The good ol' days

Last night I was reminded of why I love my college friends so much....those people are FREAKIN' HILARIOUS (and a bit strange)! Seeing them always makes me think about the good ol' days at CMSU. Our group was rather large and quite diverse, but we were all really close and had a LOT of fun! Brian and Todd are in town from Kansas City, so we all met for dinner last night. The elusive Mike D was there as well as Mike and Lori and Christi (and her way too cute 5 year old, Shelby!). Of course, the group wasn't complete without Deven, Uriah, Heath and that sassy Canadian (whose name kept coming up...hmmmmm....I wonder why?). Everyone looked great, and the laughs just kept a' comin'. Mike and Mike were cracking me up (not to be confused with my precious Mikey Poo....I have a LOT of "Mike" friends....)-of course, I'm sure the beer helped! It was great seeing Todd and Brian-I think it's been 4-5 years since I've seen either one of them. I miss everyone so much. Wouldn't it be great, just for one day, to be back at South Yeater hall, having hockey fights with DT in the hallway, bowling in the hallway with cups stolen from the cafeteria (and a bowling ball that came from God knows where), watching Jeopardy (with Uriah ALWAYS whistling the theme song) and napping in me and Christi's room? Or getting steamrollers from DT and Uriah (preferably right as you had just fallen asleep)? Oh yes, we DID have some good times back in the day. Too bad we had to all become adults and be responsible and stuff.

Meet Brayden Adam!

Meet the newest member of my family, my cousin Ben's new baby, Brayden Adam. As is traditional with babies in our family, he is extremely good looking. I mean, DUH. :)

New Kids On The Block are back y'all!

(wow, they look old!)

NKOTB (as they are lovingly referred) is BACK BABY! I'm not really sure why, but I am embracing it. I mean, they were my first loves, my first ever concert waaaay back in the day. When I was a little pre-teen, I was CONVINCED that I was going to marry one of them. My sister and our friend Erin and I used to play with the Magic 8 ball and ask it if we would meet them (or marry them), sad but true. We LOVED them! Our walls were plastered with pictures and posters. I remember going to see them at the old arena, mom and Aunt Jan took my sister and I. Mom and Aunt Jan joined us in chasing the tour bus. Now that's devotion. They are coming to St. Louis for a concert on November 10. Who's with me??????????????? You know you wanna hear some "Please Don't Go Girl" and "Hangin' Tough". Don't lie.

I am a bit hyperactive today. I don't know why, especially since I woke up with a headache. Maybe it's because I get to see some of my old college crew tonight. Cabin Boy and Todd are in town, so they, myself, Christi, Mike D and Mike and Lori are all going out to dinner tonight. Should be good times as it always is anytime we get together-I haven't seen any of them since DT was here in January (odd since most of us live in the same city, but whatever).

It's also almost the weekend-YAY! I have to get through the next two days first and work has been quite busy-which I'm totally not a fan of......HAPPY THURSDAY PEOPLE!

New poll y'all!

OMG, this could be the best one yet. Thanks to my crisis line co-workers for providing the inspiration!


Also, just a question. Can you name your favorite "Jean" song? We came up with "Billie Jean", "Goodbye Norma Jean" and "Sleepy Jean" (don't know the real name, but it's that Monkees song). Comment please.

Baby Brayden is here!

Congratulations to my cousin Ben and his wife Ashlee; their baby boy, Brayden Adam Battocletti was born this morning. I hear all is well with mom and baby and rumor has it he has a head full of hair just like his daddy (Ben had a mad crazy head of hair when he was a baby!). I am soooooo excited and happy for Ben and Ashlee. Can't wait to see pictures of the newest family member!

Back from Texas, y'all!

Had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend down in Dallas with my sister and brother-in-law. I know one thing-it's HOT in Texas. Even in May. I think temps topped out around 95 degrees. Quite unpleasant to say the least. We had fun in spite of the heat, however. Our adventure began on Friday. I arrived in Salem around 5:00pm and we left for Texas around 5:30pm. My dad had the brilliant idea to drive straight through....so we did (it's a roughly 9-10 hour drive, depending on how many times you stop). I believe for the first 4-5 hours of the trip, I laughed non-stop. My dad is silly and just kept cracking me up-talking about his theory about how all over-the-road truck drivers do drugs (cocaine, anyone?), and when discussing gas prices he said, and I quote, "the Arabs have us by the groin". Uh, thanks dad. We dodged cops (but really, with dad only going 2-3 miles over the speed limit, I think we were safe). We didn't make our first stop until Muskogee, Oklahoma....a city that we will never stop in again, right mom and dad? Let's just say, when folks gotta pee after having been in the car for five hours, Muskogee is NOT the place to be....and I'll leave it at that (I actually heard my father say the words "piss" and "f**k" in the same sentence-it wasn't good). After that incident, I tried to sleep but it wasn't happening...we arrived at my sister's house at 2:45am. Chloe didn't even bark...until we were already in the house. Some watch dog, huh? Sleepy-eyed Red and Jon greeted us with hugs, then we all headed to bed. We were all up bright and early the next day (actually, I was awakened by Chloe jumping into bed with me....nothing says "good morning" like a dog in your face!). We went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens (at dad's request). It was gorgeous, as you will see below... This is my favorite picture of the whole trip. Yes, that is my mom, sister and I imitating the See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil statues......this is my attempt to take a bit of an artistic picture....I just thought the tree looked cool.
part of the Japanese Gardens at the botanical garden. Pretty, huh?
my parents....dad's shirt is from the Dallas Arboretum (basically the same thing as a botanical garden) from the last time we were in Texas...
this is the new background on my computer at work. I just think it's so pretty. It is part of the Japanese Garden as well. Mike says he wants me to make his yard look like that (I'm helping him landscape the back yard)-I'm thinking this is BEYOND my level of expertise..........more of the Japanese GardenThis squirrel tried to attack us! He was not people shy at all...he walked right up to us all bow-legged, like it was a showdown at the OK Corral....
my four-legged niece, Chloe. She had just gotten her hair cut the day before. Isn't she cute????PARTY PIC! Doesn't Chloe look thrilled? She LOVES her aunt, I tell you!This is my sister and I at the Dallas Aquarium on Sunday. I always hesitate to sit next to my skinnier, prettier sister....but I think this is a good picture of us... :)
The Fam: my brother-in-law Jon, my parents and me....we weren't quite so hot on this day since the aquarium was air conditioned...some pink flamingos....they were cool but kinda weird....
a view of the tropical fish from the tank that went over our heads...it was very cool to just sit and watch them swim.
Look at the little penguin, isn't he cute?

Nice close up of this critter....some sort of lizard/iguana/thing......
A giant sting ray
A hammerhead shark....

This giant sea turtle made us laugh (complete with my sister making up a song about him...sample lyric "look at me, I'm a giant turtle, I want you to take my picture...."). He was a total attention whore, kept swimming by....the best was when he swam by....riding on the back of a manatee!
The Fam sans me....my sis, her husband and our parents.
Look, it's Mr. Starfish all the way from God's Country...AKA British Columbia! :)

I'm not sure why this manatee has his face stuck in the corner...they were very cool to watch-so HUGE!

In the evenings, we took Chloe for walks, we played board games (try playing Catch Phrase with my father sometime-guaranteed entertainment!), we laughed A LOT, dad craved ice cream (as Red said, when dad falls off the wagon, he falls HARD!), us girls did a bit of shopping and dad and Jon harassed me about the Cubs losing all weekend (I am happy to report they are back on the winning track, thank you very much!). Monday we headed back to Salem (LOOOOONG day!) and now life is back to normal, working like crazy and not having enough time in the day to get every thing done.

My old friends from college, Brian (AKA Cabin Boy) and Todd are coming to the STL tomorrow, so some of my old college peeps and I are getting together for dinner tomorrow night (it would be complete if my FAVORITE person from our college crew, a certain Canadian hottie, were there as well.....).

God bless Oreo cheesecake!

Here at work we have discovered the world's most perfect food. Oreo cheesecake. I mean sure, I'm gonna have to do approximately 5,000 sit-ups to atone for my eating sins, but it'll be well worth it. We are having another food day today to celebrate my co-worker Ywinta's birthday, her cake of choice was cheesecake, so Julie whipped up a fan-DAMN-tastic Oreo cheesecake (I was the one that was actually supposed to be in charge of the cake, but let's not get in to that....). We are also having taco dip, mac and cheese, and someone was kind enough to throw in some veggies. I heart food day!

So, I've been at work since 6:30 this morning. Why in God's name would anyone do that? Well, I have very exciting times ahead of me today. I'm leaving work at 3:00 then heading down to Salem (a short 2 hour drive) where I will be greeted by my parents with Subway in hand. The three of us are then embarking on a TEN HOUR adventure-we're driving to Dallas to see my sister and Jon. Good times shall be had by all. Mom informed me yesterday that she bought us snacks for the trip-Skittles, 100 calorie packs and, of course, Slim Jims (no road trip would be complete without them!). Mom's fancy new car has satellite radio (LOVE myself the '90's and Now station!) and she also has Lionel Ritchie and Carole King's greatest hits. What more could we need? Dad will probably be ready to slap us both after the first, oh say, 30 minutes.

My sister emailed us today and asked if we wanted to go to a cattle drive tomorrow. Mom emailed back and said she'd rather go shopping. Gotta love my mother. I don't even know what a cattle drive is, actually. Red, care to clarify????

Hey STL fam-did y'all see Mrs. Koch on stltoday.com? There is an article about her in the North County Journal. She's so cute! Hopefully Red has forwarded it to you all.

Well, I hope everyone has a GREAT Memorial Day weekend! Gotta love three day weekends! Fam, have fun at the big fam picnic on Sunday, sorry the Davidson crew will not be represented!

G'day mate!

Today has been a good day thus far, even with the prospect of having to work another four hours after I leave my full-time job tonight, I am still in a pretty good mood. I'm in a silly mood actually. Perhaps it's the knowledge that tomorrow is Friday....and we have a three day weekend coming up. Or, perhaps it's the fact that I will be riding in a car with my 'rents for 10 hours travelling to Dallas tomorrow (it should prove to be entertaining. I mean...have you met my parents???). My sister informs me that the humidity will be high this weekend which can mean only one thing-she and I will both have TEXAS-SIZED hair this weekend. I'm not even packing my straightener since it will be a wasted effort.

American Idol has been the big topic today at work. Michele and I are contemplating going to the live show in July. Mom-you in?

I think I just hit a wall. I just got sleepy and have run out of things to say. What?

David Cook RULES!

Yes, David Cook has won American Idol. I'd just like to say, for the record, that I loved him from the beginning. Okay???? We're talking since his tryout days. Thanks for playin'.

So tonight's American Idol finale was this two hour, drawn out affair. I'm not gonna lie-I kinda enjoyed it. Were the guest stars totally random? Yes. I mean, hello, Bryan Adams??? Donna Summer??? George Michael (could he BE any gayer????). Was it kinda fun? Yes it was. I wasn't quite up dancing like Paula Abdul was, but I liked it nonetheless. Gotta give my props to David Cook-he is A-MA-ZING-loved him with ZZ Top! Not only that, but he is a CMSU alum (or UCM as it's called nowadays), a fellow fighting Mule, was a graphic arts major just like my friends Mike and Cabin Boy were. How could I not love him????? I'm sure little David Archuleta will have a fine career of his own, I have to say he did sound pretty amazing last night. But David Cook just ROCKS! And kudos to the hair and makeup people for giving his mom a great blowout (sister girl had some frizzies in prior shows....don't lie, you know you saw it!) and, yes, I teared up when he was singing that totally cheezy song at the end and his little brother said to the camera "that's my brother" . Great, great show. The only bad part? I now have "It's Too Late" by One Republic in my head. Thanks American Idol. And see ya in January. :)

Dear God, what am I gonna talk about now??????

More pix from Ikea/Chicago weekend in April

These pics are from my friend Maggie, just wanted to share. Check 'em out!Check out the strange dude behind me...he thought he was being REAL funny getting in our picture.....
this is at the end of the long, long day at IKEA...we got some poor woman who spoke limited English to take our picture......
what is going on with that hair? Good Lord......
Awwww! Too cute! This is me, Maggie and Shannon posing with our "30" bling that we wore to help celebrate Christina's 30th birthday. I love this picture!

Someone please get me a life

I have "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis in my head. I also have a headache. Coincidence?

Ok, so did anyone watch The Bachelorette last night? Now, I don't typically watch this or it's sister show, The Bachelor, but there was nothing else on last night, so I gave it a whirl. My first question is, where in the hell do they find these guys? I mean, seriously. Did you see the guy who took his shirt off then howled at the moon like some wild coyote? Smart girl, DeAnna gave him the boot. I totally loved the little Canadian dude.....he was cute, charming AND sweet....must be a Canadian thing! ;) I'm liking the science teacher too-sure, he's a big dork (which can be kinda hot...), but he seems sweet. I have a feeling I am already roped in and will be watching this show all summer. It's just as well as my other reality favorites, American Idol and Dancing With The Stars end this week. Besides, what else would I talk about?

MIKE STOP READING NOW. My Cubbies kicked some major ass last night (Mike hates it when I talk about the Cubs. Sorry boo!). Who knew their chubby little catcher could hit an inside the park homerun? And Jimmy Gold Glove made one of his patented I'm-making-this-look-fancier-than-it-really-is catches out in centerfield to save some runs. And my man, Ted Lilly was BRILLIANT on the mound. Oh and my Cubs boyfriend, Aramis Ramirez, hit a 2-run homer. All around a GREAT game. Always a good time when they beat division rivals. They're on tv again tonight. I will be flipping channels A LOT tonight....between the game, Dancing With The Stars and American Idol, my Tuesday night is packed, ok people?

Addendum

Two things:

1. HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY to my cousin Grant today. He can now legally drive. Scary. Have a great birthday kiddo! See you soon!

2. Don't ever, EVER, take a multivitamin on an empty stomach. I have two words for you: PROJECTILE VOMITING.


Ok, I'm done now. Happy Monday!

Cemetery Crawl 2008

The neglecting of the blog continues. Ugh, I am just too busy/too tired to devote much time to it anymore. Somethings gotta give.

The crappiness that is my job continues. I don't wanna talk much more about it. Put it this way, at this point, I am filled with anxiety each night at the idea of having to come back the next day. Subsequently, I'm not sleeping well and I have enough anxiety to justify an Ativan script. Moving on.

So, on Saturday, my aunts and I (and my cousin Rachel) completed our first annual Cemetery Crawl. What is this, you may ask? Well, we decided to pay homage to all our dearly departed relatives, so we went to the various cemeteries they are buried in all across the STL metro area. We visited both my great-grandmas (one of which, there is apparently a family plot for, so we also got to see the graves of my great-grandfather AND my great-great grandparents-that was kinda cool), my grandma, my great aunt and my two little cousins that died, Adam and Andy. That visit got to everyone. They died as children of a horrible genetic illness, so, although it's been a long time, the deaths are still pretty devastating to our family. I miss them everyday. After our cemetery crawl, we had lunch at Dewey's (the BEST pizza!). It was a long day, but actually quite a nice bonding experience. We reminisced and told stories about our family members. It was cool to hear stories about my great-grandma's because I don't really remember them. We figured my grandma was watching down on us saying "what in the hell are they doing????". She soooooo would have been entertained by our adventures. :)

I have discovered the oh-so-exciting world of sugar free products. Um....yea. I have become somewhat of a Nazi when it comes to what I eat (gotta be disciplined in order to see results!). I am happy to report that Russell-Stover has this sugar free candy that is actually good! I was pretty surprised. The sugar free pudding and jello I have is pretty good too. All in the name of health! Yuck. I have also upped my workouts. If this doesn't get me in tip top shape, I don't know what will. Guess we'll see what happens, huh?

My Cubs are making me a very happy girl indeed. Ten games over .500 and going strong. They play Houston tonight which should be a good series. They're on ESPN, which makes me quite happy. Nothing says Perfect Monday Night like watching the Cubs (co-occurring with Dancing With The Stars, mind you).

This is gonna be quite the busy week (what else is new?). We are heading to Dallas on Friday just as soon as I can get my butt to Salem. I'm riding with the 'rents, which should prove to be entertaining....dad has entertained the idea of driving straight through-Dallas is a 10 hour drive from Salem. That would make our arrival be around 3am....Red is cool with it, but I envision Chloe barking and losing her mind if we arrive at that time of night..... ;) Between now and then, I have many errands to run, laundry to do, a part-time job to do AND it's the finale for both Dancing With The Stars and American Idol. So much fun, so little time! I am definitely looking forward to seeing my sis and brother-in-law, however. And oh-so-excited to see my niece!!!!!

Her Royal Snarkiness is back!

What am I going to do now that Jim Edmonds is on the Cubs? I have been getting emails from friends and co-workers have been asking me how I feel about this latest development (because they know how I feel about Jim Edmonds, I guess). I spent years making fun of him when he was a Cardinal-I called him "Jimmy Gold Glove", I accused him of wearing eye liner and doing back flips out in the outfield to make his spectacular catches just a bit more spectacular, I've accused him of having a different baby mama in every city (which may or may not be true). And now he's on MY team. Karma. It's karma. And it's a bitch. I suppose since he is now officially a Cub I have no choice but to switch my allegiance his way. Damn you, Jimmy Gold Glove. Damn you. Welcome to the team.

Well, the David's have it on American Idol-totally called it, people, totally called it. Did anyone else cry watching the show last night or was it just me? I'm talking about the part where they each got to go home, just watching their reaction to the people cheering for them got to me-what can I say, I'm a sappy, sappy girl. :) What the F was up with Fantasia???? Did you see the look on Simon's face? It was of pure HORROR and it made me laugh out loud. Her performance scared me-she sounded kinda like a cat in heat......I can't wait for the finale next week. However, I can't help but feel a bit.....empty. After next week, what am I going to do with my time? Not only will American Idol be over, but so will Dancing With the Stars. What am I gonna have to do-actually go out and get a life????????

On a very serious note, I'm requesting prayers (or just positive thoughts if you don't do the prayer thing) for our family friend Mitch. I've talked about him before-he's the one who survived lung cancer only to be diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He had what they thought was a successful surgery in March to remove the tumor, only to be told a few days ago that the tumor is back, and bigger than ever. Certainly not good news. Mitch is having a second surgery on Monday to remove this latest tumor, so he could definitely use the positive thoughts and prayers. I've known him and his wife Bonny my entire life, he and my dad have been friends since they were teenagers, Mitch is a great guy and I hate seeing him have to go through all of this.

On a more positive note, I just want to say to all of you that I love you all very much-friends, family, the general public, whatever. Count your blessings people. I know I'm counting mine.

Oh and................GO CUBS GO!

No time

I have no time to blog. Work has been so ridiculously busy (both jobs) lately. When I get home at night, I am so tired that the thought of even turning my computer on is too overwhelming (the only reason I do is to chat with my Canadian, otherwise, I wouldn't even bother. Doesn't that make you special, DT???). :) Case in point, it is 3:00pm and I am just now taking my lunch break. That's never good.

I can't weigh in on last night's American Idol because I was at work all night. I don't even know who got the boot on Dancing With The Stars last night. The good news is, I am not working at my part-time job tonight (the first time that's happened on a Wednesday in, oh say, a year and a half), so I will be able to go home and chill. Well after I do my workout. And finish my laundry.

I just wanted to stop by the blog and say hi. I don't even have time to talk about how awesome my Cubbies are playing. Oh wait, I just did.

Hopefully, things will calm soon and I'll be back to making my snarky observations on, well....everything.

Ta ta for now.

Be careful out there people!

Ok, so I was nearly in a car accident this morning because other people can't drive. The car in front of me slammed on their brakes (for no apparent reason, mind you), causing me to have to slam on my brakes, as I looked up I see the guy behind me barrelling down, I thought for sure he was going to rear end me and was preparing myself (and Sunny my car) for the impact-instead he swerved into the other lane (that thank GOD had no one in it) to avoid hitting me. That was enough to cause me to need some Xanax this morning......anyone got any????

Oh so sad to see Jason Castro go on American Idol. Come on sports fans, you know it was high time he go (high time? get it? high? HA! I am SO funny!). I think the final 3 are deserving of being there-we all know who my favorite is. Guess we'll find out soon who wins. Have I mentioned that plans are already under way to purchase tickets to the American Idol tour when they come to St. Louis. Are we giant dorks? Yes. Is it gonna be fun? Yes. Good times.

So, I'm heading to Salem for the weekend. It's Mother's Day, so I'm gonna go see my mommy. Aren't I good? I haven't been to Salem since January, so I'm definitely long overdue. I can't wait to see Stubby and Hank and see what they're up to. I even can't wait to see dad's gardens and greenhouse. I'm just looking forward to relaxing for a couple of days and hanging with the fam. Good times always ensue with the fam!

P.S. It would be great if it would stop raining soon. Thanks.

Castro gotta go

What's up, blog fans? How is everyone? I know I have been neglecting my blog a bit-I gotta be honest-I really don't have time for it. Recent changes at work have kept us occupied literally from the time we walk in the door until the time we leave-granted, this is normally how a work day is supposed to go, but not typically for us. We're used to a certain amount of downtime with which to conduct personal business-that time doesn't exist anymore. Corporate bastards.

Who watched American Idol last night? I am sorry to all you Jason Castro fans in advance but COME ON! Why the f is he still on the show? He is, in my opinion, becoming the Sanjaya of this season. I mean, he clearly doesn't want to be there, he gets worse as the weeks go on and last night he even forgot the words. I swear he takes one giant hit from his bong backstage before going on-what else would explain that blank look on his face? My David Cook was great, as per usual. I wasn't in love with his performance of "Hungry Like The Wolf" but it was still good and his second song was great. David A was again fabulous, if not a bit cookie-cutter. He's kinda boring. I still don't get why the judges don't like Syesha much. Uh...girlfriend can SING! Ok?

Dancing With The Stars. Ah, Mike and I were VERY happy to see our boy Maksim make an appearance last night. I swear if he is not on the next season, I will boycott. I will. Surprised to see Mario get the boot-I was sure it was Miss Broadway's turn to go, shows what I know.

What am I gonna do with myself when both of those shows are over in a couple of weeks?????

Ugh, I have NO nice things to say about my Cubs right now. Ick, ick, ick. They are SUCK-tastic right now. Case in point-they are losing to the LAST PLACE Reds today. Unacceptable.

Heading to Salem this weekend for Mother's Day. That should be a good time. Nice that my ONLY BROTHER forgot I was coming into town.....whatever dude. :)

Another earthquake? What-are the locusts next???

OMG, I WASN'T dreaming! I totally thought I had a dream last night/early this morning that we were having another earthquake.....turns out, we really were! Talk about freaky! It apparently registered at a 2.7-not life threatening by any means, but was also deemed totally separate from the earthquake we had a couple of weeks ago. I felt my bed moving and heard the windows rattling-totally woke me up. The epicenter was only 7-8 miles from my house!!!! I'm starting to get a little concerned about this. Would now be a good time to run off to Canada? Do they have earthquakes there? What about locusts? DT, can you expand on this for me? http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/B8A2643E199FFE0B8625744000415CE7?OpenDocument

Just call me Sniffles McGee

Nothing like being sick all weekend! Remember all those fun plans I had? Yea......didn't do any of them...except go to the Cubs/Cards game last night. Here is your Pathetic Sight Of The Week: picture me, Friday night, sitting on my couch in my jammies.....sobbing. I was so sick all I could do was cry. I hurt everywhere and my temperature had shot up to 101. Poor baby! I had another crying episode on Saturday, I left my apartment only long enough to go to Wal-Mart and stock up on "sick supplies": kleenex, cold medicine, cough drops and Gatorade. Girl's Nite Out was officially postponed as it was clear I had no business going out on the town that night. Sunday I woke up around 7:30am, went back to sleep around 10:30 or so and slept until 2pm. Niiiiiiice, huh? I still wasn't feeling wonderful but nothing could stop me from seeing my boys in action. It was a good game, even if my precious Cubbies lost and are now 1.5 games behind those Cardinals (enjoy it now Cards fans...you can have 1st in early May-it's cool).

I was somewhat productive this weekend-I got a LOT of reading done and managed to get my crap-ass computer back up and running....and YAY, I got to chat with my favorite Canadian yesterday! That pretty much made my weekend right there. ;)

Now it's Monday again. How did that happen? Ugh...almost all of my cases today are substance abuse related. SO not my area of expertise. The mental health cases? No problem! Bring 'em on! But the substance abuse stuff? I don't even know. I mean, I'm guessing 25 bags of heroin a day is not a good thing. Or that continuing to use while you're in treatment is also not a good thing. Or that getting fired from your job because you're high on crack is also not a good thing. These are the things I know. And that's about it. Wish me luck on the rest.

You can stimulate my economy anytime, Uncle Sam!

Who all has received their special gift from Uncle Sam? Mine was posted to my account yesterday, granted, I'll probably just pay bills with it, but it sure is nice to have. Thanks federal government! (is that like thanking the Easter Bunny?)

I feel like death on a stick. I started waking up around 3am today with a sore throat. Didn't think much of it at the time until I woke up for good around 6:30 and realized I felt, in a word, HORRIBLE. Totally didn't see it coming either as I was in a great mood yesterday, no signs that I was getting sick. Today, I am sneezing non-stop despite taking Sudafed, my throat still hurts, I'm all congested and my ears are stuffed up. My face hurts. Not sure if it's allergies or a cold. Either way, I don't like it. I have too many fun plans for the weekend-there is NO room for being sick in my schedule. So, this little bug is just gonna have to go away. Thanks.

It's the Cards and Cubs here in the STL this weekend, y'all! Erin and I are going to the game on Sunday night (ESPN baby!) and will be decked from head to toe in Cubbie blue. I'm not at all pleased that the Cardinals are now in 1st place (granted the Cubbies are only 0.5 games back, but still). The boys from the northside better kick some ass this weekend. I've decided that even if I'm half dead and on an IV drip for fluids, I will still be at that game on Sunday.

Supposed to have Girls Nite Out tomorrow night with Val, Robin, Carrie and Erin-it's been a LONG time since all five of us have gone out together. I think we are gonna check out the new casino downtown, Lumiere Place. I'm not a huge casino fan, but I'll check it out once. Why not? That is, if I'm feeling up to it. I fully intend to be in denial about being sick, so I see myself going out anyway......I may do some scrapbooking tomorrow at Maggie's as well.

Happy weekend everyone. It is supposed to rain here on/off all weekend-yippee.

When?

When did John Mayer get all tatted up? Do you see the sleeve on that guy? I was talking to one of my reviewers this morning who had to look the picture up for herself because she couldn't believe it either.....that John Mayer sure is hard core, isn't he? Think he'll stop singing sappy depressed white boy music now? Will his tunes have a bit more of an edge to them? Stay tuned to find out......OH, and don't even get me started on his new Alex P. Keaton hair cut..........

19-5? I'm lovin' it!

Ah, my Cubbies kicked so much ass last night, it was almost comical. Even better that it was at the Brewers expense. Their 19-5 win was SOOOOO worth staying up until 11 last night. Hell, the complete meltdown of Brewers reliever Derrick Turnbow was worth it's weight in gold. He gave up six runs in the 8th inning, including several walks-it was beautiful. And Cubs catcher Geovany Soto (above) further proved he is a solid Rookie of the Year candidate with his TWO three-run homers. The win leaves them in a tie for first place with the Cardinals....who they play this weekend. GAME ON! I'll be there on Sunday night decked out in Cubbie blue from head to toe. SO can't wait!

I was oh so sad to hear that Suzy Sunshine Brooke White got the boot on American Idol last night. All I can say is-it's about damn time. I mean, seriously people. Why was she still on? She needs to go sing her version of "I'm A Believer" on Sesame Street or something. Ick. Next project-get Jason Castro outta there. I'm sorry for all you JC lovers out there, but it is high time he get gone (and yes, I intentionally used the word "high" there since he seems to always be in that state.....).

I'm in a pretty good mood today, for the first time this week. See, I'm trying to cut back on my caffeine intake (gasp!) and have literally cut my daily intake in half. The result? I'm tired and cranky ALL DAY LONG. Perhaps not one of my wisest moves, but I think, in the end, it'll be well worth it. Perhaps I'm in a good mood today because it's almost the weekend, or because my Cubbies will be in town tomorrow, or because I have a work happy hour to go to tonight. I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm gonna bottle it up and save it for the next Crabby Monday-Wednesday I have (which will more than likely be next week...HA!).

P.S. I totally have "I'm In Love With A Girl" by Gavin DeGraw in my head. Like you cared. :)