New Times...New...

Tonight, as I sit here, waiting for my phone to charge, I was reflecting on a few things. First things first though...Tonight I write this from my new place. Still in North Dakota that is...just not in Wahpeton. I still make frequent (and I mean frequent) visits there. My mom, Paul, grandma are all still there. Barb and Alvin moved there in 2010 and then left the fall of 2012, and then in January of 2013 came back. The last few years have been....well, for lack of better words...a HUGE change. Intense maybe, but all for the better! :) But for now I am going to leave it at that. I work early 1 day every 2 weeks, and want to guess what I work tomorrow. HAHA! It is now almost 11 PM and since I work at 5 AM tomorrow (hey someone has to do it right?). Also, I do not mind them so much, but tomorrow I am leaving after work, and since I am almost done with my schedules for the week, I am hoping to keep it to 10 hours tomorrow. Then off to Fergus and then to Wahpeton until Sunday. Some weeks I will come back Monday for work then come home, but my mom has to make a trip up to do some shopping. Probably going to make Rae come down also. I will detail you in. Loves and laughter. ~J~

Wow!!!!

It seems that the summer went by SO FAST! But then again, it is almost time (again) for my birthday! *YAY YAY* Over the summer, we did make trips to the Twin Cities a few times...good times! The 1 that we made in July was, like, the ultimate in good times for me at least! Rae, Alicia and I took down a friend of mine to the airport there so she could fly home. Well, she had to be to the airport by 5 A.M. and I almost made it! LOL. In reality, she did make it there by then but got caught in security and then her flight ended up taking off early (seriously I KNOW!). So, she ended up on a flight about 5 hours later...but by then of course my phone was dead so I didn't know that until 4 or so hours later. But I left the airport and I was almost lost...trying to find my way back to the hotel that I had left Rae and Alicia at...so, of course I do have a few strings down there...and 1 of them is a pilot out of MSP so I had to call him for directions...HEHE! He then gets me on the road back and hangs up...and not 2 minutes later calls me to ask "WHY am I not there?". So, it was story time...until my phone dies. :P But we made it a whole day trip...and that was a lot of good times...Shopping at Mall of America, Maplewood Mall and Roseville finished off with Hard Rock Cafe! Then to come home (and oh yeah I hadn't slept yet either since before we left Wahpeton) and I had to drive because Rae wasn't driving in the Cities. We stopped in Albertville Outlet Mall and did, yet, MORE shopping! Oh it was worth it though! Then came my step-dad's birthday...and the day that we got a new...DOG! His name is Buddy...AKA Lucky! We are pretty sure that he is deaf and blind in 1 eye so that is how he got his nickname. He was actually 1 year old on Christmas Day. So now we have the 2 dogs and Oreo seems to like him. She likes to have a playmate though. He is a Dauschaund and she is Border Collie/Blue Heeler and he likes to pretend that he can run as much and fast as she does...LOL. She runs 1 step and he has to go like 3-4 steps to match her 1...It is actually kind of cute to watch them. We did actually have a temporary dog also about 2 weeks ago. A Min-Pin/Terrier mix. Her name was Baylee and Rae was dogsitting for a girl she knows. That lasted about 2 days until Rae realized that with going to school and working it is actually hard to take care of 3 dogs. Now of course the subject of Ryan. Well, he came again in February and I was actually in St. Cloud with my mom and grandma. Then a few people started "snooping" aka asking questions turns out that he is actually...MARRIED! Ok, so I would have NEVER guessed that in a million years!! When I was told that my head just spun...good thing that I was just a passenger at the time and not the driver yet. So, needless to say I was 1 *shocked* girl! We stopped for lunch and met my grandma's nephew and then went to the home that my grandma's sister had recently been moved into (at the tender age of 99 1/2 that is). Well, sadly she recently passed away and that was tough for my grandma. My mom and aunt went with her down to St. Cloud for the prayer service/funeral and then my grandma stayed down there with family for about a week or so...then her nephew brought her back to Wahpeton and then he ended up getting stranded here due to a massive snow storm that pretty much shut down a portion of the tri-state area...in March that is! Not as bad as last year though when we got a snow storm in April...that will not happen this year though! We already do have enough snow...and then of course we are right on 3 rivers. It won't be as bad as 1997 flood of the Red River Valley but this 1 is going to hit Fargo pretty good...LOL. They were not prepared for 2009 and now they think that they are prepared but now that the mayor isn't talking to media anymore there are a few speculations that they aren't as prepared as what they should be. I just hope that they are. I know that we are ready and waiting now. That's all that we can do. But, well I am off now! I need to run some errands yet before I get to finally go to bed. Since I have been up since 5 A.M. I am actually looking forward to bed tonight. I have some shows to catch up on...Bring them ON! I have an addiction...Army Wives! I have watched the latest episode and I *CRIED* through the whole D*MN show! If you are into that show it is a definite must watch! TATA! LoVe, ~Joy~

Strange but true facts:
Yeah don't know what else to say...It has been a *LONG* Day! I know that everyone has them but it seems that just today went longer than normal...OY VAY!
I am kind of procrastinating!!! I am supposed to be looking up some Football games for my aunt so that we can plan on when they want to go down for a game...and YEAH I am going with them! Watch out...I'M COMING BACK AGAIN! HAHA
Night all!
LoVe,
~Joy~

P.S. And we are going to Montana in December!!!! A friend of ours moved there and wants to see my smiling face! Ok, all of ours!

SUMMER!!!!

Has finally arrived!!!!! I am actually excited over this fact because it means more time outside...and of course trips! HAHA we went to Minneapolis/St. Paul this week and got home Thursday...Pretty good time had by all...We went with our Aunt, Her Husband and Sister (Rae) and I. Our Aunt had some appointments and an eye surgery to do down there so we went did all the pre-op on day 1 then just hung out and did some little stuff and had supper...day 2 was the surgery and then Rae and I went to a mall with our Aunt and hit up a movie that night. Then the final day we had to be up and out of the room before her appointment because we figured that it would be a long appointment...since the previous days had been EXTREMELY LONG! The doctors and staff were all very nice and helpful though so that made it tolerable! The resident that we met with the 1st day was a cutie...and if I was in the market would have been trying to go for him...HAHA! :)

On that happy note...RYAN!!!!! Unfortunately I had no time to call him and tell him that I was going to be in the metro area this time...but I am going to be back there it looks 2 times in July as it looks now...and I know that he is coming to Wahpeton soon also. :D He once made me a promise that I would promise him to go to the zoo with him...so I am going to hold him to holding me to my promise...I am *CONFUSED* right now I think!

But I am off now...Going to shower and sleep...AHHHHH!

Take care and Love ya all LOTZ!

OOPS!

AND Happy Belated Birthday to you, Ryan! Yes I remember that you are 359 days OLDER than I AM! HAHA!
See you soon!
Yes, I am struggling to make a trip to the cities...but recently found out that I have a meeting for work in St. Cloud coming up...so, looks as if that could be the day! *YAY* *YAY*

Belated...Birthday Greetings to you and me!

Last week was my birthday! That was a good day! My mom and I have the same birthday...and we both had to work that day...she had a "mandatory" meeting at work and then my boss asked me if I would work that day...and since I didn't/couldn't get into the doctor that day for my annual audiology/ENT appointments I decided to work. Not that bad...then we headed up to Fargo for some *YUMMY* Paradiso! It was overall good!
Then 2 days afterwards was prom in Wahpeton...so it was pretty chaotic in our house that day with people in and out all day long. My step-dad bailed out early in the afternoon! HAHA smart man! He went out to the farm to get some stuff from storage...and I think just because he didn't want to be here with all the girls in this house! HAHA
Well, HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!
Until later!
Love,
~Joy~

Ok...It has been a while again...I KNOW...SLACKER!
Well, let's see...HMM...Brandon and I *finally* called it off in September :(
Just decided that with me traveling so much...not only for work but also family we just figured that it was for the best...kind of sad after all that we had been through over the last few years...but also for the best I hope. Also, there was kind of a twist to the story. But to make it even stranger is the fact that some girl was claiming that she was having his baby...turned out to be made up to see what would happen. Just plain evil on her part I think, but we remain friends still and hope to be able to remain friends for a really long time.
Ryan on the other hand...He lives in the Twin Cities and we met actually in my town. We became fast friends...and the 1st night that we met we ended up talking for about 2 hours. It was a lot of fun just to meet someone new and to take an instant liking to them. I can tend to be on the shy side sometimes...but with him it seemed that we were long lost friends. Then he came back through in September...And I was actually getting ready to leave town again...just like the 1st time he was here! So, we talked about our adventures of traveling and where the nest things are to see/do in each of the major metro areas. He gave me some great ideas for the Twin Cities and I gave him some great ideas for Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck, Minot and Dickinson!
Unfortunately, when he passed through in March though I was out of town...State Hockey in Fargo. That went well! The girls played HARD and came with 6 out of 15 so overall they were happy! 7 games in 3 days though so they played a lot of games. After we got home from the weekend most of them went to sleep for about 2 to 3 hours. I know that I would have...but I had to unpack and pack to leave again almost right away! HAHA
It's now almost my Birthday again! I am hoping to get to the Twin Cities soon after! I am going to be looking at my schedule and "TRY" to squeeze in a trip down there...And hopefully get to the Festival of Nations again this year. Oh what fun!
OK, so that's all for now!
Until we meet again!
Love,

~Joy~

On that note...

...Shoot ME! I AM SICK! I've had to trudge through work all week while running a fever...and if you remember I am not the one that really gets sick that much anymore. This STINKS! Off to bed because I have a birthday party tomorrow. Oh yeah!
Nighty night Lovers! HAHA