Disturbing Dream!

Have you ever had a dream so real that you woke up pissed at the person you were mad at in the dream? That happened to me last night. It was a strange dream that I can’t help but tell because it seemed so real. Anyway…

I dreamt that I had to have an emergency c-section 2 months early. If that wasn’t stressful enough, Andy wasn’t there with me! Not just in the OR but he wasn’t at the hospital at all! I had to go through the whole surgery experience alone. And I was sooo mad at him!!!

Even though my baby was two months early, HE (yep it was a boy) weighed 8lbs 6oz….so much for premature. THEN….He was born with a whole mouth full of teeth! (I can’t make this shit up!) And what made it worse was that I was completely embarrassed by him! How bad of a mother am I?

Then the only people that came to the hospital was my mom and my step-grandma Milly. I don’t know if the news had spread about the baby being born with teeth and everyone was too scared to come visit.

All in all, I woke up this morning completely pissed at Andy that he never showed up. I told him about it when he called me on his way home from work. I told him he better damn well make sure he is at the hospital when I have this child. I think he may be a little scared to come home this evening. Oopps!

I also woke up depressed that I was actually embarrassed by my child. How awful is that? I can’t get that out of my head. Isn’t the love for your child supposed to be instantaneous? Wow, I am reading way too much into this! I guess we will see what happens come October!

Big Brother!

This is one of my all-time favorite reality TV shows. It requires a lot of dedication because it is on 3 days a week. But when you are a huge fan you begin to evolve your life around not missing an episode. This past season was the first that was aired during the winter months. Usually it is a summer show, but I am assuming because of the writers’ strike that they threw an additional season in the works. Fine by me, because I am usually counting down the months/weeks before the new season begins.

This past Sunday was the finale, and I walked away so disappointed that the guy I had been rooting for since day one (Ryan-right) was defeated by this Shrek looking idiot (Adam-left)! The last seven people voted out of the house are the ones who make the decision who of the finial two are deserving of the half a million dollars. The votes were 6 for Adam and 1 for Ryan! I was mad! I can’t wait for all of those jury members to go and watch all the episodes. Then they will see what I saw…which was that Ryan was the good guy and Adam was the worthless one that relied on everyone else to do the dirty work.

This season was full of so much drama! I am so glad all of those jury members were where they were and not seated in the final two, because I couldn’t stand any of them. I can’t wait until July, because that is when the next season of Big Brother is scheduled to begin!

Employee Banquet!

After 6 years Andy finally took me to my Senior Prom! Well….kind of! It was actually an Employee Banquet held by the bank. But the environment was totally that of a prom. It was held at Meramec Wilderness Ranch in Steelville, MO. The scenery was beautiful despite the chilly weather. The invitations we received asked that we wear formal wear…I don’t think so! I was not going to try to squeeze myself into one of my old prom dresses or go purchase a new dress that I will never wear again. I ended up wearing black pants and a cute top and I dressed Andy up in Khakis and a blue buttoned up shirt. I literally had to dig out dress clothes for Andy, press them, and have them hung and ready for him. If I would have let him decide, he would have worn jeans, a t-shirt, a hat and made it formal by wearing his good watch instead of his cheap velcro one! He only threw a small fit when he seen what I had picked out for him. But after he was all dressed and ready to go…..He was so handsome!

Did I mention the theme for the night was “People’s Choice Awards?” Anyway, when we made our way up to the building they literally had a red carpet for us to walk down. If that wasn’t corny enough, when we got inside we got our picture taken in front of a prom-like background. You know the ones with the cardboard pillars and fabric draped behind us. They snapped a couple pictures of Andy and I and then we went on our merry way. They later told us that they will be developing these pictures and placing them in a fancy silver picture frame for us to keep. I am serious; we were at an employee banquet and didn’t get lost and walk into a high school prom!

When we sent in our RSVP’s we had to specify if we wanted “Steak or Chicken.” So when you hear that, you automatically think grilled steak and grilled chicken. Boy was I wrong! It was grilled steak but I had ordered the chicken. It looked like a large fish stick! They called it Chicken Cordon Bleu. Not exactly the best meal I have ever eaten, but if it were a life and death situation, I would be willing to eat it again. It wasn’t absolutely terrible, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Andy got the steak and he was very pleased with his.

Sorry change of subject, but Footloose just came on the radio! This takes me back to many wedding dances of Holly and I cutting a rug and wheezing like crazy as we did the dance to this song. Good times!

Sorry…back to the theme! In the weeks prior to the banquet we got to nominate and vote for fellow employees for different categories. Such as most humorous, most athletic, Mr & Ms Congeniality, most talented, etc. Congratulations go to Vienna’s community President Quentin Satterfield for winning Mr. Congeniality! He was a shoe-in! Everyone loves this man and I am so glad that he is my boss. You can’t ask for anyone better than him. He literally knows everything and it will be a sad day at FCNB when he retires for good. I hate to even think of that day, because I respect this man so much. Vienna has never been better since he has come to work with us!

All in all, it was a great evening! It was fun to see everyone that I had previously worked with in Steeville and Rolla. I was disappointed that Katie didn't show up! Just kidding girl...but we did miss you!

Hell Yeah!

President Bush on Friday touted the roughly $168 billion in rebates set to begin reaching Americans by Monday as a means of breathing life into a sluggish economy.

"The money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pumps and the grocery store and will also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown," he said during brief remarks at the White House.

Bush said that beginning Monday "more than 7 million Americans will receive their rebates electronically." On May 9, millions more would receive their payments by paper check, he said. Roughly 130 million households are expected to get the rebates.

The economic stimulus package, which offers up to $600 to individual taxpayers and $1,200 to couples, also provides an additional $300 in rebates for each child and for non-taxpaying

families. It was suggested by the White House and Congress approved the measure in January.

RUMMAGE SALE!

Large Multi-Family Rummage Sale:

(Alpaugh, Schwartze, Stratman, Thompson)

Friday (25th)

7am-11am & 3pm-7pm

&

Saturday (26th)

7am-Noon

@

Youth Building at the park in Vienna!

Lots of clothes (men, women, teen & baby), Home Décor, Kitchen Items, Treadmill, Books, DVDs, CDs, and much more!

Got to love free advertisement!

Congratulations Tina!

This is a shout out to my girl Tina...she has just been approved to purchase her first (and hopefully only) house! Finally her rent will be going to a life long investment! Good thing her new house is just across the street from her duplex, so we just have to walk to boxes across the road.

Love you girl.....Congratulations!

Weekend Re-Cap!

Friday Night: To be known as my first emotional breakdown of this pregnancy…and it was a good one! The reasoning = Food! I was starving, and nothing sounded good. I had been hungry all day. I would eat and then 20 minutes later I was hungry all over again. So when Andy got home at around 7pm I was at my wits end. Having not eaten anything since 4 o’clock, my stomach was hurting to the point I think it was eating itself. Andy asked what was for supper, and I told him I didn’t know because we didn’t have anything to eat and I was HUNGRY! This didn’t faze him one bit so I got up and started digging thru the pantry and fridge like a freaking animal. It is not like we didn’t have anything. We have enough meat in the freezer to last us all year long, but nothing was catching my eye! This is the point when the water started flowing. I couldn’t help but cry. Andy (being more irritated than sincere) asked me what I wanted. The first thing that came to my mind was pizza. So he stormed off and put his shoes on and ran to town. He brought back six boxes of frozen pizza. This hit the spot and went down great, even though you could cut the tension with a knife for the rest of the night. It is going to be a long 9 months!

Saturday: I was Miss Productive! I did a lot of house cleaning while watching an entire season of America’s Next Top Model that I had already seen two times, but still miss the last episode to find out who wins! Andy spent the whole day (literally) in Meta at an auction and ended up coming home with a large tractor rake. When he returned we headed to the Eagles for supper. We got there too late for the dessert auction, but it sounded as if everything went really high.

Sunday: It was GORGEOUS! Kelly and I went for a walk and actually broke a sweat! The whole immediate family headed down to Donnie and Shanda’s for a BBQ for Donnie’s birthday (which is actually Tomorrow!) The food was excellent!

Despite Friday evening, it was a great weekend!

Dr. Appt.

All went as scheduled at the doctors appoinment. The baby's heart rate was 158bpm. And I had gained 3 pounds. THREE! Holy Shit! I was thinking maybe 2, but that third pound has completely thrown me over the edge!

I made my next appointment for the 16th of May. They told me the hospital would be calling me to schedule the ultrasound. Which they did this morning. I was told I could get it for the same day since I live out of town. Well according to the lady on the phone (she obviously was not having a good morning!), that was not going to happen because they wanted to make sure I was at least 20 weeks along. Come one....it is 10 days! But she wouldn't budge, so my ultrasound appointment in on May 27th.

Due to the fact that Andy had a hole in his heart when he was born, they will be doing additional test and looking more closely at the baby's heart during the ultrasound. If they can't get a clear view to see if everything is fine, they will then send me on to the University Hospital to some more "high-tech" ultrasound.

All in all, (except for the 3 lbs) everything went good!

Welcome Troy John!

Troy John Wulff was born yesterday at 12:15pm.

8 lbs 12 oz

22 inches long

He is a doll! This picture does not give him justice!

Today's Plans!

Today I am leaving work a little early to go to another doctor's appointment. It should just be a normal check up. I am curious to see what the baby's heart rate is, to see if it has changed any. I am excited that I should get the "go ahead" to make the appointment for my ultrasound next month. I am not excited about seeing my weight. I am predicting that I have gone up a couple of pounds. I can tell you that the expanding belly has been a roller coaster ride. I have gone this whole time without showing (except when after I eat) until last week when I my belly swelled up and failed to go back down. That was until yesterday morning when I woke and my belly had deflated back to its "somewhat normal state." Not to say my pants aren't still tight, I just don't have that 6 month belly I was carrying around for 4 days. This is going to be a fun ride!!!

After my appointment, I am heading to CoMo to see my new God Child. If all goes as Beth wants, then Troy will have not flipped and remain in the breached position. Then the C-Section will go as planned and he will be born sometime after Noon today. How exciting. Andy and I found ourselves last night wonder what John and Beth were doing at that very moment. If they were enjoying their last night together by themselves? I wish them the best of luck, and I know they will be excellent parents!

Weekend Re-Cap!

Friday: At the last minute, I decided to take off of work on Friday to hit up the Wardsville garage sales. It sucks to take a day off of work and get up earlier than if I was going to work. Oh Well! We first hit up a garage sale in Westphalia, which is where I did the best at. They had a lot of baby clothes. I bought mostly yellow and green outfits with the exception of the cute Halloween outfit I bought. All of the other garage sales were mostly picked over since the sales started on Thursday, but we were still able to find things we didn’t need. Here are pics of some of the things I bought!

Saturday: As it fell, this was my scheduled Saturday to work so I had to come in after my day off. That evening I went over to Carrie’s house for an Uppercase Living party. Even though I haven’t even put up anything from my own party, I still bought a couple of things for the baby’s room. I bought one that said, All Because Two People Fell in Love, and the other one said, In Photos, Babies Stay Babies Forever.

Sunday: We attended a first communion celebration. The food was excellent, especially the cake! The plan was to go mushroom hunting after eating, but since the weather was not cooperating we all just stayed inside. After leaving there, Andy and I headed home and manned our positions on each of our couches and took a nap. We woke in time to eat supper, watch Big Brother and then pop in the Alvin and the Chipmunks DVD.

Temporary Absent!

Alright...I haven't completely abandoned my blog. I just haven't had the opportunity to write anything. I swear, I will be back!

I'm Going to be a God Parent!

As the current plans go, Troy John is scheduled to be delivered 4/15/2008 via c-section. John David and Beth are really excited that their son will finally be born! C-Sections are so routine now, that they have no fears and glad that it has come to this as opposed to a long delivery. The hard part they are trying to deal with is calming down my aunt Sharon and reassuring her that everything will be fine! Got to love a worry-wart!

They came over to the house last night for a couple of hours to catch up on things. At which they asked me to be Troy's Godmother! That completely took me by surprise! But at which I graciously accepted! I am super excited and can't wait to see if he has as much hair as John David did when he was born!

Embarrassing Moment!

Ok yesterday I headed down to Margie’s Café to get my daily ½ order of Biscuits and Gravy! YUMMY! B&G a day…Keeps the morning sickness away!

When I walked up into the restaurant, it was about half full of customers. I noticed my Bro-in-law Kevin was in there eating breakfast. So I proceeded to harass him about not being at work (even though he was eating with his boss!) As I turned back around to the counter to pay for my to-go order, I got a glimpse of a bunch of men sitting at a booth looking at me. At which one of them proceeded to ask if I was the “Billboard Girl!” I replied back, “Yah, that’s me!”

(If you are lost at this point, my place of employment has purchased a huge billboard along HWY 63, with a big-ass picture of myself on it! Believe me…this was not my decision!)

Anyway, all of the men started a round of applause and hollering about me being famous and a celebrity, in front of everyone in the restaurant! I was so embarrassed and humiliated! I could feel my face getting bright red.

After hurrying to pay for my order, I was getting ready to leave when I heard Kevin holler across the restaurant, “See ya Billboard Girl!”

Thanks Kevin!

Attention Maries County Voters!

VOTE

DAVE GARRO

FOR

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER!

Pregnant Man...My A**!

I cannot resist talking about this story. It disturbs me to no end! It has been broadcast all over the news as well as on the Oprah show.

“World’s First Pregnant Man!”

At first this story really sucked me in, because it was just a few weeks ago on T.V. that I saw a woman that was pregnant with twins. And one of the twins actually grew outside the uterus. And the big discussion on there was if a woman can carry a healthy child in that manner, then why can’t a man carry a child? So when I had seen these previews for the Oprah show my first reaction was, “Damn, they really did it! A man can now bear the burden of pregnancy!” Obviously not the delivery part considering where the baby would have to come out of!!!! HeHe! There is an image for you!

So I was extremely interested in this story. I had set to record it on my DVR a few days prior. So when I got home on Thursday I made my bowl of cereal and grabbed a stick of string cheese and got comfortable on the couch, to watch this anticipated story.

My first reaction……….He’s a woman! He’s not even truly a man! He was born a woman, meaning he has an inny, not an outy! He is a transsexual, but made the decision not to remove his female anatomy. So what is the big deal about this story? Just because a woman can take testosterone pills and have her breast removed, does not make her a man!

Speaking of testosterone….do you know all the effects of taking them? Yah you grow facial, chest, and arm pit hair and develop a deeper voice. But did you know you actually develop a small wiener? I crap you not! This he/she was actually able to have intercourse with his wife! I have never heard such a thing! Pretty disturbing!

My main point of this story is HE IS A SHE and will always be a she no matter how much testosterone he/she takes! I am disappointed in Oprah for leading us on thinking we have hit some scientific milestone.

Closing Remarks: EWWWWW!

Mistaken Identity!

Nearly two years ago a tragic vehicle accident occurred that killed 5 people instantly. The Cerek family got the dreaded phone call that their daughter Whitney was killed on impact, while the Van Ryn family got the call that their daughter Laura was still alive but in critical condition. It wasn't until 5 weeks after the accident that the Van Ryn's began to question if the girl in the hospital bed was indeed their daughter. After receiving dental records, it was proved that the girl that the Cerek's had buried 5 weeks earlier was not their daughter Whitney, it was Laura Van Ryn who was thought to be recovering in a local hospital. Whitney Cerek was the girl alive! What great news for the Cerek's, but how devastating for the Van Ryn's who never left the girl who they thought was their daughter's side in the hospital and that their real daughter had already been buried by another family.

Some of you may have already heard about this story, but just now the families are coming out to speak about what had happened. I am completely intrigued by this story. Both families were on the Oprah show yesterday telling their story. I was a sobbing mess throughout the whole episode. Both families have joined together and wrote a book about what had happened. The book is called Mistaken Identity. This will defiantly be my next purchase.

If you would like to read about the story, here is a link to the story on Oprah's website!

April Fools!

We pulled a pretty good prank on Jill here at work yesterday. Without Jill’s knowledge, we had ordered flowers to be delivered to her. The funny part….we put that they were from a not so attractive person of the community. We watched as Angie (Flower Basket owner) delivered them into Jill’s office as she was on the phone. Jill proceeded to open the card, and her jaw dropped to her desk. It was hilarious!!! She came out of her office (flowers in one hand, card in the other) holding them as if they were covered in poop! She was completely speechless! She made it as far as to the desk in the lobby that is right outside of her office and said it was worth the walk for all of us to come to her and read who the card was from. One by one, we read the card (as if we didn’t already know what it said) and reacted in the same manner as she did! Finally after a few minutes of leading her on, we hollered “APRIL FOOLS!” She responded by saying, “THANK YOU!” She was just so glad that it was a prank and not real!

My fear: Pay backs are Hell!

Long Weekend Re-Cap!

Friday Night: We went for supper out at the Eagle’s. After filling ourselves full, we went over to Kevin and Kelly’s to watch the movie I am Legend. Before we started the movie, Andy and I had to play a round of ping-pong as Kevin and Kelly were putting Aubrey to bed for the evening. I really like ping-pong because it doesn’t require a lot of skill. You just have to be somewhat quick and attempt to hit the ball in a difficult spot for your opponent. Most of my hits are in self defense, so you never know where the ball is going to go. The movie was pretty good. I didn’t care for the ending, but considering the topic I guess they did a pretty good job.

Saturday: Andy and I made our way to Kansas City. The trip actually went pretty fast until we made it into Kansas City and got stuck in road construction for about a half an hour. I always meet my dad at a particular Burger King, well to our surprise the Burger King was no longer there….but they still had the parking lot. So when we pulled up, there sat Dad and Denise along with my grandparents! I didn’t know they were going to be there also, so that was an extra surprise.

We then headed to the Ameristar Casino…which was awesome! I had never been in a casino like that. You walk in the doors and it looks like you just walked outside. It was like walking in a downtown area. There were buildings/stores and restaurants on each side of the street you were walking on. But you were inside! They had the ceiling all painted to look like clouds. It was really neat. We ate at the buffet, which was an experience in itself. They had everything you could think of. I ate country fried steak, crab rangoon, pancakes, potato casserole, chocolate cake and ice cream! (This could explain my weight gain this week)

After we ate, it was time for me to present my dad with his present. I tried to throw him off by saying it was an early birthday present. After looking at the frame and he looked up at me and asked if there was something I need to say. At which I told them all we were having a baby. They were all really excited, but proceeded to tell us they had already suspected that we were expecting. WHAT? They are in a completely different state! How could they have suspected? We floored our other families with the news. Either way, they were really excited about becoming Grandparents!

Afterwards as a way to spend more time together, we went shopping. Where you ask….Bass Pro! I have to admit I had a pretty good time looking around. After looking around for an hour or so, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. We got back to Columbia around 6pm, too early to eat after our huge buffet lunch. So we went shopping again! Where you ask….Bass Pro! Is anyone else getting Déjà vu? That’s right we hit up two Bass Pro’s in one day and was tempted enough to head all the way south to Springfield to make it three. Here is where we actually did some shopping. Here are a couple things we bought: A plush deer and a camo pacifier!

Finally we made our way to HuHots! Damn this place is awesome! It is so full every time we go there. It’s obviously a huge hit in Columbia. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love their food. It is just something you have to try. I was highly impressed with Andy; he ate his whole meal with chop sticks! I attempted to use them, but I came to the point where I was stabbing at the meat trying to pick it up. Obviously not the correct technique!

All in all we had a great day! (Damn, I wrote a lot!)

Schwartze Slab 3/31/2008

Will the rain ever end? I am thinking not! This is a video slip taken last night just below our house. This actually is/was Donnie and Shanda's drive-way.