Thursday, December 31, 2009

Marlon Byrd is officially a Cub.......

.........your thoughts on this, Cubs fans?


Also, on This Date In History-December 31, 2008 is the day the Cubs traded DeRo to the Indians. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Happy New Years Eve!

I'm an hour and a half in to my 14.5 hour work day and I'm already exhausted. That can't be a good sign.........

Happy New Years Eve y'all! How is everyone on this last day of 2009? Thus far, I am trying to figure out just how much caffeine I'm gonna need to get through this horrendous day. I'm thinking it's gonna be lots. Yes, I am working 7:30am to 10:30pm today, yay me. WHY do I do this to myself? Oh yea, because I need money. I hope y'all have way more fun plans than I do, if you are going out, please be safe and watch out for the drunks. Or, if you are one of the drunks please don't drive. This is the end of my public service announcement.

I would just like to give a shout out to Central Auto Body in Maplewood. They are SO nice. You may recall when I hit that dog back in the fall, I took my car there on my insurance company's recommendation for repair. You may also recall that my grandpa's neighbor backed into my car on Christmas Eve causing $1,600 worth of damage. Well, I opted to go back to Central since the first experience was a good one and they were so helpful today, even arranging my rental car for me. Now, unfortunately, I can't take my car in until January 11, so I'm gonna have to drive in the ghettomobile for a couple of weeks, but still, it will be fixed soon. Dan at Central Auto Body laughed at me when I asked if there was some sort of limit to the number of bumpers one can have in any given year (if you're counting, this new one will be bumper #3). I surely hope I don't need their services again, but if I do, that's where I'll be taking my car.

I'd like to warn everyone that has to encounter me today that I am drinking...wait for it...wait for it.....REGULAR COKE. I know, I know, livin life on the edge. Regular coke typically makes me crazy hyper, it's not working so far, but perhaps it'll kick in soon...........

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas recap

Hey there all! Hope your holidays have gone well thus far. Mine has been a mixed bag, not gonna lie. I've had some great stuff happen the last few days and some really shitty stuff happen as well. Because life can't just be uneventful for awhile, now can it? At least not mine.......

Christmas Eve I was stuck at work, which was ok because I was fully prepared to bust my butt and get out early. That is, until one of the supervisors came around and announced that we couldn't leave until we helped the other departments with their work. Calling "BS" on this one, I took one for the team (the task involved data entry crap), I did enough of the other depts work for four people, so that not only myself, but also my co-workers could get the hell out of there. It didn't help when I talked to my brother and learned that he, my parents, my sis, brother-in-law and niece were all at my grandpa's without me. So, after busting my ass finishing my own work, I did the other teams work and managed to escape a little after 1pm. Did I mention it was pouring on Christmas Eve? So much for good hair for the annual family pictures....but I digress.....

So, I arrived at gramps, was able to hang with my fam for awhile before heading to my Aunt Jan's house for the big fam celebration. As I've mentioned previously, I was very excited that for the first time in many years, ALL of us would be there, including all my cousins that live out of state. Well, almost all of us were there. My cousin Jeff had to work as did my Uncle Ron, but everyone else made it. It was a bit overwhelming at times (I have A BIG family), but fun. The five great-grandkids were there, watching them interact with each other was hilarious and for my niece Kendall, and my cousin's little girl Addison, it was their first Christmas! Pics coming later-I made a promise to my sister that I'd let her be the first to post pictures of Miss Kendall's first Christmas. Here are a couple I stole from the fam blog, however:
My immediate fam. Obviously this is not from my camera as we are all looking in another direction but.....top row is my sis, mom and me. Bottom row is my dad, my bro-in-law Jon holding miss Kendall and my little bro (rockin the argyle baby!).
This is a pic of all the grandkids (minus my cousin Jeff who was working), great grand-kids (minus miss Addison who was already in bed) and spouses of the grandkids. This pic cracks me up.
Riding my high from having fun with my family, we arrived back at my Grandpa's house Christmas Eve night to discover.......someone had hit my car. Ugh. Turns out, it was his neighbor who at least left a note and was honest about it. Remember when I hit the dog and had to get the bumper replaced? Yea....it's gonna have to be replaced AGAIN. As will the panel above my front tire-it's all smashed in. The tire doesn't appear damaged, thank God. Picture coming home to this at 11:30pm on Christmas Eve and initially thinking it wasn't drivable-I was BEYOND pissed. And when I'm pissed, I cry. The next morning, the offender came over to provide her insurance info (thank GOD she has insurance) and my dad obtained some wire and rigged up my bumper so it was no longer dragging the ground, test drove my car and deemed it drivable. So, I drove out to my uncle's house as planned to see the Davidson side of the family and then down to Salem to celebrate Christmas with my immediate family. While I was still way pissed about my car (because it's just such a pain in the ass to contact the insurance company, get estimates, get it fixed, get a rental car, etc etc etc.....), I tried to forget about it and focus on being with my family. Christmas night was such fun-it was all about the baby, of course, and seeing the look on her face when she got to try out her new toys (she also liked "helping" grandpa open his gifts). My sister and I were also very proud to receive framed pics of our brother in his cap and gown (it was kinda funny and we laughed about it but truly are proud of him!). My family is so much fun, it really doesn't matter what we're doing, we always have fun. My parents, as always, were WAY too generous with their gift giving. Saturday was spent just chillin with the fam and planning our family summer trip to the beach (yea baby!).
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. It started off well enough. Well, I mean, we DID have to say good bye to my sis, bro-in-law and niece as they began their drive back to Dallas (ick). I was having a little tummy distress but thought nothing of it, figuring it was the holidays, I'd eaten things that I don't typically eat, that's why my tummy isn't happy. I went to church without incident. After church, my mom and I went to Wal-Mart (because what weekend would be complete without a trip to Wally World???) and I began to feel clammy, light-headed and like I was gonna faint. Thinking perhaps I was dehydrated, I drank a bottle of water and figured I'd be fine. Yea....not so much. Let's just say, the afternoon quickly declined once back home. There was hurling, crying (I was soooooo sick all I could do was sit there and cry), and a temperature of 101 (I NEVER run a fever so for it to get that high was pretty alarming). Needless to say, I was in no position to drive back to St. Louis nor would it have been possible to come to work on Monday, which I didn't. I slept most of the afternoon/evening on Sunday, went to bed at 9:30pm and slept until 9:00am Monday morning. Then, I was awake for about an hour and went back to bed until 2:30pm. My fever finally broke late afternoon yesterday (back to it's normal low of 97.8), and while I still had no appetite, I at least felt like I was gonna live (there were times on Sunday that I was praying for death. For reals.). Today, thus far, I still don't have much of an appetite, and my eye is all jacked up again (really? 3rd time in 3 months? WTF is going on???), but I'm back at work. In between actually working, I am on the phone with AAA (the offenders insurance) trying to arrange all this car crap. While the AAA lady has been very nice, this is still a giant pain in the ass.
So, there you have it, my Christmas weekend in a nutshell. It could have been better, but then again, it could have been a whole hell of a lot worse too. At least I have my health (back) and my family. And, someday, a car that's not all jacked.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Fun at Harrah's


I don't think this photo needs any explanation....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!


I want to wish my sweet baby cousin Rachel a very happy 17th birthday today! Hope you have a great day kiddo! I love you so, so much! See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Me and my main man, Frosty


proof that I did not hallucinate today's events.....

Buffet update

Has anyone ever been to a buffet at a casino? Oh.My.God. Any type of food you can imagine is there. It's like Christmas. Wow. I can barely formulate words right now because I am in the midst of a carb coma. For reals. My little team (all six of us!) headed on over to Harrah's. My girls Amy, Julie and I decided our best plan of attack would be to tackle the buffet one food section at a time (for instance, there was an asian food section, a meat section (also known as the "man section"), a salad section and a couple more that had miscellaneous food items. I started in the carb section-macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, rolls-yea baby! Some of it was good, some of it wasn't, so even though I started with a plate of food, I only ate part of it. Next, I tackled the asian section. As I was reaching for an egg roll, the man cooking the asian food started talking to me (mind you, he appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent) and I had no idea what he was saying. I'm fairly certain I heard a "how are you today" but I can't be certain.

Just when I though we were done, someone mentioned the dessert section. Not being a huge dessert eater, I was minimally intrigued, but agreed to go check it out. Kids, it was like the mother ship calling me home. I'm talking every dessert you can imagine ALL IN ONE PLACE. Everyone was grabbing cakes, and pies and what not. What did I go for? The doughnuts. Yum. I'm not a fancy girl, I'm easy to please, give me a glazed doughnut and I'm happy. I also saw the ice cream carousel (seriously), but managed to have the strength to avoid it. I also got a carrot cake cupcake but I only took a bite out of it.

so, I'm now expected to work the rest of the afternoon while in a sugar and carb induced coma. It's not been easy. My eyes are kinda glazed over and I think I may have just drooled on myself. And when my director's wife brought their newborn son in so everyone could meet him, I had thoughts of jumping inside his stroller and taking a nap (don't worry, he wasn't in it at the time. I mean, THAT would be crazy.). Whew. I need to try to do some work now. Wish me luck. Me and Frosty may be taking a nap together soon. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

"He's plugged in and everything!"

Oh horror upon horrors. One of my worst nightmares came to life today. I cannot even process it right now. Does God hate me? I mean, seriously.......

So, I walked in to the office today, minding my own business, I turn the corner to get to my cubicle and what did I see standing before me? A GIANT INFLATABLE SNOWMAN. I am not kidding. There he was, Frosty himself, standing in my cubicle smiling at me with a sign that said "Merry Christmas. Please don't kill me". My first reaction was gasping out loud (to which there was immediate laughter from my co-workers). My second reaction was to move him and then say "he's plugged in and everything". I often wondered how those damn things operated, and now I know.

Seems people actually do pay attention to my rants and one of the supervisors here, Kathy (who is also my Facebook friend where I also rant about inflatables), decided an inflatable in my cubicle would be just the thing to get me good. And, I'll admit, she got me. I did NOT expect a giant Frosty in my cubicle, that's for sure. I sit here now with Frosty sitting right beside me outside of my cubicle (there isn't room for the two of us in the cubicle). I'm fairly certain he's blowing out hot air because it is hotter than HELL over here right now. Ahhhh...revenge will be sweet my friends, sweet indeed. I'm fairly certain it's gonna involve a rope and Frosty hanging from the ceiling......

So, I've got my fat pants on. I'm ready. For what, you may ask? Well, today is my team's holiday lunch and we are headed to...........the Harrah's (casino) buffet. Not kidding. For like two hours we are gonna stuff ourselves silly with God knows what from the buffet. I hear the desserts are excellent. I worked out extra hard last night in preparation. This girl is ready to eat.

I must go now, I'm gonna have to call some sort of professional to address my PTSD related to this morning's Frosty situation. I'm gonna go sit in a corner and rock now. Bye.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Mocha chocolata ya ya

My hospitals are trying to make me fat. Tis the season, I suppose. Last week, I got a package at work consisting of a giant box of Godiva chocolates from one of the treatment centers in Tennessee-one that out of network for United Healthcare, but nonetheless, they clearly love me (or just want me to get fat). Then, today I got yet another giant box of chocolates (although not Godiva-cheap bastards), from a hospital in Pennsylvania that I haven't even managed in TWO years. I always loved working with them though, and I guess the feeling is mutual. I've managed to make my co-workers eat with me-nothing sadder than a single girl eating a giant box of chocolates by herself in her cubicle.

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was good, always good when my family is in town. My parents and brother came to the STL on Saturday as my mom and her siblings were planning on taking Grandpa to lunch on Sunday for his birthday. Saturday, the boys (dad, grandpa and brother), sat around in the living room drinking beer and watching sports and my mom and I......were on our hands and knees scrubbing and waxing Grandpa's kitchen floor. I'm thinking we got the raw end of the deal there. Poor gramps really can't do it, so mom and I moved all the furniture out of the kitchen (with very little help from the menfolk, mind you) and were literally on the floor using good ol' fashioned elbow grease. My knees still hurt and Saturday night I couldn't sleep because my lower back was killing me but, hey, it was for Grandpa and, if I do say so myself, the floor looks AMAZING.

I was happy to hear on Saturday that my sis, brother-in-law and niece arrived in St. Louis safely, as did my cousin Clint, his wife Amy and daughter Kira. They got stuck in that massive snow storm when they tried to leave on Friday, but finally managed to make it here safe and sound. On Sunday (as per the pics in the previous post), my sis, brother-in-law and beautiful niece came to church to surprise Grandpa-and surprised he was! I was immensely happy during that church service. I had the people I love the most in the world right there with me. Nothing much gets better than that.

Last night I finally started wrapping my Christmas presents (hey, just because I got the shopping part done early doesn't mean I was gonna wrap them in any sort of timely manner), and watched the movie "Four Christmases" (pretty funny!). It is now officially Christmas week. Sadly, I have to work on Christmas Eve but I'm hoping, like last year, that we'll be able to leave early. We'll be celebrating Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family, Christmas Day with my dad's side and Christmas night at home in Salem with just the immediate family. Sounds perfect. :)

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Drool Queen is in the STL!

I got to see my gorgeous baby girl today! She and her mommy and daddy arrived in St. Louis safely last night. As you may have guessed, they (Kendall in particular) were the BIG SURPRISE. My sis wanted to show up at church and surprise Grandpa for his birthday-and yes, he was surprised. They'll be heading off to see my brother-in-law's side of the family but we'll see them again on Christmas Eve. Kendall is quite drooly right now, she's cutting more teeth, poor kiddo. She still managed to have a smile on her face though, especially if Grandpa Ken is around. They have some sort of special bond, it's way cute. Here's a couple of pics from today:me with my favorite little love bug!
my brother Tim with lil miss. Note the drool....
my dad (Grandpa Ken) with Kendall. Check out her stylin outfit, huh? She is too darn cute!



Friday, December 18, 2009

Last Christmas I gave you my heart....wise words from the amazing 80's group WHAM.

For the first time in a long time, I am actually looking forward to Christmas. Not that I hate Christmas or anything, but inevitably every year I get the blues, depressed if you will, this time of year. I'm not exactly sure why, I mean, I have an amazing family, amazing friends, a good job, my health, but for some reason, this time of year gets me down. I've been known to sit at home alone on Christmas night and cry. True story. This year, however, I have reason to be excited about Christmas, and that reason would be my precious niece. Yes, I may be a bit obsessed with her, but that little kiddo kinda changes my perspective on a lot of things. Her mere existence makes me happy. I can't wait to be a part of her first Christmas.

Speaking of, pray that my sister, Jon and the baby (and my four legged niece, Chloe), make it safely to St. Louis tomorrow. They are driving from Dallas, and have been quite sleep deprived this week. That's a long trip to be making on no sleep, with a dog and a baby. I can't wait to see them-ALL of them. :)

Update on my inflatable lawn decoration hatred. There is this house near me that is obnoxious with every holiday, at least 4-5 inflatables in their tiny little yard. For Christmas, however, they've gone above and beyond obnoxious. They have a frickin blow up Santa that is AS TALL AS THE HOUSE. Not kidding. That damn thing is about the scariest thing I've ever seen. I mean, who needs a 20 feet high Santa? For reals? As if that isn't horrifying enough, the other day I was driving on the other side of that same street and one of the houses there has an equally as tall giant inflatable snowman in their yard. WTF? It's not bad enough that you have 5 inflatables in your yard? You now have to super size them? I'm fairly certain this is a sign of the End Times. And don't even get me started again on that house near me that has ALL BLUE lights covering their yard. Just the thought of it is causing me to go blind in one eye.......

Thursday, December 17, 2009

KD strikes.....yet again

I almost forgot to report on my latest mishap. Many of you will not be surprised by my actions as, sadly, these events tend to happen quite frequently. I swear it's not on purpose, I'm just
horribly absent-minded and terribly klutzy, and the older I get, the worse it becomes.

So, last night was laundry night. I'd put it off long enough, so, when I got home at like 6pm, I headed on downstairs with my giant laundry basket in hand....wait for it....wait for it.....wait for it...and, as I neared the end of the first set of stairs, I apparently missed the last step, fell down to the landing (landed on my back) and sent the laundry basket flying (because it's really fun to pick up your underwear in the middle of a public stairwell). It might have been a little dark in the stairwell (and by "might" I mean it was), and as I laid there for a moment, I took a quick inventory of any injuries I may have incurred, luckily, other than a bit of a bruise on my lower back today, I'm fine. No one should be surprised by this latest incident.

What concerns me is that I'm not embarrassed by any of my actions and, in fact, post them on the world wide web for everyone to see. But you know, if I can help just one klutzy person feel better about themselves, then I've done my job.

'Tis the season, people.

Skunks and The St. Louis Cardinals

Um, ok, so I'm used to various smells around my office building, you know, because we work next to a landfill and all, but I was NOT prepared for the skunk smell that hit my nostrils on this fine December morning. Yuck.

Ok, I've held my tongue long enough. I now must provide my two cents regarding this David Freese DUI thing. Seems to be a pattern within the Cardinals organization, doesn't it? I mean, there was that Spezio guy who was just a hot mess, and who could forget the "beloved" manager, TLR himself getting pulled over and getting a DUI, and of course, sadly, a Cardinals player died after drinking and driving, Josh Hancock. So, now, it happens to David Freese, the supposed future of the Cardinals at 3B. Did you know this is NOT an isolated incident? No, seems young Mr. Freese has a prior alcohol related offense. Not good, not good at all. Now, he is reportedly receiving services through the Cardinals EAP, sure hope that rehabs him. If he really does have a drinking problem, I sure hope he gets it together. I mean, I'm not a Cardinals fan by any means, but I hate to see a talented player just ruin everything with drugs and/or alcohol. Hopefully he can be like Josh Hamilton, get it together, and make a come back. So, so sad. I mean, all the Cubs have is a fat, pot smoking catcher. We win.

Who's ready for Christmas? I'm excited to see my family. This year is the first time in a LONG time that every single relative on my mom's side will be here in St. Louis for Christmas (including my sis and cousins that live out of state). It's gonna be so much fun. All five of the great-grandkids will be there (plus the two that are in-utero!). Yay! That's our Christmas Eve fun (even though I have to work until 4 on that day-yuck). On Christmas Day, we'll spend some time with the Davidson relatives and then my immediate family and I are going back to my parents house in Salem to celebrate Kendall's first Christmas. I know she won't remember it, given that she's only 8 months old and all, but we will. :)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Happy 82nd Birthday Grandpa!

Hello all, my beloved gramps is 82 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA! He doesn't read my blog, so really this post is all in vain, but still, turning 82 is some pretty exciting stuff! Grandpa is my favoritest guy ever. I love my grandpa sooooooooo much, every day/year that goes by I realize just how lucky I am to have a grandparent around. Gramps is pretty cool. I'll get to see him this weekend as my parents are coming into town for his big birthday dinner. PLUS, a very special surprise awaits him on Sunday......I'm not saying what the surprise is because, well, it's a surprise.

I LOVE YOU GRANDPA! May you have a happy, happy birthday and many more to come!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Congrat to my sister!

I almost forgot...I must publicly acknowledge the fact that my beloved baby sis completed a half marathon yesterday (just two minutes shy of her goal, but nevertheless an impressive time). A great feat under any circumstances (13.5 miles is A LOT!) but doubly impressive given that she just had a baby 8 months ago!

I am so proud of you sis. You are truly my idol. I love you!

I had to yell at Grandpa

I realize you're supposed to respect your elders and all, but when they do something really stupid, I feel you must point it out to them. The yelling comes from a good place. No, really.

So I was at Grandpa's house yesterday, as I am most Sundays. It was status quo-he asked me if I wanted coffee like he has every Sunday for the last 11 years and I said "no, I don't drink coffee" like I've said to him every Sunday for the last 11 years. He then asked me if I wanted an english muffin to which I gave my standard reply and lied, saying I'd already eaten (the truth is that I don't like english muffins and I HATE the butter Grandpa puts on it. He uses I Can't Believe It's Not Butter-gross. Believe you me, it ain't butter). Then as we're sitting there at the kitchen table, he casually advises me that he put up his outdoor Christmas lights by himself yesterday and FELL OFF THE LADDER. This is an issue for many reasons. 1. Because last year, he promised that this year, he would let someone else hang the lights for him and 2. because he is going to be 82 years old on Wednesday, he does not need to be climbing ladders! When he fell, he apparently hit his ribs, he's not gonna go to the doctor mind you to see if any of them are broken, even though he was still in pain yesterday. I yelled at him on behalf of the family, reminded him that he promised he'd let someone else do it this year and also that he lives alone and what if he'd been seriously injured and couldn't get up? What would he have done then? He sheepishly admitted he shouldn't have been up on a ladder but also at the same time minimized the situation. Never mind that this is the same guy that nearly severed his finger while sticking his hand IN a running lawnmower this summer. I certainly don't want to take his independence away because in most ways, he is still very high functioning. But, at 82, he just can't physically do some of the things he used to be able to do. He's so stubborn. I love him dearly, but he deserved a good talkin to yesterday. He also told me that he didn't want to celebrate his birthday again until he turned 90. While I'm glad he plans on living that long, I also reminded him that as the patriarch of the family, each and every birthday will be celebrated whether he likes it or not. :)

Grandpa may be the death of me. I'm glad I'm able to see him weekly and make sure he's doing ok but he is seriously worrying me. He's a wild man and pretty much out of control.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

News of the day

This made me laugh out loud. Enjoy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34358268/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

WHY is Milton Bradley still a Cub?

I went to sleep last night hoping that when I woke up today, Milton Bradley would no longer be a Cub. Alas, I was diappointed yet again. He's still on the roster. Will today be the day? Come on Santa, I've been a good little Cubs fan all year, pleeeeeeeease make someone else take on that hot mess. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease. Clearly I'm not above begging.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

My niece is 8 months old today!

Happy, happy 8 month birthday to my sweet little niece today! Wow, 8 months old already? Those months have FLOWN by! She's such a big girl now-trying to stand on her own, making friends at daycare. She's so cocial and happy and sweet. I love my baby girl soooo much! I can't wait to see her at Christmas. I'm super excited about Christmas this year because it's all about her. :)

Monday, December 07, 2009

I love Hwy 40!!!!

Hwy 40 is now open-YAY! You have no idea how excited I was this morning. It was like Christmas came early. For real. Granted, I only have to take the highway for three exits, but let me tell you, the highway re-opening has shaved off 10 minutes of my commute. Now, 10 minutes may not sound like a lot, but when you have to be at work as early as I do, every minute counts. Ten more minutes I could be sleeping? Count me in.

In sad news, I did not make it to the 5k yesterday. I'll tell you why in two words-food poisoning. Suffice it to say, I'd much rather have been running outside freezing my ass off than what I was actually doing. And I'll leave it at that.

A new week is upon us-lots of stuff going on this week, including my company's annual holiday party. These parties are always anticlimactic. I mean, there's free food and each employee gets two drink tickets (United Healthcare, you are SO kind!), but that's about all that's going on. Sure, there are door prizes, but I have yet to win in my 3+ years at this company, so I'm a little bitter. That, and it's always held at Dave and Busters. I'd rather beat my own hand with a hammer than go to Dave and Busters. It's a combo of many of the things I hate most in this world-noise, flashing lights, and people. No thank you. I stay away from the gaming area for fear of having a seizure (and/or punching someone who gets too close). Yea, so basically I'm going for the free food and booze.

I am proud to say that I am nearly done with my Christmas shopping. Why is this impressive, you may ask? Well, it's impressive because I'm a known procrastinator. Typically, my holiday shopping begins somewhere in the 3-5 days before Christmas range. I work best under pressure people. Not this year, though. I have my dad and brother-in-law left and then I am done. Can I get a "HOLLA" up in here? Now, the wrapping portion of the evening may not happen until 3-5 days before Christmas, but whatever. Hey, I'm not a machine folks. Geez.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Raising the bar on the Cuteness Scale


I imagine she's saying "who the f**k are you?"

Two more days!

I am SO excited. In two days Hwy 40/64 re-opens! This may not sound like a big deal, but those of you in St. Louis know what I'm talking about. This highway has been shut down all year to re-do it, affecting the commute of yours truly. It's personal. My car, Sunny, told me today that she is so excited to not have to drive on Forest Park Parkway anymore!

To celebrate, there are a host of events being held tomorrow, including a 5k walk/run in which we actually get to run on the highway. Love it! Of course, I am participating, I got my fleece ready (I suspect it might be just a bit chilly). So, while y'all are still all warm and snug in your beds at 8am, I'll be freezing my ass off running 3.12 miles. Hmmm......

Friday, December 04, 2009

24

The above referenced number is how many degrees it was this morning. Me no likey. It appears I have been spoiled by the unseasonably warm temps in November and I guess I just expected more of the same in December. Apparently you don't always get what you wish for. I was hoping to get a jog in sometime on Saturday, but I'm not sure how willing I am to do that when it's below freezing outside. Just sayin.

So tomorrow is Mikey's party. It's gonna be me, Val, Tab, Jaz and Ash.....and The Gays. Always festive when The Gays have a party. Mazel tov! Is that how you spell that? Anyway...

Why is it that the women's bathroom in this building smells like sewage? I mean, seriously? Actually it kinda smells like a pond....and sewage. And today in particular, it smelled like sewage and cinnamon (isn't that the newest scent at Bath and Body Works?). I'm really disturbed by this situation and I'm not at all happy about having to walk the extra 50 feet to the other bathroom on our floor. I drink A LOT of liquids in a day, thus, I have frequent trips to the ladies restroom. Is it too much to ask that it not smell like sewage? I'm concerned working by this landfill may be giving us all cancer or something. Kudos to the guy who decided to build an office park here. That was a GREAT idea.

Happy Weekend people!

Christmas in, well.....December

Merry Christmas Cubs fans! Aaron Miles is no longer a Cub. You're welcome. Ok, I really didn't have anything to do with it, but for once, Jim Hendry actually made a deal that makes sense. Of course, like a lot of trades, we are also losing a fan favorite-Jake Fox. Everyone who's a Cubs fan knows, however, that Foxy is American League material-he's a phenomenal hitter but there's no position for him. In other words, he'll be a fantastic DH. I wish him the best of luck. I'll remain a Jake Fox fan. The A's are getting one really good guy and the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Score.

The next bit of Cubs news I want to hear is that someone else has custody of Milton Bradley. Come on baseball gods, I've been a good girl this year (ok, semi-good), make my wish come true. Also, while I'm praying to you, baseball gods, could you also ensure that Rick Ankiel does NOT become a Cub and that Rich Harden's ass remains on the Cubs? Thanks. Oh, and I'd prefer to keep Hoffy too. Sure, he's pretty much a waste of bench space, but he's hot, and that's gotta count for something, right?

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Whose nuts are these?

I arrived at work this morning to find nuts on my desk. Not something that typically happens, I wondered aloud "why are there nuts on my desk?". I've been promised there's a story behind it, but thus far, I haven't heard said story. So, here I sit with nuts on my desk. Happy Thursday to me!

The eye is a million times better today. I'm still sans eye makeup (you're shuddering at the thought, aren't you?), but no more watering and no more pain. Yes, things are looking up my friends. That, and the weekend is almost upon us. Oh, and we did NOT get the snow we were threatened with. Yay.

Big weekend plans? I'm working at the crisis line tomorrow night-awesome. Saturday my precious Mikey Poo is having a little shindig at his house. I've promised to bring my now famous buffalo chicken dip and some beverages-the gays like their wine but I'm gonna butch it up a bit and bring beer. Surely there are some butch gays out there, right?

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Not ready

There is a dirty, filthy rumor that we are getting snow today. I'm not ready. It was pointed out to me that it is December, but still, I'm not ready.

Folks, if you didn't know this already, let me tell you-I am a hot mess. So, remember my eye issue from a few weeks ago? Well.....it's back. I am on Day 3 of pain, not being able to see and constant watering (to the point that tears are dripping down my face and everyone at work thinks I'm crying...I'm not). Have I called my doctor? Well, not exactly (and by "not exactly" I mean not at all). I keep waiting for it to get better on it's own, but somehow, I think it's getting worse. This morning, trying to get ready for work was impossible as the stupid effin eye wouldn't even open. I'm at work w/my hair pulled up, no makeup on (the REAL reason I'm upset) and lookin like a mess. Plus, I just discovered there is something all over my shirt (toothpaste? deodorant? You decide.). The feeling is very hard to explain-I can only say that it sorta feels like someone is stabbing me in the eyeball. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Eyedrops help temporarily, but the pain and watering come back. I've come up with two conclusions-I may have a blocked tear duct (just like my baby niece!) or it's allergies. If it's allergies, let me just say that I'd rather be sneezing my head off, at least I'd be able to see. I must say, driving and typing while only being able to see out of one eye has been....um, interesting. I think I may need one of those handicapped stickers for my car. As for my ability to do my job, since I type all day long, well, you think United Healthcare would spring for a personal assistant for me? No?

I am excited because I finally got my gym access approved at work. I was afraid to ask for it since the last time we were in this building the procedure for gaining gym access involved a full assessment, where the gym lady weighed you and measured you. No thank you. I know my ass is fat-I have a mirror. I don't need some 90 pound gym lady to tell me that. Well, said gym lady emailed me yesterday and assured me no such evaluation was required and that I am free to use the gym whenever. Sweet. I'm going tonight after work. Hmmmm, running on the treadmill with only one eye should be interesting....I hope I don't fall off.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

KD's take on Grady Sizemore's nudie pics

I, for one, am very disappointed to hear (and see) about Grady Sizemore's leaked nudie pics that he apparently took for his Playboy Playmate girlfriend. Now, as a red-blooded, man-loving woman, I can tell you, based on the pics I saw, Grady is quite the hottie with no clothes on. BUT, the mere fact that he took the pics in the first place makes him something I cannot support, and that, my friends, is a GIANT DOUCHEBAG. What does Grady's Ladies think of this? I may have to leave the Grady's Ladies group on Facebook. This is serious business. This is right on par with when one of my ex's emailed me a pic of his junk. Douche.Bag. 'Nuff said. I'm heartbroken today, because I can no longer love Grady. :(

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Amazing Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was fantastic-filled with food, family, fun and one annoying dog named Jim Bob (more on that in a minute). I'm home now after nearly a week in my home town of Salem, Mo. The week went by in a blur, but I'll try to capture some of the highlights.

On Tuesday night, we decided to have family movie night. To preface this story, I must tell you that Salem does not have a movie theater (it's THAT small). So, in order to have said family movie night, we had to drive to the next town over, Rolla (about 30 miles away). My parents never go to the movies, so it was a nice treat to have them come along. The plan was for my brother and I to see New Moon and my parents were going to see The Blind Side. Well, turns out, there was only 1 ticket for New Moon left, so all four of us saw The Blind Side. Let me just say, I pretty much cried the whole time. I'm a sucker for a feel good movie. It actually was really good, I recommend it! I ended up seeing New Moon later in the week and liked it too....although I feel dirty thinking that 17 year old werewolf is hot...........

On Wednesday, we waited anxiously all day for my sis, brother-in-law and niece to arrive...they got in around 10pm, baby Kendall was fast asleep, but just seeing her was enough. My brother, who hadn't seen her since her baptism in July said "she's huge!". :)

Thanksgiving Day started early. We were all up early to see the baby and play with her (even my brother who is never up before 11am if he can at all help it). She is SO freakin cute it's almost unfair to other babies out there. Coupled with a sweet personality and other kids just don't have a chance. We left Grandma and Grandpa Davidson to babysit, and my brother, sister, brother-in-law and myself went to town to.......run a 5k. Yes, sounds insane, I know. My parents church hosted the 1st Annual Turkey Trot, so knowing running 3.12 miles would ease our guilt from stuffing our faces, we decided to go. Now, I do a 5k on the treadmill 3-4 days a week, so endurance-wise, this thing should have been no problem, right? Wrong. This 5k SUCKED. It was freezing for one thing. And very windy. And mostly uphill. I think at one point I threatened to cry. My amazing brother, however, wouldn't let me quit and even though we came in dead last, we finished it. After that, the eating began.

We mostly spent time with Kendall (pics below), and soaked up the time we had with her and my sis and bro-in-law. On Friday, my sis, bro-in-law and Kendall had to leave, but as they were leaving, my Aunt Mary and cousin Rachel arrived. Sad to see the first three go, we were also happy to see my aunt and cousin. Yesterday, my Aunt Paula also came down. We hung out with the dogs a lot, who LOVED the attention. Although we had a somewhat unwelcome guest for most of the week....the neighbor's dog Jim Bob. Seems Jim Bob likes my parents house, I'm guessing so he can play with my parents dogs, Stubby and Hank, although I don't know why. Stubby hates him and pretty much ignores him and Hank, well, Hank likes him a little too much.....uhm, yea, seems Hank the Tank thinks humping poor Jim Bob is an acceptable thing to do...over, and over, and over again. I'm not sure what the doggie child rape laws are, but Jim Bob is just a puppy........ewwwwww. We went "shopping"...(in Salem, "shopping" means these weird little craft-like stores "downtown" and....Wal-Mart), and then just kinda hung out talking and laughing. I can be doing absolutely nothing at all, but as long as it's with my family, I don't mind. I love them all so much!
Oh, oh, OH! I almost forgot to tell you about the part where my brother nearly got stampeded by a herd of cows! True story. So, all of us decided to take a walk (down the county road and back is two miles...gotta work off all the crap we'd eaten!), and by all of us, I mean my family and the dogs (including the neighbor dog, Jim Bob and my Aunt Mary's dog, Sophia). The dogs (particularly my parents two morons) like to run off in the fields, chasing things and whatnot, and little miss Stubby ran into a giant brush pile and didn't come out. Thinking she may be stuck or hurt, my brother hopped the barbed wire fence and went to check on her. Several minutes went by, we stood on the road waiting to see if her dumb ass was gonna appear. When suddenly we all begin yelling at once "Tim, the cows are coming!". Seems the cows did not like this human stranger being in their field and they were coming after my brother! Once he figured out what we were yelling (and saw the cows for himself), he began running toward the fence. In his rush for safety, he apparently got his shirt stuck on the fence, and also got stabbed by the barbed wire, leaving quite the gash in his leg (complete with a blood soaked sock...awesome). We got him home, and debated going to the ER for a tetanus shot, but then decided that if his leg was still attached in the morning, then he'd probably be fine (and he is). This only happens in the country, folks.

I'm back at home in the STL now which sucks, but I looked at the calendar and it's only 20 more days until I see my family again. That's what will give me the energy to get up tomorrow and face another day at work. Enjoy the pics below, you know I can't help but brag on that niece of mine!
Look how big she's gotten! She is such a big girl now. She hasn't started crawling yet, but she can roll around the room like no one's business. While in Salem, she learned how to wave, and particularly liked to wave at her Grandpa Davidson. I think her First Thanksgiving was a good one, and I'm so happy we could be there to share it with her.Here's Kendall doing what naughty babies do best, messing with the Christmas tree.......and playing with her toys.This is my dad, Kendall's grandpa, teaching her how to do sit ups. I've never seen my father be so sappy before. But if Kendall's around, forget about it. He's a sucker for that baby girl!Here's my beautiful sis and her beautiful baby.
Aunt Kerri with the munchkin. My head looks weird, but the kid looks cute...Love this pic of Kendall and her daddy and Uncle Tim. She's got them wrapped around her chubby little fingers.Kendall playing with the stuffed moose I gave her. We named him Marty.
Family pic time! This is me, my sister Kristy and my mom with baby Kendall.
The boys turn! Here's my brother Tim, brother-in-law Jon and my daddy with Miss Kendall.The WAY adorable Baumgart family.She loves to stand and is really strong! We think she may just skip crawling and go right on into walking....PARTY PIC! Never mind that this was taken first thing in the morning and Aunt Kerri looks like a hot mess.....Look at those stunning blue eyes!Kendall LOVED watching the dogs. She would belly laugh at their antics. They are pretty funny...........

Happy 59th Birthday to my Daddy!

Just wanted to make sure to publicly wish my dad a happy birthday today (although he didn't want to acknowledge it). I love my dad soooo much. Even though I'm 33 years old, I still believe my daddy knows everything, can do anything and could protect me from anything. I guess he's sorta my hero. I don't know if he knows how much I love and appreciate him....but I do.

So, hope your day was a good one dad. You got to see me, so that must have been awesome for you. ;) I'll see you again soon.


Love,

Kerri

Friday, November 27, 2009

KD's Annual Thanksgiving Message

2009. Where did the year go? I mean, seriously? It's true what they say, the older you get, the faster time goes by. Make it stop.


2009 has been an interesting year. Full of highs, had some lows, but mostly I can chalk it up to a year that's not too bad.


The highest of highs was the birth of my sweet little niece Kendall in April. That child has been such an amazing gift-I'm truly grateful every single day that she's in our lives. I can't imagine life without her. Yes, it's safe to say I'm one proud auntie. It doesn't hurt that she's absolutely gorgeous as well. ;) Just thinking about her makes me tear up...I'm not sure I've ever loved something so much.


This may seem like a surprise but I'm thankful for the "friend" who betrayed me a few months ago-Im sure y'all remember, I was quite upset about it and wrote an anger-filled post regarding the situation. The reason I want to thank her for is ths-after I got over the hurt and the anger (and the urge to bitch slap her in the face), I started evaluating my own behavior, and how I am to others. And since then, I have made a conscious effort to be a nicer person, I think about the things I say before I say them and in the end, I've become a much happier person. I'm proud to say I was able to take something negative and make it into a positive. So, to You Know Who You Are (and probably still stalk my blog), thanks for being such a bitch, because now I'm less of one. Oh and one more thing....I don't miss you.

I'm thankful for my REAL friends, my amazing family-especially my parents. I often feel I don't deserve them. They are amazing and I have no idea what I'd do without them. I'm thankful that I have such a good relationship with my siblings (including my awesome brother-in-law) and I'm thankful that God has given me another year with my Grandpa (and hopefully many more).

I am a very lucky girl. I love you all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Vaca update

Hmmm, let's see, what have I done since I last went to work? Well, last Friday I slept in, stayed in my pajamas all day and didn't leave the house. On Saturday I felt a bit guilty about my laziness, so I went to the park and ran four miles. After that, I decided to be social and, since I had double booked myself, made appearances at two separate events (it's really hard being this popular). The second event was meeting for drinks and watching the Blues game (they won, yay!) and then going to OB Clark's to stalk Blues players, which is quickly becoming our Saturday night past time. Sadly, it was a bit of a blah night as far as seeing current players goes, BUT, we did see Kelly Chase (again) and Bob Plager, who is really old.

On Sunday, I went to church, hung out with Grandpa (who was in a sappy mood for some reason), went to Job #1 to survey the moving damage and to set up my cubicle (I didn't want to come back to a mess next week when I eventually return to work), went to Job #2 for a whopping two hours (I'm a giver, what can I say?) and then home.

Today so far, I endured the dentist. He and I had a frank discussion about my dislike for him and his entire profession-I asked that he not take it personally. He assured me he doesn't. Then we agreed that for all parties involved it would be best if I come high on Ativan next time I am a guest at his office. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

I'm now in Salem, my hometown, thus far I've had lunch with my mom and helped my dad hang the outside Christmas lights on the house. I also fed the dogs and took care of my farm on Farmville. I'm a busy girl. I'm meeting my mom up at the high school track around five and I'm making her run with me-that should be fun. :)

I get to see my precious niece in TWO days!

More updates to follow....

Thursday, November 19, 2009

LMAO

Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young award for this year-congrats to him, he's awesome and deserves it----even if he does smoke a doobie every now and then...


What's funny is that, around here in the STL, the buzz has been about whether or not the winner would be Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright. No other person was even considered for the award-at least not here in St. Louis. Nope, it was pretty clear it was either gonna be Carp or Wainwright.....so, imagine my level of entertainment when I read today that it was neither of them.

Tee hee hee. ;)

Old men in long underwear

It's Old Newsboys Day today. Don't know what that is? Well, basically, people stand out on a street corner in freezing November and sell special editions of the Suburban Journal and the money goes to benefit underprivileged kids. I know this because my nearly 82 year old grandpa is one of those people that stands outside every year (catch him near the intersection of Hwy 270 and the Washington/Elizabeth exit!). So, since this is something that is important to Gramps, I decided to go ahead and give a couple bucks (generous, I know) to this little old guy standing on my street. He was, at a minimum, 90 years old and cute as a button! Before I drove away, thinking I was being polite, I said "stay warm!" and this little old guys says "Oh, I will, I've got my long underwear on". Uhm....TMI old guy. TMI. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so I just wished him a good day and drove off. Wow.

So, tomorrow is Moving Day at work. You should see this office right now. Two words-Hot Mess. The beauty of Moving Day being tomorrow is that I don't have to deal with it. Yes, friends, after tonight at 8:30pm this girl is ON VACATION. Hot damn, it couldn't come a moment too soon. I don't have to be back at work until November 30. Yay for me! You may be asking yourself what I'm gonna be doing on my extended vaca. Well, I'll tell you, some VERY exciting stuff. Tomorrow I will be sleeping in and playing Farmville on Facebook all day. Possibly seeing New Moon that night. Saturday, probably some more sleeping in, then doing some Blues stalking later in the night. Sunday, church followed by a short shift at the crisis line. Monday, I get to go to my favoritest place on Earth...it's better than Disneyland....and that place is...THE DENTIST. Valium please. After my trip to hell, er, um, I mean the dentist, I am off to Salem where I will remain until the following Sunday. God bless my parents for putting up with me for that long. I'm sure my mom will put me to work and on Wednesday, I'll have to supervise my dad and brother putting up the Christmas tree (family tradition). I plan to see some old friends while down there as well. I can't wait.

Also, dear faithful readers, be on the lookout for my annual KD's Thanksgiving Message. This years edition is gonna be a good one, already working on the rough draft. ;)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Boom de ah da

Ok, I admit it looks a little suspicious, but I swear, everything is on the up and up. I mean sure, I have a baggie full of white pills on my desk, but as far as you know they are nothing more than ibuprofen. Got it? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Dancing With The Stars update-so glad that personality-less Playboy model Joanna Krupa got the boot last night. No, I'm not ragging on her because she's a supermodel, I'm ragging on her because she had no personality and was kinda hateful. I mean, I'm kinda hateful too, but you don't see me on national television, now do you? So, so, SO happy Kelly Osbourne made it to the finals! I gotta say, before DWTS, I wasn't a Kelly Osbourne fan per se, I mean, I didn't dislike her or anything but I wasn't really a fan either. Since DWTS, I have fallen in love with Kelly Osbourne. She's just so darn cute and I'm telling you, she made me cry EVERY.SINGLE.EPISODE. It seems the world has embraced her, myself included. Maybe it was seeing Ozzy crying in the audience that did it for me, I don't know. Her competition is Donny Osmond (someone I didn't want to like but now I kinda do, even if he is freakishly happy ALL.THE.TIME) and Mya.

This day has driven me to eat M&M's, thought you should know. Uhm, and you know I work in MENTAL HEALTH, right? So, why did this reviewer from a PSYCH hospital ask me to authorize another inpatient mental health day because the doctor had decreased the patient's zithromax? Last time I checked, zithromax was a mother effin ANTIBIOTIC. Really? Did you really just ask me to authorize that? Does she not know my tolerance for stupid is low? Is she getting the day? Hell to the no Bobby Brown, she is not. My boss gave me permission to drive to Nashville and smack her. And to send the case for a peer review. Done and done.

Oh, and DJT is THE DEVIL. And he knows why. ;)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Practice Thanksgiving

OMG, we are having food day at work today and it's a Thanksgiving theme. I think I've already eaten my weight in green bean casserole. Ugh, I feel the bloat already. This is gonna cost me double time in the gym tonight. I figure this is just a trial run for next week.

I mean seriously, we have potato casserole, mac and cheese, two kinds of green bean casserole (my boss and I are having a green bean casserole face off. I'm fairly certain I won. It's the extra crunchy onions that did it), breads, turkey, chili, stuffing, and like 5 different desserts. Oh, and egg nog-but not the good kind, you know, with alcohol. We scoffed at the lady that brought the fresh fruit and veggies-healthy crap? Get that stuff outta here! This is Thanksgiving dammit! There's no room for healthy here (I say this as my pants are getting tighter and tighter by the minute).

So, as you've heard me bitch about before, I sit right next to the doctors at work (only two more days of that nonsense then we move buildings where I don't have to sit by them anymore!). Well, I put my plate down on my desk and went to get a napkin. My plate was gone when I came back and all four docs were standing around. My first response? "Which one of you guys did it?". I then blamed Dr. B who sits right by me and is typically a little ornery. He faked shock at me accusing him first then said typically I'd be right, but not this time. Turns out, our frickin Medical Director, Dr. V (who I like to call Dr. Annoying) was the culprit, which meant, not only did I have to talk to him (I try to avoid that at all costs unless I want a diatribe about his son's soccer games for the next hour-no thank you), but that he had come into close contact with my food. Not sure how I feel about that. Although it did not stop me from eating it.

I am in carb heaven right now. It may be hell later after it digests, but for now? Heaven.

Monday, November 16, 2009

There is nothing creepy about stalking professional athletes....

Did everyone have a good weekend? Mine was splendid, thanks for asking. I was actually quite busy and left the house a lot-a far departure from my typical sleep-in-stay-in-my-jammies-all-day-and-not-wear-makeup-for-48-hours weekend.

On Friday, I worked at my part-time job until 8:30 and then met up with my friends Val and Robin and..........my precious Mikey Poo!!!! I haven't seen him since he left UBH to go to that other company. Oh how I've missed my boo. We had a fun night, pics are up on Facebook, no need to put pics of drag queens on my blog-right? This is a family show. Anyhoo, got home around 2-ish and had to be at Dobbs by 7-ish to get new tires. Needless to say, I was quite sleepy and looked like a hot mess, so, of course, I would run into someone I know, right? Right. I ran into a co-worker, I chatted with him but didn't make eye contact. I'm ok with strangers seeing me look rough, but not people I know. Yikes. Anyway, so now I have two new tires-amazing how well your car stops and starts when your tires have tread on them. Go figure.

Around mid-day on Saturday I met my Aunt Jan, Aunt Cheryl, Aunt Mary and cousin Rachel for brunch at First Watch (breakfast all day-yum!) and ran into my friends Freida and Judy there (I was still looking rough, but a little less so). Good times were had by all. The afternoon was spent running errands, taking a nap and then getting ready to head out to the hockey game.

So, I went to the Blues game with my friends Tanya and Allison (T&A for short).....and Allison's dad. OMG, he is awesome. It was like hanging out with my Grandpa-Allison's dad is not that much younger than gramps. I'm sure he thought he was cool hanging out with us three ladies. Tanya scored us awesome seats, not far from the ice, and almost within spitting distance of Blues goalie Chris Mason (I heart him). The first period was awesome-lots of fights and the Blues actually scored. The game pretty much went downhill from there, but we still had fun. Afterwards, us girls went to the hockey hangout, OB Clarks and prepared ourselves to run into some Blues. The night did not disappoint. We first saw former Blue Kelly Chase (who now does radio), and some Blues player with a broken arm that we didn't recognize (turns out it was Alexander Steen-who knew. According to Allison he "looks Russian...or Slavic". No stereotyping there.). ;) Later we got to see the creme de la creme, TJ Oshie, who, along with Chris Mason, is my favorite Blue. I'll post pics when I get home tonight-yes, we were those people that took pics of them. Hey, at least I didn't ask any of them to sign my boobs with a sharpie. Just sayin.

So, this Canadian I know suggested I start a tally sheet of all the Blues players I encounter out in public (the goal is to see all of them at least once). I may do that, but for now, here's the list of players I've seen there:

Chris Mason (HOT in person)
Ty Conklin (also HOT in person)
BJ Crombeen (sorta HOT in person)
Alexander Steen (not HOT in person)
Kelly Chase (never was HOT)
TJ Oshie (looks 12 so gets to be adorable, not HOT)

And from last season:
Keith Tkachuk (only hot when he has his teeth in)
Erik Johnson (so not hot)

The list is growing my friends. Growing indeed. Oh, and it should be noted that Kelly Chase stepped on Tanya's foot, so we'll be preparing the lawsuit any day now.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

KD strikes again

Breaking news: I just accidentally hit myself in the eye with my headset at work. The same eye I had an infection in a couple of weeks ago. More to come on this late breaking story......

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Veteran's Day!



Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Veteran's Day-to all military personnel past and present. In particular, I want to honor my Grandpa-who served in the Army and the Korean War, my daddy who also served in the Army and the Vietnam War, and to my cousins Clint and Ben, who are currently in the Marines and Air Force, respectively. I'm very proud of them, and any vet who has served our country......so I don't have to. :)

Uhm.....what?


On the left, what Sammy Sosa used to look like. On the right? What he looks like today. Seems good ol Sammy "Corked Bat" Sosa claims he's been using a facial cream from Europe (but of course! Aren't they always from "Europe"?) that subsequently lightened his skin. He claims it was an accident. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't his eyes lighter too? Whatever the case, he looks freaky weird now and I'm pretty sure I may have nightmares about that tonight. Yikes.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Happy 7 month birthday, Kendall Alyson!

My sweet, beautiful niece is 7 months old today! I can't believe it. Next thing you know we'll be planning our trip to Texas for her first birthday. I love watching her learn new things but I hate that she's getting big so fast! I can't wait to see her Thanksgiving week....only about 2.5 more weeks!

Aunt Kerri loves you bunches Kendall!

Saturday, November 07, 2009

I ran five miles today, just wanted to let you know.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go pass out now.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Have a holly jolly Christmas?

The local lite rock radio station here in the STL, 102.5 KEZK, has started playing Christmas music.......24/7. Uhm, really? It's the first week of November. Are you sure Christmas music 24/7 is necessary at this point in time? Thanks to KEZK, I now have "Please Come Home for Christmas" by Don Henley in my head. Awesome. And while I'm on the subject, don't you think "Frosty the Snowman" is a bit too traumatic for children? I mean, he MELTS for God's sake. Remember on the cartoon when he keeps saying "Happy Birthday"? I know know why, but that keeps running through my head (along with Don Henley).

TGIF and all, but seriously, I do believe EVERYONE in the state of Tennessee with United Healthcare insurance was hospitalized either on a psych unit or detox unit last night because my caseload is OUT OF CONTROL today. Yikes. So, while I'm glad it's Friday, I must first get through this crazy busy day at Job #1 and then work 4.5 hours at Job #2. My life is awesome.

Merry Christmas. And Happy Birthday.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

New Kendall pics! Nearly 7 months old!


Who's the cutest little penguin ever? Kendall B. is! This was her WAY too cute Halloween costume for this year. Love it. Look, you can see her two little teeth on the bottom!


A great pic of the Baumgart fam. I love those people.

SO cute. A little punkin sitting amongst the other punkins. And the baby jeans, how cute are the baby jeans?????

Kendall getting ready for her 6 month portraits.

Kendall's pensive look........

Kendall started swimming lessons when she turned 6 months old. She LOVES it, gonna be a water baby like her daddy!

Just doing a little light reading before bed....

Blah, blah, the Yankees won the World Series, blabity, blah, blah, blah......

I'm only gonna address this once and then we're moving on, k? The mo fo New York Yankees won the World Series last night. For the 27th effing time. Ya-freakin-hoo. I hate them all except for Joe Girardi (and is it just me, or is he starting to look like Skeletor?). I particularly hate Kate Hudson. Now, I realize she is not technically on the Yankees, but she's dating A-Rod (have you heard???) and for every effing game, they showed her in the crowd at least 27 times. QUITE annoying. Hey, remember when the Cubs passed over Joe Girardi to hire Lou Piniella instead? Guess who just won the World Series??? Just sayin. So, here we sit, baseball is officially over for 2009. We must sit through the "other" sports until our boys of summer come back next spring. I can't even watch Blues hockey because every effing game is blacked out (GFY Dish Network). But I'm not bitter. Speaking of hockey, going to the game next Saturday....14 rows off the ice. Nice. Now, before you say, how can she afford that, let me tell you how-StubHub. GREAT deals on tickets, just sayin.

Now on to random things, last night as I was driving home from work, I saw a bumper sticker that said "I'm only speeding because I really have to poop". Nice, huh? Even better? It was on a mini-van. Wow.

I think I have my first real workout injury. I was running on the treadmill last night and I periodically kept having a cramp-like pain shooting up my left leg. I tried to ignore it (no pain, no gain, right?) but the more I ran the more it hurt. I hopped off the treadmill and tried to stretch it out but it was still a'hurtin. It's ok to walk on this morning, but I'm thinking I should probably take a day off from running. I love old age.

So, I did end up getting my hair chopped off. Six inches, gone. Love it. It's now shoulder length-ish. I have had SO many compliments on it and one of the docs at work told me it made me look younger (a girl ALWAYS likes that compliment). He is also kinda a creepy pervy perverson, so I'm not sure how I feel about his compliments (we call him Dr. Pimp behind his back. For good reason.).

I am soooooooooooo ready for Thanksgiving. Not only is it my favorite holiday because it's the only one we spend in Salem, but I also have the Friday before and the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Yesssssssssss! On top of that, I'll get to see my precious baby girl! I haven't seen her since the end of September and she has changed so much since then! I also can't wait to see my sis and brother-in-law.

After having listened to the new Weezer CD several times now, I can tell you I like it more and more each time. I can do without the weird slow song with the sitar and the lady singing in the background, but other than that, the songs are pretty good. Now, if they would just go on tour again, complete with a stop in the STL............

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

KD's review of the new Weezer CD "Raditude"


The album cover alone should entice you to listen to this CD....

Everyone who knows anything about me knows I'm a HUGE Weezer fan. I have been ever since "Buddy Holly" and the Blue Album came out in 1994 (that's 15 years for anyone who's counting). I've even seen them perform in another country, for God's sake (I've seen them live five times total). I have very fond memories of the first two albums (for any Weezer purist, you will agree that Pinkerton is their greatest CD. Maybe one of the greatest CD's EVER by ANYONE, but I digress....), they came out during my college years, and most of my friends dug them too. Those two albums were in constant play. They took a bit of a hiatus after 1996 so that lead singer Rivers Cuomo could finish his degree at Harvard, but came back 2001-ish and have been around ever since.

Raditude is Album #7 and in all fairness, really can't be compared to the previous six. And I'll tell you why. Raditude is a POP album. I'm not saying that's bad, just different. Truth is, after a couple times listening to it all the way through I must say, for the most part, I totally dig it. Sure, there are a couple of songs I could do without, but most of them are fun, catchy and will most certainly get stuck in your head (much like Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon Bon"...right Rob???). The first single "If You're Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)" is, in a word, FANTASTIC. And if you haven't seen the video, I demand you go to YouTube right this minute and watch it-it is HILARIOUS (in true Weezer fashion).

Many die-hard Weezer fans will probably hate this album. I am not one of them. What you need to remember is, if you know anything about this band, you will know that many of their songs are silly and sarcastic. They don't take themselves too seriously, and you shouldn't either. I mean, on Raditude, they collaborate with Jermaine Dupre and Lil Wayne for God's sake, and that, my friends, is good times right there.

I feel like I am best friends with them because I met them at Sea-Tac airport in Seattle last year-true story. Ok, well, I met half of them-Pat, the drummer and Scott, the bassist. Couldn't have been nicer guys, and were also quite funny. I didn't get a pic to document this momentous occasion of me meeting half of my favoritest band ever (I didn't want to be THAT fan, ya know?), but I will never forget it as long as I live. And, as long as I live, I will most likely love every CD they make, no matter how cheezy.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Confessions of an idiot

I need help.

I recently developed an obsession with red grapefruit (????). There's only one problem----I don't know how to eat it. I know, I know, those that know me well are currently shaking their heads and wondering when my room at the group home will be ready, but I really don't know how to eat it.

I bought some fresh red grapefruit at the grocery store last night and brought one in to work today to eat. I cut it in half as I've seen other people do and brought it back to my desk. Now, let me provide you with a visual-my desk currently looks like I'm about to do surgery. I have a bowl, a plastic fork, a real fork and a real spoon, several paper towels and, of course, the grapefruit. Here is what has happened so far-I have grapefruit juice all over me and all over my desk. Digging the grapefruit out with a fork doesn't seem to be working, nor does the spoon option help.

So, I ask you, how in the HELL does one eat fresh grapefruit????? Do I need to peel the outside off? Do I need someone to do it for me? What????

Monday, November 02, 2009

I need rehab....STAT

I can't stop. I can't stop eating the caramel apple candy corn. I'm pretty sure it has crack cocaine in it. I have a bag of it sitting on my desk right in front of me, taunting me, daring me to eat the rest of it. Even though I have a tummy ache now, I still can't stop. I am powerless against it. I'm gonna need to get a hold of a Where and When and find out where the closest CA (Candy Anonymous) is located. I can't stop on my own and I fear I'll have withdrawal symptoms if I stop cold turkey.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Halloween Fun!

my brother being freaky weird
the back of my mom's car for Trunk or Treat
me being the candy gobblin....
me and my brother
my brother and mom
John and Linda Maledy's car
some folks went all out with their decorations
lovely halloween scene....on a church parking lot
the thing in yellow next to my brother is NOT a real person. Looks like it though, doesn't it? It was freaking me out.

My parents church hosted Trunk or Treat on Halloween night. The premise is that you decorate the "trunk" of your cars and give out candy. Supposed to be a safer alternative than letting your little ghosts and goblins walk the streets. Especially the mean streets of Salem, Mo. It was actually a lot of fun-approximately 2,300 people were there. That's a lot of frickin candy to hand out, but it was really fun-the kids were so cute. My brother and I, and his friend Travis helped my mom out. Tim and Travis entertained us all night-who knew they were so funny?
The one thing I will point out (God don't hate me for being judgemental) is that, I swear to you, I have never seen more people with missing teeth in my life, and no, it was not part of any costume. I mean, I realize Dent County isn't the richest of areas, but come on!
Missing teeth and all, it was still a fun night....I'll probably do it again next year. The kids were just too cute-even the little monster that sassed me. He was probably 7 or 8 and was wearing an Incredible Hulk costume. Me, thinking I was being funny (my first mistake) asked him if the muscles built into the costume were real. This kid looked at me like I was the biggest retard and said "it's just a costume, it's not real". I half expected him to say "DUH", but he didn't. The rest of the kids were polite, but I tell ya, if I ever see that little hellion again...........