Artemis

RIVER One of the most beautiful things in nature, constantly moving, changing every second. It brings such pleasure to people for fishing, boating, swimming, photography. It also can be the most devastating thing in nature. Ravaging, destroying, soaking a town that is doing all it can to stay in tact. My heart goes out to my home state, all those fighting terrible floods on a moment's notice. Remember that when the water recedes, the river will reclaim it's beauty. And we can thank it for proving that North Dakotans are strong, resilient and fighters. And as a people and as a community, after the water recedes, you too will reclaim your beauty.

QUEST I am on a mission, a quest really, to find a guy to date. I believe in the idea that it happens when it's supposed to happen, it happens when you're not looking or when you least expect it. I think those all can be true. But I also believe that sometimes you have to make the leap, take the steps towards finding someone, have some initiative if you want your life to change. Things don't always happen when you sit on your ass and do nothing. So I am now searching on two free online websites. I'm not willing to pay, it works for some, but seems strange to me... plus I can't afford it. I have used one of the free sites for years and found some good guys on there, so I trust it. But it just seemed like nothing was happening. So I signed up for a second site and suddenly both sites are having a lot of action for me (not that kind, get your head out of the gutter). I'm finding interesting guys to write to (I am writing to anyone of interest, the worst that happe...

PARKER Parker is the sweet 18 month old girl that took the place when my other sweet girl left. She's been with me about 9 months now. I love this little spitfire. She's sweet and loving and cuddly... when you're looking anyway. She's a sneaky one. Obviously I have to leave the children alone (in a very baby-proofed room) on occasion so I can go to the bathroom or grab a snack for myself or get their lunch ready. And miraculously things happen when I'm out of the room, like the kids' shoes are on the other side of the room, my books are on the floor, diapers are all over the place, a kid is crying. How do I know it's Parker? When she hears me coming, she runs to the other side of the room and stands innocently like "Who? Me?" Recently she likes to tattle on herself. I'll ask what happened and she'll say "No-no." I'll ask, "Did Parker do a no-no?" And she answers "Yea." Gotta love the honesty at least. Her...

OMBROPHOBIA I was looking at a list of O words online. That may be cheating, but I really could not think of anything for O. This word seemed appropriate for something that has been in my thoughts a lot lately. Ombrophobia: the fear of rain. I think that is a fear many in my hometown are feeling. It saddens me that so many are losing their homes to the raising water. I really do wish I was there to help with this battle, help sandbag night and day as so many are. This statistic I read was mind-boggling to me: to fight the flood of the Red River in the spring, they used 500,000 sand bags. To fight the flood of the Missouri in Bismarck, they need an estimated 8,000,000 sand bags. Really gives an idea of how bad it really is. And all the rain we are having here in MT and now suddenly really warm temps are only going to make things worse downstream. I think if I lived in Bismarck right now I would definitely be an obrophobic.