What? No Crisis Counselor?

I can't believe no one has chosen "crisis counselor" as my dream job. Just can't believe it.....
I'm gonna have to come up with some new poll questions. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
My co-worker Stephen showed me some pics of his kids today. They are three of the cutest children I have ever seen! Adorable! And I'm sure they have their father's charm.....:)

Only one more day of work this week. Went by fast! Geez! Tomorrow we play host to a former FBI agent.....that should be fun!

Anyone have big weekend plans? Amy and I and some of our other friends are finally gonna hang. It's been too long! Of course, hanging out with Amy usually gets me into some sort of trouble.....thats why I love her!

Cow Crap Capital of the USA

Lizzard-I didn't know you moved back to Salem! :)

Hmmm....come to Texas and visit-that could be a good idea....I am off starting the Thursday before Thanksgiving...I DO have time to spare say Sun-Wed.....let's talk! LOVED the pics of your kids. They are so cute! When did they get so big? Good Lord, we're getting old! Where in TX are you now? Are you sure you can handle me? Are you coming home at all for the holidays or staying in cow crap?

Ivory Tiger/Warrant

I have invited just about everyone I know. I think my boss is even gonna go. It's huge. I was talking about it at work today with one of the newbies, who looked at me and said "I'm going to see Quiet Riot this weekend". I was like "really, cool, then you'd like Ivory Tiger". He looked at me again and said "I was joking". Oh......

November already?

Where has 2005 gone? I can't believe it is November already. I swear I missed a few months somewhere....today was a pretty good day. Having to do more training of new employees at work-seems to be a daily thing. Luckily these two trainees are pretty smart-they'll be easy to train. My motivation is knowing I have a vacation coming up-10 glorious days of doing NOTHING! I can't wait....

Mom asked for my Christmas list. Isn't it cute that even though her kids are all in their 20's (and some of us about to leave our 20's....), she still makes us give her a Christmas list? Of course, I can't remember what I did an hour ago, much less be able to think of things I may want. The truth is, I don't really need anything. I truly love the holidays for the meanings behind them, and the fact that I get to spend time with my family. Thats what makes my memories good ones-time with my fam, not the gifts. Cheezy, but true.

Happy Anniversary Eric! One year-I am so proud of you!

JP-hang in there. I know its tough being out there by yourself right now. Hang tight, study hard, you'll be home before you know it! We will all have to get together when you come back to the STL. Tell that wife of yours to call me!

Happy Halloween!

What a crappy day in St. Louis! It's cold and rainy. Hope the poor kids get their trick or treating in! I, on the otherhand, have to go to work. We are supposed to be dressing up. I'm still lacking energy from not sleeping Sat night, not really feelin it anymore. Maybe I'll wear orange-that'll be fine. I totally slept like 12 hours last night and still feel like it's not enough. I cannot even tell you the last time I was asleep before midnight. I was last nite tho!

I am soooooooo glad that my sis is ok (she knows what I'm talking about). I see things like that, and the fact that baby Nicholas is doing ok, and I know that the power of prayer works! Now if we could just hear about mom.....

Well, here's to a good week. Tomorrow is a very important day in my friend Eric's life. Eric-if you are reading this, I want you to know how very proud I am of you. You are stronger than you'll ever know! I love ya and miss you tons! :)

I'm too old for this....

Yes, Halloween is my favorite time of the year to go out. Nothing like being in the CWE w/all the freaks! I love it! Last night was no exception. Us gals were lookin HOT! Val, that blond wig you gave me did the trick-I was totally lookin like Jan Brady. That thing was itchy tho....and WTF? Me drinking cosmos? Who do I think I am, Sarah Jessica Parker? What a night.....Thanks to my girls Val and Rob for looking out for me last night, doing some screenings to make sure that any potential suitors were acceptable.....we found one! My theory, however, is that guys that are seemingly nice, and dare I say, normal have got to be hiding something...I can't trust it.....it was the blond wig that was attractin' em....sure as hell wasn't that Doors t-shirt! As usual, Jimmy looked freakin scary as hell! We missed our girls Ern and Carrie-it wasn't the same w/out the five of us! :(

I am soooooooo freakin tired today! Lack of sleep will do that to ya! It didn't help that I had to be in to work at noon and it was freakin crazy for the first 3 hours....thank God it calmed down later. I was NOT in the mood for crazy.....

Is is true? Is Heidi back in the States? Call me! Let's get together soon! :)

Ivory Tiger ROCKS!

Mark your calendars people! Ivory Tiger is opening for Warrant on Saturday, November 19. It is a MUST SEE. It's been a while since we've had an Ivory Tiger outing. I can't wait! Who's with me?

Why do I have "Mr Roboto" in my head?

Such random things float through my head sometimes....ok, all the time. "Mr Roboto" is in my head tho and I don't know why....

Ok, so the Blues totally suck. Canada, I got nothin. I can't even talk smack a little bit. It's really taking the fun out of it for me...they are currently 2-5-2. The only good thing they got goin on is that hot goalie (hot as in good looking, not hot as in good), Patrick LaLime. I will take two of him, please. To go.

So, tonight we went to this awesome bar with a tin can theme. Every beer sold there came in a tin can. Of course, all the girls stuck to Bud Light (except for my sister who decided drinking Nat Light all night would be a good idea), while the boys decided to get creative. I saw Schlitz, Old Style, Amstel, Corona, lots of Foster's and some Colt 45. Nice. My sister drank hers with a straw. She also started lip syncing "Black" by Pearl Jam with one of the dinner knives. We had to take it away from her for everyone's safety... It really was a cool place. We got to watch the Blues game ("got to" really is misleading. It was more like we had no choice because that's what was on). Hey Canada-we had a Canadian with us! She's from Toronto though and loves her Leafs! Apparently she hates Patrick LaLime because he used to be Ottawa's goalie-I didn't know there was such a fierce rivalry between Toronto and Ottawa...those Canadians mean business! I told her that if I had to pick a Canadian team, I'd have to go with Vancouver (no, not because my beloved Canada lives there),because I have a mad crush on Markus Naslund...Canada, remember driving me by their arena so I could get a picture of him? I'm a dork.

Tomorrow I am having lunch with all my aunts (and a couple of the girl cousins too). We started this a couple of months back. It's really fun. I love hanging with the fam. I miss out on so much working nights and Sundays, they are kind enough to schedule our luncheons on Saturdays so I can go. I wish my mom and sister were gonna be there, but instead Red and Jon will be in Salem w/mom and dad. At least they get to see Stubby the Wonderdog and Hank the Not-So-Smartdog. I'm jealous...can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving.

Well, I have 7 hours left of being on call and then am free from this phone for another 6 weeks. It's funny that just because you carry the oncall phone people think you will automatically know the answer to whatever they ask. Don't they know I'm making this up as I go along????

Check out my new mini poll..

Stop it you pervs, there really is a mini poll.....located at the bottom of my blog...Thanks Stephen for introducing me to bravenet...now I have found all kinds of crap to add to the blog. Don't ask why my background has been changed to black...it has to do with me being an idiot and not knowing how to do links, then trying on my own and screwing it up. I finally have it all right (I think) and will not mess with it again....

Oh, yea, I forgot to comment on the World Series....SO glad Houston lost (sorry to their like, 20-30 fans). And I'm really happy for the city of Chicago. God knows the Cubs were never gonna give that city a title, so I'm glad the White Sox did...Now, call me delusional, but the White Sox winning gives me renewed hope. They ended a, what, 88 year old skid? The Red Sox last year ended their curse....so, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for my Cubs???? I know, I know....they are historically the crappiest team in baseball, but I, and the rest of the Cubs faithful, will never give up hope. And I am waiting patiently for April-the Cubs will be on year 98 without winning the World Series...

Freaky Friday

I don't really know what that means, but it is the friday of Halloween weekend. I love it! Halloween is my favorite time of the year. The day when you can be a total freak and its ok! I really wish all my girls were gonna be together this year, but poor Carrie is still stuck in Mexico (or as we are now referring to it-"Mexi-hell, Hellexico") and poor Erin has to go home to Iowa and participate in putting the family dog to sleep. Ern, I know how you feel. I was crushed when our beloved Spaz passed away in February. Thank God at least Blossom will be at peace. Poor Spaz was hit by the trash truck....

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Christi. She is the big 3-0 today. Good Lord. I remember meeting her our freshman year of college-just 18 years old. Babies. Has it really been 12 years? Christi and I have laughed together, cried together and drank lots of alcohol together. I remember when we took her to Dent County and let her ride on a real tractor and she thought those little green things on the ground were apples (they were actually walnuts), she also got to see her first skinned deer hanging in Stormy's dads garage. I remember going out with her to buy liquor for the boys because she and I were the only ones who were 21. I remember walking through the streets of New Orleans on spring break, completely wasted, singing, and having the best time of our lives. I also remember Christi acting completely selfless and driving me to St. Louis when my grandmother was dying (because I didn't have a car at the time), she then drove back to Warrensburg (a 4 hour drive) and back to St. Louis that next weekend to take me back. That is a great friend. And though since then she and I have had some ups and downs, we are back to "ups" and I love her dearly. So, happy 30th girl, give me hope that I can live through it when its my turn in Feb!

Stephen-I jacked up my links again. I think I have them back tho. How do you add more than 3? I'm an idiot. I appreciate your help.....

Bart says....

Bart says you are very sweet Heidi, however, it is apparently not in the budget to fly you back here. He is, however, still trying to figure out a way to have you take calls while on Grand Cayman. Also, Amy says "Hi Beautiful". We told old John and Heidi stories tonight (it was a really slow night), nothing but good stories, I promise!

Stephen helped me put links on my blog. I am completely retarded when it comes to these things. I appreciate your help Stephen!

Today was a fabulous day at work. It was nice and quiet, everyone was in a good mood, the clients weren't too crazy! Well, a little crazy, but not too crazy. Today is my friday, thank God! It's Halloween weekend! Yea!!!!!!!!!

Well, still have 45 minutes left of work, guess I better finish my notes....

Happy Birthday Red and Jon!!!

I just want to wish a very happy 27th birthday to my sister and future brother-in-law! Isn't it freaky that they have the exact same birthday, even the same year? It was fate! I hope you guys have a wonderful day, I can't wait for your special birthday happy hour!


For the record, today at work sucked so bad we moved past cranky to laughing hysterically for no reason because we didn't know what else to do. Everything that could go wrong, did. You just have to laugh. I would have killed to have Heidi and John there....seriously. Thank God tomorrow is my friday although I am still oncall until 8am on saturday.

I really don't have much else to say. My brain is fried. My head hurts. All I wanna do is go to sleep, so, I think I will. Good night.

Whatta Day

Whew! What a crazy night at the crisis line! I managed to get out only 45 minutes late, that's pretty good. Thank God I have the ability to multitask and do literally five different things at the same time-I couldn't do my job without this skill. The real challenge is doing it with a smile on your face! Today was not bad-I was almost fueled by the craziness. It was like I worked harder, and gained energy from it, never once feeling overwhelmed. Of course, theres always tomorrow....

Hey Heidi and John-funny story for ya. Today Bart and I were mid conversation about something (I have already blocked out what it was) and out of nowhere he goes "hey, have you talked to Heidi and John lately?". I was like "where did that come from?". But I gave him the latest info: surviving hurricanes, iguanas, med school and your crack infested neighborhood. Did I cover it all? Email the poor guy, will ya? I think he was needing some love today, he seemed a bit out of it.... :)

My dear, dear ex Mike advise me my blog has too many words for him to read it. I'm not sure how to dumb it down, and really think he should have the patience to read it since he is a teacher and all....Mike, I cannot even begin to imagine why we didn't work out... :)

So, I am grateful that all my friends are safe from the hurricane. I am sending quiet prayers out for my mom and sister-they know why-I don't want to advertise it. I know everything will be alright though.

Elizabeth-we must reconnect! Sorry our call was so short! I blame you and your 300 kids... :) (you know I love you!).

Thats all. I'm out. I'm oncall for work the rest of the week and pray I don't get a middle of the night call. Being awakened by "the mexican hat dance" ring tone is not at all pleasant. Trust me.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

My friend Carrie and family are also featured in the St. Louis paper today. Why is it that they can't get a flight out of there but the media has easy access to them? Is that somehow messed up? They are not sure now when they are going to get to go home-they were thinking Thursday, but the airports are now saying next week. I know stir craziness is kicking in for them, I wish there was something I could do to help them. If you wanna see the newspaper article, you cango to www.stltoday.com, their story is on the main page.

Thank God we are in Missouri where all we have to fear is tornadoes and earthquakes.....

Ever experience a hurricane???

This is an excerpt of an email from my friend Carrie, who survived Wilma while vacationing in Mexico:

The past 5 days have been nothing short of a living hell. We are just so glad to be OK. We really, really want to get home... but feel so fortunate to be here to write you...So, Thursday, we were evacuated at 10 as I had written, though at that point... no one knew how SLOW Wilma was actually moving. They postponed our evacuation to noon. And then 2. And then 4. And then finally placed us into a ballroom, the 'safest area of the resort', at 9. Accommodations at that point were fairly comfortable. In a large ballroom with close to 600 others. Though plenty of water, food, and blankets. As the winds picked up, we started to grow more concerned as there was water streaming down the walls, huge crashes and booms against the building exterior, and the doors were starting to give to the gusts, despite the plywood and sandbags.The eye started to enter Playa Del Carmen, sometime in the morning, around 8AM. I can't explain to ANYONE the noise and chaos that a level 5 hurricane produces, though can assure you that I would not even wish this experience on my worst enemy. All was fine until there was a huge gust of wind and an enormous noise. We looked up to see DAYLIGHT IN THE BALLROOM. The hurricane PEELED BACK the ceiling of our shelter. Our only saving grace was that the eye had situated over us, so the air was pretty still and the rain had stopped. Though one more gust of wind lifted the ceiling like a parachute catching air. Bad. We were all scared. Really, Steve and I thought that was it. Thank god, all remained virtually calm... as they systematically removed us from the room. We then were placed into a restaurant until the eye passed, though they got us out with the kids before the gusts commenced again. Every time the wind blew, the doors shook and appeared to be in the danger of giving way. We were quickly moved into a concrete food pantry storage with all of the other families with children, where we remained for the next 2 days.We slept on concrete floors with no belongings other than a little bag where we had rationed food and water. There were approximately 60 people in our small space. It was very wet, dirty, and hot. Taking all into account, however, conditions were as good as they could have been. We had plenty of food and water...There was a lot of standing water and sewage back up, but the resort tried it's hardest to keep us clean and calm.It took FOREVER for this stupid thing to pass. It felt like the rain and wind would NEVER pass. Though we made it. We were finally let out of the shelter yesterday morning,. The resort is trashed. Glass everywhere. Roof shingles. Roofs and large debris. Palms uprooted. The palapas are stripped. Several of the rooms had been blown to bits. That being said, the resort fared better than we had though. Fortunately, this part of PDC has HUGE beach fronts... so we are MUCH better off than the folks in Cancun, despite the hurricane had dropped to a 3 when it finally hit them. We wish we knew how it really hit. The resort next to us went virtually untouched, while the one next to it is GONE, flattened.We are now in a room. All of our things survived, though FILTHY, At this point, we could really care less. We have clean linens, water, food, and beds to sleep on. No electricity, but we do have water (freezing) to stay clean. Parker has been repeating over and over 'I miss Mrs. Rovin and my class'. The boys really need normalcy. They made several friends within the shelter and Parker journaled and drew pictures the whole way through. Though his reoccurring picture was of him standing in front of our house with a HUGE smile on his face. We are all ready to get home and put this behind us. His biggest fear... he will miss Halloween. Their innocence has been refreshing.

My friends in Mexico...

are safe, thank God! They were able to call the States today. Now their only obstacle is getting out of the country. I think we are going out Saturday night for Halloween, can't wait to hear Carrie's stories (no one can tell a story like she can!).

So, the book A Million Little Pieces is a good book, not quite the life altering/fabulous book that it has been portrayed to be, but nonetheless, good. There is something about it that makes you keep turning the pages. Maybe because it is not divided up into chapters....I'm going to recommend it to my team at work tho. It definitely puts you into the mind of a substance abuser-folks we deal with every day. Perhaps it will make us a little more understanding....

Dude....

I am too old to be going out and getting home at 2am...seriously. Although I had a ton of fun last night (the band doing Weezer covers MADE MY DAY!!!!), I am tired today. A night of dancing and being crazy isn't what it used to be. Why are my ears still ringing? The best part was Karen and I walking around telling everyone I was her boss (get it? It was funny, out drinking, being crazy w/THE BOSS). It's just ironic that one of my friends just happens to be on my team at work, thats all. Karen's friends were great, pretty drunk,but great. And who was that boy diggin on me? I'm pretty sure I will never hear from him again, but it was nice to be complimented and having my ass slapped (what the hell?). And Mark actually knows who Ivory Tiger are b/c he works as a bouncer at one of the places they play-he says they rock! We didn't get to go to the Haunted House as planned. As we pulled up, we noticed the huge "SOLD OUT" sign...what? Sold out? So, instead of cutting the night short, we went back to Main Street St. Charles and hit a couple more bars. Now, of course I was not super liquored up-I am oncall for work all weekend!!! But, a good time was had by all. And did I mention I had my ass grabbed?

Car and dog shopping

Oh how I want a new car! I cruised down the new car highway (also known as Manchester Road) seeking pricing info and perhaps a brochure. When I drove onto that Mazda lot, the Mazda3 before me, I saw my future car. My impulsive side wanted to test drive it and bring it home today. My practical side, however, told me to just get some info and come back in the spring. My practical side won. The thought of having a car payment again pains me. And even the thought of giving up the Crapalier pains me. She may have some problems (uh, lets see...the CD player is broken, the trunk won't open, someone gave me a major door ding, the steering wheel is fading, the gas cover thingy broke off, oh yea, and the air conditioning doesn't work), but she and I have been through some good times. Affectionately known as Hot Mama, she has given me 119,000 miles thus far and counting. She really is pretty reliable (although I'm pretty sure she needs new rear breaks-they're not supposed to make noise are they?) and gets me to where I need to go. It'll be a sad day when Hot Mama is retired. An even sadder day when I have a $300 car payment again.....

I also looked at dogs today. I shouldn't do this because they all tear at my heartstrings and I want to take them all home! Once I have my own place again, I will get one. I fell in love with a little gray schnauser today named Jasper. He's older, 6-8 yrs, but was sweet as can be. Some of the other dogs were a little spastic but way cute. Again, my impulsive side said "go ahead, take him home". My practical side said "I don't think Red and Jon would appreciate me bringing a dog home". Again, my practical side won. I figure w/the hours I work and limited space, a small dog, maybe a little older, would work for me. I need one willing to stay inside all day and sleep. Surely I can find one of those. I know whatever dog I get will be spoiled rotten!

I went and got the book that the world is talking about-A Million Little Pieces. I have heard nothing but rave reviews for it-from Oprah to co-workers. Many have said it's the best book they have ever read. I'm intrigued, so.....I'll let ya know what I think of it!

Dump Trucks

I have a thing against dump trucks. As my sister and I were driving down the highway today and some debris fell from the dump truck in front of us, nicking my sister's windshield, I thought "you know, I really don't like those dump trucks". They seem to be everywhere you don't want them to be. They are always spewing crap on your windshield, they're slow and big, and just plain in your way. A couple of years ago, my sister and I were on our way to my friend Sharon's house to pick up a TV I was buying from her, we got off of hwy 70 onto Zumbehl, make a left, stop at the light, and all of a sudden we are rear-ended by a dump truck. Now, luckily, we were in my sisters Jeep Liberty. Had we been in my Crapalier, I may not have been able to type this rant that I am on right now. Though our seatbelts were on, I went slamming into the dashboard, and we hit the car in front of us (that was towing a trailer of some sort). The back end of the Jeep was smashed, as was the guy's trailer. The dump truck driver? On duty, and I swear intoxicated. He even said "man, I'm gonna get in trouble at work". My sister was like "good, you deserve it". After a motorcycle cop took our report, the crisis was over. This story just proves my theory, however. Dump trucks are evil and should be banned from America's highways. Thank You.

Haunted Houses

Why do I put myself through this torture every year? Haunted Houses always seem fun at the time, but once I am there, I am scared to death! The worst experience was two years ago, a huge group of us got one of those package deals where you get to go to two haunted houses for one price. The first one was fine, pretty standard. The second one, however, was just plain wrong. It was a 3-D haunted CLOWN house!! My worst nightmare come true before my very eyes....anyone who knows me knows I absolutely hate clowns. They are agents of satan. I'm sure of it. Seriously, there is no need to have your face all painted up like that! What are they hiding? And don't even get me started on the balloon animals.....So, on Saturday night, we will be going to a new haunted house, its at the old Noah's Ark hotel in St. Chuck. Can't wait. I can't even drink beforehand to calm my nerves b/c I am on call for work all weekend....I can see it now "Uh, hold on a minute, I'd help you with your case, but I just wet my pants, I'll call ya back". Any credibility I might have would go out the window.
I am very excited to be going shopping w/my sister. We have barely seen each other in two weeks (even tho we live together!). I have to get up earlier than I would like, but its worth it to get to spend some time w/her.

Here's the lesson I learned this week. No matter how shitty things get, I always have the power to be the bigger person. Once you learn to let things roll off your back, you're bound to be much happier.