Life Unexpected

I have been a bad blogger and I admit it. I have lots of adventures to blog about but life has been crazy and scary lately. I plan to have stories about my MLB All Star Experience (I met Ryan Franklin's dad), a trip with the fam to Graceland, and several more trips to STL for Cards games. However, life has taken an unexpected turn over the last month and a half.

For those of you not in the know, my mother has become seriously ill over the last month and a half. After ruling out cancer she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Wegener's granulomatosis. It is a vascular disease that causes blood vessels to swell and limits blood flow to organs. She was admitted to the hospital almost a month ago to start treatment but has had some complications. Three weeks ago they found a blockage in her bowel that required surgery. The surgeon had to remove 18 inches of her bowel that had died due to lack of blood flow from the Wegener's. In addition, the bowel had perforated, spilling all the gunk out into her stomach cavity, which is bad. Coming out of surgery the surgeon told us he wasn't sure if she was going to make it. She was on a ventillator for the night and in ICU for 4 days but came out fighting. She remained in the hospital to recover from the surgery but it was soon found that there was still a leak in the bowel. Unfortunately she was not healing fast enough because the treatment for her Wegener's is detrimental to her bowel issue and the treatment for her bowel issue was detrimental for her Wegener's. We have been fighting an ongoing battle and found out last Wednesday that the new leak would require surgery but she was not strong enough to survive surgery at this time.

Fast forward to Thursday...mom was moved back to ICU. They found that she was septic, meaning she had widespread infection throughout her, which is very dangerous. If they did not do surgery, she would not survive. So surgery was necessary. However, they still did not think she could survive surgery. It was one of the hardest days I have ever had. Fortunately she surprised everyone and pulled through the surgery, which is pretty much a miracle considering how bad off she was. However she is still not out of the woods yet. Right now I am blogging from the ICU waiting room at Decatur Memorial. She is still in critical but stable condition as of right now. She is on a ventillator and is still sedated so that she will rest and use every ounce of her strenght to fight off the infection in her body. The doctors are saying that the next couple days are critical in showing whether or not her body is strong enough to survive.

Thank you to all of you who have sent their prayers and good thoughts through this difficult time. It has meant a lot. It has been quite a shock to see my mom, who is only 53 years old has never had more than a cold, fighting for her life on a daily basis. Just keep those good thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks. She still has a long road to recovery and needs all that she can get. Unfortunately all we can do is wait and see what happens.

That Was Verrrry Sneaky

For whatever reason I vividly remember Michelle, aka Mary Kate/Ashley Olsen when they were on Full House saying that exact line to somebody else on the show. I blame my sister for all those years watching "The Michelle Show" as she liked to call it over and over and over. But it was very fitting today. On Monday my mom and dad had taken the day off work to recover from our weekend in Cincy (which by the way ended with a return trip to the Beef House Sunday night for supper....perfectly timed to have steak for dinner as opposed to the lunch special I had eaten there on Friday...not that I didn't enjoy the lunch special, but it wasn't ribeye). So imagine my surprise when my mom called me Monday at 4:15 to tell me that her and dad were in Champaign shopping and wanted me to meet them. So I met them and we headed to the mall where I found some good sales and we picked up the first half of my birthday present....my plain Cardinals jersey, which they have since taken to have Ryan Franklin's name and number on the back so I can have it for Fan Fest on Monday. I can't wait to see the finished product! Anyways, so we shopped and grabbed supper and then they headed for home.

Today I discovered that shopping was not the only thing they were up to. While I was sitting at my desk this morning I got a special delivery....a big bouquet of flowers and balloons from the Blossom Basket. I was like "Who would have sent me flowers from Blossom Basket?" Then I opened the card and found my mom's handwriting. They went and ordered them while they were in town on Monday. I was not expecting them at all but they are very pretty. They got compliments all day. I know that it had my favorite, orange gerber daisies, white carnations, yellow roses and purplish pink snapdragons. The rest of the flowers were a mystery but if anyone knows what they blue flowers or the greenery that looks like a pineapple top are, please comment and let me know. Especially the pineapple top looking greenery. My office mate Mary really liked those. Mom wanted to see pictures since she trusted the creation of the bouguet to the florist, so here you go mom....








Thank you Mom, Dad, Matt and Angie! Although I still have 1 more day before I am officially "old" I love the flowers and balloons

Hey Now You're an All Star!

Congratulations to this year's Cardinals All Stars....Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and (squeal)RYAN FRANKLIN!!!!!

Ok, so I am a little excited. The All Star announcements were made today while the game was going on. My brother was texting me updates to let me know what Cards made it and more specifically if Frankie was selected.

The Albert text came in first and really, who was surprised by that one? If you were surprised then you have a serious problem. Here's a few shots of the starting 1st baseman for the NL All Star team (including one of something we are sure to see a lot more of as the year continues...being intentionally walked)...






And now for our first time All Stars...first Yadier Molina. What took so long for him to make the All Star team? He is a prime example of why I believe the All Star team should be selected by the managers, not the fans. We need the best people out there and there is nobody better behind the plate than Yadi. You're not going to steal on Yadi. And if you're going to lead off first you better be on your toes cuz he'll come for you too. One of my favorite things to watch is Yadi picking people off first. I love it! He is just so good at it. Yadi has been deserving of this honor for some time and I am so happy for him and excited that his first All Star experience is going to be in front of the home fans and he will be starting. Here's some Yadi shots from today...








And last but certainly not least...my boy...Ryan Franklin. So before the game Frankie was heading in from BP and I got his attention. I got the typical "Hey it's the fan squad" wave. I told him good luck and that we were keeping our fingers crossed for him. He said he was too, which I thought was cute. A bit later he came out for an interview with Jim Hayes from FSN Midwest. I wished I could hear what they were saying in the interview. It was pretty funny, both before and after the interview Jim was pushing him around and stuff and obviously giving him a hard time and Frankie was giving it right back. It was cute. When my brother texted me that Frankie made the team I started bouncing around in my seat. I was so excited for him. After the game was over he was heading in from the bullpen. Mom and her big mouth got his attention and I yelled Congratulations to him. We got a big grin and a wave. I can't wait to see him in the All Star game. Now I just have to figure out how to get my Franklin jersey made before Monday when I go down for Fan Fest. Here's a few shots of Frankie from today (and a little Marty (aka Perry according to my sister) Mason thrown in just because)...





Congrats again to all the Cards All Stars and also to Tony, who will be one of the NL managers. Can't wait for July 14!

It's a Baseball Game People, not the Beach!

Ok, I have now seen this occur in both Cincinnati and Kansas City and I need to comment. I have a new baseball game pet peeve. It far surpasses my dislike of the Wave. Beach balls.

So when I go to a baseball game, I am there to watch a baseball game, not jack around and play games in the stands. Now, there are times when I am ok with people doing the Wave, such as when your team is winning by like 10 runs or something. That doesn't mean I'm going to participate, but it does not bother me as much. However, if you do the Wave in a close game in the late innings I'm going to give you the evil eye.

Beach balls on the other hand...not acceptable at any time for numerous reasons. \

First of all, every time I have seen people batting beach balls around in the stands it has been in the lower level and down the sidelines. Hello people...just an FYI...the people on the field have bats and they are hitting a very hard ball at very high veolocities and sometimes that ball goes into the stands. You might want to pay attention to the ball that can crack your head open as opposed to the one full of air.

Second of all, why are you even coming to a baseball game and occupying these amazing seats if you aren't going to pay any attention anyways. This really bothers me. I would give anything to be able to sit in these seats up close to the action so that I can really see what is going on. And these people can't be bothered to pay attention because they are too busy playing. Plus in their excitement to bat the balls around they are jumping around and blocking the view of the true baseball fans like myself who are there to watch a game.

Third, and most importantly....eventually some idiot hits the ball onto the field. Then they have to stop play of the game to retrieve it. What if a beach ball is hit onto the field at a key moment? For example the right fielder is trying to concentrate on catching a fly ball and suddenly their view is obstructed by a flying beach ball. The ball drops. What happens now?

So yeah, not a fan of the beach balls in the stands. And the usher in me wanted to go take the balls away every time. But here is the kicker....I have seen not 1 single usher make a move to take the beach balls away. They let it continue until the ball lands on the field. Twice I saw an usher keep the ball from going on to the field and then THROW IT BACK TO THE IDIOTS WHO NEARLY HIT IT ON THE FIELD IN THE FIRST PLACE! Hello! This just kills me. The only time I ever saw them taken away and not given back was when they ended up on the field. However in my opinion it should never get to that point because by then the game has been interrupted. Ridiculous. If you're not going to watch the game then just don't bother coming. Who is with me?

The Birds Bring their Bats

Last day in Cincy and what a good day it was. First, we had amazing seats...8 rows behind the Cards dugout, right above the dugout entrance that the player use when they go up to bat. Not too shabby. Second, Carp bounced back from his less than stellar performance on Tuesday and threw a much more Carp-like game. I'll be honest...I was hoping that he would be so upset over his last start that he would come out firing and do something crazy like throw a no-hitter. That would have been awesome. Unfortunately he did not throw THAT well, but a good game nonetheless. He was rarely in trouble and didn't give up a run until the 7th inning. It is so cool watching Carp pitch up close like that. Just seeing one pitch to the next...curve, change up, fastball....it's no wonder he is so good. I just love Carp.

What's ironic is that Carp really didn't need to pitch a fantastic game today cause the Redbirds decided to go on a bit of a hitting spree today. Colby hit another home run today in the first inning, this time a 2 run shot. Bronson Arroyo just was not a having a good day for the Reds today. The Cards finished up with 15 hits and 10 runs. Carp even helped himself today with an RBI single. And Yadi showed why he is an All Star (more on that later) by nailing a runner trying to steal 2nd. Brandon Phillips...you can't steal on Yadi.

Another great thing about being up close is getting to really see the players. I got the close up shots of several of the starting pitchers and the 'stache's they are all sporting (except Brad Thompson...not sure if he is not attempting to grow it or if he is unable to grow it since he is like 12). We also got a close up shot of Ryan Ludwick's shiner he was sporting today. We were trying to figure out who accidentally hit him with a ball when my brother sent me a text with the answer to the mystery as provided to him courtesy of the FSN coverage. Apparently Ryan had a little run in with his luggage in the middle of the night....his luggage won. Here's some shots of our last day in Cincy and a 10-1 Cards victory. Oh, and a picture of my mom on the bridge that we had to walk across everday to the game and back. Seeing as how my mom is not a fan of heights or bridges this was big feat.









The Starters and their 'Staches (or lack of *cough*Brad*cough*)






Lud's Shiner

A Soggy Star Spangled Day

Ok, first I have comment...As I write this I am in our hotel room watching the Boston Pops Fireworks Special on CBS. Is is just me or is it a little odd that the host is Craig Ferguson? Last time I checked he was very much Scottish. Anyways...

I'm able to blog now that I have dried out from the day. Unfortunately it was not a great day for baseball or fireworks but we made it. We slept in this morning before getting ready and heading over to the stadium. Luckily it was not raining on the way to the stadium so we were able to take a few pictures outside the stadium by the Rose Garden in honor of Pete Rose. Then we headed inside and picked up our Jay Bruce bobblehead dolls. If I was going to get a bobblehead of a Reds player he is the one that I would want to get so it worked out well. From there we headed in to our club seats for the day. The greatest part of these seats was that an all inclusive buffet was part of your ticket. I think we tried a little bit of everything with the exception of the Chinese food station. They had excellent nachos and mom and dad were big fans of the pulled pork. We pretty much stuffed ourselves. It was a great time. Then the rain started.

It wasn't too bad at first, just a very slight sprinkle, but enough for them to keep the tarp on the field until right before game time. We headed out to our seats which were about 4 rows away from being underneath the overhang. So close. Instead we sat through 7 innings in a continuous annoying drizzle. Luckily I had thrown in a couple of my Cards pullovers. If I hadn't it would have been miserable. Finally after the seventh inning some of the Reds fans started taking off so we were able to move up under cover. Unfortunately the game did not go the Cards way today. It started off promising when Colby ripped one over the right field fence in the first inning. But the Cards just did not have a great day on the field. We even saw a rare error by Yadier when he overthrew 3rd trying to pick off a runner. And he was not happy. That anger was taken out on his helmet and the dugout bench at the end of the inning. And it was taken out hard enough for me to hear it in my second level seats down the first base line. Like I said...he wasn't happy. So the Cards went down today 5-2. Hopefully Carp can help us win the series tomorrow.

After the game we had to make the hike back across the bridge to our hotel in the rain. Just an FYI....rain plus slick bridge walkway plus wet, slippery flip flops equals not a fun walk home. We hung out in the room for a bit to dry out and mom and dad crashed. We went for a drive around Cincinnati when they woke up and got to see Fountain Square, aka the WKRP in Cincinnati fountain. No pictures due to the rain, but it was cool. I also got to see the new Fountain Square area that was a huge construction mess the last time I was in Cincy 3 years ago. It was very cool and looked like a fun place to hang out. We got back to the hotel in time to head down to the waterfront behind our hotel and luckily the rain lightened up to a very slight sprinkle for the display. It was good, but not quite as good as last night. And we had to watch the fireworks with Hawkeyes. An uninformed Hawkeyes as that. He was so dumb that I didn't even attempt to argue with him. According to him, we used to be rivals until we got bad. I'm not sure when going to the NCAA tournament almost every year (and Final Four just 5 years ago) was the same as "getting bad". Stupid Hawkeye fans. We did enjoy watching the ducks on the river try to figure out what in the world was going on during the fireworks. They were about 25 ducks hightailing it down river trying to get away while turning back and staring. It was cute.

Other random funnies from the day....

-Dusty Baker gets the award for biggest "Duh" statement ever. I was reading about last night's game about which Dusty stated that the thing that killed them was walking the man in front of Albert to load the bases in the 8th. Thanks for pointing that out Dusty. I'm not sure how people would have figured that out without you.
-So my dad...if you know him you know that he will talk to anybody. He has never met a stranger. And it seems that he has found a new friend to talk to in our hotel....Her name is Emmy and she lives in the hotel lobby. And she is a bird. A macaw to be exact. If you talk to her she says "Hello" to you. We've stopped in the lobby a few times and every time dad has gone to talk to her. It amuses me and my mom.
-We saw a great license plate today. It was a specialty plate from Kentucky that says "I Care About Kids" across the bottom. Or at least we think that is what it was supposed to say. So you're asking "What's so great about this Nikki?" The great part is that the license plate cover on the car had a rather large hole in which to put the screw in the plate. The screw and cover completely covered the C in care. So instead the Kentucky license plate said "I are about kids." Classic. Some stuff you just can't make up.

Here's a couple pics from the day. I didn't take any at the game due to the lovely rain. Here's some shots by the Rose Garden and of the Champions Club.

Fireworks in Cincy

It was a good night last night. Great game, great fireworks. We had seats in the front row of the bleachers in left field, which in Cincy is the second level but still great seats. The excitedment started during BP when Pujols and Ludwick (or Studwick as I like to call him) played a little game of anything you can do I can do better. They were hitting home runs back and forth like it was nothing. We thought Pujols finally claimed the crown when he hit a home run to center field that bounced off the screen just below the "steamboat deck" in center field. Nobody could believe the distance on that one....until Ludwick came up and hit one on top of the deck. It was a shot! Yeah, Lud won that round.

It didn't look like things were going to go that great for the Cards in the beginning. When a run scores on an error in the first inning that is not usually a sign of good things to come. Especially when your team can't get the bats going. Homer Bailey threw an awesome game for Cincy. And Jerry Hairston Jr made and amazing catch at 3rd to rob Pujols of a base hit after nearly breaking his knee trying to make a sliding catch in foul territory in front of the dugout. Finally Bailey ran out of steam and we got our chance. Single by Rasmus, single by Brendan Ryan and a walk to Jarrett Hoffpauir with Pujols on deck. Big mistake. I had the pleasure of watching yet another Pujols grand slam, the 3rd one of his I have seen in person this season. And a record breaking one at that, breaking Stan Musial's Cards record for career home runs (10) and the single season record for grand slams in one season (4, of which I have seen 3 of them). It was also his 350th career home run. It was just a year ago that I saw his 300th career home run in STL on the 4th of July (and it would have landed in our laps if it was not for the net on the side of the foul pole...so close). Albert is just amazing.

Unfortunately the Reds came back and tied the game 4-4 the next inning. But the Cards rallied again. Top of the 9th we loaded the bases with 2 outs and Jarrett Hoffpauir, the rookie playing in his first game came to bat. Cutest thing ever....while the pitcher and catcher had a chat before he came to bat, Pujols, who was on deck, pulled Jarrett to the side and had a talk with him to calm him down. I don't what Albert said, but apparently it worked. Hoffpauir got his first major league hit and RBI by ripping a 2 run single. Cards up 6-4. Pujols followed it up with a double to make it 7-4.

Bottom of the 9th brought my boy Frankie to the mound. And apparently he decided to channel Jason Isringhausen for the night. It all came down to bases loaded with 2 outs and their power hitter Brandon Phillips at the plate. But Frankie came through, getting his 20th save of the season. Thank goodness.

So that was the game itself, but there is lots to tell from the game. I was sitting next to the cutest little Reds fan. He was probably about 9 or 10 years old and he came with his pencil and his own homemade scorecard. And he was doing it all. Keeping pitch counts for Bailey, keeping track of the everyone's stats for the night. He was even able to spot Cardinals on the other side of the field and name every one of them. He was doing that because he was keeping a running list of all the opposing team players that he saw. I had several conversations with him. He was very delightful.

Dad also made friends with the Reds fans behind him. They were very nice and gave us some great restaurant recommendations. They were also very amusing. When dad said I was the one who really knew baseball one of the guys started quizzing me on the Reds retired numbers. I didn't do so hot with them. Quiz me on Cards trivia and I'm good. I did manage to get Johnny Bench though...I did know them. I also knew Joe Morgan but I couldn't think of his name at the time, just see his face. And Barry Larkin I knew as soon as he said it. But then he had to go and call him the greatest shortstop of all time. I quickly put the kibosh on that one saying I was going to have to disagree. His buddy started cracking up and said "I was waiting for that one!" Do not knock my Ozzie. What was great was that they were talking about how great their bullpen was, then their bullpen gave up 7 runs in the
8th and 9th. They were like "We jinxed them!"

Ok, now for my one complaint of the game. I had to go to the restroom from the beginning of the 8th inning but didn't want to leave since we were making our comeback. Finally in the top of the 9th I thought I could make my break for it during a pitching change. I darted outside to find....they locked all the bathrooms in the bleachers due to the fireworks display! I was dying for the rest of the game. Close exciting game and I had to pee like you wouldn't believe. Not a good combo.

After the game we had to leave the bleachers for the fireworks display so we grabbed some seats down the 3rd base line and settled in. They were great. They also had te parachute team from the 101st Airborn Division land on the field. Overall it was a good night. Here are some pics...











Another game today...we're sitting in the club today with full buffet. Yum. Gotta go get ready for the game! Have a happy 4th!

Visiting Royal-ty (or something like that) Day 2

On Sunday June 21 Angie and Nick took off in my car and headed to Lawrence to check out that Kansas campus since Nick is a huge Kansas fan. While they did that mom, dad and I headed back to the K for another big Cardinals Father's Day victory. We saw the Cards score 8 runs in one inning, 4 on a Pujols grand slam, the second Pujols grand slam I have seen in person this season. He followed it up later with a 2 run shot. The Cards basically ran away with the game and won 12-5. Also on Sunday I saw Frankie at the game. He was hanging out in the bullpen during BP so I went over and waved. He saw me and I got the usual point and nod acknowlegement and a wave. He came out a bit later for warm ups and was being a bit of a show off which was crackig me up. He was playing catch with Jason Motte and did his behind the back catch right in front of me. He then challenged Motte to a throwing for distance contest....Frankie won by a long shot. Here's a few shots from the K...the fountains, Frankie, the biggest scoreboard in the US (until the new Cowboys stadium opens) and the Teenie Weenie race (these kids were too cute...video to come)

Game Time at the College Basketball Experience

What an entrance....


Just got to Cincy...will continue updating the blog later...

Kansas City Here I Come

The weekend of June 19-21 found me headed to Kansas City, home of the Royals. Another stadium I have not been to yet, another to mark off my list of on my quest to see all the MLB stadiums. I picked a good year to head to Kaufman Stadium, aka, The K, as they just renovated it and had a grand reopening this year with their brank new outfield pavilion area.

On Friday me, mom, dad, Angie and her boyfriend Nick piled into my car and headed out. We drove through a nasty rainstorm on our way to Columbia, MO that night but no hail thank goodness...I would not have been happy. Not on my new car! WE stayed in Columbia friday night and saw a little bit of the Mizzou campustown area when we went out for supper. We went to a restaurant/brew pub called Flatbranch. They brewed their own beer (which did not interest me...not a beer girl) as well as their own root beer. The root beer was some of the best root beer I have ever had. The food was great too. Nick was a little wary of what might happen to his food since he was wearing a Kansas Jayhawks shirt in a Mizzou restaurant, but he braved it. Kudos to the guy at the front desk of the Drury Inn on the great restaurant recommendation.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to downtown Kansas City for the College Basketball Experience and Hall of Fame. We had a good time there even though it was more interactive games than actual Hall of Fame/Museum. We had a good time trying to beat clock to make the game winning shot (I wasn't so hot at that one), participating in a 3 point contest (again...not so hot...no upper body strenght=crappy results in the 3 point contest). My fave activity...trying to shoot free throws while assorted college student fan sections attempted to distract you on the giant screen set up behind the basket. We were loving that. Nick was very excited when he had to shoot against the Mizzou cheering section. I got to shoot against the Orange Krush at one point. Apparently I know all their tricks cuz they couldn't distract me. Ice in my veins:)

There were some great exhibits and the Illini were well represented. By far the coolest part of the whole thing was the entrance. It is supposed to be like a tunnel into the stadium. I'll put some video up in a separate post...it is taking forever to save to my computer right now.

The Mentor's Circle at the Hall of Fame...how sad it is that I was the only one who recognized it was supposed to be a net with a ball coming through it?





Saturday afternoon was spent at The K...for a 90 minute rain delay. At least they played though. I was worried. The K is a pretty nice stadium. It looks very small but the field itself is actually larger. Pujols and Ludwick hit a couple to center field that would have been out in STL but were just a long out at the K. One thing we learned...Milwaukee has the Sausage Races and KC has the Hot Dog Derby. They also have the kid version...the Teenie Weenie Derby, which we witnessed on Sunday (video to come). Frankie came in to close in the 8th but wasn't really needed after we scored a bunch in te 9th to pull way ahead. Here's a few shots from Saturday at the K

A Weekend in Nashville Part 3: Country Music Hall of Fame

We finished up at the Country Music Hall of Fame. This wasn't open yet the last time I was in Nashville.

Mom and her boy, Elvis



...and his car.


My all time fave country group....




A lot of my pics from here didn't turn out so great since it was so dark and flash was a no-no. But I recommend the trip for any country music fan visiting Nashville. We didn't get out of there til 5:30...and we still had to drive home and go to work the next morning. That was a long Monday!

A Weekend in Nashville Part 2: The Ryman

Since we were in Nashville we spent the day Sunday immersing ourselves in country music. We walked around downtown and toured the Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall of Fame...

Ryman Auditorium...How many legends have stood here? Crazy...