JUST WAITING

Today I am just catching up with my blog since Darren is going to be gone most of the day for his Ride-Along in Rugby. I am really hoping that it all goes well and that he likes it. He was hoping that he could just ride around Rugby and then come home but who knows how far they will have him go. It's snowing and Cassie wasn't to go outside but it's too darn cold to let her go out in this stuff. I am thinking of running over to my mom's house today and washing some cloths since we are leaving for Minot on Sunday. Besides, when Darren isn't home it gives me the perfect time to do it. I am going to wait for Cassie to take her nap first but she has been in her crib playing for the last 45 minutes and she normally takes her nap at noon. When she falls asleep she will nap for 2 hours and if the day gets too late on my I am not sure if I will get to my moms for cloths or not. I will post later when Darren gets back from his Ride-Along and I will let everyone know how it went.

ROLLA

Yesterday we went to visit Uncle Mike at his new place in Rolla since it's only 40 minutes away from York, also, we had to take Mike a lawn mower too since he has a yard now to mow. It's a small house but it's perfect for one person. The inside was a lot nicer than I thought it would be and the flooring is really good too. The only down side to the place is that it is fuel oil heated and that is going to be a bitch in the winter time. While we were there we ran to ALCO to find a long sleeved shirt for Darren because he will need one for his ride-along on Saturday. We didn't find any long sleeved shirt but there was some t-shirts there he did like. We bought some birthday cards for my dad too. My mom has this goal of my dad getting 60 birthday cards for his birthday this year since he is turning 60 on Sunday. I don't know if he will receive that many but my poor mom has sure been working hard on it. After ALCO we ran to Prairie Lanes to eat and I have to say that it wasn't the experience that I remember. We used to eat there all the time with my Grandma when she was still around. It was fun to go there, the food was good, and the service was relatively fast but yesterday, my god, it took this waitress we had FOREVER to get all our food. We were sitting there for at least 15 minutes before she came for our drink order, then another 20 minutes for her to come and get our food order, the food came fast but when we asked for a refill of coffee, ranch, or pie she was gone for 10 minutes before she came back. She had to have been a high schooler because she looked really young but there was no excuse for it because the restaurant wasn't even busy. The food was still great and we even ran into John Jr and Pam Halone (great friends of the family) while we were there and we talked for a while. I picked up flowers at the flower shop in Leeds before we went up to Rolla and after we ate at Prairie Lanes we ran over to the cemetery and I laid them down for my Grandma (and Grandpa whom I don't remember). I still miss Grandma a lot and I get sad when I think of her. I really wish she could be here to see my family. She died in '96, a year before I graduated high school. I felt like a fool walking back to the truck crying where Darren, Mike, and Cassie were waiting for me. They were cool about it though and didn't say anything. We left the cemetery and went back to Mikes. Mike took some pics with his new digital camera and they came out really good. Cassie fell asleep in the car on the way home and she stayed sleeping so I just laid her down in her crib with her cloths on. It was a fun day and since Mikey isn't that far away now so Darren, Cassie, and I may have to go and visit him when we get bored.

Nothing but love for everyone. 

Okay, am I supposed to smile or cry here?!? 

One Happy Family 

LOOK AT HER NOW

Cassie damn near gave me a heart attack while I was at my mothers today. I went over to her place to wash a pair of jeans that Darren needs for Saturday. I got real involved into what I was doing and I noticed shortly that Cassie wasn't with me. I hollered for her and I could hear her in my parents bedroom. I went in to the bedroom to find Cassie up on the waterbed throwing around an open bag of cough drops. I couldn't believe she got on the bed all by herself. She crawls up on the couches all the time at home and even crawls into the chair in front of the computer and bangs away on the keyboard like she is typing something. Later, she even lifted herself up on my parents coffee table as we were watching TV. It gave me such a shock I choked a little on my snack trying to get her off the table. She is getting so brave. She isn't afraid of anyone or anything. I hope she doesn't seriously hurt herself anytime soon. Now I really have to pay attention to what she is doing. When she was crawling I thought that was tough keeping her out of things. I was wrong, the fun just started and it isn't getting any easier. AND I LOVE IT!

A LOADED WEEKEND

Our weekend is scheduled full, well kind of. On either Friday or Sunday we have to run to Rolla and take Mike a lawn mower and a toaster oven that I have here at home and we will probably spend the day up there visiting and doing things and Mike also has my travel coffee mug that I have to get back to him. I left it at my parents place the day he came home and my dad told mike to take it because it wasn't dad's....thanks pops for giving my mug away!! On Saturday Darren has a ride-along with Schwans Frozen Foods and he has to meet the Schwan's truck in Rugby at 9 am at the Econo Lodge and he will be gone until 7 pm. While he is gone I am thinking of running into Leeds and helping a friend paint the house that she is moving into as long as my mom can watch Cassie for me while we do it. And then on the day that we don't see Mike we have to run to Devils Lake and do some shopping and then on Sunday evening we are going to Minot and spending the night with some friends of ours because I have my PCOS appointment at 10:30 am on Monday morning. We will probably be coming home Monday afternoon because Darren works that evening at 5 but I took the day off. Wow, it's going to be a bunch of running around....we are going to be tired just from our weekend.

SNOW

Freakin' snow! That's all that I saw when I got up this morning. I couldn't believe it when I saw that ugly white stuff covering the ground. I have been watching out the windows because Cassie keeps asking to go outside but each time I check, it's still lightly snowing. It's not enough snow to make a big difference by any means but it's enough just to piss a person off. Oh well, I just have to remember that it's only late April and normally this time of year there is still snow piles hanging around and by this weekend, hopefully, it will be gone and we won't get any more snow. Then Cassie and I can play outside just as much as she likes.

GRANDPARENTS, SHOES, CINNAMON, AND EARLY HEAD START

Darren's parents arrived at my mom and dad's around a quarter to five. Darren had called about ten minutes before their arrival and said that he was just leaving Rolla. When Darren did get to my parents house, we all went back over to our place for a brief moment before going to the Pizza Hut in Rugby. While we were at our place, Grandma Hanson gave Cassie some new shoes. They are size 7 so she has time to grow into them yet. They are really cute and they have blue LCD lights on them and they are really bright. Today after I made breakfast, I was getting read to bake a cake so Darren had something to take to work with his lunch this week. I was getting some veg oil out of the cupboard and a the little cinnamon jar fell onto the floor. Not thinking about it, I left it on the floor because it wasn't going to hurt anything. Well Cassie found it and she managed to work the top open and when I looked over my shoulder she had dumped half the jar onto the floor and herself. She was drawing pictures in it with her fingers. It was cute, but I took the jar away and cleaned up the mess. Then after the cake was done we went outside and played for 45 minutes. It was really chilly but Cassie didn't want to come in so I brought the dog inside to get her to come in. My mom is coming over to watch Cassie while I am at work this evening because my dad isn't home today, also, this way I can work late and I don't have to worry about getting Cassie to bed. I also got a phone call from Early Head Start and they want to come over to the house tomorrow after 7pm. I thought that was a little late but I work all day and the Head Start lady has other appointments in Leeds. We will have to see how this first appointment goes and maybe if it's alright we will keep them coming but it will be so late when she gets to our house that I will put Cassie to bed shortly after she gets here.

I'm so beautiful it's hard not to love me 

Just chillin' 

Cassie's new shoes from Grandma Hanson 

hahaha...that's so funny! 

Uncle Mike, let me give you a smooch. 

WHAT A WEEKEND

So it's been a while since my last post. I know that I am really slacking on this lately. Thursday after work I went up to the bar for about an hour to chat with co-workers. I am really good friends with a couple of them and they wanted to hear the full stories of what is going on at work so I filled them in. They couldn't believe it and a few said that is exactly how it is and none of the day crew want her "controlling" anything that has to do with production inside the plant and the CEO and Manager are both scared of her and don't want to put up with her so they let her do what she wants. I think that's a load of crap. But whatever. On Friday Mike arrived home from Virginia. It was really nice to see him even though it was hard for him to come back. He got a job up in Rolla working for the Turtle Mountain Star. He found a house to rent there yesterday and yesterday evening my mom and I went to Devils Lake and switched beds so that Mike has a good bed to take up there. When my mom and I got to Devils Lake, I saw all the cars at the Bill Jerome Arena and then remembered it was Amadon and Josie's wedding. We didn't get an invitation and Darren and I have been so busy that I forgot all about it. CONGRATULATIONS AMADON AND JOSIE!! Today Darren is going to help Mike take an entertainment center up to Rolla with a few other things. When I got up today I remembered there was a Roast Beef Benefit dinner at the Harlow VFW so after Cassidy played outside for a while I brought her back inside so I could get things ready to go to Harlow...also, this way I didn't have to make lunch...I told Darren that we were taking off and I didn't get 2 miles down the road and Cassie feel asleep. So I turned the car around and we came back home so I could put her in her crib for her nap. I was kind of bummed but I can always make lunch, no big deal. If it's not too late when she gets up, I need to go to my parents place and start cloths. Darren's folks are also coming today around 4:30 and then after they stop here they want us to follow them back to Rugby to eat. If I am still at my mom's washing cloths, they said that they could always come to my parents and visit too which I think is just great cause then I can still get all my cloths done.

POPE BENEDICT XVI

My mom informed me of our new Pope. I didn't know much about him so she told me a little bit about him. Needless to say, I have a lot of warming up to the guy to do before I decide if I like him or not. He's very controversial. He thinks that if you are not Catholic, you are not Christian and I don't believe that's right. He is against remarriage in the Catholic church if you have been divorced and he also is against abortions. I am not saying that I am pro abortion or anything but I think there are few circumstances out there that women should have a choice, like the babies that are conceived through rape or incest...ect. I don't believe that a 13 yr old should have an abortion because she had unprotected sex only once. They make contraceptives, use them, that's why they are there. But if I say that I don't like Pope Benedict, I am making a rash judgment. You always hear the bad things before the good. It seems like the news media is good at that. I will have to check him out the next couple of weeks and see what happens and what is reveled. I just have to believe that the Cardinals make the right choice for us.........I hope.

I FEEL SO BAD

Fr. Matt Lanz, our retired priest from our parish, is back in Leeds for a week or so. The people from our parish were getting together at 6pm at the local restaurant in Leeds with Fr. Matt for a B.S. session and catch up on what he has been doing. When I got off work and when my mom got home we got ready to go to the restaurant. Cassie has a tricky zipper on one of her shoes and when I was trying to get the zipper up to get ready to go to the restaurant, my fingers slipped off the zipper and my thumb dug and scrapped into Cassie's little leg. I must have taken a good inch of the first layer of skin off her legs. She cried so hard and they gouge really started to bleed. I felt so terrible. It took her a while to settle down. My mom gave her some tylenol to help with the pain but I am sure she is going to have a great black and blue mark and the scab will probably hang around for a while. I feel like the worst mommy in the whole world.

ARGH!!!

I thought I had my FedEx all done and then around 1:30 the secretary called me to the lab because another order had come in and she said that it HAD to go out today. I hate it when people fax orders that late because the truck shows up around 1:30 to 2:00 each day. Thank God it was an easy order, just a bunch of sauce, so I was able to get it together fast. I went to weigh it, then put it in the back of the freezer with the rest of my orders, and then went to put the dry ice away. When I went to put the ice away, I noticed from across the freezer that FedEx was already at the plant and the guy was just taking the orders from the freezer and I still had to call up to the secretary to get a shipping tag for the order she gave me. When I reached the lab phone, the secretary called down and told me that she forgot to tell me not to put dry ice in the order. I told her that the order was already taped and weighed and the FedEx guy was getting ready to put it on the truck. In a very snotty tone, she said "Well, take the ice out of the box." It wasn't worth fighting with her so I grabbed a box cutter and ran back to the shipping dock. Our shipping/receiving man was back there keeping him company and when I got back there, the guy came up to me and said "The secretary said they are waiting for weight from you" and you could just tell this guy was annoyed because he had to wait. I apologized and told him she forgot to tell me about no ice and now I had to take it out of the box and then reweigh the box before I could get the tag. But after I said that I thought "screw it" and after I removed the ice I just called up and told the secretary the box was 22 lbs. When I met the secretary in the lab for the tags she didn't say anything to me and kind of tossed the tags to me and turned to walk away. After FedEx left, the shipping/receiving man looked at me and said "you know, her attitude towards you has been really snotty." I just asked him if it was really that obvious and he just looked at me and smiled. I swear, this lady has it out for me.

TRADE SHOW

Darren, Cassie, and I went to the Trade Show on Saturday. Some of the vendors were already gone when we got there but the ones that still remained were pretty good. I saw some stuff that I would have liked for the house but I wasn't sure what I am going to do with the living room, bedroom, etc so I didn't get anything just yet. I did purchase a cute little frame though. There was a booth there and this guy cut out names in the bottom of the frames, they had huge boxes that were alphabetically in order by names and there was one that he already had done for CASSIDY so I bought it. It was expensive but I couldn't pass it up, besides, that was my only purchase. Darren bought a $50 ticket for the Harley they are giving away during Devils Run. It's a really neat color. It's black, grey, and brown. I think it's pretty cool looking. After the Show, we ate at McDonalds and did some shopping that we forgot about on Friday.

Really sorry about the glare. I can't take a photo like April can. 

The only time Cassie actually stood "still" while at the park. 

Here mom, I think the camera needs some sand and it will work better, just try it! 

WHAT A GORGEOUS DAY!

I couldn't believe how warm it was when I went outside this morning at a quarter after nine. I had to catch the horses and tie them to the hitching post because the farrier was coming out to clip hooves. I put a sweatshirt on thinking that it was going to be cool. I damn near died of heat stroke after catching them and tying them up. After I got done with the horses, I came inside and tried to get Cassie to eat something but she didn't want anything and around one I laid her down for her nap. When she got up at three I put her in shorts and a t-shirt and got cloths ready to take to my moms to wash. Since I went to the trade show on Saturday I didn't get a chance to wash cloths this weekend and I didn't have a baby sitter today anyway because my mom went to a rosary service so I didn't get to work. Cassie really ran around outside, it was great to see her play, she didn't even care about the wind. I got tried fast though, I swear we took 100 laps around Grandma's house before I could get her inside for a drink of juice. It was late when we got home, I just hope she isn't too crabby when I wake her up at 7am for daycare tomorrow.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

15% Yankee

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

You Are 60% Normal (Really Normal)

Otherwise known as the normal amount of normal You're like most people most of the time But you've got those quirks that make you endearing You're unique, yes... but not frighteningly so!

How Normal Are You?

WORK OF ART

You Are Best Described By...

Landscape With Butterflies By Salvador Dali

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

THE SECRETARY AT GPFF CAN EAT SHIT AND DIE FOR ALL I CARE

If the job at the pasta plant in Leeds wasn't so convenient I'd quit. I was doing FedEx and I couldn't get an order into a box that I had on hand. I asked the day crew Supervisor if she could have one of the guys make me a box to put it in. Nobody really had the time to make me any boxes so the Super found a couple of boxes that I could split the order between. Because she is the Super, I followed her instructions. When I was done and had the weight for all my FedEx orders I called the weight up to the secretary so she could print me out shipping labels. Not even 5 minutes after I called up to her, she came down stairs and asked why there was two boxes for an order. I explained what the situation was and she just basically stuck her nose in the air and said "No, with the prices of FedEx going up and the expensive cost of dry ice, we are trying to cut expenses so this has to go out in one box." She found the Super and told her that I needed another box because two boxes were unacceptable. This pissed the Super off. The Super found someone to do it and the super brought the boxes to me. The Super and I shared the same opinion...The two boxes would have worked, the plant doesn't' even pay for the FedEx charge anyway, it's the receiving party that has to pay FedEx so the secretary would have to do is explain to them there was a rise in FedEx costs...Done deal. Oh, well, I didn't want to argue with the secretary anyway so I just did it without a word. After FedEx I had to put some kits together for an order to go out on a semi truck on Monday, 160 kits to be exact, but when I went to get boxes for the kits there were only 54 boxes. I found the shipping/receiving clerk and asked him if any kit boxes came in and he said no and that the secretary (who does all the ordering for the plant too) came to him earlier this week to check if we had any kit boxes. He said that I should ask her when they were going to be in because he didn't know. So I called upstairs to the secretary and I told her about the boxes and she gave me this smart assed attitude "I didn't know you were out of boxes" and when I asked her about them coming in she said "I don't know when they will be here". Bullshit she didn't, the clerk just said she was checking on them earlier. I didn't fight with her, I just told her I would do the 54 boxes and the rest would have to wait. She asked me, for the very first time, if I needed anything else so I said that I just ran out of brown packing paper and some more clear bags would be nice. She said okay and hung up. I got all the boxes that I had available filled and went to lunch. Not 15 minutes after I got back from lunch the Super came and told me that kit boxes just came in on the truck. I told her to have the clerk bring them in with the forklift and I would finish the remaining kits. This really pissed me off because there is absolutely positively no way the secretary could not have known I was out of boxes....and she knew they were coming in today because she had a schedule of all the delivery trucks coming to the plant that day but she said she didn't have a clue. I vented out to a bunch of co-workers and they told me that is just how she is. She screws up all the time but she tries to pin it on someone else so that she doesn't get in trouble. And then what really gets me is that when I went to put stuff away, sitting on my FedEx table was two rolls of brown packing paper, four boxes of clear bags, and six little boxes of sample kit baggies. You know she didn't call a company half way across the nation and get those in two hours. She already preordered this shit earlier in the week but she still had the balls to ask me if I needed anything else!!! Also in order to finish most of the cases I had to take a product from a different label (same thing, only a different name on the bag) and use it in the kit boxes. I just tore the name labels off so nobody would know. I had to take 25 of them. The secretary keeps a daily count of what I use, throw away, what goes to waste, ect. I told her I had to use 25 Roseli and use them for the Zalvina. Know, all she had to do was subtract 25 from the Roseli count and she would have had it....but she didn't understand it and she wanted to know why I couldn't stay longer to finish the kits that didn't get done. It was ten after four and I pick Cassie up at four from the sitter and the sitter has this rule where if a parent is late with little or without notice, she charges and extra $5 per half hour. Also, Darren was coming to work around four thirty and my mom wasn't home so I had nobody to pick her up. Then she says "well **CEOs name** talked to **manager's name** because he is worried about the kits getting out so the day crew is going to put kits together Monday". Okay, so if people are doing them Monday, why are you arguing about me picking up my daughter from day and staying to finish kits?!? She said she was confused about the product I took and she came down to talk to me about it. I took her sheets and literally showed her what to do so her numbers wouldn't get screwed up. She looked and me and said the CEO "doesn't want our inventory played around with and he said never do it again". With the way the day was going, I was thinking to myself "No, he didn't say that because of the numbers, he said that so you wouldn't get confused on an easy math problem that a third grader could have figured out YOU FRICKEN IDIOT!!!" I bit my tongue, punched out, went to the locker room to get my stuff and then the Super met me at the locker door and asked how may items of product I took because the secretary needed to know. I rolled my eyes, sternly said 25 and I walked out the door. I have never been so happy for a day of work to end so damn bad!! I was fighting the witch all day. I didn't think a secretary could be such a pain in the ass. I don't know if I did something previously to piss her off or what. She is definitely on my Shit List.

MY LITTLE BIG GIRL

I am so proud of Cassie. Today we went outside for an hour and a half and she loved it. She explored everything, left no stone unturned...literally. She found that her jacket had pockets that were just perfect for fist fulls of rocks that she was collecting from the gravel pile in our yard that is supposed to be spread out on the drive way. I swear she was 15 lbs heavier when I brought her inside. When she took her nap I emptied her jacket outside and I think 10 little stones fell out. She felt the wet grass from the rain, dug in the damp sand, even tried to carry around mud from the drive way. She marched around the yard banging a perfect Cassie-size stick on a rock and hollered for the dog when he got too far from her. It's amazing that she can say "Tucker" clear as a bell. I almost want to cry when she shouts "Tucker, Tucker, Tucker". It's really hard to believe how big she has become and how she enjoys the "new" things. It's not going to be too long and I am going to be packing her lunch and driving her to kindergarten. I don't want to believe myself when I think of how close to 2 she is. They don't stay little long.

A NICE BREAK

Today I called my mom she she was getting off work to see if she could come to my house today to watch Cassie since I had a lot of stuff to do at work. This way I could stay at work till about 10 or so and I wouldn't have to worry about Cassie getting to bed. So she came over and when I got to work, the day crew had done most of the stuff that I was suppose to do today. I couldn't believe it...I just about shit my pants. So I only had some really simple stuff to take care of and then tomorrow when I work an 8 hour day, I will be able to finish most of the orders that are going out on Tuesday of next week. I think that was pretty nice of them. I was actually really worried that I wasn't going to be able to get that stuff out in time and I didn't know how I was going to tell the boss. I guess it must have been kind of obvious to the crew that Tuesdays stuff wasn't going to get done. Now I don't have to worry about what I was going to tell the boss.

SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH OUR DOG

Cassie and I went outside and played with the dog today. He ran around and then stopped to take a drink and very shortly after his drink he started to act like he was going to vomit. He was all hunched over in a U shape. Then, very gracefully, he put his nose to the ground and his front legs and the rest of him followed suit and he just dropped to the ground. He shook a little bit and then I think he tried to get up but was struggling and was waving all four legs around. He was on the ground for a couple of minutes before he could get up. I ran to the house door and hollered for Darren. Darren came outside and when Tucker did stand up, he just stood there like he didn't want to move. He came around, within 5 minutes he was running around again like nothing happened. He has episodes when he eats where he will just pass out and fall over but he normally gets right back up and starts eating again. We took him to the vet for this last summer. The vet couldn't find anything physically wrong with him and told us to try and elevate his food bowl but I think there is more going on. I found this website that is dedicated to Siberian husky health, www.siberianhuskyhealthfoundation.org and they say on the website that huskies have genetic problems and according to the info it might be a thyroid causing his problems. I wrote in at the website about the problems Tucker is having and hopefully they will reply soon. It would kill us if there was something terribly wrong and we had to put him down.

PCOS SUPPORT

I was getting a frequent response about my PCOS from people. Many of them thought that I should just have a hysterectomy and be done with everything, especially since the risks of cancer and such. I started too feel really bad and then I remembered a PCOS website that my doctor had given me, www.pcosupport.org, and I wrote asking if this was something that I was eventually going to face someday. Suprisingly, I got an email back from a lady in Bismarck who is President of the PCOS support in North Dakota. She said that no doctor to her knowledge has ever recommended that surgery, especially pre-menopause. She also had good things to say that made me feel a lot better and if I need anymore info about anything like treatments, symptoms, etc. And she has had PCOS for many years. I feel a lot better now that I know I can contact someone who understands me right now. It is something that I have been looking for and will help me a lot.

BUSY DAY AHEAD

So our Sunday is starting out a little slow. Cassie got up around 9:30 and when I went to make her breakfast, I noticed that the milk smelled funny and it had gone bad. I don't know why it went bad so fast, it hadn't even reached the expiration date yet. I woke Darren up and I ran into Leeds and picked up milk along with some other groceries. When I came home, I made Cassie's breakfast and when she was done when went outside to play. My sister called just as we were walking out the door and I was able to talk to my sister and watch Cassie at the same time. I was actually pretty easy because Cassie stayed with the dog the whole time. When we came in, we washed hands and now she is eating her dinner. Mac N Cheese, yummy. When she finishes her dinner, we are going to run into Devils Lake and pick up some things that we forgot when we were in town Friday. If we have time, we are going to stop at Roosevelt Park and let Cassie play for a while, we may even pick up some ice cream at DQ before going to the park.

WHOLE LOT OF FENCING GOING ON

Saturday I had to run to Gibben's Vet Service in Cando to get some breathing meds for my horse. When I was there she said that if Tango was acting like that he probably is ready to be gelded. I can bring him to Cando and she will check for the testicles and if they are there she will keep him and geld him. When I got back from Cando, I went to my mom's and started fencing some of their pasture. There wasn't a whole lot of fence that I had to put up but after pounding 11 posts and hanging 1 string of wire, I had to wait until Darren got back from his motorcycle ride so he could help me with the other 2 strings. The spool of wire was so heavy and it banged against my legs when I was unrolling it and I have 12 black and blue marks the size of quarters on my legs. My legs look awful. Then I got some broken wire fixed and I am waiting for the ground to unthaw so that I can push up a corner post that bent over and then I can tighten the wire in that corner and it is all ready for horses. I am going to take Tango and Luna over there first and keep Cholla here so I can fatten Cholla up with some sweetfeed and oats. I hope to get Tango to the vet next week.

NOT READY FOR A STALLION

I was outside with Cassie today and I noticed that Tango was chasing my mares around the pasture and he would bite and nip at them. He was being a real pain in the ass and both the mares were kicking back at him and Tango just wouldn't stop. Tango ran up to the fence and let me pet him but he tried to bite me twice. Each time he tried, I snapped his nose and he jumped back but it didn't really scare him or hurt his pride too much because he kept coming back up to the fence to be pet. When I was walking away, I noticed him running up to my big mare and he tried to mount her. He's not quite a year old but I think he is coming to maturity and he is starting to become a dominant stallion. I don't want that to happen because I want to geld him and use him for a riding horse instead. I am going to have to make an appointment with the vet and see what she thinks and I may have to have him gelded soon. If he isn't gelded and he breds my mare then it's going to be hell working with him because even though he will be gelded he will know that he is a stallion and will keep that temperment and he will be a pain in the ass to control and I don't want to keep him if that happens because he will be too much for me. I need to pick up medicine for my mare on Saturday at the vet office before noon so I think I will talk to the vet about Tango then too. It's going to cost around $175 for the surgery and I don't have that money right now so I may have to have my mom pitch in for it since he is her horse anyway.

DOCTORS APPOINTMENT

So I got Cassie a doctors appointment at 11am today. Turns out the red spots were a break out to the amoxicillin so we can't give that to her anymore and both of her ears had slight redness due to infection. I kind of expected the ear infections because she got another tooth the beginning of this week. The doc gave us some new meds to start her on. The doc also said that there have been a lot of people coming back to the clinic because normal antibiotics haven't been working and they have to be on something different so now I don't feel so bad that her cold isn't going away as soon as expected...it isn't anything that I am doing wrong. After the appointment I got us some food from McDonald's and we went up to the hospital to have lunch with my mom. I didn't return Cassie to day care and I just brought her home and we have been hanging out watching Baby Einstein and playing outside with the dog. Hopefully Cassie will get better soon.

PROBABLY GOING TO END UP SEEING THE DOCTOR...AGAIN

I noticed the other night that Cassie was starting to get the red spots on her arm and she had a couple on her legs. I wasn't too sure what they were but I though she might be allergic to something. I called my mom and she told me to let it go over night and see if they were still there in the morning. Well today when I was getting close on her, I noticed that the spots on her legs were noticeably larger and Cassie started to scratch at them a lot. I showed them to my mom after her bath tonight and my mom isn't sure what they are from because they aren't swollen and puffy like normal hives, they are just big spots. They have to be irritating or she wouldn't be scratching. I didn't give Cassie her amoxicillan before bed just in case it's the meds that she is breaking out from. If they are still there in the morning I am going to call the clinic and see what they suggest. If Dr Petty wants to see Cassie I may make the appointment for Friday so I won't miss any work, unless they can get me in later in the afternoon so I can at least get my FedEx finished.

ANOTHER DAY

It was over 60 degrees today so Cassie and I went outside after breakfast to play with the dog and horses. We stayed out until 11 and then when she came back in we had lunch and then she had her nap. When she got up, we went with dad to Cenex so that we could get an air tank to fill a tire on his motorcycle that was a little low. We even took the dog and let him ride in the back of the truck box. Cassie played in the yard a little more when we got home and then we went over to my mom's so I could go to work. When I got there, my mom had two new Baby Einstein DVD's for us. Baby MacDonald and Baby Da Vinci. When I got done with work and went to pick Cassie up, she was taking a nap. That was cool because I got to watch most of American Idol and when she woke I just gave her a bath at moms. My brother called this afternoon. They are supposed to get some thunder showers in Virginia and he also told me that he was going to a NASCAR race in Martinsville (I think it's Martinsville anyway). The people that he is staying with have a dog that is half great dane and half lab. The dog is big but it sleeps 23 hours of the day and could stand to loose about 20 lbs according to Mike. It was good to talk to him for a bit. I think this weekend Darren is going to go bike riding, I have to do cloths this weekend and I also have church. I was hoping to get horse riding in but I don't know if I will because my mare had COPD, which is pretty much just asthma, and she has been breathing heavy the last couple of days. I have cortisone but I am not sure how much to give her and I called the vet but the vet hasn't called back yet so if I am thinking about calling the vet back tomorrow because I want my horse to get better.

THE GREAT DOG HORSE CHASE

After my mom got home, she treated us to supper at the restaurant in Leeds. After supper she followed Cassie and I home so that I could drop the car off at Cenex so Darren has a vehicle to drive home when he drops is truck off there after work so he can get the hose for his power steering replaced. When we got home, Cassie wanted to stay outside and play with the dog so I turned Tucker loose as Cassie roamed the yard. She played and a laughed at the dog and she really laughed hard when Tango, my mom's yearling appaloosa, started to chase the dog around the pasture. It was really funny but I am no so sure that Tango was playing or if he was actually serious about the dog not crapping in his home. As soon as the dog would run into the pasture, Tango took off in a direct run towards the dog and continued to chase him until he was out of the pasture. Then Tango would trot around the fence with his tail straight in the air all proud of himself for chasing off the dog. And they did this about 3 times. It got late, and the dog was getting really paranoid, so I brought Cassie back in and we watched American Idol. Then I gave Cassie her night time bath, but not before she happened to get a bottle of bubbles open and spill half the bottle down her cloths, on the couch, and all over the floor, then she went to bed. My mom wants to record Pope John Paul II's funeral but there is a 7 hour difference between us and Rome so the funeral is going to be aired at 3 in the morning here. I haven't decided yet if I am going to get up and watch it or not but it's going to be the biggest thing on TV watched by viewers ever so I just might do it anyway because it's historical and something like this won't happen again for a while.

4 WHEELIN'

Cassie got her very first 4 wheeler ride today with Grandpa Jim. Today when we got to my parents house, it was so nice that I let Cassie run around the yard. Cassie started to follow Grandpa and Dad up the hill to the shop where they were going to get Grandpa's motorcycle out. Cassie was so hyper that she just wanted to go-go-go. I put her on Grandpa's new 4 wheeler just so that I could take a break. When she was on the 4 wheeler, Grandpa came over and sat on the 4 wheeler behind Cassie, started it up, and off around the yard they went. Cassie absolutely LOVED it! She was smiling and laughing the whole time. Of course, they were only doing about 5 mph but that's cruising when you are only a year and a half. It's the moments like this that make me proud of Grandpa. It almost made me cry and I even think that Darren was a little surprised at this act of kindness.

Here are the Easter goods that Cassie got. From Left to right:Blue basket, bunny, and sippy from GodParents April and Kevin O'Brien. White basket from "Easter Bunny". Yellow dish-rag bunny from Donna Rolle, Cassie's Day Care provider. Purple bucket also from "Easter Bunny".

Cassie trying to open a strategically placed plastic egg to get the goodies inside 

Cassie chowing down on a hershey kiss from her Easter Basket.