H-O-T hot!

Happy Birthday Carrie!

Happy Birthday today to my friend Carrie! Hope you have a GREAT day girl! Hope Boogie spoils you rotten on your big day (I'm sure instead your day will be full of taking kids to school, picking kids up from school, cleaning up dog crap and making din-din, hopefully you find something relaxing in there!). I miss ya-when are we all gonna get together again????

Mikey and I have another date night tonight-movie night. We are SOOOOOOOOOOO not gonna be Bridget Jones.....ok, maybe we are.....in more fun news, we are making plans to possibly go see........THE SPICE GIRLS...........in Chicago. Dorky? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely.

Big weekend plans? I am getting my hair did tomorrow-always exciting! Then am power scrapbooking at Christina's, then meeting my college buds. Any messages you want me to pass along to them Canada? I'm gonna try to relax this weekend because next week I am doing extra shifts at my part-time job in order to pay for my personal property tax and my new medical bill I accumulated thanks to my CRAPPY health insurance (is it ironic that I work for the company that provides the crappy insurance?). I believe I am working like 20 hours next week, or something ridiculous like that. Woe is me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Today is my daddy's birthday, although he informed me last week that he was not having any more birthdays.....too bad! I hope you have a GREAT day dad! Hope your "little woman" makes you some dinner....or brings it home! :) I'm sure you will spend the day in your greenhouse, or with the dogs, or doing some home improvement project-just the way you like it! I love you and I will call you tonight!

Favorite Product Alert!!!! Skinny Cow ice cream cones. TO DIE FOR. Seriously. It's low-fat vanilla ice cream in a cone....with some caramel on top. Only THREE points for all you Weight Watchers folks out there!!!!! They are a bit pricey, and there are only four in a box, but they are so worth it. I'm sold. They also come in chocolate and mint. I am also sold on the Snyders of Hanover 100 calorie pack of pretzel snaps. Yummy yum.
Can you believe this week is already almost over? I'm glad. I am looking forward to the weekend. Saturday I am going to Christina's for our monthly scrapbook-a-thon and that night I am going to dinner with some of my old college friends, Christi (and her husband Jim), Mike and Lori and possibly the elusive Mike D. I am very excited to see them as it's been awhile, but I can't help but be a bit nostalgic. The dinner would be more complete if say, Canada or Deven, were there as well. I've been talking to Deven a lot via email lately, makes me all sappy and missing everyone (oh and Canada, he says to tell you to return his damn emails already!)! I have a couple of pictures in my cubicle that keep them all near me. One is from Deven's wedding a couple of years ago-the pic has me, Lori, Christi and Deven it it. Very cute. The other one I have is from college-it has Canada, Mike L, Deven, Me, Christi and Lori in it. My peeps that I love so much and miss like crazy. At least I am able to get harrassed via the internet by Canada (AKA "RP", AKA "Darin", AKA "The Most Ridiculously Good-Looking Person On Earth"), that usually makes my day!

Ok, enough rambling for now, gotta do some actual work today. Although we only have SEVEN cases, which is nothing, not that I'm complaining! I love it! :)

eatin' seaweed

So Mikey, Bruce and I went out to dinner for Dine Out For Life last night (benefits St Louis Effort for AIDS). We went to Cafe O, we stayed on the path and all ordered fish-it was very good. Mid-way through our dinner, Bruce asked our waiter what the yummy green stuff was on our plates. Our waiter informed us that it was.................seaweed. Yum. Bruce was like "gee, I've seen it in the ocean and never thought 'man I want to eat that'".

YEA-Helio won on Dancing With The Stars! He was my fave from the beginning, I'll have you know. :)

If you haven't received the dancing elf email from me, let me know (or ask my mom). It has already provided endless entertainment at work this morning......

The itcy and scratchy show

So, I got my first allergy shot last night. There was a room full of people when I arrived at the doctors office-all awaiting their shot. The procedure is very systematic in nature. The receptionist says "Davidson, you're next". You then go to the back of the office "by the refrigerator" and meet up with Beth, the nurse (who hails from Eminence, MO-holla!). Beth shoots you in the arm with a mixture of all the things you are allergic to and instructs you to go back to the waiting room, wait exactly 30 minutes, then return to her so she can "read" the results. As I sat in the waiting room, my arm began to itch. I didn't know it at the time, but it was also red and swelling. Awesome. Beth was like, "uh, yea we expected that to happen since we just injected you with allergens". She then proceeds to tell me that my arm may itch for the next twelve hours. TWELVE HOURS? Benadryl here I come! On a side note-my arm still itches today. Twelve hours my ass.

I must say I was a bit disappointed in Dancing With The Stars last night. It was the finals, and the stars got to do a freestyle dance. Scary Spice and her hottie partner weren't all that great, and Marie Osmond was downright creepy with her giant doll weird dance thingy. At least Helio's dance was good-he's my pick y'all!

While I watched tv last night, I also put up my Christmas tree. It took me quite awhile. Not the tree part so much, but the untangling of the lights. I need a better system. It looks really good though, if I do say so myself.

SUPER NERD alert-I am on Book 4 of the Harry Potter series. I fought it for a long, long time, but finally wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I am enjoying them, I don't think they are the greatest books on Earth, nor do I plan to dress up as Harry Potter for Halloween, but they're good. I also watched the first two movies over the Thanksgiving holiday. I have movie #3 in my possession and plan to watch it soon. Book 4 is gonna take me awhile-it's nearly 800 pages long. Yikes.

Tonight Mikey and I are going out to dinner for Dine Out For Life. It's a good cause, I'm totally down with it. I have to stay on "the path" however. I am back on the eating well tract. It gets tricky when you go out to eat, but I am determined to behave. Baked fish and steamed veggies, anyone?

Happy Birthday Uncle Jimmy!

Just a quick shout out to wish my Uncle Jimmy a very happy birthday today! Hope you have a good one! I'll write more later, very busy at work today. Hope everyone is having a good day!

MIZ-FKU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin Clint. I know it was yesterday and, no, I didn't forget. It's just that I am still in Salem and my parents have dial up. I have avoided the computer as much as possible because it is so mind numbingly slow. I apologize cuz! I hope you had a GREAT birthday, the big 2-7, huh? Hardly seems possible. Guess we're all getting old....

My time off is about over. Yes, tomorrow I will return to work. I may not have a voice, but I will be there. Seems my "smokers cough" continues to worsen. I sound like a scratchy voiced dude. It's pretty sexy.

So, didn't work on Project Grandpa once this week. There was just too much to do with all the cooking and visiting various family members. It's ok thought, next Saturday we are going to Christina's to scrapbook all day. I will have to get some work done then because Grandpa's party is only three weeks away.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. Mine was great, spending time with the fam. We did have one game night in which we played the Lucky Jew game (now forever known as the lucky "Jewt" Game-a combo of Jew and Scot....you really had to be there). I think Jon won, I can't remember, I was too traumatized by my crappy scores (I think they should have taken my math disability into consideration and spotted me a few points....). It was a lot of fun though. And last night was way fun, we watched the Mizzou-Kansas football game as a family (minus mom who just couldn't get in to it). The game was GREAT, Missou won and now we are anxiously awaiting the news that they are now #1 in the country. Pretty cool stuff.

Anywho, gotta go, mom is dragging me to church. :)

Happy Thanksgiving 2007/How do ya like my balls?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope this Turkey Day finds you well. I am already sleepy and I haven't even had turkey yet. Dinner time is looming-almost time to put ourselves in a food coma-gotta love it. The Dingii are here and I have already horrified Patrick with my Cubs pictures (he secretly loves it!). It's time for my annual sappy "what I'm thankful for" message. I thought long and hard about what to write. I mean, I could individualize it and write things like "I'm thankful for my Mikey Poo and his ability to make me laugh every day", or "I'm thankful for my friend Canada for always being my sounding board and being such a good friend even though he is a million miles away". Yes, I could write an individual shout out to all, but if I were to do that for each and every person/thing I am thankful for, we'd be here awhile. I have so many awesome people in my life, and I'd be too afraid I'd accidentally forget someone.

So, let me say this:

1. I am grateful it is no longer 2006. 2007 has been MUCH better.
2. I am grateful I am able to take care of myself, even if it does mean working two jobs.
3. I am grateful for my parents who are there for me no matter what. I couldn't have picked better.
4. I am grateful for my sister and my awesome brother-in-law. I miss them now that they are in Texas, but think of them everyday.
5. I am grateful for my brother who always makes me laugh and has successfully gotten me to read Harry Potter this year.
6. I am grateful for my Grandpa-about to turn 80 next month and he is just as feisty and ornery as ever!
7. I am grateful for such awesome co-workers (at both jobs). They make it a pleasure to come to work-even on the worst days.
8. I am grateful for all my girlfriends. Without you, I have no idea where I'd be.
9. I am grateful for all my guy friends as well. Love having the "guy" point of view!
10. I am grateful for the fact that I was able to go on (and pay for) two great trips this year.
11. I am grateful to have my health and get the opportunity to get allergy shots once a week (ok, that one was a bit sarcastic).
12. I am grateful for everything that God has given me. Even when things are bad, I try to understand the reason for it, but know overall that I can't complain too much about my life.

I love you all! Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. May your bellies be full, may you drive safely, may you enjoy your families and friends. Peace, I'm out.

P.S. The semi-ignorant title comes from the sausage balls I made as a appetizer. They were quite the hit, but I couldn't resist being just a little bit of an a-hole. :)

Garland Man

That is what my dad sang to himself this morning as he and I were putting up the Christmas tree. It went a little something like this...."Garland Man, Garland Man, I am the Garland Man". Ok, guess you had to be there. So, I have been put to work since I arrived in Salem yesterday afternoon. So far, I have baked a batch of cupcakes and two pumpkin pies. I've also been to Wal-Mart three times in less than 24 hours. That must be some kind of record. I'm sure I'm not done visiting there. Things are quiet now, but in about an hour I must start dinner. Yes, I am cooking for the fam tonight. VERY impressive, huh?

Yesterday before I left I got to briefly see Sharon, Marques and their two a-dorable kiddos, Sophia and Aiden. SO precious! Seems their trip to St. Louis was a last minute thing, I'm sure glad I got to see them while they were in town (they live in North Carolina). After that, I began my trek to Salem. I occupied myself by 1. listening to my iPod, and 2. counting the dead animals on the side of the road. I saw a couple armadillo (or is that "armadillos"?) and a handful of dead squirrels, not to mention some dead deer. I arrived in Salem just in time to visit my mom and then run to the little girl's room (WAY too much Diet Dr. Pepper), grab a blank check from her (gotta love that!) and head over to Wal-Mart for trip #1. I also went to see my brother and visit his new apartment. It smelled like boy (I can't describe it, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about), but was fairly clean. Last night we watched Dancing With The Stars and The Biggest Loser (Tim got to witness me crying....). I was pulling for Marie Osmond to get the boot, but Jennie was a close second for me. Besides, Marie has the whole state of Utah voting for her-she's a shoo in!

So, I'm sure I'll write more of my adventures in the country. Tomorrow is Turkey Day and time for my Annual Sappy Message to all. Bet you can't wait!

Miss Davidson, you are allergic to......

EVERYTHING. The answer is: everything. Yikes. So, I went for my skin test at the allergist today. I was pretty pumped to finally see what all I am allergic to, to have my suspicions finally confirmed (I am too allergic to fruit!). For those of you that have never had this test done before, let me tell ya, it's a real treat. They stick you in the arms and back with various allergens. Then the plan is to watch how your skin reacts, if you develop welts, hives and itching well, then congratulations, you are allergic. So, as I was being stuck, the nurse informed me that I will need to sit with the allergen on me for at least 15 minutes, that if I started itching I COULDN'T SCRATCH. Are these people insane? So, as I get injected, I sit and wait. And then I see giant welts forming all up and down my arms, I look in the mirror and see my back looks the same, and all of it itches like crazy. This is my idea of hell-itching and not being able to scratch. I paced the room, tried to distract myself by reading, not much helped, it was quite possibly the longest 15 minutes of my life. SO not fun. When my doctor came in to read the results, I hear her saying a lot of "wow's" and "oh my's". That can't be good, right? Then she says "my child, you are severely allergic!". Good times, I think in my head, now where's the Benadryl because this itching is gonna cause me to lose my ever lovin' mind! Seriously. So, the final tally-I'm allergic to grass, weeds, trees, pollen, cats, dust and those pesky fruits (strawberries, kiwi, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc). I'm allergic to dogs a little bit-not like cats though. So, what's the best treatment for this? What I dreaded......allergy shots. Weekly. For the next year. Uh......does United Health Care pay for that? No really.......she said not everyone has to do the shots and that she sometimes gives people the option, but in my case, she really didn't give me an option. I also have to be on Allegra and Nasonex. Such fun. Guess we'll see if it helps!

Zootini

What a busy weekend! I slept like nine hours last night to make up for it-but it was all fun! Did anyone watch the American Music Awards last night? Was anyone else slightly offended by Simon Le Bon's super, super tight pants? Let's just say they left VERY little to the imagination.....it's already a little freakish that Duran Duran is back given that it's 2007, not 1984, so the pants were a little over the top for me.

So, Friday night I went out with my girls Tanya and Allison. We are PARTY ANIMALS when we go out together, someone call the cops, seriously.....we went to OB Clark's to watch the Blues game, had some pizza and stuck to our typical one drink (ok, Tanya had two-CRAZY!). It was a lot of fun just gossiping and laughing and as an added bonus, the Blues won!

Saturday was busy, busy, busy. I was up at 7:30am to make sure the apartment met Mom Davidson's Standards of Cleanliness. I almost passed, she was impressed with how clean it was but did have to point out that several things needed to be dusted....that's my mom! I'm guessing I got about a B- for my efforts-I'll take it! Dad put together my new Ikea dresser-it is SO cute! Love it! After that, he headed to Grandpa's and mom and I headed out to St. Peters to meet the aunts/cousins at Costco. What a zoo that place is on a Saturday morning! Yikes! After that we did lunch, I hung out at Grandpa's for a bit, then rushed home to get ready for me and Mikey's DATE NIGHT! :) I also had to whip together a green bean casserole-no prob for this cooking pro! HA! Mike and I got all dressed up since Zootini required we do so (and we looked HOT, if I do say so myself). We first went to the 2nd Annual Friends Thanksgiving at our friend Denise's house-it was lots of fun, the food was fan-ta-stic. Mike, Amy and I were a bit obnoxious, as per usual ("welcome to our Monday through Friday"!). Zootini was quite fun, it kinda reminded me of a wedding reception-everyone was dressed up, there was a band, and there was lots of white people dancing......I ran into Red's friend Angie there (who was totally making out with some dude...) AND rand into Ryan Austin from my CMSU days! How random is that? I haven't seen him since Deven's wedding. Good times. Other than a brief moment where I thought I lost my drivers license and debit card, the night was a success, I must say.

Sunday I was up bright and early for church with the fam. Hung out at Grandpa's afterwards for a bit before mom and dad headed back to Salem. I tried to take a nap once I got home but wasn't quite successful with that. Around 3'ish, Renee, Maggie and I headed out to Krista's for her Tastefully simple party-one of the best I've been to. Why? Because they let you sample almost everything! I'm talking dips, cheese balls, bread, soup, tea....it was awesome, and I wanted to buy everything, but didn't. I set a budget and stuck with it-can't wait for my stuff to come in. You may be seeing a key lime cheeseball coming your way soon!

Right now I am just chillin, I have to go to my allergist at 12:30 for the skin test-wish me luck! I'm hoping for lots of reactions! :) Then I will be running errands all day and then watching the Blues game with Polster. Yes, I said Polster and no, hell did not freeze over, nor is it Armageddon (at least not that I'm aware of). :)

Happy Birthday Deven!

Just wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my friend Deven today (I gave him the link, so I hope he sees this!). I was very excited to hear from him this week, it's been a long time. Anyway, "D Mac", I hope you have a GREAT 31st birthday....welcome to the official "over 30" club....isn't it fun? :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Diane!

Happy Birthday today to my Aunt Diane! Hope you are having a GREAT day! See ya Saturday for Girl's Lunch!!!!

Had a sleepless night last night. I was up most of the night coughing, you know that feeling like something is in your throat and the only thing to helps is to drink water....but then you have to pee...so it's an endless cycle and the end result is me not sleeping. I was a bit groggy this morning. Doing ok now, in fact, I am a little on the hyper side for some reason. And that biatch Mike Tinnin accused me of flirting with one of my UR guys today...the nerve....ok, so maybe I was, I can't help it! He has the BEST voice ever and he's a sarcastic biatch like me. Mikey will always be my #1, however.

Book Club is tonight-YAY! We are having our Thanksgiving celebration-yum! Hope we don't discuss the book we were supposed to read because I didn't read it, nor did I even purchase it.....oops.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jay!

Happy Birthday today to my Uncle Jay. He's what now, 60? Just kiddin'!!!!! :) I do know that his gorgeous wife is much, MUCH younger....(I got your back Aunt La La!). Anyway, hope you have a great birthday Uncle Jay! Love ya!

This eating right and exercising thing is for the birds. I say this as I am sitting here eating a bowl of steamed veggies-carrots, asparagus and corn (it is deceptively good, no really.....). I am faithfully doing this exercise video that my boss gave me-she lost 22 pounds doing it and looks GREAT, she's my inspiration (and I'm not even saying that in an ass kissing sort of way). It is a tape by Leslie Sansone-ever heard of her? Let me tell you, her work outs KICK YOUR ASS (3 miles, 45 minutes)! Seriously, I sweat like a fat pig. It's pretty hot. I'm hoping to see some results soon. Dammit.

Well, we have made it to the mid-point of the week. I have to work at the crisis line tonight, tomorrow night is Book Club (Thanksgiving edition), Friday night I am going out with Tanya and Allison (destination unknown). Saturday is gonna be a busy, busy day. Mom and dad will be at my apartment at 10am (ugh), then mom and I are heading out to St. Peters for Girls Lunch while dad will stay at my apartment and put my new dresser together that I bought at Ikea when we were in Texas. That evening is date night for me and Mikey. First we are going to Friends Thanksgiving at our friend Denise's house and then we are hitting Zootini. Good times. I will not have time to be bored, that's for sure. LOVE IT!

Canada, you have been missing from my blog.....where are you?

Dammit, Marie Osmond!

Ok, enough of the sympathy votes already! Marie "I'm a little bit country" Osmond should have been voted off Dancing With The Stars tonight, not my little Hottie McHotterson, Cameron. This is an injustice and I will not stand for it I tell you! At least that other hottie, Maks, is still around-yum. Guess I can continue to watch Cameron on All My Children.....I think I need a date, what do you think?

Is today Tuesday?

Blah, blah, blah, just another day closer to vacation. Not that I'm doing anything exciting, mind you, but just the prospect of not having to go to work is what is getting me through the day at this point.

I got a bit of a rush last night after having finished cleaning my apartment. How nice it looks when its clean! It's very cute! Wow, I had no idea! Wanna come over?

Mikey and I have a date on Saturday night (I LOVE my gay boyfriend!). We are gonna go get drunk at the zoo together, doesn't that sound like fun?

Dancing With The Stars update-Helio kicked ass last night. The only reason I want Scary Spice to stick around is because her partner Maks is HOT. I will be flipping between this and The Biggest Loser tonight. My life is awesome.

I'm a gal of few words today, just wanted to stop by and say HI!

Personal Property Tax

The City of St. Louis just sent me a big "F you" in an envelope. Yes, that's right, I got my Personal Property Tax in the mail yesterday. This is my first year paying it for my pretty little car. What's the damage? How bout $393.20. Ouch-that hurts. Now, I know as an American, taxes are a part of life. I get it. I wanted to educate myself on just where my tax dollars are going, so imagine my surprise (and sarcastic laughter) when I saw that 57.8% goes to the St. Louis Public Schools. Are you freakin' kidding me? They are THE WORST schools in the ENTIRE state, it's a proven fact. I'd like to know just how they are using that money....and I was a bit offended to see that only 1.18% goes to fund Mental Health programs. Nice. I don't want any complaining then as the homeless/crazy continue to walk the streets of this fine city, you hear me?

I am sleepy today. Guess that's what a sleepless night will do to you. Ugh, been the story of my life lately. So, my Saturday was fairly uneventful. I did start Project Grandpa and am pretty proud of the job I've done so far. I wrote a letter to him that is the first page and I must admit, it made me cry (I am such a sap!). I spent the evening just watching movies (and fielding drunken text messages from Polster, not to mention a totally hilarious and rambling phone call at around 11pm.....I received an apology text this morning). This morning I was up bright and early to meet Sue and Renee for brunch at First Watch (YUM), only to discover as we were leaving that I had forgotten my wallet....sounds about right, doesn't it? Renee was kind enough to cover me, love you Renee Williams! I had to rush home after that so I could get said wallet, then I hightailed it up to Florissant for the Veteran's Day Parade (there was a tiny side trip to the Kirkwood Wal-Mart so I could purchase a lawn chair-the prospect of sitting on the ground after it had rained did not at all appeal to me). I was front and center on Washington, anxiously awaiting Grandpa and his fellow vets. As I saw his "float" approach, I realized he was on it, but on the other side, so I couldn't even see him to get a picture of him (well, I guess I could have tried to cross the street to see him but I was too afraid I'd get run over by a Shriner on one of those mini-cars, you gotta watch those bastards!). So, I got some pix of the truck he was riding in, continued to wave to the vets, and gathered candy for the kid next to me. Then I headed home to begin cleaning my apartment. Such a daunting project for sure, but it must be done. My mother will be here next weekend and the woman likes things clean! Besides, I have very little time to do it this week, so today it is! Luckily, I'm able to listen to the '80's station on Sirius, so it is helping the time go by quicker ("Angel" by Aerosmith is on right now).

Here's to a good week!

Watch out for mattresses on the highway

My commute this morning was going well, traffic was flowing nicely, no jams or wrecks as far as the eye could see....I was actually pretty excited at the prospect of getting to work early (I am one of those anal people who feels like they are late if they are at work on time-I need a good 10-15 minutes of prep time before I sit down to work...mom knows what I'm talking about) as it NEVER happens driving on Hwy 70 during the morning rush hour, I'm lucky if I get to work in 50 minutes-that's one crappy commute, huh? Well, anyway, so things were going fine until I see several cars in the lane in front of me slamming on their brakes and swerving...what was causing this, I wondered....and I soon found out-a mattress on the highway. Right there in the middle lane. I found this funny because one of the local radio stations here, Y98, has an ongoing tally of mattresses-vs-ladders on the highways-the traffic guy keeps us updated on the latest tally (I think ladders are winning, but only by a hair).

So, this long, long work week is over. I went to happy hour with some of the crisis line folks after work tonight-yes, that's right, the people that SAVE YOUR LIVES were out drinking-it's how we deal. Might I recommend the pumpkin beer at Trailhead? Yummy yum. I wanted to just keep drinking it but had to remind myself that it was alcohol and would make me drunk if I did...after that I met up with Maggie and Renee who were scrapbooking at a new place Maggie discovered in SoCoMo-this place is great! They had lots of products I had never seen before, and I am a scrapbooking supply connoisseur. I got lots more supplies for Project Grandpa, and also got in the mail yesterday all my pics of him that I ordered online. I am SO excited about this project. Just looking through all of those pics-from childhood to now-made me think about how much I love my Grandpa and how lucky I am to have him in my life. I was thinking about how I really don't want to go to the Veteran's Day parade on Sunday, but I will do it because Grandpa asked me to. It's those little things that I will look back on someday and be glad I did. Ok, enough sappiness.

I found some of the Davidson relatives last night on MySpace-very exciting, so now I can keep up with my cousin Dan and his wife Amy and my cousin Brian and his wife Desiree-plus all their kids. I don't have as many MySpace "friends" as Mike (he's like over 100 now, I'm at a respectable 68, thank you very much), so I think he won our unofficial competition-that's cool though.

Not a whole lot going on this weekend, and that is just fine with me! I am meeting Renee and Sue for brunch on Sunday-part of our monthly gathering. Next week is looking to be busy-book club, plans for Friday night, my parents will be in town on Saturday, we have Girl's Lunch, the 2nd annual Friends Thanksgiving at my friend Denise's house, Mike and I are going to Zootini and on Sunday, my friend Krista is hosting party-kinda like PartyLite or Mary Kay, only this company sells dips, cheese balls, soups, desserts-stuff like that. I've tried the key lime cheese ball and let me tell you, it is fan-ta-stic.

Enough rambling. I am gonna put my jammies on and curl up with my People magazine. I just realized how sad that sounds....

Save a horse, ride a cowboy

I got home from the crisis line last night just in time to catch the last few minutes of the country music awards...and just in time to catch a nice view of Brad Paisley's ass. He has a really nice ass, FYI. Speaking of, Keith Urban was lookin' pretty good last night as well, although he did look freakishly small standing next to his amazon wife, Nicole Kidman. One complaint-Kenny Chesney won Entertainer of the Year. Why? All of his songs sound the same. Blah. And would he just come out of the closet already? Geez! The first person he hugged was some dude and his "date" for the evening was his mother. You make the call.

What's happening to the Blues? They are barely hovering over .500 despite their awesome start. The effing Red Wings are in first, as usual-Canada, why aren't you rubbing it in yet?

People, I have been working entirely way too hard and, quite frankly, I don't like it. Gone are the days when I could blog all day long and check email. Why, I haven't done the online crossword puzzle in weeks! This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna have to speak to someone about this....

Unexpected gift last night at the crisis line-A BONUS! I am pretty sure in the seven years I've been employed there, we have never received a bonus. It was a great surprise to recieve...maybe I'll go buy some shoes.....

Only SIX more working days until my vacation begins.....not that I'm excited about it or anything....Mike Tinnin, I love you most!

Get that hypochondriac away from me!

OMG, I can't take it anymore. The office hypochondriac is sitting right next to me and she is about to drive me insane. I'm talking the total attention seeking coughing and sniffling (that, as far as I can tell, she has done EVERY SINGLE TIME I HAVE EVER SEEN HER. Come on! Do you REALLY have a cold that lasts that long? If so, may I suggest you GO SEE A DOCTOR!). And don't get me started on the whole sitting on the back massager thingy. And I haven't even discussed the fact that she totally has a personality disorder on top of it....I seriously have not met in person a more attention seeking person in my entire life...except for maybe me, but we're not talking about me right now....

Take that, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman!

Finally, Jane Seymour got booted from Dancing With The Stars. Well, it was just time people, good Lord. Now Marie Osmond is scoring more sympathy votes since her dad passed away....those people on DWTS are GOOD, who knows who will win.

This week has been totally crazy. My blog is suffering for it, I apologize.

I have been really tired and out of it ever since my doctor made me detox from all antihistamines...I feel like I may need rehab because I am having withdrawal symptoms. Seriously. Does my insurance policy cover that????

I don't really have much else to say, I'm working at the crisis line the next two nights, same ol' crap different day, really. Luckily I only have 7 more working days until I am on vacation for an entire week.....there is a light at the end of the tunnel! :)

What's going on with you?

Technology sucks

Ugh. This day couldn't end fast enough. Seriously. I nearly cried, oh, about ten times (I wasn't the only one-I believe I heard Mike say he was gonna cry at one point too). You know it's bad when you hear your boss say she isn't sure if she is going to come back tomorrow. Mondays and Fridays at my job are the busiest-you have lots of admissions and discharges. Today was no exception. The Managed Care gods had a little treat in store for us today along with our high caseloads-I think they gathered together and said: how bout a little computer crashing? And while we're at it-how bout if we have your phone crash too??? How bout if we have that happen NUMEROUS times throughout the day? Won't that be fun? Huh? Huh? It was sooooooo NOT fun. At one point I just laid my head on my desk because it was either that or throw the damn computer through a wall....luckily I didn't have to go there. Once I finally escaped my cubicle hell, I was greeted with another surprise-the entrance ramp to Hwy 70 was shut down because of an overturned semi. Of course it was. Should I have expected anything different?

My evening has been much, much better, I'm happy to say. My show Dancing With The Stars was on-everyone was awesome tonight. Mike-I think we should go to the live show when they tour-whaddya think? I don't have to be at work until 9:00 tomorrow, so I look forward to sleeping in just a bit. I have high hopes that tomorrow will be a better day. If it isn't, someone may just be managing my care......

11 hours of scrapbooking

Yes, it is possible to spend nearly 11 hours in a row scrapbooking. I did it yesterday. Now, that may sound sad and boring to some of you, but let me tell you, me, Maggie, Krista, Cheryl and Renee had a GREAT time! Oh sure, there were the numerous instances when one of us would get slap happy and just start laughing for no reason (what ever happened to Howard Jones and Sheena Easton, anyway????), but I got a lot done-twenty four pages, to be exact. We listened to an '80's station the whole time, sang some songs, stopping only once to go get some dinner. Otherwise, it was full-on scrapbooking all night long! No, I haven't started Project Grandpa yet (I figure it's safe to talk about it here, he doesn't read my blog, does he?). I did order 67 prints off Shutterfly today-pics of Grandpa from age 8 months to present. I am soooo excited for this project. I am making Grandpa a scrapbook for his 80th birthday next month. It will be the story of his life, told as best I can, by me. Wish me luck. I want it to be meaningful, so I am going to work really hard on it. I love that old guy! :)

So, this morning I walked in to church, found Grandpa who says "are you staying for the hootenannie after church?". "What "hootenannie" would this be Grandpa?", I ask (and how in the hell do you spell "hootenannie" anyway?). Well, Grandpa informs me there is some big luncheon for the church after the service and Uncle Jimmy's band, Powerkeg is playing...WHAT? Powderkeg at our church? Yes, it was true. Let me tell ya, they ROCKED that gymnasium! It was a little surreal, I must say. I think the crowd was pretty receptive. I got to sit with Grandpa, Aunt Diane and Grant and Jackie-my fam! It was a good time. And I inadvertently promised Grandpa I'd be present at the Veteran's Day parade next Sunday...anyone wanna join me? Grandpa wants me to take pictures of him....he's not marching this year, he will be riding in a truck but still in his uniform. Come on, don't make me sit on the streets of Florissant by myself!!!!! :)

Happy Birthday to my cousin Greg today....is he really 19????? Yikes!!! When did that happen??? I can't keep up.....anyway, Greg, I hope you have a GREAT birthday kiddo! I'll see ya soon! Love ya!

Loooooooog week

I am for real feelin' the TGIF this week! I am beat! Anyone else have a long week? Nothing in particular happened, I mean I worked both jobs as usual. I am training our new staff person-who I absolutely love, but the job of training does wear you out. I could barely get myself off the couch once I got home today. Case loads were high today, we were at 16 cases a piece (that's a lot)-I'm only supposed to get half a caseload because I am training but I still had 9-that's what happens when you are freakishly short staffed (everyone will be back soon-YAY. And damn you Michael for being gone today!!!!). :)

So, once I was finally out of work for the day/week, I had to stop by the gas station as the fuel light came on this morning during my drive to work (oops!). The first thing I noticed was that gas prices had jumped 20 cents since......THIS MORNING! Nice. While there, I decided I needed to use the restroom. Once done, I was washing my hands when this little girl appeared out of nowhere, saying hi to me. I responded politely and went to dry my hands only to realize the paper towel machine thingy was not working. Never fear, this little mini-person, says "here, I'll fix it", and works some sort of magic and fixes the machine. I mean, who was this kid? Some kind of mini bathroom attendant? Is she getting paid for this service? Should I have tipped her? Don't we have child labor laws in this state? Anyway....

I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend full of, well, not much. Tonight I have just chilled, read my magazines, watched Friday Night Lights (which I am starting to dig), that's about it. I do have to go get that pulmonary test done tomorrow, I hear they are gonna make me inhale Albuterol-what have I signed up for???? Tomorrow during the day I am going over to my friend Maggie's for our monthly scrapbooking get-together. I have major projects to work on, so will definitely spend 5 or 6 hours scrapbooking tomorrow. Saturday night I may just rent some movies. I've had a headache every day this week. I attribute it to my efforts to decrease my caffeine intake (only 1 diet soda a day!). And I've felt a little drained too-probably because I have been working my butt off at work (for once). Yep, it's definitely chill time. Hope y'all have a great weekend. Red-LOVED the pix of Chloe from Halloween....she is one funny girl! Tell her Aunt Kerri misses her! :)