Sleep.....it's a good thing

Who knew that actually sleeping through the night (aided by a bedtime of 9:30pm, thank you very much) can do WONDERS for your mood? No wonder I've been Miss CrankyPants for the last week or so (or the last 32 years, whatever)! I got a solid 9 hours of sleep last night and today? I feel GREAT! I'm awake, alert, oriented, all that good stuff. I feel sorry for those around me because I may be a little hyperactive today. Deal with it. The side effect of actually sleeping, however, is that you actually dream. Last night I had a dream that I was pregnant-that was, in a word, horrifying. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that my sister (who actually is pregnant) told me she had a dream about her baby spewing black goo a la The Exorcist the other night. I informed her that I'm pretty sure her baby is not a demon spawn (then again, you never know...). Anywho, according to the internet (where everything is ALWAYS accurate), dreaming about being pregnant signifies changes or growth in your life. What is changing or growing in my life right now? Hmmmm....must look into this further.

My sister's fetus is 18 weeks along today. It is apparently about 5.5 inches long and cute as a button, I'm sure! Only a couple more weeks until we get to find out what she's having-very excited about that!

Mike and I are getting excited about our Date Night on Monday. Yes, that's right folks, we are going to see New Kids On The Block on Monday......(I believe that deserves a nice, big 'HOLLA'!). SO exciting and people at work are jealous of us, right Mikey?

So, Susan Lucci got the boot on Dancing With The Stars last night. Can't say I'm surprised, I mean, she did ok and all, it was just her time to go. No more looking at her partner, Tony Dovolani and his really, REALLY bright white teeth...darn. I saw my favorite hottie, Maks, made an appearance last night. What the hell was up with his new haircut, thought? It was weird. In other Wednesday night TV news, I totally forgot about the hotness that is Taye Diggs. Yum. Why am I not a regular watcher of The Practice? Oh yea, that's right, because I typically work on Wednesday nights........

Happy Birthday Greg!

I know it was yesterday, and no I didn't forget (I just forgot to put it on my blog)....so, happy birthday to my cousin Greg, who turned 20 yesterday (um, is that right? When did he get so old??? When did I get so old???). Anywho....have a great day kiddo! Hope college is going well and hope to see you soon!

Love,

Your Old Lady Cousin

According to my calendar...

today is Guy Fawkes Day in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Which begs the question-who the hell is Guy Fawkes? And what did he do to deserve his own day?

KD's reflections on the 2008 Presidential election

In my sleep deprived haze this morning, I'm not sure I can actually articulate what I want to say. I, like most Americans, was up late last night watching the election coverage. I said I wasn't going to, but I found myself totally engrossed in what was going on. I wanted to know what state voted Democrat and what state voted Republican (at KD blog press time, the jury was still out on Missouri...a mere 6,000 votes separated the two Presidential candidates with John McCain holding the slight lead. Not at all shocking, St. Louis City voted a whopping 84% for Obama!). I wanted to see Oprah Winfrey amid the crowd gathered at Grant Park in Chicago. I wanted to see history be made. In the end, America spoke LOUDLY and clearly....Barack Obama is the new President of the United States of America. As I tend to lean toward the Democratic side of things, I am happy about this (also happy that Missouri got smart and voted Jay Nixon in as our Governor....I thought he was a great Atty General and think he'll make a great governor. Hell, he's gotta be better than that moron we have in office right now, Matt Blunt). I'm not gonna lie to you folks-I got a little teary eyed last night (I know many of you will not be shocked by this as I tend to get teary eyed at most things). I thought Obama's speech was great (I mean, he promised his little girls a puppy!!!!) but I also thought John McCain's concession speech was great, he was very gracious, I really liked how he encouraged the crowd to be supportive of our new president. That John McCain is not such a bad guy!

This is an amazing time folks. We now have an African-American man as President. I certainly never thought I'd see it happen. Think what you want about Barack Obama, but you've gotta respect what he's been able to accomplish in his relatively short life in public office. I'm cautiously optimistic about our country's future. And is it just me, or is Joe Biden, our new Vice President, a little Bill Clinton-esque? You know in a totally I'm-cool/a total pimp sort of way.....No?

Election Day......GO VOTE!

Election Day has led me to my latest rant-OLD PEOPLE. Here is what I'd like to see-all old, retired people should not be allowed to go to the polls until after 9:00am. This should be a LAW. That way, the rest of us who HAVE TO GO TO WORK can actually get in and do our civic duty. I mean, I resisted the urge to elbow and push the blue hairs in front of me so as to ensure I got to work on time. In the end, I did get to work on time, but still, it was an hour's worth of aggravation I'd rather not have had. And don't get me started on the dude running for governor of Missouri, Kenny Hulsoff. What self-respecting grown man goes by "Kenny"? That's my dad's name and I'm pretty sure he stopped going by "Kenny" when he was like 12. I'm just sayin......

So, I FINALLY got a good night's sleep last night. After about a week of tossing and turning, this old gal finally just passed out. It was beautiful. I spent the evening watching Dancing With The Stars-LOVED the group that did the paso doble-it was awesome! I then watched my other Monday night staples, Samantha Who and The Hills (I mean, DUH! It was awesome-Heidi got fired for going to work drunk!) and then headed to bed. This morning, I awoke early so as to head to the above mentioned polls to cast my vote and now here I am at work again. And I just heard one of our doctors say "joe blow" which, for some reason, makes me giggle. My boss tells me she was bragging about what a good job I'm doing to our Clinical Director, which almost makes the horrendous stress worth it (notice I said "almost"). What's getting me through is the fact that after Nov 19, I don't have to come back to work until Dec 1. Now THAT is a beautiful thing.

Halloween and bowling pics

So many fun activities this past weekend! No wonder I'm sleepy today! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Mine was great! I'm posting the pics that are postable (some are better left OFF the internet....). ;) So, here we go....

these are my devil horns I wore to work on Friday...as my role as the Evil Managed Care Lady. It's a good look...

Halloween night my girls and I went out to House of Rock to see Trixie Delight play. Yes, folks, I'm just gonna put it out there-we were pregnant teenage campers from Camp Wannahumpalotta. Inappropriate? Yes. Funny? Yes. We had a fun time with our "prego" bellies...the lead singer of the band asked us why we didn't enter the costume contest-she was convinced we would have won....Here's Val, Carrie and myself-prego bellies and drinking, nice huh?

Val's husband, Big Bastard bringin sexy back....
party girl Carrie rockin out....

this pic makes me laugh so hard.....
yes, that stick is actually on fire.....

me and my girl Carrie. Rockin the pigtails!

I don't even want to know......

yes, Erin is resting on my prego belly...
we are some hot mama's......
not sure what's going on here....

Now Erin is punching me in my prego belly....SO not nice!
OMG, this giant Frankestein cracked me up....
me with the husbands...Big Bastard and Boogie
this thing was hanging on the ceiling at the bar...this pic cracks me up!
Rob stole my "baby". She looks good prego!

I'm now holding my "baby"........
Carrie's "baby" popped, so here are she and Val making new ones......
Ah yes, the Scotsman....Carrie got the money shot of him flipping up the kilt and showing that he had nothing on underneath....nice. Even funnier is that by day he's a St. Louis County cop. Wow.
This is one of the dudes in the band...Carrie and Val gave him their "baby balloons" and he decided to put it up his shirt......

Such a fun night! As always is the case with those girls, I had a blast. LOVE it.

On Sunday, I attended a bowling event that benefitted Human Rights Campaign. It was a great turnout and a good time was had by all. My team (consisting of me, Mike, our co-worker Mary and our friend Don) was called The Belles of the Bowl (cute, huh?). I'm gonna be honest with y'all-I can't bowl. I think my best game was an 87 (which totally bested my goal of 60), but I had a lot of fun. Lots of my co-workers were there, so it was fun to get to hang with them outside of work.
Here's my co-worker Michele with her hole-less ball....we put it in our lane for good luck....it didn't really work! :)
This is hilarious...this is Don's sign in sheet....
Here's Mikey in action. What form! Nice shoes!
Don in action.......

me and my Mikey....this pic kept cracking him up. Look for it on Facebook soon..... ;)
Michele and Ashley. Too cute!
Dr. Judy, Freida and Tabitha (I work with Judy and Tabitha)
Mike and Tab
Dr Judy and Mike....
Group shot!!!!! Most of these folks work with me in managed care land...starting at the top we have Mike, Michele, Freida, Ashley, Whitney, Mary, me, Judy and Tabitha.

Fun times, good cause. Loved it. Afterwards, some of us continued the fun and went out....Daylight Savings Time was seriously throwing me off...it felt MUCH later than it actually was....I got home at like 8pm and could have sworn it was midnight......

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween party people!!!! HOLLA! OMG, Mike is so freakin hyper today. My team decided to have a little Halloween breakfast this morning (because we are elitist snobs and don't like to participate in the food day that the entire office is having-we don't play well with others). Mike, after a giant doughnut, is bouncing off the walls. I may have to punch him. Then again, after downing a couple Excedrin migraine pills today (packed with caffeine), I may be joining him in the whole wall bouncing thing. Yes, that damn headache just will not go away-I think today is Day 8. Allergies my ass. I asked Dr. Beach (who Mike says is dressed up like Cher today) his opinion on migraines and he told me they are usually triggered by stress.....sounds about right coming from a psychiatrist...he asked what's stressing me, I said, rather bluntly "my job". He laughed. I wasn't kidding. :) Oh well, I'm in a pretty good mood for a girl with a massive headache.....why? Because I LOVE Halloween!!!!! I'm wearing devil horns in the office today, part of my "evil managed care lady" outfit. Some say it's a natural look for me.....

My girls and I will be going out this evening. We are reprising our camping costumes from last year...with a bit of a twist. It involves fake blood that has now stained my hands (I had to have a proper smeared bloody hand print on my shirt!). Pictures to follow. I believe we are going to see one of our favorite bands, Trixie Delight, tonight down in SoCoMo. Good times will be had by all, I'm sure!

Everyone be careful and have a fun, SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!

Happy Birthday Ben and.....Happy Halloween Eve!

Happy Birthday today to my baby cousin, Ben. Are you 22 now? Geez. Want me to tell my old lady stories about how I remember when you were born? No? Ok, but let me know if you do. Have a great birthday cousin! Give baby Brayden a big hug and kiss for me! I'll see you guys Thanksgiving weekend!

Ok, so I know technically, Halloween Eve is not a holiday, but I want to celebrate it anyway, ok? I realize I've been slacking in the blogging department this week. Quite honestly, I just haven't felt like writing. Been in a blah mood this week, not sleeping well, work is stressful, all that good stuff, blah, blah, blah. Let's recap what we've missed:

1. The Phillies won the World Series. Yahoo. At least the NL won. And Ryan Howard, a local guy, got to win. And former Cubbie Scott "don't call me Stevie" Eyre got to win. Yahoo for them.

2. Cloris Leachman finally got voted off Dancing With The Stars. It's about damn time, is all I have to say about that.

3. I just realized I can't think of a 3rd thing that has happened this week. I need more sleep and/or more caffeine. Stat.

Pics from Red and Jon's 30th birthday party

Finally posting pics from the big 3-0 birthday party we had for my sister and her hubby Jon on Saturday night. Huge thanks to Jon's parents for hosting the event. I think a good time was had by all.
A 3oth birthday party wouldn't be complete without some black balloons, would it?The cake that could feed a small country.....I believe it actually fed 96. Is that right, Red? The Birthday Girl with our baby brother, Tim. Too cute!
Jon's special 30th birthday pin I made him wear. You can't tell in this picture, but it lit up, bright, flashing red lights. Definitely seizure inducing.
The Birthday Girl. Can you even tell she's pregnant?
my sister and her hubby, I made them pose with all their special birthday "bling". :)

I don't think that's an actual baby bump, that's just the way she's standing....my sis is a cute prego, I'll give her that! Maybe by Thanksgiving you'll be showing my dear!Some of the guests in their Mizzou best. Mizzou won (killed the other team would be more accurate), as did the Blues. It was an overall good sports day! Here's Red and Jon with their friend, Aaron.
Grandpa hits the food bar.......
Mom, Uncle Ron and Aunt Mary hangin out.

me and my baby bronothing says classy quite like a pregnant girl with a giant bottle of Arbor Mist......
posing with their cake
me and my sis
Red with Grandpa. Grandpa was stylin and profilin that night....... ;)

And last but not least, the Baumgart's dog, Mr. McFlurry showing his Blues pride......or something like that.... :)