**O'BRIEN; FROM THE CLAN O'BRIEN**

My mother took the girls and I to Grand Forks on Wednesday. My mother dropped the girls and I off at April and Kevins while she went shopping at Sams Club. I had an awesome time with the O'Briens. I got to check out their new house which is super beautiful and I am in love with their TV.

Doug came by and brought Isabella over. It was really nice to see them since it has been a while since I had last saw Doug and I never met Isabella before. I just wish Karissa could have been there. It would have been nice to see her.

Cassie really wanted to play with Isabella really bad, but Bella wasn't feeling well and she was a little shy. Hopefully next time will be a little bit better. After a bit both girls wanted to go outside so Doug, being the brave man he is, took them both outside by himself so the rest of us could finish eating and get ourselves ready to hang out in the yard. We had a HUGE laugh when Kevin was victimized by Cassie....I will let April tell the story....and April got some really cute pics of the the girls. I can't wait until she posts them.

Today I have spent the day super cleaning the house. Tomorrow we leave at 7 am for Fargo to catch our plane to Vegas and we have a detour to the O'Briens house when we go through Grand Forks.

I hate Hello. For some dumb reason it posted half of my pics the other day but won't post the rest. As soon as Hello starts working correctly, I will post more pics.

Next time you hear from me, we will be back from our mini vacation and I will have pics from our trip.

Cassie carrying around Scrappy. Scrappy was not really thrilled about the situation but she put up with it until she could make a dashing escape into the bushes where Cassie could not follow her. 

This is Luna. She is a thoroughbred/quarter horse/arabian mix. She looks all thoroughbred, she can have the air-head mentality of an arabian at times, and she is as smart as any quarter horse that I have known. She was born in June of 1990 and is 16 years old. I have owned her since she was 1 1/2 years old. She came from the same farmer that my mother purchased Cholla from. I can not say enough of how much I love her. It will be a very sad day when she passes away. Hopefully it will be many more years before that happeneds.
 

This, in case you have all fogotten, is Cholla (Choy-Ah). She is a leopard appaloosa and she made it to North Dakota all the way from Arizona. We do not know her exact age because the original owner passed away and after his passing the widow sold the horse. The widow didn't know much about the horse because she didn't have much of an interest in horses they had. Cholla was bought at an horse auction from the farmer that we purchased her from. 

I know, I know...a lot of pics of the horses. Hey, what can I say, I really love them a lot. 

The girls just hanging out together. I am so glad they get a long :) 

I had stopped taking pictures and was getting ready to get the girls in the car and go to my mothers when I saw the cat acting weird out in the pasture. The cat looked like she was stalking something but was also scared of it. I took a peak and here was this huge hawk in the pasture. The hawk let the cat, Cassie, and I get within 3 feet of it and walk around it before flying off and landing on a fence post. The shmuck that I am, I didn't get a picture of the hawk while we were really close because I was in awe at the time of how close it actually let us get to it. 

STILL KICKIN'

Brrrr....fall is setting in and it is starting to get really cool outside. I can't believe how cool it has become in the last week. A majority of the trees surrounding our house have lost most of their leaves, the horses coats are starting to get thick, and we need out jackets and hats when we step outside. I am hoping to get outside today and snap a few pics of the horses for the girls scrapbooks before they start to look too shaggy.

I have two tests and one assignment to hand in before we leave for Vegas on Friday. My Structure & Anatomy class is doing wonderful, which really suprises me, but oddly my Fundamentals of Medical Transcription isn't doing well. I have delayed some of my work in Fund of MT because of recent events among family and this has caused my grade in this class to drop. If I focus really hard on it and contact my MT professor for help with the next assignment due, I am pretty sure I can recover from it. The professor in this class just happends to be my advisor too.

I have discovered that I really enjoy getting flowers. Sending someone flowers can instantly change a persons mood. Because of a really bad few days, my mother came to my house with flowers, a really nifty fiber optic pumpkin arrangement, some candy, and a pair of cowboy boots for Cassie. It made me feel so good. I love my parents. They are always there when I need them. It's weird, but they always seem to know when I need something, what it is that I need, and just when to do it before I even know it myself. It's creepy, but my dad has always been good a predicting things before they happen and about 97% of the time he is right.

My mom is going to start Christmas baking soon so that means a trip to Grand Forks...Yeah!! My plan is for mom to drop me off at Kevin and Aprils, if they are home, while mom does her shopping so that I can visit with them for a bit. I will also be able to give April all the clothes that I have been saving for her. The trip won't be for another week or two so hopefully we will have time to plan things out.

ATTENTION ALL DOGS!!!
THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW?
Instructions for properly hugging a baby.
1. First, spy a baby.
 

2. Second, be sure that the object you spied was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.
 

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process. **Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier.
 

5. The "paw slide" - Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.
 

6. Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry, climate-controlled environment for the rest of your life. Good luck to all of you!

 

CONGRATULATIONS STACY AND KEVIN

My cousin Stacy Cederstrom and her husband Kevin are the proud parents of another baby girl. Her name is Nora Jeanine and she was born Wednesday morning weighing 5 lbs 5 oz and 18 inches long. Little Nora wasn't supposed to be here until November so she is about two months early. Stacy's water broke on Monday and they tried for two days to stop her from going in to labor but the baby was born anyway.

Nora is in the NICU at Innovis in Fargo, ND and everything, so far, is going okay.

I called my cousin yesterday afternoon to talk to her for a little bit. Being a mother of a preemie myself, I know exactly what she is going through. Jessie was about the same size as Nora when she was born. Stacy had some of her own questions to ask and I answered them as best as I could for her.

My cousin is being discharged on Friday and I am sure that Nora is not going to be able to go home with them. I will have to call and keep in touch with her because the hardest part about giving birth to a preemie is having to leave them behind when you have to leave.

AN EVENING OF TV PROGRAMMING

I have been totally obsessed with everything about Steve Irwin since his passing. Some of my homework has even taken a back seat now and then so I can check websites for updates. Pathetic I know. Some how though, I just can't believe that the man is dead.

I found out on the Animal Planet website that Animal Planet is airing his memorial this evening:

Animal Planet is airing Steve Irwin's memorial service exclusively in the U.S. commercial free on Tuesday, September 19th from 9-10 PM ET/PT, with an encore broadcast airing 12-1 AM ET/PT. The memorial service, entitled STEVE IRWIN: HE CHANGED OUR WORLD, will be a same-day broadcast (with a two-hour delay) of the event Wednesday morning in Australia. In addition, Animal Planet is carrying the memorial service in most of its regions worldwide.

The public memorial service for the beloved animal conservationist and television personality is being held in the "Crocoseum," a 5,500-seat stadium at Irwin's Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Australia. Members of the Irwin Family, as well as Irwin's long-time friend and producer, John Stainton, are expected to speak. Celebrities and dignitaries worldwide are expected to attend.

This works out good, because then I won't miss Nip/Tuck either. I just hope that the girls go to be early so that I can watch my shows tonight.

LOTS OF THINGS

WOO-HOO! My grade finally came in for my test grade. I got an 89% which is a high B. So I am still maintaining my B average. I still have to study for my two tests before my bigger chapter test on Oct 4. They shouldn't be too bad though.

My mom came over on Saturday morning at 8 am so that Darren, my dad, and I could move hay for the horses. I believe that this is the first year, since owning the horses, that we have had all our hay before the end of October. We had to do it on Saturday because nobody was around to watch the girls on Sunday and the following week Darren works the weekend and then the next week after that we are leaving for Vegas.....Tigre, I still need to talk to you about VIP.

I did something totally embarrassing while we were moving hay. We got our last load of hay in and I was starting to put up a fence around the hay so the horses wouldn't dig in it right away. I was talking to my father who was watching the dog run around the yard and just as my dad turned to look at me, I yanked the wire too hard and the end came around really fast and nailed me right above my eyebrow near my nose. I could tell that my dad REALLY wanted to laugh hard about it. He was grinning and smiling, I was sure he was going to bust out, but being the cool guy he is he just pretended like it didn't happen. That was cool. It's obvious now because a black/blue mark has formed.

Apparently our trailer house is already for sale. I got a phone call from a woman wanting to buy our trailer. Her husband works for the man who is putting up the bio diesel plant. The guy at the plant told her husband that we were moving and the house is for sale and he could probably buy it from us. I had to apologize to her and explain to her that Darren and I have talked about moving but it may not be too soon. She sounded a little put-off about the whole situation but it was her husband who had bad information.

Cassie's birthday falls on Saturday this year so that's the day we will be celebrating. I am thinking of having the birthday party here at our house instead of at my mothers like we normally do, just depending upon how many guests are going to come. I think we are going to do the Disney Princesses theme but I'm not 100% sure. Cassie has informed us that she wants that new Barbie doll with the dog named Tanner that poops. I have been thinking about writing to Matel because now all Cassie does is walk around on her hands and knees, pretends to poop, and then tells not to step in it. Great! It wouldn't be too bad if she just did it at home, but she does it every where.

5 YEARS

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. We don't have anything special planned. Darren left the house around 5 this morning to go out goose hunting with his cousins. I am continuing with my daily routine with the girls and trying to get some transcriptions done for my Fundamentals of Medical Transcription class.

Darren was thinking of running up to Willow City later this evening and leaving the girls with his mom and we could go have steaks at the bar for our anniversary. The bar in Willow has really good food and it would be nice to do something different.

Yesterday I had to take the girls in to Devils lake because Jessie has localized white lesions on her lips. The doctor didn't think it was thrush because Jessie was still eating and drinking from a bottle, but figured that it was cause by some kind of yeast. Jessie is on medication for 14 days. She should finish the meds right before we leave for Vegas.

Cassie was just terrible during the trip to down. She is definitely turning into a diva. She was running all over the place and wouldn't stay next to me. When we were done at the clinic we walked over to the hospital to visit my mom and Cassie was running all over Same Day Surgery. She wanted to go to the park so I told her that if she behaved for the rest of the trip we would stop in Leeds.

She did fine during the ride but once we got to the park and all she did was cry and whine when I put her in a swing. It was terrible. I started to feel embarrassed because there are homes all around the park, including an apartment building, and I didn't want someone thinking I was abusing my child. I told Cassie to quit or we would go home. She wouldn't stop so I went to take her out of the swing and she ran and hid behind the slide and started screaming at the top of her lungs. I had never heard her scream so loud. I put Jessie back in the car and I went to get Cassie. Cassie flung herself around, kicked, and screamed all the way to the car. When I put her in the car she continued to whale as loud as she could and she was kicking everything she could inside the car. It was horrible!

She screamed all the way home. Then she wouldn't get out of the car so I had to pull her out. Then she wouldn't walk up to the house so I had to chase her to the house to get her inside.

I don't know what got into her yesterday but whatever it was I hope that it doesn't come back anytime soon. Oh the joys of parenting.

FEELING GOOD

I am feeling pretty confident about my test. I found it to be pretty easy, with the exception of about 5 questions that I honestly did not know the answer to at all. I luck is on my side, I may get the questions correct because they were multiple choice and True & False. I pass the test with a C, which is a 75%, so I know I am okay because I am positive I did much better than that.

Now I get to start with the Skeletal, muscle, and nervous systems. This should be really interesting. If I do about an hour of work each day, by the time the test date comes, I should be ready. I have to take a couple of smaller, more simple tests between tests 1 and 2 so I may take those in a week or two.

FIRST HUMAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY TEST

Shortly I will be taking off for Devils Lake to meet with my proctor and take my first Human Anatomy & Physiology test. I studied most of the night, well, until 1:30 and I got a lot of studying done today while waiting for my mom to get off of work.

I have definitions down well, I have studied all the types of cells, I have memorized all the components that make up cells (I memorized the diagram of the cell too) along with membranes and all other fun things that make up organs/organisms

I feel really good about the test. I hope that I don't draw a blank before I begin the test.

Everyone wish me luck. I will let you know how well I do when I get the grade back.

I LOVE MY MOM

I want every one to know that my mother is the greatest person in the world. Without her I wouldn't be able to do the things that I am currently doing. She gives me support; whether it's words, watching the girls while I do college work, financial help, or just being around me.

My mom has been putting in a lot of hours at the hospital. Even though she had been to my house earlier to drop off some Pampered Chef items, she came back two hours later to watch the girls so that I could run to Rugby and pick up more formula for Jessie. I didn't realize how low the can was until after my mom left the house the first time.

Thanks mom for everything that you do. I know that mothers feel invisible most of the time, but I just wanted to let you know that you are not invisible to me. Everything you do for me I appreciate because you help me keep life in order. I would be a complete mess without you.

Okay, now on other things...

On the discussion board for my Human Anatomy and Physiology class, the people who took the test said that if the rest of us study the Study Guide and a diagram from chapter 3 we should all do well. So that is what I have put my time towards this evening. Wish me luck for my test coming up on Wednesday.

My brother came home this weekend to visit. He is going to be heading off for the Medora/Beach area close to the Montana border. I guess the editor of the paper there put in her two weeks notice so Mikes boss needs him to go there and run the paper until they find someone to take the position. The Star (where Mike works now) is going to pay for a hotel room, he won't lose his medical benefits, and he gets to take the company car. They may even pay for his meals but they are still trying to work that out. It's about a 6 hour drive from here so it's hard telling when Mike will make it back to see the family. I am not even sure if he is going to be able to come home for Cassie's birthday on Oct 7. I am very proud of him. Mike has worked very hard to get where he is at and I am glad that he is getting this opportunity. Who knows, maybe Mike will like it and take the editor position himself.

WARNING: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE

The pilot light to our furnace hasn't been lit since we ran out of propane about a month ago and it has been cold, really cold, in the evenings and early mornings lately. So I called out neighbor this morning to see if he could run over and see if he could start the pilot light for me. I am paranoid to light it because I am afraid that I will blow up the house if I try. He said that he would come over so in the mean time, I just turned on the oven and left the oven door open to get heat in the house to take the chill out of the air.

Jessie and I were playing in the living room while waiting for our neighbor, Cassie was still sleeping in her bed, when all of a sudden we heard this loud bang sound come from the kitchen. I immediately thought that something happened to the oven and my house could be on fire. I ran into the kitchen and the oven was fine. I had noticed that the magnetic alphabet letters that are usually on the front of the fridge were now scattered all over the kitchen floor. A closer inspection revealed that the door to the fridge was now open.

I opened up the fridge. In 100 years I would have never expected of see what I did. A 2 qt plastic bottle of orange tangerine Juciy Juice had burst. It left the wonderful orange sticky juice all over everything inside the fridge. The pressure was so great that it popped open the fridge door causing the magnetic letters to fall off the door and onto floor. I had to clean out my fridge anyway, but that is not the way I wanted to get it done.

Shortly after the great juice experience, my neighbor showed up. He checked out the furnace for me, but he wasn't comfortable with the way this furnace lit either and suggested that I have someone from Cenex come over and light it for me. He even checked the propane tank for me and there is only about 14% left in the tank and he isn't sure if that is enough to light the furnace or not. Some propane may have to be put in before it is lit anyway. Then when someone comes to fill our propane tank, they can light the furnace at the same time.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings.

CRAZY DAY ALREADY

DOUG YOU PERV!

No....seriously, I must acknowledge that Doug pointed out that my opening paragraph of the previous blog sounds like something that belongs in a harliquin novel. I didn't realize it at the time I was writing it. I laughed when I reread it after Doug's comment. I didn't realize that I left something sounding very personal with all my readers. I hope you all had a great laugh.

I had to write one of my professors because I was confused with an assignment. Online it said that numbers 1,2,5,8,9 were due. I thought they were the number to the questions she wanted answered. I got an email today saying that those are the Medical Transcripts from the CD that we got with our Fund of Med Trans book. So I spent a frantic 30 minutes searching my computer desk looking for the CD that I had miss placed because I didn't think it was important.

When I opened up the CD, the instructions for loading the software informed me that I had to have my foot pedal in order to use it. I had not gotten around to ordering that yet either. I made a call to my mom and placed the order with her credit card and I will pay her back when my financial aid refund check from WSC arrives. The pedal should be here in about five days which will give me just enough time to hand in the assignments.

I need to do some cleaning in the kitchen. Darren stops by the house tonight during his route. There is a new guy driving a long with him so I want the house to look clean so that Darren isn't embarrassed.

I am jealous that April, Kevin, and their friends are heading to the cities to the the Body Exhibit. My lactation consultant and her family went there last month and she said that it was wonderful. There are pregnant women in months of pregnancy even for people to look at. I think that would be really neat to see how babies develop, grow, and basically exist inside the womb. If you can, take pics for me!!

CRIKEY!

Sorry about the absence. It has been wild around here lately.

I have been working hard on my classes. I am concerned with my Human Anatomy so I am going to have to spend some extra time on it during the evenings after the girls to go bed. Fund of Med Trans is going pretty well to be truthful.

We didn't have a phone for a little bit so I couldn't check email or my blog. One day last week I went to a friends house in Rugby to finish up some homework because she had internet. The phone was supposed to be working yesterday afternoon, but they didn't have time to get to it so it didn't start working until late this morning. Then to start the day off at 10:30 am we lost power in the house. I gathered the girls really quick and we ran over to my mom's so that I could call Ottertail and the phone company from her place since our phone wasn't yet working. Ottertail said that some guys were around the area working and there was a problem with a transformer that knocked out power. We weren't without power for very long...thank God!

I was sad to hear about the passing of Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. I used to watch The Crocodile Hunter Diaries all the time. I thought the man was insane for some of the stuff that he did. I think that is why I admired him. I will always remember his energetic, outgoing attitude. He would get so excited about things that I used to think he was on crack. I also can't help but feel just terrible for his wife Terry and their two small children. What a shame to loose a wonderful conservationist and wildlife humanitarian to such a freak accident.

I am getting excited for our trip to Vegas. We are staying at the New York, NY Hotel & Casino. It is home to the Coyote Ugly bar and Cirque du Soleil. There is a big sculpture of the Statue of Liberty out front and it looks like the Empire State building. There is a bunch of restaurants inside of it and they even have a rollercoaster. You can check it out for yourself at either http://www.vegas.com/resorts/nyny/?ic_campID=26 or www.nynyhotelcasino.com

I have been slowly introducing Jessie to formula since I am not going to be able to leave behind enough milk for every feeding. Jessie only takes about 4 oz of milk since she is eating solid foods really well. Jessie wasn't too enthused about it at first but is now getting better at taking it. I still nurse her in the morning and in the evening and there should be enough milk here at my house for my mother and mother-in-law to use it at those times.

The house is only $800 away from being paid off. Since the house will be paid off before January, we are thinking of staying in it just a little bit longer. It's tempting to just move the home to Rugby instead of buying a new place because lot rent in Rugby is only $80 a month. Compair that to $300 house payments it tempts me to hook it up behind the impala and see how far we get. We are going to have to think about that.

Over the weekend, my friend from Rugby came down with her two girls and I taughter her daughter how to ride horse. The young girl was really excited about it and was suprised that she was riding by herself in 20 minutes. I let her ride my horse around our yard for a while before we all went back inside the house. Cassie wasn't too happy that she had to share the horse with someone. Infact, when the other girl started riding by herself, Cassie wanted me to put the horse away so we could go back inside right away. After a bit Cassie got over it.