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Thursday, April 26, 2007

Planting a tree for my Grandma's 99th...

Grandma Reba V. Davison with us kids Christmas 1968...(i'm the one on the right sporting the very good looking Mia Farrow cut...the Jennifer Aniston hairstyle of the 60's.) This picture was taken the year my stepgrandpa died and my grandma didn't want to spend the first Christmas alone.

Today would have been my grandma Reba's 99th birthday...and i'm ashamed to tell you that while she was alive i could never remember what day her birthday was on, just that it was in April...so i would always send her a birthday card in April.

My daughter in a beautiful garden...it's not my garden...

The other picture is my daughter in my neighbors garden...a picture that appears in one of my posts from last year...in that particular post i extol the virtues of a summer garden while talking about how my garden sucks...then i lead you to believe that picture is from my garden...it's not.
My garden does suck...and i was too embarassed to take a picture of it...so i used my 81 year old neighbors garden...see that pretty tree in the picture? My neighbor planted that tree the year her sister died...it was her way of keeping her sisters memory alive...see those really nice bushes in the back, same thing...in a weird sort of way it's almost like looking at headstones...really beautiful headstones that bloom in the spring...certainly NOT like my yard...(although the creeping charley has a nice little bloom in the early spring...sadly though it's the only green thing in the yard.)
My grandma was buried last November in Iowa so visiting her grave today wasn't an option...and my grandma wouldn't have liked that anyway...she always said "i don't want flowers when i'm dead."
Which is why i planted a cherry tree in honor of my grandmother today...it's not much of a tree at the moment...it's more like a two foot twig...but i ordered it a month ago from Publishers Clearing House where right this very moment, i could be a winner...and sure, you don't have to buy anything to qualify to win...but hey, there is that 4 easy payments of 3.99 thing...well, anyway, what i'm saying is, i'm missing my grandmother today and wishing she could have made it to 99...and pissed at myself for never remembering her birthday--until she died.
So today, in honor of my grandmothers 99th birthday...i planted a two foot twig that i hope someday will grow into a beautiful Washington DC type cherry tree...i just hope i don't accidently kill it before i make my fourth payment.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

So i took my son in for his first drug testing...

This boy is drug free and will soon be cleaning up after you!

And how weird is that?

My son just got hired for his first job...busboy...and your going to be very happy to know that YOUR table is being bussed by a drug free busboy!

Strange isn't it...there is drug testing for EVERYTHING now...i mean, i've been drug tested...FOR THIS JOB! When i first started in radio, NO ONE was drug tested...your bosses just assumed you WERE on drugs when you took the job.

I mean, had there been drug testing in the 70's there would be no IMUS...ok, maybe that would have been a good thing.

But here it is Saturday morning, and my 16 year old son is having all sorts of anxiety thinking about someone standing outside his stall when he...well, you know, fills the cup...

While sitting at the drug testing place, I assured him everyone has this type of performance anxiety, and then promptly shuffled through the People magazines the office had...ahh, here's one of Angelina Jolie with a brand new kid...i wonder if she'll ever have to drive her kids to get drug tested...most likely if she stays in Hollywood...i saw the Real Life Wives of Orange County on Bravo...i'm not sure ANY of those kids could pass...

All for the joy of bussing your plates and silverwear at his first job...i assured him that peeing in a cup with someone standing outside his stall is going to be the easiest part of his new job.

The hardest part will be after he opens up his first paycheck and asks me "what's fica, and why did they take my money?"



Personal note to Amy Taylor: I just want to salute you for a job well done and thank you for your warm smile and the kindness you have always showed to me...you are going to be missed kid and on that note, i want to ask you to continue your blog on KTI...please, don't be a stranger and lose touch...i think i speak your fans who would love it if you occasional check in and keep us updated on everything that is going on with you and the triplets;

Plus, 13 years from now i want to read how much fun you had when you drove the triplets to their first drug screening!

Monday, April 23, 2007

In praise of nothing special...


I remember the night we took this picture...it was sometime in late fall of 2004 and i picked up some KFC for supper...and just for the heck of it, i pulled out the camera and snapped some shots of everybody.

My stepson Mark, (he's the cute kid sitting next to my daughter whose sticking her tongue out) asked me "why are you taking pictures, nothing special is going on" to which i replied "exactly, that's why i'm taking pictures." I mean, there wasn't any particular reason to be taking pictures except maybe that disposable camera had been sitting on top of the tv for half a year and i was curious to see what i had taken pictures of so i was gonna finish up the film and take it in to Walgreens...

But when i flash forward to the year 2007 and look back at these pictures...they suddenly take on a new meaning to me...there's my incredibly handsome 17 year old stepson sitting in the front room with his brother and stepsister enjoying original recipe chicken and mashed potatoes...nothing special...he's probably thinking about how he's going to convince his dad and me to let him go out with his friends for a couple of hours, we're gonna tell him we really don't think it's wise on a school night and he's always gone and why doesn't he just stay put tonight and hang with the family...then he's going to complain we're too strict and that he stayed home a couple of nights ago and maybe he'll stay home tomorrow and c'mon, it's just for a couple of hours he'll be home by ten.

He's in Iraq now....it's about 9 hours later then here which means he's probably just waking up now and getting ready to do God knows what...his dad, mom, and me watch a lot of CNN and FOX especially when the headlines "new blood bath in Bahgdad" scroll across the screen...before he left in February he told us he was going to be guarding a water tank and it turned out to be a lie...he's the guy in back of the machine gun on top of a hummer guarding a convoy...when he calls it's at odd hours--late at night for us OR early morning...he's already had two close calls...one, where the missle hit a car up ahead of his convoy and blew it and it's occupants to bits...he had to help clean it up, and one where he got scrapnel on his feet and didn't notice his foot was covered in blood til later...he has had children run up to his humvee and plead for food and watch as their mothers rush out and beat their kids for approaching an American...(he's not allowed to feed them anyway as the children are being trained to throw grenades at them making it too dangerous to help)...

So this picture is just a snapshot of a "nothing special" night in late fall of 2004...a another boring night where nothing special was going on...and i'm glad i got a picture of it.

So how'd i do dancing...i placed sixth!



And that would have been ok if there had been something like 7 people in the competition...

It's like i got beat by Sanjaya--and i didn't even know he was in the contest!!

AAAAAAAAARRRRRAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!

I was stunned to find out right before the dance contest that my professional dancer, Mark Webster, had volunteered us to go first...at first i was terrified and figured it was karma payback for some evil thing i did in a previous life but once we got out on the dance floor i just smiled and let Mark do all the dancing...me, i flirted with the judges and peeled of my gloves and basically tried to keep from falling out of my shoes and on to my butt...but after it was over i was like well, that was fun...and then i could relax and enjoy the other dancers...every single one of them my new best friend---even the Klements Sausage guy who i figured was the one guy i had a chance at beating...oh yeah, as i was watching him moving around like a robot during "Singing in the Rain"...i'm thinking "yep, i have fifth place all wrapped up"...but then he did something i never suspected you could do...(or I would have done it)...he gave the judges Klement sausages...

Next thing i know, the dance contest is over and we are all lined up waiting to receive our trophies, and the first thing i hear is "AND NOW IN SIXTH PLACE, CINDY HUBER FROM WKTI"...and i'm thinking "i could have skipped the 3 months of dance lessons and just showed up and said give me my trophy for sixth place."

Worse then that...i had to hear congrats from EVERYBODY in the whole damn place..."CONGRATS HUBER...YOU WERE GREAT!" (Congrats loser!!!)

The next thought i had is "i wonder what BMW the sausage guy is driving so i can throw eggs at it when he's not looking"...(but then i remembered i really need those eggs for Brownies tomorrow and that i also have to pick up some milk and toilet paper too)

Which is really sad because now i have to add "dances like a white girl" to the official list of things i suck at...and that list is getting long.

ps...honestly, i'm glad i did it...i mean the bottom line is it raised money for an awesome cause that has already saved my dad's life and if that isn't worth sixth place...plus, the sausage guys wife was really nice and gave me a hug...c'mon, how could i be mad...well, maybe at my husband...because after the whole dance was over he gave me a hug and said "nobody loses as good as you do"...i'm sure he probably meant something like "at least i have the dignity to handle it well"...but then again i'm not sure...either way he ended up on the couch that night.

psps...Plus Mark Webster is really hot! : )

Monday, April 09, 2007

Dancing for a CAUSE...


I mean, is there any other reason to dance? (other then dancing is fun, good, clean enjoyable excercise?--ok, ok, dumb question, oh and by the way, that's me, Billy Ray Cyrus)

You see, last year, Dan Kyle was in a "Dancing with Celebrities" type fund raiser which raised money for the David M. Sherman Cancer foundation...an awesome charity which has discovered among other things a way to fight prostate cancer more effectively...something that has directly affected my family as my dad used their treatment (radioactive seed implants) to fight his prostate cancer...and i am incredibly grateful...in fact, so grateful, that when i was asked to dance this year i immediately said yes...because, well, 30 some years ago i won a disco dance contest and got an awesome Journey ALBUM...it was the one with Wheel in the sky on it...

What i forgot til now was the reason i won was the judges were very very drunk (this was college after all) and i was the only one who entered...ok ok, i might not have been the only one who entered...i might have been the only one not drunk enough to quit--but my memory is a little fuzzy on this because i was drinking and did i mention I WAS IN COLLEGE?)

In spite of that i'm a huge Dancing with the Stars fan, and really how tough could this be...i mean, DAN KYLE CAN DO IT!!!

And i suck...no really, i do...i feel so sorry for my professional dance instructor...he is a kind, hot looking man who for whatever past life karma reasons has been saddled with this years Milwaukee equivalent of Billy Ray Cyrus...he is trying to teach me the West Coast Swing, and God bless him, i'm trying to learn it...i even went out and bought the dvd's of Flashdance and Shall we dance, you know, the movie with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere...geez it sucked...

But, i got a great deal 2 for 9 bucks and Blockbuster threw in a free tub of popcorn, and there is where i am right now...in front of the tube watching Jennifer Beals taking it off for the umpteenth time while enjoying a tub of popcorn...i'm hoping you'll come out and cheer me on...next Wednesday night at the Pfister in downtown Milwaukee...myself and a bunch of other radio and tv celebrities and a guy from Klements sausage...stripping it off...opps, just kidding...wait, maybe they can get Ally from Kiss to take it off, she lost a ton of wait on LA Diet and looks good; but the rest of us are teamed with professional dancers and we are going to dance for you, and God help us, none of us will accidently hurt our professional dancers...or at least step on their toes...although, if my professional Mark Webster (from DanceSports in Cedarburg) tells me i'm moving like Billy Ray Cyrus ONE MORE TIME...


Dancing with Celebrities to benefit the David M. Sherman foundation is Wednesday, April 18, at 7pm at the Pfister...you can buy tickets at the door (20 bucks) and the money is going to find a cure for cancer so that 20 bucks may some day save a life, yours.