The Wild West Show: November 2006

WRONG ASSIGNMENTS AND THE POWER WENT OUT

So far, it has been an interesting day today. After completing my dictation for Medical Transcription I found an old email from my instructor stating a change to the Pathology transcriptions. I transcribed five dictations, only four have to be handed in, and an new one was added in the old email. I thought I was finished, but I have a lot more to do.

The power went out today. I called the neighbor to see if their power was out too. It was, so I called Ottertail Power Company. I big line went down due to the ice from last nights drizzle/snow. It affected a few towns and they were not sure when we would have the power back. Fortunately it only lasted about an hour.

Jessie is cruzing like crazy since she started crawling last week. She is constantly following her big sister. A path is starting to wear in my living room carpet from Jessie going back-and-forth so much. Well, not really, but I won't be suprised if a path does show up. Jessie isn't doing too bad around the Christmas tree. She likes to sit in front of it and stare at the lights.

Well, I better get back to fixing my medical transcription reports before I hand in the assignments.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Just us gals. Jessie, Mommy, and Cassidy.

"Yeah. That's right pops. I have your TV remote. You try to come over and take it."

"How I just absolutely love my Christmas tree! Can we open presents now?"

KEEPING BUSY

The bread turned out really well. I must say that I am surprised considering how it turned out the last time I made it. The only bad thing is that the slices of the 2 pound loaf are too big for the toaster. So in order to toast them, I have to cut them down the middle. It doesn't bother me, I just makes for some pretty funky looking toast, but it tastes the same. I think the next time around I am going to just make a 1 pound loaf and see what appends.

Last night, the ground was covered in a nice blanket of snow. There isn't huge amount of snow, but enough to cover the top of your boot when you walk outside. Forty miles north of us they got 6 inches of snow last night. I am glad I don't live up there.

Hello is really making me mad. I have tried to post 4 pictures and the only one Hello will allow to show up on my blog is the picture of the Christmas tree. Sometimes I just don't really know why I fight with Hello. Grrrrr. If any of you see more than just the Christmas tree, please let me know. I will try and keep working on the problem.

Cassie and I wrapped a couple of gifts today and put them under the tree. It's only been two hours and Cassie thinks they have been under the tree long enough and need to be unwrapped now. Too bad they are not for her, they are for Auntie Lynnette. Nana and Grandpa need to take the presents with them when they got to Aunties place for Christmas.

Today I am going to work on cleaning the corners of the house that are normally ignored and finish up the laundry. Then my house is all clean again. I have found that nothing makes me feel better right now than a super clean house.

"Yeah. That's right pops. I have your TV remote. You come and try to get it."

Oh Christmas tree. How lovely are thy branches.

ORDINARY WEEKEND

Darren was gone most of the weekend again. It was the last weekend of deer hunting, so after our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, Darren headed off to Willow City. He came back home on Sunday evening.

Today, Darren and my father got the ditch along our house burnt. We have been wanting to do that forever. Since there was a light dusting of snow on the ground and it was drizzeling, Darren decided that today was a safe day to do it because he wouldn't have been able to start a forest fire even if he tried. Darren also got some of the old electric fence posts out of storage and put them around our septic tank and along the garage where there is junk so he doesn't hit them with the snow blower this winter and also that nobody drives over them with a vehicle.

The last time I went out shopping, I bought enough stuff so that I could start making my own bread. I have this really nice bread machine and have used it about 3 times. I am currently in the process of making a 2 lb loaf. It started out a little too soft so I have slowly been adding flour to it so that the dough rolls properly into a ball while mixing in the maching. I have added so much right now that I think in the end it will more resemble a 7 lb loaf. Regardless of how it turns out, we will eat it because I am going to need the bread in the morning.

I don't have much planned this week except to start cracking hard on my Human Anatomy books. My finale has to be on my professors desk by Dec. 15 and it covers 6 chapters so I need all the time I can get. Plus, I have ten more transcriptions to do before I am finished with my Fundementals of Medical Transcription class and I want to hand those in as soon as possible as well. In the spring, I am thinking of only picking up one class which will be Medical Terminology II. I have been hearing from some other people that it's pretty tough.

The husband took a few pics of the kids and I yesterday. I will post them as soon as I can get Hello working properly.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Actually,Thanksgiving is officially over right now, but I did not get time to post that yesterday. I hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. Mine could have been a lot better.

MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

When my girls grow up, I hope they think I am half the wonderful person that my mother is.

My mom did something for me today that made me cry on the way to Devils Lake. I have been worried what to do about Christmas for the girls for a while. Darren's job has been going slow because of the upcoming holidays so that puts pressure on having any other kind of extra money for the fun things. My mom thought that I really helped her out a lot the last couple of weeks with her cookies, even though I don't feel like I really did all that much. In fact, I think I could have done a lot more. Anyway, mom still appreciated it, and before I left her house this afternoon, she gave me money to spend on the girls for Christmas. She even told me to take half the money and buy the gift that Cassie really wants for Christmas. I don't know if my mom knew what her generosity did for me and the girls today. She just enabled me to give the girls a nice, small, happy Christmas.

So, when I went to Wal-Mart before heading up to the hospital to take my test, I went to Wal-Mart and bought Cassie her Santa gift. That moment made me feel very good because I was able to get something that I know Cassie will enjoy on Christmas morning. It's moments like these when I hope that my children will be able to look upon me someday and think of me as a good mother, and that I was alway there for them when they needed me the most. My mother is wonderful, so it will be pretty tough to live up to, but I will try.

NOT MUCH GOING ON AT ALL

I spent most of my day cleaning up the house and rearranging the stuff in the kitchen. It took me a while to do it since Jessie isn't feeling well. In the evening the girls and I headed over to my mom's house because she needed help making some more cookies. Half-way in to making her seven layer bars, she realized that she didn't have any peanut butter chips. The grocery store was close so I called Brandi (her brother owns the grocery store in Leeds) to get her brothers phone number to see if he would let us in to the store. Brandi said her brother was in Canada but another employee was in charge. The other employee's number was not listed in the phone book so Cassie and I quickly drove over to her house. She was home and she didn't mind running up and opening the store, selling us one bag of peanut butter chips, and count down the till for the second time. I did, however, manage to make my mothers coconut joys before coming back home.

I am looking forward to the big Thanksgiving that my mother has planned at her house. It will be nice to see the cousins and Cassie will have a BUNCH of little kids to play with. I just hope that Cassie can share her toys at Nana's with five other children. It's supposed to be nice so hopefully they can all go outside and play for a majority of the time that they are there.

I CAN'T THINK OF A TITLE

Early last week the girls and I got bored so we put up our Christmas tree. Yeah, pretty crazy, I know since it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. I love Christmas. It has always been my favorite holiday of the year. The tree, the songs, the food, all the family around...it's wonderful all wonderful. Now that I have my two girls, the holiday has become even more enjoyable for me. Last night Cassie was staring at the tree all light up, and she kept asking me when the presents were going to come under the tree.

Yesterday I came close to cutting off my thumb when I was peeling potatoes for supper. Not only did I cut it, but I also managed to take a huge gouge out of the center of the cut that almost forms a perfect hole. It's pretty deep but didn't require stitches. At least I didn't think so. It hurts pretty bad and probably will for a few days.

I have started to do a lot of MySpace lately. It seems like everyone I used to hang out with when I was in high school have contacted me through MySpace. I will, however, still be faithful to Blogger. Anyone wanting my MySpace info just let me know.

I HAVE to get in to Devils Lake and take a test. I never made it in last. The last test has to be physically ON my professors desk in Williston by or before the 15th of December. This only gives me a few weeks to read and study 5 more chapters. Yikes! I know I can do it though.

AT LAST IT IS OVER

Well, for me anyway.

The girls and I spent the last two nights trying to help my mother put the last of her cookie trays together and make buns. I must emphasis on the word "try" because I really wasn't much of a help at all. Yesterday afternoon I started to burn out and I crashed from there on. Today I was supposed to help her wash dishes so that she didn't have to stop and do it while she was making the buns, but instead I fell alseep on the couch when the girls were taking their nap. I'm sorry that I wasn't much of a help mom.

I think I may have to take Jessie in to see the doctor. She has been having a problem settling down and sleeping for naps and bedtime. She has a really wicked diaper rash and the last time she had a rash that bad she had an ear infection. I will see what happends tonight. I am going to have to call my doctor too. I think my PCOS is acting up again and I need to make sure what I am doing for it is right or if I need to be doing something else.

I got a letter today from Benson County Social Services saying that we were approved for fule assistance. They are going to pay for 95% of our fuel that we recieve. This will help out a lot.

I am getting excited for Thanksgiving. My mom is having some of our cousins, along with some other aunts and an uncle over for Thanksgiving. We haven't done anything big like that for a very long time so it will be nice to get together. My mom is thinking of also doing a cheap gift or recipe exchange too. Then afterwards I can put up my Chirstmas tree. If it was up to me, I would have my tree up year round.

A SHOWER FOR APRIL

Yesterday I went to April's baby shower. April and Kevin had a wonderful turn-out and they received a lot of really nice things for little Aiden. I gave them a nice white wicker basket lined with a rubber ducky material and inside the basket I put a blanket, a Johnson & Johnson starter kit, and a little toy. Totally by coincidence another friend gave them the same blanket and used the same gift bag and baby shower card that I used. It was creepy. I also dropped off the last of the baby clothes that I found for them.

The shower was a lot of fun. We played the baby food testing game and the all-time favorite "guess what is in the diaper" game. I, along with another gal, won the door prizes for the baby food game. I had help since Jessie is eating all the stuff we tested.

The food was yummy. April made this really wonderful taco dip and April's mom made a really good nacho dip that I HAVE to have the recipes for.

When I got to my parents place to pick up the girls the air was filled with the wonderful smell of burning wood from their fireplace. One of the best things I love about this time of season are the smells in the air, especially when wood and field stubble are being burned. There are other scents too but I won't get into them since my father would be the only person who would appreciate or understand them.

FOR TIGRE

Because I know that he will appreciate it.

BUSY

Darren got home late Thursday night. He got up right away in the morning and headed out the door to go hunting. He hunts up around his parents home near Bottineau and he made plans to be there all weekend so I gathered the girls and we having been spending the night at my moms helping her get ready for the craft and bake sale coming up.

We have made some progress with the baking. Not near as much as my mom has been hoping for though. You can't say we haven't been giving it a good try. My mom makes cookie trays that have six of about four to five different kinds of cookies on them. She likes to have about 100 or more trays so that means we are making over 600 of each cookie.....Yeah....We have cookies up the ass. A great thing about this though is that all of my mothers baked goods sell really well so she won't be bringing much, if anything, home after the sale. And we get to eat the rejects.

I am really looking forward to Aprils baby shower tomorrow. My mom is sending me with a list so that I can do some shopping for her while I am there. She is going to watch the girls for me while I am out-and-about. It will be nice getting out for a bit, especially to see April. I also found out today that my friend, Jeff Jacobson, and his wife are having a baby boy too. I can't wait to see their child either. Okay, I can't wait to see any baby. I am a woman and women like babies.

I only have one more test and six set of transcriptions left and then this semester is over. I am looking forward to the break over Christmas.

Tonight at dinner time Jessie started to act really cute so I dug out the camera to get some pictures. I also took some shots of big sister Cassie too. Here are some of the better shots.

To help occupy the busy hands while I was giving Jessie her dinner, I gave her a Ziploc storage container lid. It worked very well.

It is hard to not love a face like that, even if the face does happen to be covered with dinner.

I just had to post this one. In this picture, Jessie reminds me of some drunk person letting out a huge belch.

Cassie really likes to hold Jessie and always has me take a picture when she does. This picture is actually pretty good compared to all the other ones that I have. Yes, I do realize that Jessie's tongue is hanging out. For some reason, Jessie sticks her tongue out a lot right now so this look is pretty normal.

I was able to get this picture really quickely when Cassie was moving around in the chair. You woldn't believe how hard it is for Cassie to sit still!

I was trying to get Cassie to look at me so that I could get a really good picture of her. However, when she wasn't making all those funny faces she was staring at something else.

Hunting has started. On the opening day Darren's father shot this really nice buck. I am not into deer that much, but even I think that is worth mounting and it could possibly win a Big Buck contest.

WTF

After the sewer man left my house I remembered some stuff in the trunk of the car that I was too tired to carry in last night after the kids went to bed. I went out to get the stuff and noticed that both horses were staring intently at the north half of the pasture...the half that we do not own. I thought it might have been a deer or something so I walked over to a clearing in the trees to take a peek and I couldn't believe what I saw. Here the sewer guy was emptying his sewer truck right in front of the barn.

Now, I don't know anything about the sewer profession, but I didn't think a person could just dump out raw sewage on the ground like that. Also, the neighbor and I get along like oil and water. I don't want him blaming my husband or myself for that mess so I made a phone call the towns friendly mayor. Unfortuantly the mayor was not in but his wife does and I told his wife what I saw. She said they have had problems with him too. I don't want to get the man in trouble or anything, but I don't want or neighbor hollering at us either.

And another WTF....

On the news tonight they mentioned that police believe they have physical evidence that Joseph Duncan (the man that abducted Shasta Groening and killed her family) killed Russell Turcotte (19). On July 12, 2002 Turcotte was on his way home to Montana from a hippie gathering in Michigan. He wired his parents for money when he was in Grand Forks but the money was never picked up. He was last seen in the vicinity of the 4300 block of Gateway Drive near Highway 2. On November 12, Turcottes nearly nude body was found in a shelter belt north of Penn, ND which is just 20 miles east of York. To think that Joseph Duncan was that close to my house freaks me out. Thank God that I didn't have the girls yet at that time.

A LOT TO POST TODAY

Voting day. I am pretty sure about the people that I am going to vote for. I am probably going to run up to the Leeds community center this afternoon when my mother gets off of work so that she can watch the girls for me. I think she plans on stopping to vote on her way home so I won't be busting in on her voting time.

Today inthe mail I got an invitation to the baby shower for April and baby. April, of course you know, that I am going to be there. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I may even be able to talk my mom into coming with. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ON SUNDAY! Will Kev be with?

Ms. Jessie is so close to crawling. She gets up on her knees all the time to reach stuff and she will rock really fast back and forth when she is thinking about wanting to move. She can push herself up to a sitting position when she is laying on the floor now too so she doesn't' scream for someone to sit her up anymore which is good. Lately she has gotten into the habit of screaming as loudly as she can when she wants attention and it's starting to drive me nuts.

The sewer guy is out here this morning pumping out my sewer. He just happened to be around the neighborhood and stopped by. He knows that Darren isn't around much so he keeps and eye on the sewer. It's a good thing that he showed up to because I was going to call him. My toilets and drains were acting funny and making noises so I was worried about the tank being full. When the sewer guy checked the tank it was only about two inches from the lid to the tank. That could have been a real expensive mess.

It seems that when one person around here dies, there are normally about two more that also pass away. Today is the funeral for a woman who was 99 years old. I knew her from when I lived in Churchs Ferry. She used to make all the baked goods for the cafe there and everyone referred to her as Grandma. She was a very nice, very sweet woman. Also, a very young woman who was 39 and married to my fathers cousins son died not far from Churchs Ferry on a gravel road when she lost control of her pickup and it rolled throwing her from the vehicle. I am going to have to go to Jan's Stall Mall in Leeds where Darren's aunt is selling some of her handstamped cards and pick up a couple of sympathy cards.

This weekend I lose my husband to beautiful brown haired, dark eyed beauties. It is finally that time of the season that turns most of us housewives into widows. Yep, you have guessed it. It's deer hunting season. He will be gone each weekend in November until he gets his deer. So everyone pray that he gets his deer on opening weekend.

OKAY, I AM A PRETTY BORING PERSON

It was a very beautiful day today so Cassie and I went out and took a horseback ride. Well, actually Cassie rode first around the yard with me leading the horse and after she was done I left Cassie and her little sister home with dad while I took a ride. I also took the dog long with me too for the very first time. I haven't taken him before because I wasn't sure exactly how he would act but he did just fine. It's a good thing I didn't take a very long ride. The dog was pretty tired when we got back. I watched him for a while out the living room window and the dog didn't move for three hours.

Cassie's cold isn't doing too bad. It's not too much better but it isn't getting worse which is a good thing. Little Jessie on the other hand has started to get a barky cough. I am hoping that it only lasts a few more days.

My eBay auction has started. I put it up for 5 days. Nobody has bid on it yet but there is still 3 days left. I hope they sell so that I have some Christmas money. Christmas is going to be a little tight this year.

I have a test to take by the 10th. When I go into town to take the test I am going to run by Aprils mothers house and drop off the other two boxes of baby clothes that I have for her. I also need to get all the 0-3 month clothing that I have together so I can get those on eBay.

NOT TOO MUCH TO SAY

Not a whole hell of a lot has been happening. Tonight the girls and I are spending the night at my mothers place. My mom and I are making more cookies for the hospital craft and bake sale that is coming up.

The girls both have little colds. I don't know if they can even be classified as colds but they have runny noses from trick-or-treating out in the cold weather on Halloween.

My grades in this semester classes are better than what I figured them out to be but I am still constantly worried about the one. Thankfully I am not the only person worried in that class. The professor has started weekly chat discussions on Monday's and Tuesday's for questions and comments on the weekly assignments if we are having trouble.

We were not able to move the building to be used as a barn on Monday like we has planned. Snow fell that day like you wouldn't believe and it was WAY too cold. Another man is giving a building to my parents so that they can have a barn at their place when I shuttle the horses between my place and theirs. My father is going out to look at the building tomorrow. Might as well pick it up if they are giving it away.

I have gotten all my old baby clothes together and I am going to start selling them on eBay. Tomorrow my I will put up my first auction for my preemie and newborn clothing. I hope they go well. I plan on using the money for Christmas and anything else I plan on putting away.

I met with Benson county Social Services yesterday. I should know by the end of next week what we qualify for and what we don't. As long as they give us fuel assistance, I don't care if we don't care about anything else. I would be nice to be able to get everything though.

HALLOWEEN

I took the kids up to the Leeds community center. The Leeds Active Women (LAW) were having games, prizes, and supper for the kids from 3:30 to 5 before trick-or-treating.

Cassie had fun playing with the other children and participating in games. She has a terrible case of selective hearing so I am glad that we didn't stay too long.

At 5:00 my mother took the girls, I, Billy Jo, and Billy's son AJ around town in the car to take the kids out. I took Jessie up to three doors and then left her in the car. It was terribly cold and I didn't want to make her sick, also, she fell asleep in the car driving between homes.

At the end of the evening Cassie started acting up. I told Darren that next year he can take the kids out and he said that he would if he is home.

All-in-all it wasn't too bad. Both kids got a bunch of candy that I am sure mommy and daddy will help them eat.

I had to post this pic of Jessie because it's a wonderful pic of her and I can't believe that I took it.

Jessie practicing her scary Halloween face.

Two of the cutest trick-or-treaters you will ever see.

Here is Jessie in her horse costume. Darren swears that it looks like a cow.

You can see an eye, a ear, and a little bit of the mane in this picture.

Cassie looks so cute in her cheap fairy Halloween costume.

Cassie working hard on a craft item.

A wonderful candy corn magnet that mommy will very proudly display on her fridge.

The pumpkin walk. This was the first game of the night. It was time consuming as well as challenging. Fortunately we were not at it that long before Cassie finally won some juice.