Penny Wars

We're actually having fun at work today...all in the name of a good cause!

We're trying to raise money for the American Heart Association, a cause that is near and dear to my, well, heart. So, my employer has decided to have Penny Wars. Pitting each of the teams against each other, the goal is to see who can get the most pennies. The fun comes in the form of this-all silver change counts against your team....so, each team is trying to sabotage the other. I dropped a fistful of quarters and dimes in another team's bucket this morning, complete with an evil laugh. This comes after the realization that my team, most likely, is going to come in last. Apparently dollar bills count for your team as well so for my team I forked over all the cash I had....a whopping $7.

It's pretty fun competing against each other. I believe the folks in our intake department are gonna win. They have stacks of penny rolls. Stacks. For reals. At least it's for a good cause! And hey, folks, if you're around STL Saturday, May 15, it's the Heart Walk at Busch Stadium. Last year was really fun, it's a 5K and your last lap you actually get to walk on the field! Pretty cool. Consider coming out!

Walkin' on sunshine baby...OWWWWW!

Do y'all have a "go to" song? You know, a song that gets you pumped, gets you out of a bad mood, gets you ready for the day? Mine is "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. You can't NOT be in a good mood after you hear that song. I dare you to try. It's impossible. So, even on this gloomy, rainy, BUSY day, I'm smiling. Not even the Cubs embarrassing 13-5 loss yesterday can bring me down. Sure, on Facebook I compared loving the Cubs to an abusive relationship (look at the similarities-they promise things will get better and they'll never hurt you again-yet they do; you swear you're gonna leave for good this time-and you never do, you keep coming back for more....), but that was yesterday. Ok, so our hero Theodore Roosevelt Lilly completely imploded yesterday (in his defense, the wind was blowing out at Wrigley yesterday, meaning HIS team should have also scored 13-ish runs....but they didn't). I'm sure Ted had his reasons. Like, he didn't want the D-bags to feel bad about themselves so he took one for the team and "let" them win. Classic Ted. Today they have Belleville's own, Randy Wells on the mound. Nothing bad can happen with Wellsie pitching.......right? RIGHT????

The weekend is upon us. Who doesn't look forward to that? And, good news, although work is gonna continue to suck for awhile, there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel-my team has two newbies starting on Monday. Once they're up and running (it'll take a couple months), our caseloads (and our sanity) should improve. Maybe I won't have to go on that homicidal rampage after all. Silver lining.

I don't have big plans for the weekend....and I'm ok with that. Anymore I need my weekends solely to recharge and get back my bearings before I try to tackle it all again on Monday. I have a friend from out of town staying with me tomorrow night, I may attend a Zumba class tomorrow afternoon. Ever heard of Zumba? It's a cross between aerobics and dancing. Have you ever seen KD dance? Let's just say, this could be entertaining. VERY entertaining. My first class is free, so I thought, what the hell. I'll try anything once.........oh, er, um, wait......

P.S. I also discovered this morning that I apparently know all the words to "Hotel California" by the Eagles. Who knew?

Here's your parting gift, Aunt Kerri

I spent a lovely evening with my sister and baby niece last night, just us girls hangin' out. We had fun, Kendall was, of course, a wild woman (we wouldn't have her any other way). I was amazed at how well she's starting to talk! Not just baby babble, some of her words are clear as day-she says "hi" and "bye" and "mom" and "dad" and "Cla" which is Kendall-ese for Chloe, their dog (and my first niece). SO darn cute.

The night was a bit rough and there wasn't much sleep...oh, the baby slept fine, not a peep out of her. It was my sister and I that didn't sleep much, thanks to a very feisty (but cute) dog named Mr. McFlurry (yes, that really is his name). Seems he thought barking around midnight would be a good idea.....

This morning I got to experience Kendall and my sister's morning routine. I helped feed little miss her breakfast (after she downed a bottle-kid needs her food, ok?), she totally wasn't down with the yogurt, so we gave her some chocolate Cheerios (ever had 'em? They're really good) and let her go to town. As I left for work, Kendall wanted me to hold her which, of course, I did. As I got into my car she was blowing me kisses (um, how cute is that????). All during my drive to work and while sitting at my desk this morning, I kept smelling Cheerios and milk. Figuring it was because I was holding the kiddo right before I left, I thought nothing of it.

Well, just a bit ago, I went to the ladies room (already too many liquids this morning....) and as I was washing my hands, I noticed something on my shoulder. Yep, you guessed it, a chocolate Cheerio was now encrusted onto my shirt. Thanks Kendall. It made me giggle, is still making me giggle. And I still smell like Cheerios......

LOVE IT!

Dorothy? Toto?

April showers bring May flowers, right? Well, what do April tornadoes bring? The answer is fear and panic amongst St. Louisans everywhere. Ok, maybe not, but you bet your ass I was down in the basement yesterday.

Nasty, ugly storms ripped through here yesterday afternoon. As I sat quietly playing on Facebook, I heard what appeared to be the tornado sirens. Undaunted, I ran to the living room window to see what was happening. The sky was grayish-green, the wind was blowing like crazy and it was raining so hard you couldn't see two inches in front of your face. When the sirens didn't let up, I thought it'd be in my best interest to go on down to the basement. I stood in the middle of the basement trying to remember what you're supposed to do. Is it stop, drop and roll? No, that doesn't sound right....is it scream at the top of your lungs? Helpful, but not quite. Is it go under the stairwell. Maybe. I continued to stand in the middle of the basement when I heard the eeriest thing-the Siren Man. The sirens stopped and then, all of a sudden, a voice yells out across south St. Louis "SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY". Um, thinking that didn't sound like a good thing, I was pretty cool with my current location in the basement. Given that tornadoes are one of my biggest fears (next to clowns and bridges), I was not happy at the irony that I was about to die in one. Alas, no twisters hit the city, but one did hit Des Peres a few miles away, damaging the mall (GASP!). Not five minutes after the creepy Siren Man spoke, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, the sun shined and the sky was blue. Weird stuff.

Ummm......

So, the power went out at work today for an hour. Something about the Transformers or something like that. Power out in the entire office park. Good times. We sat here in the dark and I literally propped my feet up on my desk, all the while sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper and plotting my escape. Well, the damn power came back on, but not without complications. Yes, our computers and phones (some of them) are up and running....but our database is not. Um, we can't do our jobs without it, so we're essentially authorizing EVERYTHING (Merry Effin Christmas in April, managed care land!) and putting everything in a Word document....that we'll have to move to the database on Monday when it's back up. Good times. My job is awesome.

We miss you AKB.

It's been a rough last few days. I've been MIA from this blog while I try to wrap my mind around things that have happened.

Last Thursday, April 15, my brother-in-law's beautiful 26 year old sister Alyssa, died in her sleep. Nothing in life can ever prepare you to understand why a seemingly healthy 26 year old passes away. Even now, one week later, I still have a hard time believing it happened. Her death hit me hard, so I can only imagine how her family is feeling. My heart breaks every time I think about the looks on their faces that day. I find myself torn between constantly asking "why?" and being comforted in the fact that I know, without a doubt, that she is in a much happier place now. The bond she and I had was the fact that we got to be co-aunts to the most amazing little girl in the world. It saddens me greatly that I now have to do that job alone. I know she is now little Kendall's guardian angel, so I can keep an eye on her from here, she can keep an eye on her from up there. That should cover all our bases.

Miss Alyssa, I truly, truly miss you. I'll do my part to make sure your family makes it through this ok. You have my word on that.

Folks, as cliched as it sounds, please tell your loved ones how much you love them. You never know when it may be your last chance to do so.

REAL funny, Aunt Paula. ;)

My Cardinal lovin'/Cubs hatin' aunt sent me this in an email today. Of course, I'm gonna be obnoxious and post it on my blog......

Geez, I can't even binge drink right

So much for my plan to develop a drinking problem as a way to deal with my overwhelming work stress. Ugh. Gonna have to come up with a new coping skill.

So, as you've undoubtedly heard me bitch about this, work continues to be a little slice of hell. Heavy caseloads, crazy people, and stress, stress, stress. I worked late again last night for like the millionth day in a row.....and I'm sick of it.

So, last night I decided I was going to do something I don't think I've ever done before. I went home and made myself a cocktail. Good way to deal with stress, right? I thought so. I knew I had a bottle of cherry vodka (Three Olives-good stuff) but was unsure what to mix it with (because drinking it straight would have been a bit much). I had some Diet Dr Pepper, which is very good mixed with cherry vodka, but I didn't want to drink caffeine that late in the day. So, I went to my only other option available to me besides milk (OMG, ewww). Yes, I mixed my cherry vodka with some blueberry/pomegranate juice. An interesting mix to say the least. It wasn't half bad but I am sad to report I only made it through half a glass because it gave me heartburn. Yes, I am that damn old. So, now my plans to become a raging drunk have fallen by the wayside. What shall I do next? Any other unhealthy coping skills I could try? The positive coping skills I use are clearly not working (running, spending time with family/friends, getting 8 hours of sleep, being a Cubs fan).

Suggestions are welcome.

Happy Birthday Greg Maddux

Don't ask me why I remember that April 14 is Greg Maddux's birthday, I just do (STALKER ALERT, STALKER ALERT). So, to the great Mad Dog, happy, happy birthday. I know he's currently working in the Cubs front office, but I dream of the day when he is coaching for the Cubs in some form (you hear me Larry Rothschild? Mad Dog would be a GREAT pitching coach. Just sayin). My other dream team member is Ryno as manager. It'll happen sooner rather than later my friends.

Return to work day, AKA The day KD finally loses it

Ugh, you pay for taking time off. WTF? I walked into a mess this morning. I realize I'm a control freak when it comes to my job-I want things done my way. So, imagine my frustration when I come in this morning and find that half of my cases are jacked up....and I'm locked out of my freakin voicemail (my voicemail is ESSENTIAL to do my job). Imagine my sheer joy when I got to call our Helpdesk first thing (AKA "Helpless desk") to get said voicemail fixed. By 9:20am (I came in at 9, mind you) I was ready to burst into tears and/or kill someone. I still haven't ruled out either. My director just came by and asked me if I was glad to be back...my response? "Do you want me to lie to you and say yes?". He said he DID want to be lied to so, I said yes. He then tried to shower me (and my colleague Julie, together we are the Wisconsin girls) with compliments about how well we're doing with this new market, blah, blah, blah. Yea, we may be kicking ass (I mean, DUH), but it doesn't make it suck any less. Caseloads are sky high EVERY day. No one leaves after their 8.5 hrs, everyone is working late EVERY night. Not cool. We apparently hired someone new that starts the first week in May. I'd be excited, but I'm a little concerned. She's old. And no offense to old people, but they aren't always hip to technology and you have to be tech savvy and have the ability to work FAST at my job....so I'm really hoping she can keep up. Full training will take a couple of months, so I expect work to continue sucking clear through June.

It's amazing that when I'm not here, I'm my usual happy self. But once I step through the doors of my work building, I become irritable, anxious, cranky and near tears. Hmmmm.......

Happy 1st Birthday, Kendall!

Today is my precious niece's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!! Wow, the last year has flown by. I think it's safe to say that, for me, this last year has been the best one yet with Kendall in our lives. She is amazing. I'm still not completely sold on birthing a child myself, but I must say, being an aunt is awesome. It helps that my niece is such a cool kid. A little wild perhaps, but definitely cool. And freakin adorable.

Miss Kendall Alyson, your Aunt Kerri loves you soooooooooooooooooooooo much! I can't wait to see you tomorrow to give you one (of many) of your birthday presents. Have a great birthday my sweet little munchkin!

I shoulda been an doctor

Yep, just give me my honorary MD now. My self-diagnosis is correct. I do, in fact, have shin splints. Painful bastards. I went to my doc today because in addition to being in pain while running, my left leg has begun to hurt just walking. Which sucks because, well, I kinda need to be able to walk. So, not much I can do about them other than what I'm already doing which is to take some time off from the running (doc said two weeks, it's been a week and I'm about to go insane) and taking copious amounts of ibuprofen (which doubles as a headache reliever as well...damn allergies). I'm off work until Tuesday and was hoping to use some of my free time taking advantage of this lovely STL weather and go hit the pavement. 'Tis not to be. Although I may try walking a couple of miles....tomorrow. I HATE just sitting and doing nothing. Doc said I may want to try the elliptical if being on the treadmill continues to hurt. I just looked at him and said "but I don't like the elliptical". I think my doc is entertained by me. I suggested perhaps I was just falling apart because of old age, but he assured me shin splints have nothing to do with that (notice he never said that I WASN'T old, however), that they have everything to do with over-use. I knew that incline of 13% would come back to haunt me. Ugh.

My American Idol crushes

The American Idol contestants finally upped their game last night. No one was terrible (even that Tim kid!). But I'm not here to talk about singing. I'm here to talk about cute boys. DUH.

On the left is Lee DeWyze. Ladies, if you haven't heard him sing, you need to. And he's adorable. He's a bit on the shy side (which just makes him more adorable). And he's from Chicago, so I'm really hoping he's a Cubs fan and not a dirty Sox fan.

On the right is one Casey James. Yum. I'm not usually into long-haired dudes, but he's pretty. And DAMN was he awesome last night, singing John Lennon's "Jealous Guy". A-mazing. And have I mentioned he's pretty?

Two reasons to start watching AI ladies. Just sayin.

Dear Carlos

Dear Carlos Zambrano,

I'm confused about something and I was wondering if you could help me out. Wasn't it you who promised Captain Lou that you were a "changed man", that you finally had it together and that this would be the year you'd redeem yourself? That was you that said that, correct? So pardon my confusion but it seems to me that you are same fat, crazy, overrated pitcher you've always been. Am I wrong?

Any assistance you could provide in helping me understand would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

KD, AKA StLCubsfan

OPENING DAY 2010!!!!!!!

Can I get a "HELL YEA"?????

It's Opening Day for baseball! They day I've waited for since, well, last October!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? Yet again, I have blind optimism for my Cubbies this year (blind optimism is what makes us true Cubs fans), they looked great in Spring Training, the team seemed happier (and in some cases lighter-lookin at you Big Z and Geo!) and a very cohesive unit. They actually looked like they were having fun. I like that. And that Tyler Colvin kid? OMFG! He was amazing in ST and I can't wait to watch him play with the big boys (that sounded dirtier than I meant it to....). Yes, America's past time is back. 162 games ahead of us. The possibilities are still unknown. And the Cubs don't have the burden of being the NL Central "favorite" this season. No, that distinguished honor goes to the Cardinals and all I have to say about that is-good luck. Being the favorite the last two years sure didn't do the Cubbies any good, so have fun carrying that burden on your back, Dirty Birds. Oh, and tell Skip Schumaker I said hi.

The Cubbies open the season on the road against the Braves today at 3pm CST. I get off work at 4pm CST and will be rushing home to catch the rest of the game. Today is "baseball day" at work and, as expected, there is a freakin sea of red here in the office. Except for me. My Cubs love is subtle today, but still present. I opted to wear my brown Cubs t-shirt with the pink lettering and pink Cubs symbol. It's discreet, but still showin the love. I still want my free hotdog and chips for lunch today, you hear me people? Last year they tried to deny me entrance because of my Cubs love, but I persevered in the end. Just like the Cubs. You may try to hold them back or kick them when they're down, but they just keep coming back. And that's why I love them.

GO CUBS GO!

Happy Easter!

the beautiful magnolia tree in Grandpa's backyard


I hope this lovely Easter evening finds you all well. I had a great Easter weekend. How could I not with my family in town? That, and it was in the 80's today with not a cloud in the sky. Love it!

The weekend started with Good Friday services. I went alone, which was ok with me, especially after the part where I started crying. Something about the service moved me, I'm not quite sure what happened, but I sat there in the pew crying like a baby. Powerful stuff.

Saturday, I waited patiently for my family to arrive. They finally did late afternoon and I quickly learned that Alyssa (Kendall's other auntie) and I had been elected for baby duty while my sis, bro-in-law and parents took their house full of stuff to the storage place. Thinking I got the better end of the deal, I quickly agreed. Kendall is a sweetie, no doubt about that.....but now that she's walking, she's also hard to keep up with. You blink and she's gone, climbing stairs, pulling things off shelves, putting the dog's chew toy in her mouth. You know, the usual. I figured having BOTH aunties watch her would give us a leg up on the munchkin. I was wrong. Kendall rules the roost my friends. She really didn't want to play with her toys (not even the Dora ball I got her), she just wanted to climb the stairs...over and over and over again. Which is fine, except for the fact that she doesn't quite know how to get down them.....Auntie Alyssa and I made a pretty good team, we fed Miss Kendall her dinner (and Auntie Kerri even changed a poopy diaper-holla!), gave her her bottle when need be, and kept a close eye on her (especially when she wanted to go outside with the dogs. She LOVES the dogs. She belly laughs when they run past her-SO cute!). As it neared 8pm (which is her bedtime), we started wondering where mommy and daddy were because my sister wanted to give her her bath before bed (and kiddo needed it-let's just say she had ravioli for dinner and was sorta orange-stained). We got the bright idea to check our phones when Alyssa delivered the news-they were nowhere near done and she and I were gonna have to give Kendall a bath. Ummm.....I've never given a baby a bath before. About all I know is that they're slippery little critters in the water. But, we decided we could do this. Alyssa got the water ready and stripped the kid down while I dug through all of my sister's suitcases looking for jammies and Kendall's sleep sack (didn't find the sleep sack until she was already asleep). Munchkin screamed her head off the entire bath, either we weren't doing it right, or she missed her mommy and daddy or she was just SO sleepy.....or possibly all three. We finally got her down and in bed by 8:15 and within five minutes she was out. Aunt Kerri stayed upstairs in the room next door in case she needed anything (and rubbed her back to help her go back to sleep when she woke up crying). The fam didn't arrive back to the house until after 10. They were exhausted, as you can imagine. Then the 'rents and I had to drive all the way to Grandpa's house...it was after 11 when we got there.

Today we all went to church as a family for Easter. Kendall looked adorable in her little Easter dress that Grandma Val bought her (even if it was um, a bit tight). ;) After the service, we went back to Grandpa's house and took some family pics out in his backyard underneath his magnolia tree. Such a fun weekend. I'm so happy to have my family back in the STL, can't wait for all that fun we're gonna have! And I can't wait to see Kendall the birthday girl later this week.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter. Here are a couple pics (of the tons that I took this weekend).
Aunt Kerri's favorite little Easter bunny.

Me, my sis and my niece. I look obese standing next to my size 0 sister. And pigment-less. Good lord! My sis and Kendall look cute though!

It's a good Good Friday

Hello all! I've been MIA this week.....that's because I've been working my ass off (not literally, unfortunately). Work has been crazy busy this week as we've obtained some new business....not as crazy as we feared, but crazy nonetheless. I arrived at work at 6:30am yesterday in preparation for this new Wisconsin business. So far, everyone I've talked to has been nice but it's clear they're not used to being tightly managed (it IS called managed care for a reason, you know). So, my hunch is, that in time, they are going to come to hate me. This is the honeymoon period. I did have one gentleman in Menomonee Falls, WI tell me I talked funny. He then asked me if I though he talked funny and I said yes. We're now best friends. That, and I used the word "Wisconsinites" in a sentence and he told me that earned me bonus cool points. Awesome. Apparently there will be a summertime trip to Mil-i-wau-kee to do some site visits....one can only hope their idea of hospitality is NOT taking us to a Brewers game . That is, unless the Cubs are in town then......So, so far things are running smoothly. Give it time.

MOVING WEEKEND IS HERE! Yes, my sis, bro-in-law and niece (along w/my parents) should be well on their way to Missouri right now. They're splitting the drive into two days as it's not easy to make good time with three cars, a U-Haul, a dog, a baby and my dad who needs to eat every two hours. The goal is for them to be here in St. Louis sometime tomorrow afternoon and then they can NEVER LEAVE AGAIN. I must insist upon it. I need to see that precious baby girl grow up. Speaking of, her first birthday is only 6 days away! Can you even believe it? Aunt Kerri has finally stopped buying her things for her birthday.....but I did also make her an Easter basket. I couldn't help it. Turns out my mom did too. :) I sooooo can't wait to see my family this weekend. Church on Easter Sunday will be particularly special this year since my family will all be there. Yay!

Speaking of church, heading to Good Friday services by myself tonight. Seems neither gramps nor my aunt and uncle plan to attend, so this girl is going solo. I like Good Friday services. It's very solemn. The only issue is that it doesn't start until 7pm. I get off work at 4pm and church is wayyyy closer to work than it is home, so it'd be crazy to drive all the way home and then come back up here, so, I am faced with the dilemma of having to kill three hours. I plan to workout after work (if these mother effin shin splints will allow me), that'll kill an hour, but what to do from 5-7? Hmmmm......I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Happy weekend everyone! Happy Easter (if you celebrate it, that is)!