mental health humor

full moon II

Another co-worker just asked if we could unplug the phones. Stephen and I politely informed her that that probably would not be a good idea, given we are a suicide crisis hotline and all......

It's the full moon

A co-worker just asked me why it has been so freakin' crazy tonight. I had to break it to her that it's the full moon. This fully explains the craziness. There is some correlation between the two. It explains why my boss Bart sings in the call center, why we are so busy at work and why I poked myself in the eye with my headset. This is scientific fact people. Look it up.

The extended Baumgartner clan

Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Nick, Michael and his wife Kim, Jeff and his wife Jessica


Aunt Jan, Uncle Craig and Kelli



Aunt Mary, Uncle Ron, Clint, Ben, Rachel and Kira


Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Diane, Grant and Jackie
Aunt Paula, Uncle Jay, Greg, Chelsea, Patrick

My mom is from a pretty big family. Here are some pics of her sisters and brother and all of their families. Is it possible for like 40 people to all look alike?

more vacation pics

The Davidson gals-my sister, mom and me

My sister and I


These pictures are from my mom's camera-they are some of my favorites from our trip.

I am gonna wet my pants laughing.....

Ok, so there is a story behind this one. So, we took a day trip to Charleston and went to Ft. Sumter (Yes, it was at Uncle Jimmy's urging-he is a Civil War freak!!!). Anyway, mom and dad and I went into the museum (really because it was 105 degrees outside and the museum had air conditioning) and were looking at all the pictures and facts about the war (that Abraham Lincoln was psychic y'all!) when my dad whispers "hey, is that guy cross eyed?". Well, mom and I looked and of course started giggling, then the people behind us were like "oh my God he IS cross eyed". Of course my mom had to take a picture of it. It was freakin hilarious, guess you had to be there.

Yes, Aunt Cheryl, I'm stealing pictures!

This is my entire family on my mom's side. Cute, huh?

My Grandpa with the great-grandchild of the family, Kira

Here's my family! My brother-in-law Jon, my sister Kristy, me, dad, mom and my brother Timbo

My parents

Newly posted on the fam blog thanks to Aunt Cheryl. Like the matching shirts?????? :)

I swear I got attacked by a crab....no really.

I'm back! Did ya miss me? I had a good time in Hilton Head, but sure am glad to be back home. I missed my boy and, more importantly, my bed (no offense baby-but I slept in the floor for seven nights...it takes it's toll). Anyway, I'll try to keep the Saga of the Family Trip fairly short (yea right). Here goes.......

So, the trip down there was fairly entertaining. From dad informing us every 100 miles how far he had driven that day to Tim spilling an entire box of Skittles in the seat (with me laughing so hard I truly thought I was going to wet my pants), good times were had by all. Tim and I picked up a job application from Wendy's fully intending to fill it out (Tim wanted his name to be "Turd Ferguson"). Mom informed us all that "country music is queer" (thanks mom!). Dad was upset that we were going through the Smoky Mountains in the dark because he couldn't see anything (hey, I wanted to see some toothless hillbillies too!). I again almost wet my pants laughing when mom agreed to play my iPod and my 55 year old father started dancing to Tupac's "California Love". My family is insane.....We had a stimulating discussion about Lance Bass telling the world that he's gay (like we were surprised by that one). I brought up the fact that Lance Bass once wanted to be an astronaut, to which my brother said, and I quote "only gay people are astronauts, just look at Neil Armstrong". What? We stopped in Atlanta that first night (the "ATL"), then proceeded on to Hilton Head the next day.

As you can imagine, the majority of the time, we just sat on the beach. A family full of fair skinned people, mind you. It was pretty cool to get to hang with all of my family (and by all, I mean aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and, of course, grandpa). We were together a lot but did our own thing too. There was whiffle ball and football on the beach and Tim and Ben's new sport-"wave shredding". Yes, those two are awaiting their endorsement deals and plan to be the first ever wave shredders at the X-Games. Uh.....yea. The nights entailed all of us meeting out by the pool where Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Jay entertained us by playing the guitar (with a rousing family rendition of "Wanted Dead or Alive", complete with the whole fam getting to sing the Richie part).

We thought Uncle Ron broke his leg in a freak wave runner incident. Turns out it was just severely bruised. At least he still scored some Vicodin! I was surprised I made it the whole week injury free, after all, I'm the girl that runs into my cubicle wall at least 3x a week and hits myself with the car door pretty much daily...well, I was injury free until Friday. That was the day all hell broke loose (ok, not really, but the melodrama makes for a better story). There I was, out in the ocean with my family, having a good time, laughing at the wave shredders when all of a sudden I felt this piercing pain on my right foot (kinda felt like being sliced by a knife, which I know about since I tend to accidentally cut myself with the kitchen knives when chopping things). Anyway, I lifted my foot and noticed blood pouring from my foot. Not a good thing when you are in the middle of the ocean and there have been recent documented shark attacks....luckily, my family is full of medical people and there was a nurse and a doctor right there. Not to worry folks, I'm gonna make it. I don't know if it was really a crab that attacked me, I guess I could have stepped on a shell or something, but the crab thing sounds a whole lot more dramatic, don't you think?

So, overall, it was a good week. I missed J tons (he should already know this) and was getting quite homesick for him. I'm back in the swing of things now. Today went back to work where I now have only 9 more working days. It is sad for sure, but I am ready to move on to my next job adventure. Well, I'm sure I'm forgetting some funny shit that happened, but I can't remember it all right now. Peace out party people.

posting halted

Hey all! I may not be posting for awhile (I know, you are saddened beyond belief). Tomorrow I am leaving for Hilton Head, SC with my family (I know you're jealous). While my Aunt Cheryl will surely have her laptop handy, I'm not sure how much blogging I will be doing. Here is what a family vacation entails:
1. Mom and dad singing "oldies" in the car
2. Eating at Cracker Barrel at least once in every state we drive through.
3. Me and dad both getting bored by, oh say.....Monday.
4. Mom and her sisters getting tipsy on pina coladas.
5. Me and Red's hair getting GIGANTIC as a result of the fresh sea air.
6. All of us coming up with one liners that are sure to stick around for sometime (does "if driving 90 is wrong then I don't wanna be right" ring a bell? Or how bout "it's these kids back here".)

Then again, I may have to blog as a sort of trip diary. Gotta capture the good stuff while you still remember it.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great week. I will be back in St. Louis on Saturday August 6. Be good everyone.

Oh, and J, sweetie-thanks a million for getting "More Human Than Human" in my head. No really...thanks......Have I mentioned that I luuuuuuuuv you? :)

The idiot test

http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=741516d0-8635-449e-8e7b-914071fd3d36


Apparently, I'm 63% idiot. Like anyone is surprised by that one........

The "Are you an a**hole or b**ch" test

http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=dd4c0ca6-a554-4cbe-b0e7-bc17462a412e


Apparently, I am 25% bitch. Who knew (besides just about everyone that knows me)?

ha ha ha

go to www.uglydress.com

it is freakin' hilarious! here are some examples from the site, and, yes, I am working hard today....

It's never a good sign when....

It's never a good sign when you wake up with a headache. The workday has not even begun, nothing has even happened to cause your headache, yet you already have one. That is what I woke up to today. It is of the migraine variety-complete with nausea. I'm not in a bad mood, just not feeling real great. I did get to spend a very nice (and rare) afternoon with my boy (baby-I am very glad that your baby girl is ok!). I made him some lunch and cleaned the "squirrel" cage out (right, J?), and endured a creepy Nicolas Cage movie while J finally got some sleep (for those that are not aware, my sister and I strongly feel that Nicolas Cage is one of the creepiest people on Earth. I mean, hello, have you seen City of Angels????). I'm glad for any time I get to spend with J this week. I'm at work now and hoping the handful of ibuprofen I just took will get rid of this headache. If not, it's gonna be a long, long night.....

Just another manic monday.....

I'm getting very sleepy. I think it's because my boss was feeding me chocolate today. The afternoon was a little rough, very busy, definitely called for some chocolate. Unfortunately, when you get that sugar high, you also get the sugar crash. That is where I am right now. I find myself distracted today for some reason. My boy may know something about that..... :)
The count down to vacation is on. I have mixed feelings about it because I am really gonna miss J-a lot. But I am looking forward to not working for a week and spending time with my family. I'm sure the week will go by fast and I will be able to torture J with my presense once again!

Grandpa is ok. He's been hanging out at.....Harrah's?????

I talked to Grandpa today-finally. Yes mom, you're right, he is being stubborn and insisting on staying in his home. He has been sleeping in the basement, however, to keep cool and has been eating "McDonald's hamburgers". And....he has been hanging out at Harrahs. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? He's fine, we talked about our trip next weekend-he is a bit concerned that his fishing gear isn't going to fit in the car....

pictures of this week's storms

I saw that orange sunset on Wednesday. Freaky, isn't it? I just can't believe how much damage has been done. People are without electricity and now water-and no telling when it will all be back up and running. I hope my grandpa is ok-I tried calling him, but all the phone lines are down in Florissant. If anyone talks to him, let me know! J said that you wouldn't even recognize Granite City right now. It got hit both Wednesday and today. What a freakin' mess......

Thank God no one is hurt

Yes, Wednesday night we got the storm from hell here in the STL metro area. I was at work, one of my co-workers had just come from North County and mentioned it was "real ugly" there. No sooner did she say that, that all hell broke loose. Trees were sideways, the sky was part orange, part gray/green. It was freaky, to say the least. I emailed J to see if he was ok down in South City. About two minutes later, he emailed back to let me know that it had just hit there. Well, the power went out at work (which is never a good thing when you are a crisis hotline), so here I was, handing out lanterns and flashlights to people-because you know the phones were still working. So, we took crisis calls in the dark. Our computer guy came in, discovered half the building had power, so he ran a bunch of extension cords and we managed to get three computers up and running. Long night. Once on my way home, the damage was unbelievable. Traffic lights out, trees everywhere. The storm got us good. J told me Granite City got it pretty bad-that made me nervous since his kids are there and all his friends, but everyone is ok! The girls are with us now because they still don't have power at their house. We were lucky, the apartment never lost power. Thank God my sister got an earlier flight in from Chicago-originally she would have been trying to land during all that crap! Now the clean up begins. There are tons of people without power still and tons of trees to clean up. But for the most part, everyone is ok. Let's hope this doesn't happen again for quite some time.....

Good thing I got that extended warranty

Uh, yea.....so my car that I just got at the end of March is about to hit 10,000 miles....yea, you heard me right-10,000. I haven't put all those miles on myself-J has helped me a bit, but most of them are my doing. It's under warranty for 100,000 miles, which should happen sometime before Thanksgiving......at least she gets good gas mileage-at $3.05 a gallon, that is a must because I so do not want to take the bi-state bus to work.....

Mixed emotions

Well, I thought the day would never come, but I am officially resigning from my job. I've been there nearly six years and honestly thought I'd never go. Sometimes, however, you just know when it's time. And now is my time. My new job will certainly be a change-I'm entering the world of managed care.....gone are the days of working nights, weekends and holidays. I'll be working normal people hours, no weekends, no holidays-I won't even know what to do with myself. Leaving work when the sun is still up? That's crazy talk! I am really going to miss a lot of the people I work with-some have been there longer than I have. You certainly get to know people when you work with them day in and day out for six years. I broke the news to my team on Sunday and several said I was going to make them cry...I'm not trying to make anyone cry! Tonight, two of the girls on my team informed me that they are plotting to beat me up for leaving...I'm pretty sure when you're plotting against someone, you shouldn't give them the heads up.....

Welcome Grayson Nicholas!

Grayson is finally here! My friend Shannon and her husband Bruce welcomed Grayson on Sunday. He arrived a week early, had to be delivered via c-section because he was nearly TEN POUNDS! He's a big boy! Congrats to Shannon and Bruce. I can't wait to meet him!

Nice day for a 5K

What a turnout for the L6! Wow, there were well over 1,000 people-not bad for a first ever event. It did happen to fall on the hottest day of the year thus far, but no biggie. My sister is the runner in the family-she finished a very respectable 4th in her age group. I, on the otherhand, walked. My walking partners were my brother-in-law Jon and his other wife, Robert (right Red???). I also walked with my friend Val and my friend Krista's husband, Scott (who is Laura's brother). Not to mention Miss Hannah Grace who was very graciously going to let me ride in her jogging stroller. I figured it probably wasn't very cool to con a 2 year old out of her stroller, so I let her keep riding....I also ran into my friend Sean (as in Channel 5 Sean) who I hadn't seen in a million years. As predicted, it was a very emotional day, especially when Laura's husband Jeff got on the stage to thank everyone. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the place. I just hope that the money raised today will in some way help out. Jeff also announced that they are forming a foundation in Laura's name to help others with traumatic brain injuries. Very cool.

Well, now that I'm home, I'm quite sleepy. Getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday will do that to you. J is in GC visiting his baby girl, so I think a nap is in order for me. Nighty night y'all!

Hank the Tank-AKA 50 Cent

Exactly a year ago, our boy Hank was shot twice in the side. We assume he was out being bad (i.e. chasing cows) and one of the local farmers shot him. I remember little Stubby running up the driveway, she was like Lassie, trying to tell us that something was wrong. I went to the back door to go see her when I saw Hank laying there in a pool of blood (sorry to be so graphic). I, of course, freaked and yelled for mom and dad. He totally didn't look like he was going to make it, he was in shock and could barely move. Stubby was licking him trying to stop the bleeding. We tried desperately to get a hold of a local vet, but reached only answering machines. Dad faced the fact that he was probably gonna have to put Hank out of his misery, a task I'm sure he didn't look forward to. Mom and I took Stubby in the house and cried and cried and cried. We love our Hank! And, this was right after our beloved Spaz died. Dad was going to get Hank onto the scoop-thingy on his tractor to take him out in the woods, but good ol' Hank put up a fight. It was as if he was saying "hell no fool, I ain't gonna die!". In the meantime, one of the vets returned our call. I'm not sure where this guy got his degree, but his response was "if he makes it to the morning, he'll be ok". What? We tried to make him as comfortable as possible and prayed he would make it (just hours later I found out my friend's sister-in-law had been in a horrible car accident-it was NOT a good day!).
Morning came, mom woke me and Tim up and told us to look outside. Well, there was our boy, standing (albeit painfully) with the most pitiful puppy face I have ever seen. Hank is one tough boy! The buckshot may have shot some stupid into him (come on, we all know he isn't the brightest), but he was alive.
Hank is perfectly fine now. True, one of his bullet holes has yet to heal, but otherwise, he is happy and healthy. And he now stays out of that farmer's field....

The L6 race is tomorrow....

Tomorrow will be a very emotional day. It is the day that we will all remember what happened a year ago to the day. My friend Krista's sister-in-law, Laura, was in a horrible car accident while driving to work. Laura remains in a coma to this day. Tomorrow there is a 5K race taking place in honor of Laura. As you can imagine, her medical bills are astronomical, not to mention the emotional strain it has put on her family and friends.
What I hope to take from this is to remember all the people that I love and to be thankful that I have them all in my life. Because you never know what is going to happen in life. Something like this makes you remember to not take things for granted. So, tomorrow, I will give my money for a good cause and hope and pray that someday Laura will wake up from her coma.
Take care of yourselves, and each other! Love-KD

Say it ain't so.....

My friend Erin just emailed me the most devastating news ever. I'm not sure I'll recover.......

Rivers Cuomo Says Weezer Is Done
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Rivers Cuomo says that, for now, Weezer is "done." Cuomo, the band's bespectacled songwriter and frontman, told MTV that while he remains in touch with his bandmates, "we've never mentioned getting together."
"Really, for the moment, we are done," he said. "And I'm not certain we'll ever make a record again, unless it becomes really obvious to me that we need to do one."
Weezer has released five albums since forming in 1993. The group took a considerable break between 1996's "Pinkerton" and 20

01's self-titled disc (typically called "The Green

Album"). The band's last release

was "Make Believe," in 2005.
The liner notes of that album led to conjecture that it was Weezer's last. They included a quote from a parting soliloquy in Shakespeare's "Tempest," the playwright's last play.
Cuomo, 36, said he has been writing songs, but said, "I don't know what'll happen with these songs — if anything. ... I certainly don't see them becoming Weezer songs, and I don't really see the point of a solo career. So we'll just have to see."
Jim Merlis, a spokesman for Geffen said that the label had no official response, but did add Cuomo has made similar statements in the past.

My friend Christi

Just got these pictures from my friend Christi. One is of her little family: her husband Jim and her little girl, Shelby. The other, obviously, is Shelby. I haven't seen them in ages even though they live here in St. Louis. Christi was my college room mate at good ol' CMSU (a million years ago now!). That girl and I had some good times, thats for sure! The fact that neither one of us ever got arrested is amazing (although we did have to bail a few of our friends out of jail). Just wanted to share these pics!

Uh....

Is it just me, or does Hilton Head Island look like a shoe?

stress, stress and more stress

Yea...I'm near my breaking point. Stress level is definitely high right now. It's not just me though, which, in some weird way, makes me feel a little bit better. It seems to be just about everyone around me (which makes me a little paranoid-is it me causing the stress? I sure hope not...). Work is crazy right now. I am trying to keep my head on straight when I'm there, but it is getting hard. One of my fellow supervisors even said to me last night that she was about to burst into tears. Yea, we're all feeling it. I worked late-AGAIN, for the 2nd night this week. As soon as I got in my car I started crying and did so the whole way home (I also cried myself to sleep). I guess that helps me relieve some of the stress. I was having sharp, shooting pains in my side too, but, oddly enough, they went away when I got home....hmmmm....I am trying to keep things in perspective, it's just really hard right now. I took Benadryl so I could finally sleep last night. Well, one didn't work, so around 2:30am I took another one. I still had a pretty restless sleep and totally did not want to get up today. I only have 8 more working hours until my weekend starts. I'm counting down now...

What I do know is this-J, I love you. Thank you for last night. As my Grandma B always used to say "this too shall pass". I gotta believe that right now...and hope that I'll be back to "normal" Kerri really, really soon.....

What I need to remember is that I have a great family, great co-workers who are feeling my pain, great friends and one great boyfriend. I'll try to keep this in mind next time I have the thought of hurling myself off the 2nd floor balcony at work...(and NO people, I'm not really gonna do it, so don't go calling the crisis line or anything!).

Remember this for next time

Don't eat a bag of Skittles just a couple of hours before you plan to go to bed or you'll be like me. Yes, last night, the sugar high was fun, I won't lie (I think my co-workers would agree with that one!), but once I got home and tried to go to sleep, it soooo wasn't happening, and in the worst way too-I was totally tired and wanted to sleep but was still wired from that sugar. I tossed and I turned, then I tossed some more. It wasn't cool. Not sure what time I finally fell asleep, I do know it wasn't a good sleep, so I may be a bit more delirious than usual today. Sorry to anyone who may have to see me or talk to me or live with me today..... :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Cheryl!

Just wanted to wish my Aunt Cheryl a very Happy Birthday today! Hope you get to do something fun! I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Let's pray for no sharks and no hurricanes!

It's not my fault

One of my employees gave me Skittles tonight. So, it is totally not my fault that I am way hyper and have the shakes right now. Not my fault. Someone here at work just asked me if I was on crack. I'm pretty sure there isn't any crack in Skittles....

what?

No blogging for me the last couple of days. That is because I have done nothing but work and sleep. Pretty boring blog material. I don't even have anything interesting to say, nothing to make sarcastic comments about-I got nothin'. Sorry to my faithful following who like to read this blog, I know I have let you down. I promise to have more blog material in the future.

Who needs sleep anyway?

I mean, seriously. Sleep is overrated (I say this as I am downing Diet Coke and sugar like it's going out of style). It is perfectly normal to get to bed at 6am and be at work by 1pm. Right? I'm not at all bitter that while I'm slaving away at work, a certain someone is sleeping peacefully at home....not at all bitter. At least his thumb hurts..... :)

Had a good weekend. Actually got to hang out with J all weekend which was pretty cool. No work, no kids, no nothing but hangin' with my boy. SOMEONE, I won't say who, decided that getting drunk Friday night would be a good time. Oh, it was a good time, alright. "Someone" was freakin' hilarious and obviously having a good time. "Someone" was cracking me up. We saw Uncle Jimmy's band, Ivory Tiger, play. It was good to see him again, it's been a little while. We started to talk about vacation, but J and I had to stop that-we are already having separation anxiety and I haven't even left yet! I'm gonna miss that boy so much! Anyway, I took care of drunkboy, made sure he made it to bed safely. We proceeded to sleep most of Saturday away, went grocery shopping (ramen noodles and peanut butter, right baby?), then headed back out to Eddie's for a less intoxicated evening. It was a good night just chillin, had fun hanging out after the bar closed. Still managed to not get to bed before 6am, but whatever, it's cool. I'm not complaining. I'm at work now, gonna be busy, can't wait till 9 so I can leave and go see my baby!

uh, yea......

My co-worker gave me a Burger King crown today. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it other than insist that staff refer to me as the Queen of the Call Center. Think that will catch on?

My boy is wonderful

J has been so awesome. I am having a really crappy week and he has been nothing but supportive and trying to make me feel better. J-I love you so much!!!!!

I am on the countdown to the end of my workweek. Seven and a half hours and counting....is that sad? I live for the weekends anymore (and time with J). I know that by the time I leave for vacation with the family I am definitely gonna need some relaxation time (although I hate the fact that I will be away from my boy for that long!). I'm thinking a Benadryl induced sleep may be in order for tonight. I haven't been sleeping well all week and my body feels it.

Sorry to be such a downer. Just one of those times where stress is high. I know it will get better eventually. Just gotta hang in there.....

Happy 4th of July y'all!

Is everyone having a good holiday? I am spending mine at work. So far, so good. I am actually getting some work done. I was upset to find that staff had brought in Krispy Kreme donuts though. That is just pure evil. I realized I could totally eat the entire box, so instead, I am staying clear of the food table so that I can show some restraint. Can't stay a size 4 if you eat a box of donuts....AND I have to sport a swimsuit in a couple of weeks at Hilton Head. Nothing like pressure. At least I am getting off work tonight at 8, I'll actually get to spend the evening with my boy, which always makes me happy. Well, hope everyone has a fun and safe day!

The day before a holiday and all's well

Yes, while most of the world is off work today and tomorrow, I am working. Luckily, today has not been too bad, although I have been plenty busy. I will be celebrating the 4th of July....at work. My boss was nice enough to let me work noon to 8, so at least I could see some fireworks if I wanted to! My team and I plan to be obnoxious and wear head to toe red, white and blue tomorrow. I came to a sad realization today that my staff are clones of me. Everyone is sarcastic, likes to laugh a lot, and doesn't take too many things seriously. It's a little frightening. I don't know if they were that way before or if I have influenced them in some way. Anyway, they are good times and I love them all.

Happy Birthday to my friend Eric today! Hope you are having a good one! Hope you are taking care of my favorite city (Chicago).

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!

Happy Birthday Parker!!!

My friend Carrie's son, Parker, is SEVEN today! Woo hoo! Happy birthday Parker, hope you are having a great day!

I rock at putting worms on the hooks

Yes, that was my contribution to fishing yesterday. That, and I would take the little fish off the hook after the girls caught them-we were holding out for the big guys! I also drank some beer and sat in a lawn chair in the shade-yes, I worked hard. Dad and J caught most of the big fish-catfish and bass. The girls had a blast, too-everyone was down at the pond the entire day (except for mom, who stayed in the house to make us all dinner!). We got another turtle, although, I think this one may be psycho, so not sure how long he is gonna stick around (that, and Henry may kick his ass). Overall it was a great weekend. Very relaxing and I was so glad to see the girls have fun. My boy has a sunburn, probably from sitting out in that boat all day! :) Then there was an impromtu drive down the gravel roads at midnight last night. This morning J and I were not sure if that actually happened or not (we were really tired last night), but I'm pretty sure we did go out and see the witches altar and made it down to to the Meramac River. It was kinda fun, from what I remember. I know Hank and Stubby enjoyed all the attention this weekend, they're gonna be bummed that the girls are gone. We'll be back though, mom and dad can't get rid of us now! Here are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy! Hope everyone has a fabulous 4th of July!
My brother Tim, he's a real bad ass, isn't he????Stubby the Princess. She likes to lay on the pillows like she's a human.Hank the Tank. This is what he did in between the times he went swimming in the pond.Kristin is quite the caster! She was getting that line way out in the middle of the pond.My dad giving Avina some guidance. What in the hell am I looking at?Jesse with Big Joe's little brother-next time baby you'll get Big Joe! He's scared, I know it! Dad with all the catches of the day. I think there were 11 catfish and 2 bass. Not bad for a days worth of fishing at Lake PawPaw!

Day 1 in the country

Well, after a traffic filled drive, we finally arrived in Salem last night. Boy, Hank and Stubby sure were happy to see us and the girls love them! We had a good night last night just hanging out. The girls were having fun catching frogs for fishing (who knew they could be used as bait?). They caught a giant toad, which I thought was pretty disgusting, but then again, I'm not a 10 or 11 year old kid. We made our first trip to the Salem Wal-Mart. First of many, I'm sure. Mom has made us a good ol' fashioned country breakfast, just waiting for everyone to get up so we can eat. This girl was up by 7am-mark it down, it's not likely to happen again any time soon (except for probably tomorrow morning). Here's to another fabulous, relaxing day in the country!

Over the hills and through the woods....

We're off to Salem tomorrow for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a fun, good time had by all! Mom will have Pizza Hut waiting for us. I see a Yahtzee tournament in our near future. Mom better watch out though, because the girls are pretty good! Can't wait to see Hank and Stubby. J is ready to go fishing. It should be fun. Hope everyone has a good weekend, it's the holiday you know, so be safe!

stress

I am feeling the stress I was hoping to avoid feeling. I know I am stressed when the following occurs: constant headaches, decreased appetite, exhausted but unable to sleep, feeling overwhelmed. This pretty much describes me as of late. It's all work related, life outside of work is GREAT. I try to keep things in perspective and remind myself that it's just a job. All I gotta do is come in, do what I'm supposed to do, and leave it behind when I leave at night. I try to focus on the fact that once I leave, I get to see J (which always makes me happy) and/or focus on the weekend ahead. This weekend we are all going to Salem (me, J and the girls) which should be fun-so this is what I am focusing on right now.

Well, this was my brief work break. Back to the daily grind. Hope everyone else is stress free!

Everywhere we go, we hear "Jesse's Girl"

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was good. Hung out with J and the girls Friday night. Saturday I took the girls to their softball game. They were so cute, kept checking to make sure I was watching and asking me if they were doing good. Their team lost 20-7, but it was still fun. I got sunburnt, but what else is new? Saturday night we dropped the kids off at the sitters and headed out to UMB to see Rascal Flatts. After sitting in traffic for like an hour and a half (and witnessing people peeing on the side of the road), we finally got there. Thank God there were people that J knows already there and saving a spot for us because it was freakin crowded! Wall to wall people in the lawn. The show was good, we of course got to hear our song "Bless The Broken Road". The funniest part was when they were just kinda playing around and playing other people's songs. All of a sudden, they started playing "Jesse's Girl". We laughed-that freakin' song follows us, I swear! Sunday I got to have lunch with Red. We were totally wanting some McCallister's but their computers were down, so we settled for Penn Station. It was always good to hang with my sis. I went straight to work after that, had a really crazy busy day, was totally exhaused by the time I got off at 9. It was good times had by all! And good news, my fungus has cleared up. Thank God.

Happy Birthday Aunt Jan!

Hi Auntie! Hope you are having a wonderful birthday! I know mom says it's just another day, but it's always nice to have that one special day to yourself-hope Uncle Craig and Kelli take care of ya! I'll see you at the end of July when we're beaching it up! :)

Rascal Flatts tomorrow!

I am so excited! J and I are going to see Rascal Flatts tomorrow night. Now before anyone says it, YES, I have turned back into a country girl and I love it! I remember in high school, my sister and I began listening to country music and a certain aunt of ours, we'll call her "Ruth", endlessly made fun of us for it. You might say she was "ruth" less about it. Well, irony has a funny way of kicking you in the butt, because years later, "Ruth" found her very own country boy, and, yep, you guessed it-began listening to country music and still does to this day. In fact, if I remember right, a country song was their wedding song. Am I correct? Anyway, I've got myself a country boy and have returned to my roots and wouldn't have it any other way! So, tomorrow night should be a good time. I can't wait. Just being able to spend some quality time with my boy is totally worth it. Love you J!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Hi Mommy! Hope you are having a fantastic birthday. Sorry if it was supposed to be a secret, but I told the secretary at your work when I tried calling you earlier. I won't publicly announce mom's age (although she is still quite young), but suffice to say she looks fab-u-lous! Mom, I love you very much, hope you got the card! I will see you next weekend, we can spend some quality time together while dad and J build stuff and/or go fishing. I can't wait!

Love,
Your baby girl Ker Ker

"Babe, better double up on your Benadryl"

This is what J says to me the other day. "Why?", I ask. "Because Clyde is coming to stay for a while". Who is Clyde and why would I need Benadryl to be around him you may ask? Well....Clyde is a C-A-T. Kerri is allergic to C-A-T's. Clyde arrived yesterday. He is freakishly huge. He already acts like the house is his and he's been there less than 24 hours. Already he has gotten in trouble. See, Clyde apparently thinks it is appropriate to lay on the table. He also likes to lay in the bathtub and on top of the couch. He and Henry the turtle seem to be getting along, however. Clyde just kinda ignores him. It's turning into a freakin' zoo and I LOVE IT!

So far, only mildly itchy eyes, presumably from Clyde. I can't even focus on the allergies because I also have the flu. SO unpleasant. Yea, had to leave work yesterday due to getting physically ill. I was going to stay and just work in between the vomiting episodes, but my boss made me leave. It was probably a good thing I did. I got home around 6pm and pretty much slept until this morning at around 9am. I was heading to my doctor anyway today because I discovered this rash-like thing on my back yesterday. It freaked me out. I was wondering if I had Tim's skin disease. Well, while I was at the doctors, I said "so, while I'm here, guess I should let you know I've been throwing up and have a splitting headache and all I wanna do is sleep". Next thing I know I'm being told not to go to work, to drink clear fluids and eat soup. Oh, yea, and I have a fungal infection on my back, which sounds way gross. I'm on some medication for it now. There is a fungus among us now.

In more exciting news, today is my mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! If you see her, make sure to wish her a happy 29th birthday! I'll see you next weekend mama! :)

Whew...

What a day so far. Work has been absolutely crazy. I spent most of the afternoon taking calls, meaning I couldn't do any of my supervisor duties. I am also knee deep in writing people's yearly reviews. I've been compiling numbers all week. My head hurts and I can't see straight. I only have 14 reviews to write-I should be done sometime in 2007. I'm also on call until Monday so I haven't been sleeping well because I'm afraid I'll miss a call (I haven't). I'm exhausted. Physically. Mentally. I also found out today that my job duties will be changing as of July 1 (don't worry, I am still a supervisor, they are just doing some "restructuring"-you know how that goes). I have mixed feelings about this, cannot comment more at this time as I am still processing it. Wow-is it only Tuesday? Yikes. We are playing a fun little game called "BHR Bingo" tonight. It's a game in which each square contains typical client statements we hear on the phones over and over again. Examples are "I need my nerve pills", "someone stole my medication", "come get my kids they're out of control", and "is this Domino's?" (for some reason we get calls at the crisis line for Domino's at least once a day). All I need is a "I need to speak with Dr. So and So" and I win. I rock.

Well, enough rambling for today, must get back to work. Or maybe I'll actually eat (its 7:30 at night, just realized I haven't eaten yet-oops). Hope everyone else is having a better day. Later people.

Welcome back Mark Prior! YOU SUCK!

A quote from the Cubs web page: "Starter Mark Prior had command problems in his first outing of the year, allowing three homers in the first inning and four overall in a short start against an unrelenting Detroit attack. The Cubs hit three home runs themselves, but each was a solo shot, as Chicago was swept at Wrigley."

Sounds about right, huh? The Cubs lost 12-3 that day. They are now a whopping 16 games out of first, only one game ahead of the last place Pirates. It is a sad, sad season. Here's a good question-if the Cubs try to trade Mark Prior or Kerry Wood, is anyone gonna want them? My guess is, probably not.

Henry the Turtle and his excellent adventure

I'm beginning to think that Henry is a very special turtle. He's not slow like turtles are supposed to be. No, he books it across the living room like he's running for his life (and maybe he is, who knows?). Friday, he did something that made me laugh out loud, all I could do is watch.

Henry lives in a nice, plastic bin-sorta-thing. I'd say it's a good 6-8 inches high. He has plenty of room to walk around, he's got some grass, and lettuce, and carrots to eat. Well, Friday night he was apparently feeling adventurous. I looked over at him and saw that he was trying to get out of the box. Impossible, I thought. Well, I thought wrong. I watched him get both his front feet around the rim of the box, he then tried with all his might to get his back legs up and over. Several times, he made it, only to fall. Then, with one final push, Henry got his whole body over the rim. He just sorta balanced there for awhile-there was nowhere for him to go since the box was against the wall. That freakin' turtle was able to get out of his box! He didn't get far though, because he lost his balance and went flying back into the box, lying on his back, his little turtle legs flailing about. I was nice enough to put him right side up, but he was scolded for trying to run away and was told that he was grounded. Henry behaved the rest of the weekend. But, I'm keeping my eye on him now. I don't trust him. Hmmm....kids these days, they're out of control, I tell ya!

Happy Father's Day to my daddy!

Happy Father's Day Dad! I know I already talked to you today, but still wanted to publicly wish you a happy fathers day. I hope you are relaxing as you are watching the Cardinal's game today and that mom makes you a nice dinner-even though her grill is broken! I love you and I will see you soon!

To my Grandpa-hope you are having a wonderful Father's Day as well. Hope you get to talk to all 6 of your kids. I miss you and love you very much!

And to the other dad in my life, Jesse-hope you are having a great day with the girls. Hope you liked your present-the girls were so excited and couldn't wait to give it to you!

To all the other dads out there-hope your Father's Day is wonderful!

To my baby:

Just wanted to tell you (and the world) that I love you. No particular reason why, just felt like blogging it! You are my world baby.

To everyone else, J and I have been together six months now, and it has been the best six months of my life. We are very happy together and forming our own little family with me, him and his girls (oh yea, and the pet turtle, Henry). Life is good right now, that's all I can say! I can't wait to see what the next six months will bring, and then the six months after that, and the six months after that....well, you get the picture.

Sorry for the little bit of sappiness, sometimes I can't help it. J makes me feel that way. I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER CUTEBOY!

Anita Baker

My good friend Anita called me today. I hadn't talked to her since she called to tell me she was engaged a couple of months ago. I always love talking to her. We are the kind of friends that, even if we only talked a couple of times a year, could pick up right where we left off and talk as if we talk to each other every day. Anita and I went to grad school together at Webster. We started calling her "Anita Baker" (as in the singer, not her real name), I believe in our stats class. Stacy and Denise started it, and it stuck.

So, my girl is engaged. I loved talking to her about her wedding plans, but again, reminded me that if/when I get married, I am soooooo not planning a big wedding. Just don't want the stress! They have a date set-March 31, 2007-so, I guess a road trip to Arkansas is in our future!

Today

Today has not been that exciting. I woke up early, was up for a bit but felt totally and completely exhausted, so I fell back asleep on my couch. I debated calling in sick to work but ultimately decided to tough it out. I'm regretting that decision right now as I still feel nauseated (not sure if I'm actually sick or if it is the expose to the raw sewage....). Work has been fairly uneventful so far. I am monitoring some of my staff's calls (for quality assurance purposes, don't you know) and will be meeting with one of my staff for clinical supervision. We are gonna watch Girl Interrupted, if you haven't seen it, its about a girl with Borderline Personality Disorder who is locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Right up your alley if you work in the mental health profession!

Book Club

I have been in a Book Club for over three years now. It's me and six other girls. We take turns hosting each month and meet the 3rd Thursday of the month. Sure, I have to take a day off work to go, but it's worth it. The name "book club" is a bit misleading, however. Is it wrong that we haven't actually read a book in oh, say, three months? The term "social club" may be more like it. This is our monthly chance to get together with good friends, gossip, catch up on everyone's lives and, of course, EAT! Yea, we do have good food at book club. Each month we have a food theme (April was baseball themed, June is grilled food themed). It's our chance to watch Shannon's belly grow (she's 8 months pregnant), and hear Krista's stories about Hannah Grace, and hear everyone's horror stories from working in the mental health field. Oh, and we laugh. A lot. I love my book club. I consider all the ladies good friends. So, Thursday night I'm off to St. Peter's as Krista is hosting. Should be a good time had by all. See y'all then!

Cubs update

The Cubs are in second to last place in the NL Central. Not surprising. But watch out-D Lee is coming back soon, and Mark "I get hurt all the time" Prior is back within the next week or so. It is so ON people! :)

raw sewage, Day 2

Seriously, this is disgusting. The aftermath of the Great Flood of 2006 continues. Everyone in the office has been having headaches, nausea, and sore throats. We all have to fill out incident reports that are going to Worker's Comp. I feel like crap right now. My darling boyfriend tried to convince me that we are all going to get Hepatitis C. GREAAAAAT! My boss Bart confirmed that you can, in fact, get Hep C from exposure to raw sewage. That is such good news. This is a hostile work environment. I'll talk to y'all later. Feel like I'm gonna hurl.

The Great Flood of 2006

Ok, so I get to work this afternoon, get ready to walk in the door and see a huge fan in front of the door with a big sign that says "caution, floor is flooded". Huh? I go inside the office, there is green caution tape everywhere with more signs in the kitchen stating "do not enter" and "slippery floor". What the hell happened?, I asked when I made in to the call center. Apparently, I missed the great flood of 2006. On Friday, the kitchen sink apparently began spewing black sewage all over the kitchen. Staff said that the entire kitchen was covered in black goo and it began seeping into the call center, by my cubicle, of all places (my boss Chris tells me "it smelled like shit" in the call center)! Yuck! The Drain Surgeons were called (yes, the company's real name) and apparently all is well now. Except it smells. Not a good working environment. And all the staff are having weird symptoms that can't be a coincidence. Headaches, nausea, sore throats. We've been poisoned. This is really uncool.

In other, less disgusting news, I had a good weekend. I did not participate in Race for the Cure this year (for the first time since I've lived in St. Louis). I decided not to because I was on call for work on Saturday and could just imagine trying to deal with doing a 5K and carrying around my work cell. It was a good thing I didn't do it because I got called five times yesterday. I knew I would since it was the full moon and all. Always crazy good times when that happens.

Friday was a chill day. Hung out with J who made us dinner (thats right boy, do your job! Ok, just kiddin! But you know I hate to cook. Besides, I did the laundry and dishes-I think it evens out!). Were supposed to have the girls that night, but ended up not having them, so I had a "free night". J went to work and I watched crappy TV, hung out with the turtle, and read all night. Sometimes you gotta have nights like that. It was pretty cool. On Saturday, didn't do much. I took Henry the turtle outside to play in his pool. I think he was pissed off for some reason though. He kept ducking his head under water then rubbing his little face with his front legs. It was weird. And he was trying to climb out of the pool. He was giving me some attitude for real. Needless to say, our outside adventure didn't last long. I was ok with it since it was 107 degrees outside. J and I had aspirations of actually going somewhere on Saturday. Well, technically we did go somewhere-we went to the Chinese buffet again. I always have fun there-it's the damn chinese donuts. I love them. We just missed the downpour, but watched it from the safety of the inside of the chinese buffet. After that, went to Eddie's to watch Southbound 55 play while J worked, then on to everyone's favorite place, Pop's. It was a pretty uneventful night, right J? :) Overall, it was a good night, I had fun just getting to be with my boy. I don't care where we hang out, as long as I get to see him. I miss him already. Love you baby!!!!!

Ok, now I must do some payroll, pray the power doesn't go out in the office, and pray the office doesn't flood again. What kind of hellhole do they have us working in?????

Southbound 55 this weekend!

Ok, here's my shameless plug for Uncle Jimmy's other band, Southbound 55. They are playing at Eddie's in good ol' GC this weekend. I know many are afraid to cross the Mississippi (for reasons unknown, apparently Illinois is a foreign land to some), but think about coming out! The band is great-country and southern rock, I'll be there on Saturday. And if anything crazy happens, my baby will be there to stop it (right sweetie???) .

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Stay cool, it's freakin' hot out there already and it's only 10:45am. Geez. Have fun. Get out of the house. It's good times. Peace, I'm out.

What the????

Ok, so today I was cleaning out one of my closets and I found this giant blow-up Corona lime (the picture is exact). Where in the hell did it come from? I have no idea. I remember stealing the pink blow-up alien. And I remember Carrie stealing the giant Bacardi lemon pinata (and Robyn biting it). But I do not remember the origin of the Corona lime. Hey Babe-think we should give it to Raven? Doesn't he like Corona stuff?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS HEIDI!!!

Happy Birthday girl, from those of us back in the states! I hope you are have a great birthday today. Hope you are having fun with your parents. Tell your hubby I said "sup". Everyone at BHR misses you and I was told to tell you happy birthday from them. What are you now, the big 2-9? Yes, that's right. How could I forget "hid 77". Ha! :)

Anyway, we miss you guys tons, can't wait to see you in August. Come pick up some shifts. I've got Sundays reserved just for you! Good luck the rest of the semester JP! We'll see you guys soon!

SO not nice Aunt Cheryl

This email was sent to me by my dear auntie. I was highly offended, but got over it pretty quickly because it's pretty damn funny! Enjoy!


May 8, 2006 Chicago, Illinois (AP) -
A seven year old boy was at the center of a Chicago courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the Judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Chicago Cubs, who the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

It's 6/6/06 AND the full moon is coming....

Yes, it is crazy at the crisis line this week, and with good reason. Today is 6/6/06 and the full moon is coming in the near future (Saturday). We have been getting the strangest calls. I know it's par for the course given its a crisis line and all, but still!

I want to wish a happy belated birthday to my c0-worker Matthew. His birthday was yesterday. He tells me that he is 113 in "gay years", whatever that means. He's a nut.

That's about all I have for today. My brain is on overload. Hope everyone else is having a good week and it's not too crazy!

Holy Cow! I won our bet!

Say it ain't so! The Cubs actually took 2 of 3 from the Cardinals this weekend. And I won my precious Cubs hat back! Yay! Apparently, the Cards are the only team in the entire league that the Cubs can actually beat. Ok, J, so for our three bets so far, I'm 2 for 3! Better watch out for the next one baby! :)

What a great weekend

This past weekend was great. Friday, J and I drove to Salem. It looked bad for a bit as we were stuck in that Hwy 44 traffic, but once out of that, it was smooth sailin'. Mom had KFC waiting for us when we got there. J got to experience the magic that is Stubby and Hank. And those two were in rare form this weekend. J wanted to dog-nap Hank, but I really didn't want that giant dog in my car....Friday night we pretty much chilled. Dad took J and I to the farm-he was soooo excited and talking a mile a minute. I just sat there and laughed (and thanks for pointing out my math retardation dad. I owe ya one!). Saturday, we were up bright and early (like 7am early). I was surprised to find J awake, but truly, for some reason, you can't sleep in there. Or maybe it was because Stubby jumped on him, I don't know.....Mom, Red, Tim and I went up to the high school and did the 5K for Relay for Life. It was cool, but the course was almost all up hill (I am still hurting, for real!). Red came in 2nd! Yay! And, no, she did not eat Tim's dust. Turns out, all Tim's trash talkin' was just that-talk. But apparently he did really well-ran most of the way. Mom and I did the walk/jog method. Of course mom would be like "come on Ker, let's run some more". Now, I really didn't want to, but I couldn't let my mother beat me, now could I? Once we got back to the house, J was ready to do some fishing. My dad gave him one mission-get rid of the catfish in his pond. J was up for the challenge, so off we went to the Wal-Mart (uh, for the 2nd time in less than 24 hours) for some fishing gear. I was a little confused in the fishing department-who knew there were so many different kinds of hooks, and lures and other fishing stuff? By the way-the mullets were out on Sat. J and I saw some good ones!!!

J spent most of the afternoon down at the pond. He was catching the hell out of some catfish, just like dad asked. Those things are really ugly! And did you know that they talk? I think during fishing is when J fell in love with the place. Almost had to drag him out of there! We'll be back soon babe, don't worry. Now mom and dad won't be able to get rid of us! After a fabulous dinner by mom (mom it was still good even without the grill, I promise!), we had to go back home because J had to work. We went by and picked up Avina and introduced her to their new pet-a turtle that we "stole" from the country. So now, the turtle she named Henry, is now sitting comfortably in a box in the living room with some lettuce and grass. He's totally digging it.

Sunday was a chill day. I went to my friend Shannon's baby shower. That was good times. She is a cute prego person. Can't wait to meet baby Shelley! Then I went back to J's-we hung out outside where all the kids were playing. Sadly, all the fish J caught didn't make it, it's a long story...but they are resting in peace now. We WILL be back to Lake PawPaw for more. Be afraid catfish, be very afraid! We had a great dinner Sun night. I'm pretty sure J was making it up as he went along, but it was still good-it's a keeper baby! :) We ended the day with a bon fire-nice and relaxing and a great way to end a great weekend.

Mom, dad, Red, Tim-thanks for a great time in Salem. We will be back soon! And J-I am so happy that you liked Salem and want to go back! I can't wait to take the girls down there. Well, now it's monday, a new week. Hope everyone has a great one!

Do I have to bet????

Ok, so the Cubs and Cards are playing each other again this weekend. J and I have been making bets each time they play each other. Can I back out of this one J? I am not at all confident in the Cubs ability to win. They just plain hardcore suck. I'm not gonna lie. The bet will be a sure thing-for J. Yes, I am being a big baby.

me and my baby

Yay, finally a picture of me and J on my blog! Granted, I had to "steal" it from the family blog...This is from this past weekend at the family picnic at Shaw Park. Don't we look thrilled? Seriously, it was like 172 degrees outside.....too hot to do much of anything. Also with us is J's daughters, Kristin and Avina. What a good lookin' bunch, huh?

A 5K in under 20, Tim? BRING IT!!!!

Ok, my money is on Red for this one. Apparently, our baby brother is talking some smack and thinks he can beat Red in this 5K we are doing this weekend. Good luck with that one, Timbo! My lazy ass will be walking it, that's for sure. Getting me out of bed that early in the morning on a Saturday will be a feat in and of itself. At least I'm being a good girlfriend and letting J sleep in and not making him do this 5K at 8:00am! Mama-hope you're walking with me while those two fools race each other! I'm too old to run, I may hurt something.

I'm very excited to be going home tomorrow and getting to show J my hometown for the first time. All you Salemites know how exciting that is!!!! He can see the now skanky 4-way stop with the Tower Inn half torn down and the building across the street torn down as well. It's really pretty, let me tell ya! Then it will be on to touring the famous Salem super Wal-Mart, always a fun time. Hey baby, maybe I'll take ya out to Make-out Lake as well!!!!!! :) Ahhh...Salem is some good times.