding that need to be replaced now are half sheets so that shouldn't take us too long. Then my dad can come and help us with the rest. I just might have my brand new siding on before winter!!! Wow, siding and water all in one year!! We are currently at a stand still right now because we had to break for two hours while Cassie laid down for her nap and then during that time my mom called and someone wasn't going to take all the furniture from my grandma's that they said the would so she needed one of us to go to her place, put gas in dad's big truck and help her get stuff out of the way so she could get dad's enclosed trailer so she could take the trailer back to DL and bring that stuff home. I am still waiting for Darren to get back. Hopefully he will get back in time to get the rest of the plywood on. It's amazing how something so simple as plywood can make you feel so happy, but doesn't wood always make people feel that way....hehehe......

MOVING

Pamida didn't have the table so I didn't have to worry about going to Rugby. As soon as Cassie woke up from her nap I changed her really fast and then we headed to Devils Lake. I got to my grandma's apartment and my mom, aunt, and uncle were still boxing stuff up. I don't think my grandma did any packing and I think she did that on purpose cause she was still complaining about moving but I don't blame her one bit at all. I actually started to feel really bad about the whole situation but what else could we do, this was our final option. We took grandma to her new place so she could eat dinner with the other residents and then mom and I went to the hospital cafeteria to eat because mom can eat really cheap there. When we got back to the apartment my uncle had picked up my grandma already (my aunt said when they went to get her she was waiting at the entrance door with purse in hand ready to go. I don't think she even went to her room) and a little girl named Alley was there with her mom, Lori. They are long time friends of my uncles and he was waiting for the guy...I think his name was Dale...cause they all were going to help my uncle move the big stuff. If I remember correctly they even went to Lori's and Dale's wedding in Hawaii not all that long ago. I didn't stay, my uncle got the bed packed up in the truck and it was already 8:30 pm so I had to hurry home with Cassie cause she was getting really tired.

Darren has already left with my dad's truck to get plywood at a lumber yard so we can start working on the outside of our house. In the mean time I have to vacuum out the car seat and get it ready to put in the Impala. I found cookie crumbs in places I didn't even know existed in the car seat. Awesome plus is that the new car has the cool car seat anchor latches and I can't wait to use them. When the car seat is in that car it is solid as a rock....I love it.

Well I need to run. I have to call my brother and make sure that he still wants us to go up to Rolla today cause if we don't get stuff done today I have no idea when it will get done.

NO BILLY AND A NEW TABLE

Billy called at 10 am today to tell me she was leaving Leeds and heading to York. I met her up at the Cenex about 15 minutes later. She moved her stuff into the pickup and I held on to AJ while she moved the car around to one of the docks in the back of the building. Here the mechanic thought that Billy's husband was sending her with the sensor for the car and he didn't order one. Now Billy has to wait until they get a sensor in and it will take until about Tuesday of next week so that really made her mad but I don't blame her.

Today I may have to run to Pamida in Rugby for my mom. They have a table and chair set on sale and she wanted one for my grandma's new place cause her current set is way to big. If they have one then I need to take it into DL and drop it off and then I need to load up an extra bed of grandma's and bring it back to Leeds so that Darren can take it up to Mike whenever we help Mike move. Gas prices are going to kill me today.

A BUSY FRIDAY

Hey, I got a reply from KSoFM. I am glad that he's not dead, but he still hasn't posted anything for a while.

Today was my mom's birthday. I really didn't have the money to get her anything and I haven't gone to town in a while so I am going to have to pick something up for her later. I did go over and see her and I baked some cookies while I was there.

Tomorrow Billy and AJ are going to come over and visit while Billy's car is getting work done at the Cenex here. That will give us time to "girl talk" and let the kids play before we go our separate ways in the afternoon. After Cassie's nap I need to take the truck into town cause they have decided to move grandma tomorrow instead of Saturday cause Saturday doesn't work for everyone now. At the same time I can pick up a bed for Mike, load it in Darren's truck and then Darren can take the bed to Mike when Darren helps Mike move on Saturday. Darren wants us to go too so I suppose we are going to end up taking both the truck and the car. Thank God the car gets 35 miles to a gallon.

Darren is hoping to get to Rugby sometime this weekend to get some plywood so that we can start working on the outside of our house. Everyone who has been out here knows how shitty the outside is so we have decided to do something about it sooner than later. We are going to replace the bad pieces of sheet siding with plywood and then we are going to Ty-Vek it and then put the good vinyl siding on over that. I am hoping that will help with the heat bill too. Eventually I would like to add a deck and a privacy fence so that I can sit and read while Cassie and the dog play and I don't have to worry about them getting into traffic. Realistically there is only so much we can do before winter, I just hope we can get the siding done.

AS MONTY PYTHON WOULD PUT IT.....I HATE SPAM!!

Doug had a very recent post about this but it can't be stressed enough so I'm posting about it now. Blog spammers absolutely positively most definitely suck ass! Blog spammers are getting fricken' worse than my email inbox. Last night I made a post and today when I woke up to check my email and blog, there were already 7 responses to what I posted and not one of them is an actually response from someone that I know. It's all anonymous shit. Every day I put up with crap in my inbox and I don't feel like I really should have to deal with the spammers in blog world. It's awful and I think that the people who do that are just terrible and I hope that they get arthritis in their fingers so bad that they can't even use the telephone!! Okay, I need to stop now because I'm starting to get pissed and that last sentence didn't make any sense.

OUT AND ABOUT

I called Billy Jo today and we met with the kids up at the Leeds restaurant. It was good to talk to her and did I really need to talk. Then we went to her place for a couple of hours so the kids could play while we did our thing. Both AJ and Cassidy were getting pretty tired so Cassidy and I left so they kids could take their naps.

The clinic finally called. All my blood test were fine. I have been feeling a lot better too since the doc gave me antibiotics. I see the doc on Sept 9th and hopefully the heartbeat and everything else will be all better too.

Around 6 pm I went to my mom's. We were going to run to Rugby to get a table and chair set for my grandma's new apartment but when mom called the store to see if they still had any sets left the store only had two and both sets were broken. They are supposed to get a new shipment in on Friday so we are going to check back with them then. Cassidy and I hung out there until around 9:30 and then we came home. Cassie was so tired from her day she fell asleep in the truck and stayed sleeping while I changed her diaper and got her in pajamas. I am hoping that she sleeps in cause we have had many late-to-bed-early-to-rise days.

Well I am off to watch the 10 pm news and then I am crawling in bed myself.

KSoFM WHERE ARE YOU

I am starting to worry about KSoFM. The dude hasn't posted anything in over a week. There have been Yankee games and everything and not one word or pic about them. Odd. Normally he's all over stuff like that. I hope that he's just busy and nothing has happend to him or the fam. If anyone knows where he went, let me know. If he stopped blogging I am going to miss him.

NO MORE GRANDMA AND FINALLY GOOD WATER

My mom and I got a surprise when my Aunt showed up. My aunt said that when she left back for Fargo that she would just take Grandma with her and then bring her back on Saturday when everyone gets together to move the rest of her things to her new place in assisted living. My mom and I were relieved when my said this because now we both can clean up our own places a little bit so as far as I know, I am done taking care of my Grandma. I probably have a days worth of cleaning here at my own place but I should get it all done today so I have the rest of the week to just relax and play with Cassidy.

My mom took my dad, Cassidy, and I out to eat last night and when we drove past York we could see the backhoe for the rural water crew close to our house, which really excited me and gave me a good feeling. When Cassidy and I finally came home I was surprised to see that they had the entire main line already in all the past our house and down to the elevator and the backhoe was now in our yard right in front of the house ready to start digging up our yard bright and early in the morning, good feeling gone. At 6:30 this morning they fired that sucker up and it took them about 40 minutes from start to finish. I was worried cause they were right in front of Cassidy's bedroom window but I never heard a peep from her and she must have slept right through it...I wish I would have. But now all I have to do is find a water service company to connect the water to the house and I will have my water when it comes through the main line. Since we are right off a main line I am thinking that our water pressure should be pretty good. After Cassidy woke up and had her breakfast we went out to check out the damage. They totally destroyed my east ditch along the pasture but it didn't bother me cause it was damn steep and I always hated to mow it, now it's level and I don't have to worry about mowing anymore. They lawn in front of the house isn't too bad until you get to the west side of the lawn. I also noticed that they filled in the ravine that drains the slew behind our house. That may cause some of our pasture to flood in the spring when the slew thaws (but it's not going to flood as bad as the pasture behind us that "the man" isn't going to let us use anymore so that made me smile. And the water company had to fill in that ravine because they had to put the main line right through it. So we will wait and see what spring brings.

A CRUISE FOR CHRISTMAS

My sister sent out family an email. It was a great idea, but terrible timing and I don't think she thought everyone's situations through before suggesting it, however, it did have the potential to be really fun. Apparently our cousin got our Aunt and Uncle talked into going on a family cruise for Christmas instead of spending money on gifts for everyone. Lynnette suggested that we go too! The cruise leaves Louisiana December 22nd (I really can't remember the exact date) and you are out at sea for a few days traveling through the Gulf, then you get to Mexico where you spend a day and then you head back to Louisiana. It's a quick 3 to 4 day trip. Well, my mom and dad don't have too much cash since my dad's business is just starting, Mike probably won't be able to get the time off since The Star will only be down to him and one other reporter since the other interns went back to college and he doesn't have a lot of extra cash either, and Darren and I just spent our extra money on a new car, what would we do with Cassie, this is really close to my due date and with my problems my doctor isn't going to let me travel that far (especially on a boat in the middle of the Gulf) if I did go into labor and my uterus did rupture I would need a hospital and a surgical staff or I would be dead. I bet they don't have an operating room on any cruise boat. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a cruise but it's really bad timing for everyone. Mom, Dad, and maybe Mike could make it but for me to travel around that time is out of the question. That would be so cool to travel like that and see all the different things. The only thing that I wouldn't do is drink the water in Mexico.

STUFF

It's been a while since I posted any good pics so I have posted these but they are about a month old already. I just haven't had time to get them up and my parents computer doesn't have Hello so I can't post pics while I am at their place. Yesterday we went to Willow City and saw the in-law. It was really nice to see them, we don't see them often. Darren's dad was trying to hay while we were up there but Willow got another 3.5 inches of rain and he had to stop early because some of the grass that he cut was too wet to bale. They are supposed to get more rain up there too on Tues, Wed, and Thurs so who knows when he will be able to get all the cut grass baled. In about 4 hours I will be taking my grandma back to town. My aunt will already be at grandma's waiting for us. Then I am going to stop and get a few things and then go home. It will be nice to spend a few days at my place. It sounds like everyone is going to try and come home and help move my grandma on Saturday. If everyone shows up and we have a few trucks there, we should be able to get everything to grandma's new place and get stuff to good will all in one day. I hope it goes well.

I thought this pic was so adorable. I she loves to wear that sherbert bucket on her head at Nana's. 

Two very exhausted babies. There is a little glare because I took this pic outside of the car. 

We saw this herd right away when we came into the Game Preserve. 

Here is a big bachelor male that was also close to the road. 

Here was a herd of buffalo from Sully's Hill Game Preserve right outside our car window. 

Cassie kept trying to pick the minnows out of the water. 

Cassie's wet head. 

Cassie heading out for a swim. 

Here's AJ kickin' in the water. 

Cassie and AJ just hanging out. It kinda looks like they are holding hands. 

I love this pic cause you can see AJ's big belly. 

ANOTHER DAY

So yesterday we were going to go up to Willow to see in the in-laws and when we got to about Rugby Darren called his parents place and his dad was home but his dad was going to be going to work at the elevator and his mom went to Minot to see the eye doctor. That bummed us out so we just drove around Rugby for a little bit and then came back home. It was nice in a way because we got out mailbox put back up, the yard mowed, and I was able to get some of my house cleaned. My dad brought our dead buick back over to our house today using his car trailer. I don't know what we are going to do with it along with the other buick we bought last summer for parts and my '77 chevy pickup that the transmission messed up on. We think we know where there's a transmission for the '77 and it would be nice to get that working just so we have a junk vehicle to move stuff with and we don't have to worry about Darren's nice truck getting beat up. We are going to leave for Willow at around noon today. Darren's mom called yesterday and said they would be around today. Monday after Cassie's nap I have to take grandma to her apartment in DL cause my aunt will be waiting for us there. My aunt will be with her the rest of the day and on Tuesday and I think my mom will be bringing my grandma home on Wednesday so I will have two days to do what I want. I really think I need to spend those days though dedicated to cleaning the rest of my house that I didn't get finished yesterday but I am also the queen of procrastination too so we will have to see what happens. I have to send a "GO YANKS!" out to Mr. Cap City, I don't know if they actually won their baseball game but when I saw the score it was Yanks - 3, White Sox - 0.

WHATEVER

I need to call the bank today. Either the bank screwed up or someone was able to get into our account cause when I check our account balance on the automated 800 line it said there was a pending withdrawal for $209.00 and neither Darren or I have purchased anything that expensive (with the exception of the Impala) that we know of.

Darren is coming home today. They are hoping to finish up their training today in Marshall by 1 pm and then if he leaves right away and drives straight through, he should be home by 8 this evening. It will be nice to have him home a little earlier tonight. Tomorrow we are driving up to Willow City to see his parents. They haven't seen Cassidy in a long time and we want to show them the car since his mom helped us get it.

Darren wants to leave next weekend and go for a little family vacation. He wants to spend a weekend in either Fargo or Minot and I told him that was cool and I would really like that. It will be great to get away for a few days.

Darren spoke to a couple of our friends from Minot and they have the cutest two dogs I have ever seen. They are Bassett hounds crossed with black lab and they are black and have the lab head but the rest of them are pure Bassett. It's weird to see two really short long dogs with huge heads. Anyway, they found out that one of them has cancer and has only about three months left in him. They have been taking him out and doing stuff with him and trying to make him comfortable until they have to put him down. I feel bad because they love their dogs.

I guess I am just rambling here. I don't have too much to share since I don't get out so I am just going to end it here.

AAA NOW SERVICES YOU WHILE YOU WAIT

Mike called today and told us this really funny story. Apparently gas prices rose to $2.80-something in Rolla and my brother, a reporter for The Turtle Mountain Star, called AAA in Fargo to get info on the rising gas prices and how AAA and travel businesses and travelers will be affected. This gal he was talking to did know so she gave Mike a 800 number to call and he would get all his questions answered from that number. So he called the 800 number and it turned out to be a sex line. Mike called AAA in Fargo back and asked for a supervisor, the supervisor said that this gal has been working for them for 3 yrs so she obviously knew what she was doing when she gave Mike that number. Now you know that if it was WDAZ or any television news company they would have broadcasted that on TV so Mike's next article in The Turtle Mountain Star is titled "AAA goes XXX" and there will probably be a subcaption along the lines of "AAA offers customers new services while you wait". I can't wait to read it, it's going to be hilarious. I think the Star should send a copy off to Fargo.

UPDATE

They almost have the water lines in on the west half of York. They are only about two blocks away from our place, however we are across the railroad tracks and I don't know how they plan on getting the water past the tracks. I was elated when I saw about 12 guys digging and laying the pipe cause now it should be too much longer and I know for sure we will have water by late fall.

I got a bad headache that just wouldn't go away. It was so terrible that it was making me sick. I tried every type of Tylenol, Bayer, and acedometaphines available at WalMart so I finally called the doctor and he told me to try Motrin, I tried it but that didn't do anything either so I went in to the clinic today. I am still passing protein and I had a high temp so the doctor is going to run a culture and he drew three different blood tests (CBC; blood count, West Nile, and Viral Encephalitis). The doc was also thinking that I may have a kidney infection too since my right side was starting to get a little sore so I am on meds for infection and he also gave me, get this, darviset for my headaches since nothing else is working. I took one darviset at 6pm and the headache went way but it's back now so I need to check my bottle and see how often to take it. Last thing I need is to get hooked on that while I am pregnant. Doc also checked the babies heartbeat. It scared me for a bit because the doc couldn't find the heartbeat right away and it took him a good 10 to 15 minutes to find it. When he did it was faint and the beat was around 140. I am praying things will be a little better next month when I go in.

I took my grandma to a hair appointment today. I told her that I was going to be back in one hour to get her. I ran to WalMart to get a few things and then went back to the hair salon and grandma was outside the building walking around the sidewalk. I parked in the closest parking spot next to her and honked the horn. She quickly looked up and then came over to the car. I asked her what I was doing and she said she was looking for the car. I told her to wait inside the salon until I came back. I am worried that she is going to start walking around and get herself lost. She has also expressed to me and my mom that she doesn't want to move anymore. We explained the best that we could that she needs to be reminded of her meds and she forgets to eat and this way her meds and meals are taken care of and there is medical staff there 24/7 and she can't stay alone unless she is going to remember everything. My mom's aunt is coming home this coming Tuesday and she is taking my grandma to three appointment and she should have her all day. Hopefully my aunt can help her with things and make it easier for grandma to move.

MEDICAID

I got some unbelievably great news from my social worker this morning about my Medicaid. When I found out I was pregnant I was able to qualify for Medicaid since Darren just started his new job and we wouldn't have insurance for three months, well my SW told me today that when a pregnant woman qualifies for Medicaid the pregnant woman stays on Medicaid until 63 days after the baby's birth no matter if you obtain insurance later on or even if we make a million dollars. There is no way I will loose my Medicaid now until the two months after the new baby. I am so excited because I was really worried about how we were actually going to be able to afford this delivery since there is going to be surgery and a specialist doctor involved. It's a blessing that we don't have to worry about this expense and that it's all going to be taken care of by Blue Cross and Medicaid. Yipee!!

HORSE WORK

I had to run around the fence at my parent's place the other day because my mom's older horse has been pushing on the fence so we decided that it was time to put electricity through it to stop the horse from beating up the fence. I walked around the fence to make sure there wasn't any grass or anything against the fence to ground it out and my dad fixed a corner post that had some extra wire that was causing some grounding and after that was all fixed our electric fence was up and working. I don't think the fence was charged for more than 3 minutes and my mom's mare came up and leaned into the fence. I could hear the snap of the fence when she touched it, the mare jumped back, stared at the fence for a few minutes and has been very careful around it since then. I know that this might sound cruel to some people but it's actually not. We are not cruel to our animals, we try to give them as much freedom as we can and many of my friends can tell you that my horses are actually really spoiled and are closer to big dogs than horses. Since we have the electric fence going I want to try and get Tango over here now since he has been gelded and weaned. I think after three months of being by himself that he is ready for company again. He's young so I am going to have to really watch him for a couple of days after we bring him over. The younger horses curiosity takes over when they are in new places and they have a habit of getting into more trouble faster than the other horses do. If Tango ever got out or caused problems for my parents, all the horses would be back at my place fast and I want to keep them at my parents as long as I can because they have good pasture grass.

A NEW CAR

I can't remember if I mentioned that our car died. It had been making some funky sounds for a while and Darren knew it was going to crap out but he just didn't know when. When he came home two weeks ago, the car died just as he was coming into the driveway of my parents home. He was pretty pissed about it but I tried to see the bright side, I mean, at least it didn't happen when he was on his way home or going to work and in the middle of nowhere without cell reception. This left us with only Darren's truck. An extended cab '95 Ford and there is no way we were getting two car seats, a stroller, diaper bags, and groceries in that thing. Trucks don't make very good family vehicles. So yesterday we ran to town and went to Ford Market Place a Ford and Mercury dealer in Devils Lake to see a gal that we know who works there about a deal on a vehicle. She got us a great deal on a '02 Impala. I really liked the car because it had a huge deep truck, plenty of room on the inside, CD/tape deck, one of those cool meters of the roof next to the rear view mirror that shows what direction you're traveling and the temp outside of the car, plus there was only 52,000 miles on it. Darren was able to get a hold of his mom that evening and told her about the car and she agreed that we could use her info as a co-signer if we needed to. Today we went into town and met the gal at the car dealership and Darren filled out all the paperwork necessary to take the car. Darren took the car to Marshall, MN for his weekly training thing and he will be home Friday late afternoon or early evening sometime. We are thinking about making a family trip somewhere too just to get out and away from things. We haven't done anything like that in a while and we need to. The only down side to buying the car is that now we can't get a house in Harvey as soon as we had hoped but since we are getting rural water in York it's not going to be a big problem if we can't move for a couple of years. We were told that it can be hard to buy a home when you have a new car loan but we already had a home but no car and a car is something that we needed before the baby came and we didn't really want to buy a really cheap one that could have nickled and dimed us to death....plus, there is warranty on our Impala in case something should go wrong and since this vehicle hasn't been smoked in, I made Darren swear that he would absolutely, under no circumstances, smoke in this car at all since it's the family's and he agreed. It's going to be nice that I don't have to worry about jumping into a car that stinks from tobacco smoke and irritates my allergies. I'm really happy about the car.

BABIES

One of my cousins had her first baby, a daughter, July 27th in Detroit Lakes, MN. She lives in New York Mills, MN and seeing a midwife in Detroit Lakes. Ms Avery Kathleen was 7 lbs 6oz and 19.5" long and she looks a lot like her mommy! I am very excited for her because her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Hopefully this is the first of many healthy babies for Stacy and Kevin. Also, for any of you who know, or knew, Eric Nelson his girlfriend Michelle had their baby in the beginning of August....10 weeks early! Eric says that their son, Owen Davis Nelson, was 2 lbs 11oz and 15" long at birth and will have to stay at the Altru hospital in Grand Forks for at least a month. Eric and Michelle are trying to find a house in GF so they can be close to their baby.

Avery Kathleen Cederstrom 

MOVING GRANDMA

Thursday right before my doctors appointment my mother met my grandma, Cassie, and I in the parking lot and we traded vehicles so that she could take Cassie and grandma to my grandma's apartment in DL. Cassie and I spent the night in DL at my grandma's apartment because my dad had someone coming over to the house early Friday morning to help him with some stuff for his business. While I was at my grandma's apartment I helped her box up some stuff to get it ready to be taken over to the assisted living place that she is moving in to. Before we started boxing stuff up, my mom took us over there so that I could see the size of grandma's new suite. It's very small but quaint. It's 1/4 the size of the apartment that she has now and it's more that obvious that grandma will not be able to keep everything she has in her apartment now because it will not all fit at her new place. After my mom left for home and my grandma and I were still going through things to keep, give away, or toss, I tought of the sad reality of the situation and how hard it must be for my grandma. Everything you have in your home, you like and more than likely want it or you wouldn't have it. Now she has to get rid of 3/4 of her stuff and how do you pick and choose what to keep and what to get rid of? I am sure there is a lot of sentimental value in most of the things she has and there are things that don't have sentimental value but she really likes and wants to keep. I don't know if that is something that I could do. How do I go through my home and reduce all my possessions by more than half? That would be a really hard and difficult thing to have to do and I started to feel really bad about it as I tried to talk her out of taking certain items. I could tell at times that she was starting to get upset so I didn't push it to hard. I just help up stuff and asked if she wanted to keep it or get rid of it and I separated the stuff into two piles. The one pile can be taken to good will right away and the second pile my mom, aunt, and uncle will help my grandma go through ( who knows, there may even be stuff that they would like to have of grandma's too). I was very surprised though when she started going through her china cabinet. She has a beautiful collection of china, I believe is serves 12 and there were a lot of pieces and as we were taking the china out she told me to go ahead and take 6 settings for myself. So now I have half of my grandma's china which I am greatfull to have but feel bad because of the circumstances of how I received it. We were able to get a few boxes of things over to the new place but there is still MANY more things to go, what we did take hardly made a dent in her current apartment and I am sure it's going to get tougher for grandma as more things will have to go. I wish there was a way to make this more positive for her then negative but I don't think that can be done.

DOCTORS APPOINTMENT

Well, I have good news and some bad news...

GOOD NEWS is that I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time. BAD NEWS is that I am already experiencing some swelling in my hands and feet mostly during the evening and the Dr said that I shouldn't be having any swelling yet so he ran a urinalysis and there was protein in it. I know that protein in your urine isn't a good thing and it comes from the kidneys and that means that they aren't functioning correctly. What going on right now isn't certain but I guess that some pregnant women can have kidney problems (so I've be told) and I am going to try to read up on it. If I continue to have swelling or if the swelling gets worse I am supposed to call my Dr right away. I woke up with pain in my right side today but I am going to wait and see if it is still there tomorrow, I want to see if a higher fluid intake changes anything.

My doctor didn't schedule an ultrasound for next month. Just another prenatal and another urinalysis only. I was hoping that we would have scheduled a date for the ultrasound so that I could let April know if she still wanted to be there for it.

STUFF

A few days ago when I ran home to check on the animals and the answering machine, I noticed new flags in the yard. It's for the powerlines running underneath the ground. Today when I ran to York a contractor met me so that we could discuss where to bring the water pipes into the yard. He's going to have to cut a 3 foot section out of our hedges to get the water in the yard but I don't care, it's not like they are really pretty or anything and Darren and I were going to tear all the hedges out anyway. The guy said that we should have water by the end of September but they can't guarantee it in case they run into problems but we will definitely have water by the end of fall. THANK GOD!

Darren leaves Sunday night for Marshall MN. He has to go to Schwan's U (yes, there really is a schwan's university). He is going to learn all about the products, see how they are made, the get to taste all the product, and they will learn how to become better sales people and learn selling techniques. Darren will be there all week and should be home next Friday sometime. My mom needs to work Saturday so I will be at my mom's until Saturday evening when she gets off work. This way Darren can bring his uniforms over so I can wash them and then my mom said she will watch Cassie for a few hours for us so we can do something together. I am not sure what we are going to be doing yet Saturday evening but I am sure we will either end up in Rugby or Devils Lake.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. It's just a monthly prenatal. I hope that during this appointment we will finally hear the baby's heartbeat and can set up an ultrasound for September. It's hard to believe that our little baby will be here in only 5 months!! Was it really that long ago when I told everyone the news???

My dad and Mike got home from Sturgis tonight. They had a lot of fun. They said that there were already 4 deaths on Monday alone, they passed an accident the other day and EMTs were working on the person but Mike said it didn't look hopeful, and my dad said that one night a biker was killed when he was hit from behind by a drunk driver when the biker stopped for a stop sign/red light. Bike week isn't over yet and it's scary to think of all the accidents there yet could be. I am just glad that the are okay and home safely.

ASK THE POPE

Everyone needs to check this blog out. I laughed so hard I damn near cried. Someone out there in blog space is having some fun pretending he's the Pope Benedict and I love it. Definitely a great read. I have even added it to my favorites. www.askthepope.blogspot.com

GOODBYE TO PETER JENNINGS 1938-2005

I really thought Peter Jennings would be back on air after his chemotherapy treatment. I didn't realize that he was worse off than the public was aware. My mom and I were watching ABC News after the local news on WDAZ. I was wondering why they were doing a story on Peter Jennings. Everyone already knew about him and knew about his statement in April saying he had lung cancer. My mom said "He must have died, why else would they be doing a tribute?" Sure enough at the end of the program that everyone is used to seeing when someone has died...the picture of the departed with the name off to the side and the dates of birth and death. I was really shocked to see that. Who would have guessed that only four months after his diagnosis of cancer he wouldn't be around.

STURGIS AND ONLY ONE VEHICLE

Dad and brother Mike just left for Sturgis. I wish I had the opportunity to go with, that would be so much fun. We went August 2003 and I was eight months pregnant with Cassie and I remember it being hotter than hell. I think it was 105 in the shade. We had fun though. We checked out Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Bridal Veil Falls, and we even made it over into Wyoming to see Devils Tower. I was pretty slow and couldn't do too much but it was worth it. I would go again if I had the chance. This evening we are meeting Darren's parents in Rugby at 4 pm for supper. That will be nice cause we haven't seen them for a while. The buick finally died on Darren last night too so now we are just down to Darren's pickup for a vehicle. Darren was lucky though and the buick quit on him just outside my parents house as he was coming down the driveway. Thank God he wasn't out by Harvey or in the middle of nowhere when it happened. Darren has to go to Marshall, MN next week for Schwan's training and he will be there all week. I am sure what he is going to be able to do for a vehicle. He doesn't want to take the truck because it will kill him on gas and then Cassie and I won't have a vehicle. He has thought of renting one from a car dealership in Devils Lake but that costs money too so he hasn't decided yet what to do. Darn cars! We knew we were going to have to look for a family vehicle anyway with the baby on the way but we don't have the money to buy anything right now. I wish the buick wouldn't have quit until we found something and had the money to purchase it. Oh well, what can you do about it.

SATURDAY

Sunday didn't begin too good. My dad, mom, Cassie, and I were coming home from the wedding dance and we were pulled over by a cop in Cando. Dad was going a little faster than he should have been, he was only doing 38 in a 25, it was 12:30 and we just wanted to get home and into bed. Since there was nobody on the road the cop was nice and just let my dad go without a ticket. I think he was just looking for DUI's and minors. Everyone was up and around by 10 am. and we were getting ready to eat breakfast and my aunt called. My uncle took my grandma out to a place that everyone was staying at outside of Rolla after the wedding yesterday and for some unknown reason, my uncle told everyone that grandma had a dose of insulin at 5 pm and didn't need any before bed. This was news to us. The insulin during the day that grandma was getting was to help bring the sugar down but not maintain it and she still had to have her other insulin at night. So early in the morning my grandmothers blood sugar was high again and the poor woman was having some memory difficulties out there and my aunt wanted to know what to do and if they dare leave grandma along any more. Mom told her not to take grandma to the gift opening and to just get her home, and no, grandma probably can't be by herself if she isn't going to remember to take her medicine. So my aunt spent and extra night at my grandma's to keep track of her and wanted to know if my mom would take her sunday. My mom couldn't because she was working so my aunt had to take grandma back to Fargo with her just to make sure she didn't get into any trouble. Monday there is a big family meeting with the doctors to see what can be done for grandma and waht needs to be taken care of. I think they are also going to discuss the matter of getting her into assisted living sooner than later. My mom asked me about watching grandma for a while as they waited for a place to open up. It's not a problem for me but I just have to make sure that I can get myself to my doctor appointments and stuff and I am sure my mom and I can work things out for a week or two.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE FRIDAY

At 9 am I left my parents house to take my grandma to the hairdresser to have her hair and nails done for my cousin's wedding at 6 pm up in St. John, ND. My mom called my grandma before I left to make sure that she was awake and was going to be ready when I got there. While they were on the phone, grandma told my mom that he blood sugar was high (over 300) but mom told her not to have the juice with breakfast and she would be fine. I dropped grandma off at her hair place, then I did some running around of my own and then I went to the Liquid Bean to get some coffee and then back over to see how grandma was doing. She was just starting her manicure so I sat and talked with her until we were ready to go. When I got grandma back to her apartment it was close to noon and I had to get myself back home to get myself and Cassie ready for the wedding. I still even had to shower and pack the diaper bag. I got some stuff out for grandma to snack on and just for the hell of it I checked her paper that has her blood sugar count on it and when I read it and just about died. I called my mom right away and told her that grandma's sugar count was not 300 it was 548. Mom told me to take her blood sugar again before she ate anything, I did, and it had dropped to 423. Obviously my grandmother has been forgetting to take her insulin shot at night and now her blood sugars are all messed up again. Mom told me she was going to call the doctor and get some insulin that we could give her right away. Mom called me back and told me where to pick the insulin up and she also told me how much to draw up and make sure that grandma took it. It took for ever for my grandma to find her extra syringes but she did find one and she did take the insulin. She was starting to see things and even thought there was someone in my vehicle parked in front of her place. I told her 100 times nobody was there and she started to get really mad because in her mind, there was someone in there. I had to explain to her that she saw a tree and part of the neighbors house through the drivers side window across the street and it was the tree that was moving in the wind, not a person. I still don't think she believed me but it was after 1 pm and I had to go. As I was walking out of the apartment my aunt, her husband, and children were just pulling up. My mom had called her to let her know what was going on this morning so I filled my aunt in quickly and I gave her the cell phone number of grandma's doctor because someone was supposed to call him back at 2 pm with grandma's blood sugar level after the insulin had time to take effect. I got home at about 2. My mom and sister had put Cassie down for a nap while I was gone and Cassie was still sleeping so I took my shower really fast, got dressed, packed the diaper bag then it wasn't too long and Cassie got up. I gave Cassie a snack, got her dressed and it was time to take off. The wedding was great. We had so much fun and little Cassie danced to every song played at the reception and I let her dance until about a quarter after 11 and then we took off. My aunt and uncle were in full control of my grandma so I hope she wasn't to spacey or moody for them.

ELECTRICITY SHOULD BE FIXED

I called an electrician that does a lot of work around here for everyone and he is the cheapest by far compared to everyone else, besides, I also go to church with him and his wife and their daughter was a year older than me in high school so I know the family pretty good and I know that he won't stiff me like some other company would. He is going over to the trailer today to check it out. He said that something similar happened at the grocery store in Leeds and it turned out to be a blown outlet so he is going to have to check all the outlets in the house, find the bad one, and then replace it. That doesn't sound to terrible to me so I am hoping that it's a pretty easy job for his sake cause without air in that place it gets really warm. Well, I need to call Billy and see if we are still going swimming. Today is going to be a great day for it and I would like to go soon cause then when we get done, the kids will be ready for a nap when we get home. It's funny when you have children and then your schedule suddenly revolves around them, but it's worth it!

RUNNIN' WITH BILLY

Yesterday I went over to Billy Jo's and hung out for a while. Then Billy treated Cassie and I to lunch at the Leeds restaurant. We ended lunch just in time for both Cassie and AJ to take their naps. They were both getting a little crabby. I got to my mom's and my mom was already home from work making buns for my cousins wedding this Friday. I feel sorry for my mom because she has to make 500 buns. I laid Cassie down for her nap and she played and jumped in her crib for a while and then Billy called me wanting to know if I would run to Devils Lake with her so that she could make some payments on a couple of things so that she wouldn't have to take AJ in and out of the car. Since I had laid Cassie down, but she wasn't sleeping yet, mom said that I could go cause when Cassie takes her nap she usually sleeps for 2 hours and that would give us time to get to DL and back and then my mom could still work on her buns without worrying about Cassie. Before we left DL, we stopped at the Liquid Bean for some drinks and then we ran to McDonalds and got fries and Chicken Nuggets for the ride home. Billy also picked up a rose for her dad and on the way home we stopped by the Churchs Ferry cemetery and gave it to him. It still feels unreal that he passed away. When I got home Cassie was already up and still crabby but after a bit she started acting herself again. She slept pretty good last night through all the thunder, lightening, and rain that we got. Today Billy and I are thinking of taking the kids out to the Bisbee Dam for swimming. They have a nice beach there, it's small so sometimes it can get a little crowded, and their should be a lot of people there since it's going to be 93 today. We want to try and also take the kids out to Sully's Hill sometime this week too. Tomorrow I have to take my Grandma to a doctors appointment. It's just a check up but she is still having some pain in her knee and we want to get that checked and see what can be done about that. Oh, and thanks for Doug for actually having the balls to post on Blogbot's site about all the slander even though that brought Blogbot over to his site to criticize too. Also thanks to everyone who said that they enjoy reading my site.