Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Jamie's New Job

Ok, I have been really lax in writing anything. But I do have reason, as I have a new job, and that has been keeping me extremely busy. I am now the new Office Manager at the Waterford on West Century. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a retirement home for the older generation. I do everything from accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll for all the employees. I finally feel like I have a job that will maximize what I went to school for. I get to use my education.

The second question everyone has been asking me is what have I been doing with Brett? Well, he is in an at home daycare with about 6 other kids his own age. He has him moments at when and if he is really liking it or not. He still hasn’t enjoyed being dropped off in the morning and I can’t leave without him crying and him getting to have his moment. After a bit though, she says he calms down, but still has his temper moments throughout the day. He is really a mama’s boy, way more then Dustin ever was.

Dustin has been going to a friend of ours after school, and starting this next week, he will be going to our neighbors behind us after school. He doesn’t seem to mind the change as much and tends to enjoy it because he gets to play after school, and doesn’t have to come home and do his homework right away. He is doing wonderful in school this year, and at times complains that his homework is too easy. She is giving him additional work though to challenge him a little bit more. We all got the biggest kick out of him when he went to school the first day and came home. His teachers name this year is Donna Schmidt, and he told us it wasn’t his grandma that was teaching him this year.

Shawn I think is having the biggest adjustment of me working out of the house. He now leaves later then me in the morning and gets home before me, so he often has to start supper instead of having it all made up on the table for him when he gets home. He now also has to share the bathroom in the morning, and keeps telling me he wants to build a master bathroom/closet addition. I can’t see spending the additional money, just to pee in a pot…but, I am getting a few more clothes as I do have to dress up every day, and can’t stay in my comfy’s all day. Maybe someday. Our Inline Designs is going slow at this time, which can be expected as no one wants to think of building during the winter. We are hoping that it will again pick up next February or March.

Anyway, I hope everyone is healthy, happy and staying warm. God Bless You.

Shawn, Jamie, Dustin, and Brett

Sunday, October 22, 2006

SOME WORDS FROM BELGIUM

Hello folks across the Big Pond.

It's so nice to read about some of you on the Blog.

Congrats to Ron who's going to join the 60+ club within a few days. Don't be afraid of that number, Ron !!! It's from now on that you will get the chance to be taken seriously. (Basing on experience to make that statement.)

Congrats to Susan with her Doctorate too. You may not know us, Susan, but just ask Marilyn or Mavis or William Sr. about us.

We hope that Lila may get better soon. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Our special thoughts also go to Bill Sr. He's the closest relative of ours in the Lassey Clan and we are glad and proud to learn that at his age he's still going strong. We're sure that long expected oil well will come. He, and others with him, were hoping for that already during our first visit with them, back in 1976. (Ouch... 30 years ago !!!)

Nice to read about Dione and her family in Yellow Springs. They must indeed be very busy with all those projects going on.

We hope the beet harvest in Cartwright will soon be finished and that the financial turn-over of it is better than the truck "turn over".

Our greetings obviously go to all members of the Lassey Clan, including those we have not specifically mentioned here.

We are doing quite well here in old Belgium. Hedwig's kidney stone problem is solved. It meant surgery twice and seven pulverizing sessions. His breathing problem is under control as well, means that for the time being it does not get worse.
Herna is still the same busy bee around here, doing her household, making a stroll on bike with a friend twice a week.
And then there is our golden retriever "Bridger" playful as always. He became 3 last month, but sometimes still acts like a 5 weeks old puppy.

The road works in front of our house are almost finished. They lasted for over a year, giving us quite some reason to get our fill of it, but since this week we do not have to drive through the mud to get to our house anymore.

Our weather is really mild for the time of the year. We still have average day temperatures of 65° F and very little rain. It's not normal, but we can make savings on heating.

Well, that's it for now.
We hope to read some more of you all on the blog or by mail.
For those who forgot our email address, it's hedwig.deblaere@skynet.be

Cheers to all and Happy Halloween !

Hedwig and Herna (Belgium)

Sunday, October 15, 2006

SUSAN'S GRADUATION!

Hi,
We just returned from Minneapolis and Detroit Lakes where we all (Julie, Dennis, Ashley, and Danny, Carol, Scott, Jennifer, and Brady, Issy and I, and Harvey) attended Susans graduation with her Doctorate in Clinical Physology. It was really nice and we were all so proud of her. Also, we got to sit right in back of the graduates, so she was only one empty row and one row ahead of us. Really neat!! Then we all drove back to Detroit Lakes for the reception. Nice to have my family all to gether and be able to show her the support she deserves.

We plan to leave for Arizonia right after Jennifer Ashley's conformation at church on November 5th. We may take I-29 down to Kansas City where Issy's one sister now lives and then on to Yuma via I-40. We'll see if this works out by then.

Mavis unplugged Dad's stove and told him to use the mircowave because he had been burning pans. He looked at her and said "I know how to make the stove work again, just plug it in". So-- we had a good laugh!

Love,

Marilyn

LasseyClan

Ron is Turning 60!

This is a formal invite to all the family for Ron's 60th Birthday Party. Shawn and I are having a Halloween/Birthday Party at our shop on October 28th around 6:00pm (mt). Costumes are not required but it does make it more fun especially for the kids (like Shawn), but of course the little kids are invited as well. Mavis, Will, and I do have some room for people to stay at our houses. Just give us a call and we will make arrangements. Please help spread the word to the rest of the family who might not read this blog. Hope you can make it! If you have any questions please call Mavis at 701-744-5112 or myself at 701-744-3600.

LILA'S TRAVAILS

Lila said this morning that she is once again having serious difficulty with her health. She has trouble breathing, and thinks it is because of heart failure. She has to have help getting to and from the bus that takes her to dialysis treatments. She is still fixing her own meals, but does not have much of an apetitite. She has been to the doctor several times for thyroid tests and treatment, but does not understand clearly how serious a problem it is. She says her lungs are functioning okay, and her oxygen levels are fine. She takes nitro for the heart failure, along with several prescriptions, and it helps stop the pain. She is a bit worried about staying by herself in the apartment because of all the problems she has been having lately.

She says Tim is in the market for another job--so he doesn't have to travel during the dead of winter. Cindy is always on the go, working with Don in the business, while taking her kids to schools and a variety of activities. Karen and Tracy are in the Miles City area, seeing Linda and Dallas, and hunting antelope. She has a very active family!

GOINGS ON WITH DAD

Dad went to church this morning and enjoyed the after-service treats! He was headed to Mavis and Ron's for dinner, but had enjoyed the church lunch so much that we wasn't very hungry. He says the beet harvest is going well, but they have not yet dug the field by his house. The weather forecast is for cold and snowy weather, that could presumably interfere with the harvest.

Luke says one of the oil drilling companies has staked a location for a well up in the pasture, but Dad is not sure if it is on his land or on government land. (We'll have to check on that soon!)

Some of the beet harvest workers are living in the old house next to Dad's. Vicki Dunbar, who cleans his house, gave it a good cleaning recently. It has been vacant a lot of the time in recent years, so he is glad to have someone using it--as long as they don't mess it up!

He says his pickup is running fine, and gets him to Cartwright and to Mavis and Ron's. If he goes any farther, Mavis goes with him. He obviously enjoys having the ability to get by himself, even if for only a few miles!

BUSY MOLLIE

Dear Dad and Marie,

We are all quite well here.

Mollie is having another bang up year in school. She
is being tested for the "gifted and talented" program.
Of course we already know with certainty that she is
gifted and talented without the tests (no parent bias
on our part, of course), but she's going through the
testing anyway. Last year she "qualified" for gifted
in art and creativity (imagine that!), so she goes to
a special art class. I volunteer in that class and we
do extra and innovative art projects with the kids.
She goes to a special, advanced math class where they
work with advanced math concepts and play math games.
Sometimes they get to share these things with their
regular classroom. On top of those two classes she is
also taking a special reading class that I actually
designed. We are reading a wonderful book called
"Chasing Vermeer" which is sort of a kids version of
"The DaVinci Code" where some kids find one of
Vermeer's paintings. We have been studying the work
of Vermeer as we work through the book and it's great
fun! The Dayton Art Institute has an exhibit
currently of paintings from the Rijksmuseum - mostly
Rembrandt and his students. I took Mollie and a
friend to that exhibit on Friday because they had a
day off school and it was great! We'll go back
several times. Mollie is also playing soccer and
taking horseback riding lessons and is having a great
life!!!

I'm doing well working on my Master's degree, but it's
keeping me super busy. I'm doing an accelerated
version of an already accelerated program! I'm taking
a number of classes as Independent Studies on top of
the regular course load, so I'm cooking along and only
have 3 more in-class courses to take after this
quarter. Then I just have to pass the licensure test
and do my student teaching. I have some work yet to
go, but I'm getting there rapidly.

Saul is busy, busy with his work because they are
going through a national accredation process. It's
laborious and not so much fun and it just takes a lot
of documentation, so it keeps his smart brain working
all the time on top of a full time teaching load and
administration load as chair of Special Education.

We are still actively looking for a house we want to
buy or build, but, as of yet, things haven't clicked.
We'll see what happens!!

Love to you both, Dione


Sunday, October 08, 2006

TALES FROM THE BEET HARVEST

It has been an exciting time in the beet fields! Last night one of the truck drivers missed a turn with a triple axle truck loaded with 20 tons of beets in the fields north of Cartwright, and went in the ditch. They pulled the truck out but there was some damage to the front end. When Ron was driving it toward Cartwright early this morning before daylight he stepped on the brakes as he was approaching the down hill grade just north of Cartwright. The brake pulled sharply in one direction, causing the truck to turn over in a steep ditch along the road. Fortunately, Ron was not hurt!! Mavis was driving right behind Ron and watched the whole thing happen. The truck was totally wrecked and a valuable load of beets was dumped along the road. Some of them can be retrieved but a lot of damage was done. They pulled the truck out with a crane and hauled it back to the farm. They have some other smaller trucks (one of which lost its brakes this morning as well!) that can be put into service, but their biggest and best one is out for the season.

The harvest has been a bit slow generally because of a combination of warm weather and rainy days when they couldn't work. They go 24 hours per day, with Will leading the night shift, and Luke the day shift. They are only about one-third done. The good news is that the crop is excellent, with 28 tons per acre and 18% sugar in some fields.

They are trying to get the beets out of the north fields so that two oil drilling rigs can move onto the fields to start drilling. That land belongs to a neighbor, however.

Dad is doing fine, although he left a pan on the stove and forgot it, burning the pan badly. Mavis unplugged the stove and told him he should use the microwave instead. However, he told her he knew how to fix it if he wanted to!

Mavis went to a sewing festival in Billings last weekend, with Lana, and had a great time, she said.

Marie saw her cardiologist (who was one of her students at the University of Idaho, 25 years ago!) and got a positive report. She has to be monitored for another month with a little machine attached to her, but the doctor thinks she'll be fine, with no coronary heart disease and very low stroke potential. Continuing good news on that front!