Does this blog make me look fat?

My personal snap thoughts of 2011

2011-12-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

There are four months I literally live for...May, June, July and August...the rest are just filler months...kind of like eating a lettuce before your big steak dinner...yes, salad is nice, but it's really just there to give the chef a chance to grill the steak--which in my case--is seriously just a couple of minutes. Now, back to my true love...my "next year's garden..." Named "next year garden" because maybe next year...I'll get it right...however, this year...

I ignored my garden for one week, and the mint plants took over! Who wants mojitos?

This was a really challenging year as far as gardens went...hot, cold, rainy, dry, early frost, it seemed like I was forever heading outdoors to lay blankets on my plants, but since I only had so many blankets...I started to feel a little like "Sophie's Choice..." which plants do I save and which do I let freeze?

I have an 86 year old neighbor I adore; one Sunday morning in August as she was walking her dog (and I was attempting to make sense of my yard) she shared that her nieces accused her of criticizing their yard to which she replied "you know I wouldn't do that unless I was asked for my opinion...for instance, you (me) need to weed your garden, but I would never tell you unless you asked." (My neighbor Violet is 86, and she can say whatever she wants to me...but that was so damn funny I had to share that with you!!!)

A few year's ago I had a cable show with a friend of mine called Rockin' The Cable Show on West Allis Cable channel 14...this year it was renamed Brew City Bands and it's a show that honors the hardworking Milwaukee area bands that maybe, you don't really hear too much about but their out there busting their behinds bringing you great music, and they deserve to be recognized. This is the Tony Memmel band with Tony's beautiful wife Lesleigh, Tony, myself, and Brian Favour. I was also blessed to have my beautiful friend (since 1988!!!) and incredibly talented singer Ronnie Nyles with Tallulah Who, Brian Smith and his (Johnny Cash) tribute band God's Outlaw, Craig Omick who just blew the roof off of our 72nd and Greenfield studio in West Allis with GROOVE NATION; The pride of William's Bay, Wisconsin, and international singer who now lives in Chicago, Martha Berner...and the band Genuine Drive who just blew me away this summer at the Wisconsin State Fair, they're just incredible so I begged and stalked them and finally got them on the show. Paul Kuhn was another delight, and he has a song that should be Milwaukee's official theme--Springtime in Milwaukee;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKWLX-H6_Qc
...Brew City Bands is aired every Thursday at 5p and then again at 9p, and then again Friday morning at 3am and 2p. Starting next week (after January 1st) you'll be able to get the show in New Berlin.

This was a picture my friend Brian McNary posted on his facebook page a couple of months before he passed away from pancreatic cancer on May 21, 2011. He was a friend I had known since high school, and one who, thanks to facebook, got back in touch with me a year before he passed, and for that I'm grateful. When I was laid off over a year ago, he sent me funny jokes, and could always put a smile on my face. What a blessing, and what a loss his death was, to his friends, family, and kitty.

A dear friend of mine from Green Bay, Hal Greene fought two different cancers and passed away July 26, 2011. The problem with following your dreams in radio is in order to stay employed you have to move far away from family with no one to help you when you work overnight shifts and have young children. Hal and his angel wife Lori, stepped in and were family to us--there is no way I would've survived Green Bay with children without them. And I'm glad Hal lived long enough to see his garden again...like me, he lived for the summer.

Rocky McGrorty...close family friend who fearlessly battled stage four melanoma for years...shortly before he started to lose his battle (August 15), he insisted on running in the Sampson Stomp race at the Zoo this past winter...I can't type anymore about him, I'm just too sad.

There was another graduation party this year...

My baby girl grew up and I dropped her off for her first day of college, and I was thinking about the first time she went to kindergarten and just how much I cried, because it meant she was growing up. And I cried today...because I just saw the bill!

I had another birthday and I'm another year older and not ashamed to admit my age...29! And I have no trouble believing this lie as long as I don't look in a mirror, or step on a scale, or stand in the same room as my grandson when he's looking at me and yelling "GRANDMA!"

I really discovered that I have so much to be thankful for...friends, family, great job, and I have no right to complain or gripe about anything...I don't know if I could've handled what my sister-in-law's sisters went through this past year in Japan. Joyce is a Baptist missionary in Japan and June and her family live in Fukushima, Japan, where the damaged nuclear power plant was...after the earthquake there was no food to buy, and the only water they had was what they put in their bathtub right after the earthquake...they were not affected by the tsunami but the power plant, well, that was another story.

Earlier this year Bristol Palin, the daughter of Sarah, wrote her autobiography at age 20!!! I'll tell you what my autobiography at age 20 would've said..."overslept this morning, again!...gas just went up to 45 cents a gallon...who can afford to drive anymore?"....um, I was 20 a LONG time ago...If I wrote it today it would read simply, blessed.

God bless you,

Love,

Cindy

I'll Never be richer then I am right now...

2011-12-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

This was written the night before the big Iowa trip...

I have always envied people who live near their parents...I'd hear them gripe and complain and I'd think..."wouldn't that be cool to live close to your parents so you could see them whenever you want - wouldn't that be a luxury instead of maybe a week out of a year and then again when there's a funeral to attend?" Tomorrow I load up the kids and head out to Iowa...a place where I use to joke "it's not the end of the world but you can see it from there"...the big thing in the summer is to sit on my brothers roof and watch the storms roll in...I try to time the vacation so we get at least one tornado while we're there...

But lately the trips to Iowa have taken a different tone...my mom's been in the hospital SIX different times this year...and every time I thought this was going to be the last time...

Every spring my mom and I use to visit the graves of my grandparents to lay flowers but the last couple of years she started pointing out the spot where she and dad are planning to be buried and I would find myself being jolted by an incredible burst of pain...like, someday it's going to be my turn to bring my daughter here to lay flowers and honestly, I don't think I'm ready for it, and time which use to move so slowly in Iowa is now suddenly moving too fast for me...but you know what?

Tomorrow is a time for celebration because I'm going to go home and see my parent's and even if I win the lottery someday...I will never be as rich as I am now, at this moment.

In Praise of Nothing Special 2011

2011-11-23T10:58:00.001-08:00

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 this morning when I was straightening up the house I happened upon this picture...and it suddenly took on a new meaning for me...there's my incredibly handsome--then 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 anyway and why doesn't he just stay put for one night 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.

Four years after this picture was taken he was in Al Asad, Iraq...it was his second tour of duty then....he told his dad, mom, and me that he was going to what they called Camp Cupcake which was suppose to reassure us that he was going to be safe, which he probably was while he was on the base...the year before he was on his first tour of Iraq, he told us he was going to be guarding a water tank and it turned out to be a lie...he was the guy in back of the machine gun on top of a hummer guarding a convoy...this time around he was the one inside the Humvee driving...

Six years after this picture was taken he was on his very first tour of Afghanistan, the Helmund Province which he told us was actually quite beautiful, and what we later learned from watching Fox News, incredibly dangerous. Seven years after this photo, he's back on US soil, grateful to be alive, and married...yeah, my stepson got married this year to an incredible woman, Melissa, and we sure love her...his dad and me are so thankful for his life, grateful that it didn't end on foreign shores as so many of his friends did, and tonight we'll say a prayer thanking God, but also offering up prayers for other families whose son's and daughter's are on other shores, serving their country.

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.

My buddy's thoughts on last night's CMA's

2011-11-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

So this morning I get an email from my buddy Bill on his highlights, low lights, or peculiarities that he observed from last night's CMA Awards. As he says, "Please keep in mind that i don't mean to be overcritical or over-the-top. These were just my thoughts":

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are great hosts. Seem very down to earth, unpolished, and casual throughout the night. (Cindy's thought...I was impressed by both of them...I love Reba's hosting but you know what...I want to see them pair Brad and Carrie again)

The opening skit involved a parody of Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends" song regarding how Bocephus stepped into trouble this year with his remarks about Obama. Very funny stuff. Loved Bocephus' stern "Nothing to say" when asked if he had anything to say. (Cindy's thought...BRILLIANT! To have skipped what happened to Hank Junior earlier this fall would've been an "epic failure" of imagination on the writer's part)

Carrie Underwood has the best legs of any female star, tv, movie, or genre of music. (Cindy's thought...no comment)

What is the fascination with Taylor Swift that justifies another "Entertainer of the Year Award"? I get that she is refreshing, talented, and appeals to younger fans but "best entertainer"? I think not. Her performances too are getting to be a bit too "intimate"...almost odd. (Cindy's thought...like her or not, her concerts sell out and in this economy that's saying something)

Why does it seem that once these shows get started, it seems apparent that the judges or voters seem to zero-in on a particular band or artist and they win everything. Last night, it was "Band Perry". I realize they had a hit song this year, "If I Die Young", which is an odd but okay song but to win as many awards as they did over some very highly-received nominees is just weird. Happens every year though...next year, Band Perry may not win a single award. (Cindy's thought...a question as old as Adam and Eve...or at least it just feel's that way...but I saw it more as a changing of the guard as far as country music's sound is concerned--just what we saw in the 80's when Crystal Gayle and Kenny Rogers stopped winning awards because Reba McEntire and George Strait and Randy Travis were winning them...the entire sound of country went from a--for a lack of a better word "middle of the road" to traditional...and I saw almost the same thing last night although I'd say it was a change from Country "rock" or "adult contemporary" to dare I say it...traditional...what's old is new again--I think Perry's got at least another great year ahead of them)

Then Kenny Loggins appearing with Blake Shelton during the opening song of "Footloose" was kind of nostalgic. Brought back memories of Caddyshack...wonder if Kenny Loggins would appreciate that or not. Blake Shelton is a riot. (Cindy's thought...LOVE Blake Shelton...that's why he's on my twitter feed)

It was great to see Greg Allman appear with the Zach Brown Band on a rendition of Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind". He appears to be in much better health than he was last year at the Pabst. Rather disappointed in Zach Brown that they chose to do this song rather than one of their hits from the past year. (Cindy's thought...while I agree with you in part on Zach Brown...sometime's it's straying from the script that creates magic...I'm thinking specifically of the year Mary Chapin Carpenter strayed from her minor barely nominated hit and sang her brilliant (and infamous) "I'm Your Opening Act..." She stole the entire show and it immediately upped her asking tour price a few thousand bucks)

Not a Rascal Flatts fan but whoever the woman was that singing with Rascal's lead singer sounded remarkably like Justin Bieber (who actually recorded the song w/Rascal Flatts) and was entertaining simply because she appeared to have been rolled into a carpet remnant and walked onto stage. (Cindy's thought... Natasha Bendingfield--"and the rest is just unwritten")

Luke Bryan...for the love of all that is holy, lose the skinny jeans! (Cindy's thought...disagree...LOVE the skinny jeans...;)...)

Little Jimmy Dickens portraying Justin Bieber was pretty lame... (Cindy's thought...I don't know...if that's the only way they'll bring Jimmy back on I say do it)

Lionel Richie is attempting to crossover to country music now? Hootie (Darius Rucker) is awesome and saw him at Country Thunder this past summer....Lionel, i don't think that is going to be as good of a story. (Cindy's thought...Hey youngster, no dissing my man Lionel...You can look all the way back to the 80's to see his work with Alabama's number one "Deep River Woman" plus Kenny Roger's number one "Lady" another country hit Lionel wrote.)

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles has a great voice although it can be annoying to me at times. Her performance with some dude, Matt Nathanson, was a bit disturbing and odd. Never heard or saw this guy before but after watching him last night, I now know that i never want to hear or see this guy again. Some odd cross between Dave Matthews, John Mayer, and Axel Rose. (Cindy's thought... blatant attempt to attract people who don't listen to country)

Martina McBride's performance about the breast cancer situation was pretty strong.

The tribute to Glen Campbell was pretty good however, they seemed to cut away from him before he could vocally acknowledge the tribute. Perhaps, his medical condition is making it difficult and they were trying to not embarrass him but i thought it would have been nice to hear a few words from him. He was trying to strum his guitar but there were no hot mics on for him (unlike Obama who can't seem to get away from the hot mics!). (Cindy's thought...according to Glen's wife, Glen is entering the middle stage of his Alzheimer disease, and as much as I would've liked to hear what he had to say, the reality is he could've come off as confused which would've been a painful way to conclude his award show legacy, for example the state of California has taken away his driver's license which Glen is still unaware of...)

What is the attraction of Faith Hill? Don't like her music, singing, and really don't think she's that "hot"...very thin and too much makeup. (Cindy's thought...I've actually met Faith--right before she hit with Wild One--she is a sweetie...plus, I'd never been able to get my husband to watch the CMA's without her!)

Bill Markut

On trying to lose 6 pounds for a free facelift

2011-11-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

I need to lose SIX POUNDS by Monday! After all those years of begging radio sales people to fix me up with a client that does facelifts, I now find I can get a free one by being a volunteer for a research company in Chicago....Here's the ONLY problem...I discovered this last night...when I gave this company my present weight, they said I qualified but not to be one pound over as I am at the UPPER end of their BMI...no problem, right?...Well, last night my stepson casually mentions to his dad that our scale is off SIX POUNDS! That whatever the scale says, it's actually SIX POUNDS HEAVIER!!! I'm SCREWED!! I need to lose SIX POUNDS by Monday...Any ideas?

This is what I posted on my facebook link last Friday...and as a professional dieter I should've known better, well, actually I DO know better..."eat less, exercise more..." No seriously, I need a quicker, easier way (and I need it by Monday) and for that...I went to all my good buddies on facebook and learned something about myself that I'm not real proud of...when desperate to lose weight...I'll try anything...once...so on Saturday it was the all day apple diet...which, is exactly what you would think of something called apple followed by the words diet...I ate nothing but apples...this started around 10 Saturday morning and ended around Saturday at 2p...just about the time for my airshift on Big Buck Country 106.9...the problem is, it's almost impossible to down massive amounts of coffee required for radio while eating nothing but apples...even if their Honey Crisps (I should've gone with my first instinct and bought the Braeborns...braeborns go with everything).

Later that evening I headed to the one place that has everything for someone desperate to lose weight in the shortest amount of time possible without using their brain, logic, or common sense...Walgreens...God bless them! I got one of those 48 hour miracle diet fasts...lose 10 pounds by drinking nothing but water mixed with this product...sure, it takes the fun out of the weekend...no fun Packer food or beer, but it turned out to be no big deal as if you actually do this diet, you're gonna be spending all your time in the bathroom anyway. So by Monday, 10 pounds lighter, I now qualified to be a guinea pig for this free chin lipo, although, had they been offering free experimental colonoscopy's, I would've qualified for that too.

Is it proper to flip AND honk?

2011-10-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I got into a heated discussion this morning as I was driving her to college and some piece of crap deliberately cut me off (on College Ave)...Having not smoked a cigarette in almost a month I took this act a little harder then normal and my daughter told me that while she thought it was OK to honk at the moron it was not OK to flip him off...I disagree...I feel that you have to combine the two or it's not as effective...thoughts?

I have never adjusted to living in the Upper Midwest...I say adjusted...what I really mean is since the day I was born I have never learned to appreciate this climate (fruitlessly crossing my fingers and hoping for climate change) and referring to late fall as "television season" and last night I opted to killing off an entire evening of my life watching a MAN VS. FOOD Marathon...and here's my dilemma on a Wednesday; Do I go into the kitchen and prepare something fried and horribly bad for me, stick it between a hogie and chow it down in under 10 minutes? Or do I drive to McDonald's and order the dollar salad?

This is not a vicious turtle unless your a worm, a cricket, or a strawberry.

Like everyone else, I couldn't believe what happened in Ohio last week with some nut job releasing 60-some wild animals into suburbia before taking his life...HUNGRY LIONS! BENGAL TIGERS! I knew it was bad when they brought in Jack Hanna (he's not just for cute and cuddly baby animals!--yes, I bought all his video's when my kids were young). But in the midst of all that horror...one thing made me laugh...yes, laugh...when the Ohio police were warning people to stay inside they also told people if they did have to go outside, and if they did actually run into one of the wild animals...DON'T RUN! DON'T RUN! Because when I come face to face with a hungry Bengal tiger, the last thing I'm gonna do is RUN! I would be better off lighting up a Camel while waiting for the inevitable and by the way, WHY did I quit smoking? Oh, that's right, for my health, which wouldn't be an issue if I was about to be eaten by a tiger, although, it might for the tiger, particularly if he was concerned about his cholesterol.

I have a friend named Tom who operates a reptile rescue in West Allis and a few months ago he told me something that absolutely chilled me to the bone. He had a client ask him how to purchase water moccasins. They're snakes by the way...venomous, nasty and not very good tempered animals, if they were humans they'd be the creep who cut me off this morning on College Avenue. Anyway, this guy wanted to buy a couple and my friend Tom said "are you crazy?" Short answer...yes, the guy WAS CRAZY and bought a couple and put them in his BATHROOM!!! A month or two later this idiot call's my friend Tom back..."can you get rid of the water moccasins...they keep trying to kill me?" Even worse, the dude told Tom if he couldn't help him, he would release them in a forest preserve!!! Tom said he couldn't believe it...he told the guy "do you realize if you do that, those two snake will kill everything they come in contact, everything, kids, pets...everything!" Tom was eventually able to get rid of the snakes for this idiot...but still, scary isn't it...these idiots are out there...THANK GOD for people like Tom and if you can, stop by and visit his reptile rescue...Tom keeps our parks free from reptiles which is weird, if you think of it.

http://swordsanddreams.gotpetsonline.com/

Loss, Love, One Turtle and Pajama Jeans

2011-10-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

I can tell you exactly what the weather was like one year ago...it was a perfect fall day...couldn't have been any prettier with the leaves changing and a warm breeze...

My friend died a year ago today of complications from leukemia...and she'd kick my butt if I sat here and wrote a sad tribute to her here...and besides that, there is no way I could top what her family wrote about her;

Susan (Spring) Cotch, 49, of Aurora, died October 5, 2010 at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., of complications from leukemia. It was during her childhood, when her Grandma Rose gave her her first cooking lesson, that she developed her lifelong love affair with food and its preparation. For Sue, life was to be savored and enjoyed. She found fun in everything and was part of a large group of friends and family that felt the same. Cooking was her passion and she was legendary for her entertaining skills, from the special dishes she created to the one-of-a-kind extras that made each dinner an event, and not just a meal. She also loved camping, traveling and exploring the world. For Sue, there was no finer reading material than a new cookbook. Her life-long love of French cooking and Paris fueled her own misguided fantasy that she herself was, indeed, French.

Seriously, is that the most awesome tribute ever? When I die, I want Sue's family to write my obituary...because if they don't, it may look something like this;

Cindy Huber passed away on ----, although it was hard to tell as she still continued to show up to work each day...although she was a little later then usual...Cindy loved HGTV, in particular House Hunters and, on occasion, House Hunter International, particularly in the winter when there was little else to do, and she especially hated walking the dogs in the cold air as she had to bundle them up in their little doggie outfits and they would skirm and fight her and it just sucked really. It got even worse for her once she gave up smoking, as then there really was nothing to look forward to when she walked the dogs, as she was now truly, just the person holding the poop bag, behind the dogs. Cindy also hated it when they moved the television show Survivor to Wednesday as it really screwed up the week for her and she kept forgetting it was on. Cindy really loved her DVR as she could finally tape Survivor, although she would often forget to watch it. Cindy had very few regrets but if pressed would admit that she wished she would've checked to see how long box turtles lived before she agreed to let her son have one, as she spent nearly half her life cleaning out the turtle cage. She also wished she had bought a pair of "pajama jeans" as it sounded like a really cool idea and she loved wearing pajamas, especially flannel ones that had pictures of polar bears. To Cindy, there was no diet plan that she wouldn't try, at least once, and amazingly not one of those diets ever included the words "eat less, excercise more," but more then likely included a Snickers bar and a Diet Coke. Cindy loved Jesus, her husband, her children, her grandkids, her parents, her brothers, her brother's wives and her nieces and nephews...she cherished her friends, enjoyed weather shows about tornadoes, and 3 pm naps on the couch. She joins her grandparents, her treasured friends, and quite a few dogs and cats, and hamsters. The box turtle outlived her.

The Adventures of F-Man and D-Minus boy!

2011-08-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today I watched my first born drive away to college without a glance in his rear view mirror...which is just as well as who wants to see their mom crying and chasing his car down the street "come back child, come back!" OK, I didn't do that, but only because my son warned me not to...It's not the whole "he's leaving and never coming back..." It's more what his leaving represents...change...the genie's out of the bottle now and there's no sense trying to put the cork back on...especially if it's a fine bottle of merlot...but it got me thinking of how fast time roars by...just four years ago my son (and beloved stepson) were in a different phase of their life...as potential action figures--THE ADVENTURES OF F MAN and D MINUS BOY!!!

I got my kids report cards today. To say I'm pissed is putting it mildly...my stepson informed me that he doesn't have time to study and get good grades because "he's not going to be young forever and he doesn't want to waste his youth." That's right...that's what he said. Since grounding my kid's isn't one of my options...because I'd be the one stuck at home making sure they don't try sneak out of the house...honestly, with grades like these I'm gonna be stuck at home with them for the next 20 years anyway...So, instead of getting upset I have decided instead to think of them AS:

SUPER ACTION FIGURES! ...and i'm going to call it;

THE ADVENTURES OF F MAN AND D MINUS BOY!

My son's are a couple of action figures who soar through the air trying to fight crime and save the world...BUT, with a unique perspective...for instance... in episode number one the dynamic duo is relaxing at home with a lot of time on their hands (since they're skipping school) when suddenly they hear a victim screaming for help as he slowly sinks in quicksand "Help me help me" he screams..."oh wait, it's you, F man and D minus boy...um, never mind...i'll save myself."

2011-08-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

My baby started college last week, and I couldn't help but think back to the good old days (for me anyway), when Sara wouldn't ask me for help with her homework, but I'd offer anyway;

I suck at my kid's homework! Since i went to school (which was about one hundred years ago, back when the dinosauers ruled) math and just about everything else seems to have gotten harder and I was pretty much obsolete as far as my kids homework was concerned right around the time they hit first grade!

That's why i was so excited when my daughter told me she had to do a paper on Earth Day. How cool is that? If there was one thing I majored in, it was writing about ten pages of crap on just about anything as long as it didn't include math! So when my daughter showed me "her" paper, i set about correcting and adding on to it as best I could...here's what she wrote:

Dear Earth, happy birthday! I can't believe your 210 million years old already. It was just yesterday that you were in the Jurassic period of your life. I remember that your super continent, pangea, was already starting to drift apart. I also remember the first land plants that you grew...the life that your plants gave was amazing! You had animals such as plated stegasaurs, brachiosaurs and many more animals. You also had the first birds like the pterosaurs and even the early mammals. I hope you have a wonderful birthday, Love, Sara.

Now here's what i wrote:

Dear Earth, happy birthday! I can't believe your 210 million years old already when you don't look a day over 29...ok, ok, just kidding, those lines on your face, barely noticable. Probably during your jurassic period. That was because your super continent, Pangea was already starting to drift apart, probably because of too much sun. I told you to use more sunscreen! I love your first land plants! The ginkgoes i buy in a bottle...they were on sale at Walgreens last week, pretty cheap. My little dog Max would have a ball barking at your ptersaurs. That is, if they didn't eat him first. Have fun on your birthday, but don't party too hard...remember your last hangover the ice age...that really sucked! Love, Cindy

My daughter no longer asks me for help with her homework.

This is the boring my Aunt met Elvis story

2011-08-16T10:09:00.001-07:00

My husband doesn't get my fascination with all things Elvis...but honestly, I love Elvis because I feel like I met him...I mean, I didn't, but my aunt did, and it's quite a story;

My Uncle Jim was in the Army with Elvis and when they got done with (if memory serves me right-basic training or some kind of training...they had been gone awhile-but I don't think Elvis had gone to Germany yet)...so my Uncle Jim and Elvis were getting some time off and my Aunt (who had no idea that Jim was serving along side Elvis-years later my uncle told me he didn't think it was any big deal, he didn't listen much to music anyway) was waiting in a little cabin (the kind where you had a little kitchenette, and hung your wash on the line-this was the 50's you know)...Next to her cabin was a kind older couple, and a young good looking hottie named Anita...who told my aunt she was waiting for her boyfriend "Elvie" to get back...my aunt thought the older couple (at least the mom) looked vaguely familiar but maybe it's kind of like the Kenny Rogers theory...when men get to a certain age, they all start looking like Kenny Rogers...Anyway, they were together a few days before the "fellas" got back, and my aunt got to know Anita and "Gladys" pretty well...So the day the boys returned while my aunt and Anita were sunning themselves my aunt got the shock of her life...Elvie, was Elvis...and Elvis immediately asked my Aunt what-for anyone else would've been a safe question;

Elvis: "Whose your favorite singer?"
My Aunt: "Pat Boone."

My Aunt said Elvis looked momentarily stunned and then started laughing and patted her on the head and replied, "you know, Pat's a good singer too." His girlfriend at the time, Anita Wood (Colonel Parker later forced Elvis to break up with her) thought it was funnier then heck, BUT when Elvis's mom Gladys heard about it, she didn't think it was funny, and never spoke to my Aunt again.

ps...years later, whenever someone made a "not quite bright" comment, we'd reply..."Pat Boone."

Top 5 Teenager Names

2011-05-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

There's a new list out of popular baby names by the people who put of lists of every things...this year, the top 5 baby boy names are from number 5 to number 1; William, Jayden, Michael, Ethan, and Jacob...same order with top baby girls names; Ava, Olivia, Emma, Sophia, and Isabella at number one...

But something strange happens when those cute little babies become teenagers...you can't call those same names you named them at birth because they don't answer you...which is why, once your babies hit their teen years, it's simply easier to rename them...which I did, and here, from number 5 to number 1...

My TOP 5 TEENAGER NAMES

5. Stop Texting and Look at Me when I'm Talking to you!
4. Don't Give me that look!
3. No, you can't!
2. You're grounded!

And drum roll please....

1. Got a job yet?

Happy Mother's Day MOM!!!
Love ya,
Cindy

Old dogs, children and watermellon wine

2011-05-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

My mom called me with the saddest news last week...my grandma's dog Vicki 2 (yes, there was a Vicki 1, thanks for asking)-who has been living with my parents since my grandma died in 2006, had collapsed in the front room on a Wednesday night and couldn't get up...Vicki 2 was in pain, whining and struggling, and my mom (who has congestive heart failure) was unable to help her...

It was just, how do I say this, the call from hell, my mom was crying, I was crying...this being a small Iowan town, there was no overnight emergency pet hospital, so my mom-bless her-gave Vicki 2 a half of her pain pill...believe it or not, a half hour later, Vicki 2 dragged herself outdoors to do her business and back in (think about that; the dog had to go but refused to wet in the house-how's that for dog of the year?)...but the decision was made, Vicki was unable to lift herself up without help and it was time to broil a T-bone steak for her last supper...yeah, that's how we prepare our pets for their last night on earth, and because my parents have half a cow in their freezer...as you do, in Iowa...Vicki was 3 quarters of her way to the pearly gates...

A little history on this dog; my grandma didn't want another dog after the first Vicki died (of diabetes...she was a 30 pound chihuahua which grandma inadvertently overfed with people food, and in Vicki's final years my grandma-a former nurse-had to give her dog insulin shots to keep her alive.) But a couple of months later my mom heard of a young chow whose snout was apparently used to put out cigarettes (the fur still has never grown back), and my grandma grumbled that she was too old (at 92) to be taking in another dog...but when Vicki settled down on her lap and fixed grandma with her round little "please take me home and I will love you always" eyes...Score: Dog won, Grandma 1 dog...so for the last five years of grandma's life, Vicki 2 was her security system both in love and companionship...grandma wouldn't let my children-- and me sit on certain chairs in her house, but was cheerfully oblivious to the dog chewing holes into the wood and fabric...I didn't comment on any of that, the dog was loved, my grandma was happy...win-win for everyone...In grandma's final months, she worried what would happen to Vicki as her inevitable was approaching...I offered to take Vick-she was an especially loving pet...but after my grandma died there was no way my mom would give up Vicki, and So Vicki has spent the last 5 years being over loved, and overfed, and just like the Vicki 1, a myriad health problems thanks to a life filled with Iams dog food, doggy treats, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

That Thursday morning I wore my biggest sun glasses for the drive to work so I could sob in the car without worrying about people staring at me. I stayed in my studio all day, I didn't want to try to explain my teary red eyes and later, with a headache from hell, called my mom to ask how it went down for Vicki 2...

"Oh she's fine," said my mom, "the doctor gave her some steroids and she's actually moving around and wagging her tail."

I had a glass of wine, took a couple of Excedrin Migraine's and went to bed.

When it's springtime in Milwaukee, it's 40 below

2011-03-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

I don't think there's anything prettier then snow softly falling on a pine tree, as long as that pine tree is something your watching on your cable channel, from somewhere where it's 78 degrees, and your feet are sweating...

I'm not sure it's ever going to be spring here, since Groundhog's Day was canceled this past February..."If they cancel Groundhog Day and the groundhog see's his shadow, does that mean we still get six more weeks of winter?" The answer, apparently, is yes, with bonus days thrown in, just to p*ss everyone off...that's the real reason everyone is protesting at the capitol, there's just nothing else to do...I'm all for the state of Wisconsin collectively bargaining 2 days off in Florida for everyone, every winter!

Winter just seems like it's been too long this year, most nights I needed a nap just so I'd have the strength to get off the couch to go to bed.

The Packers won the Super Bowl this year(!!!) so winter didn't officially start until the week before Valentine's Day, which would've been OK if the husband had actually bought some Valentine chocolates which he didn't;

Me: Honey, where is my chocolates?
Hubby: Are you kidding? We blew it all on the Packer Party last week!

Now that we're in the season of Easter, such trivial matters of what I didn't get for Valentine's Day no longer seem important...although, last year I gave up chocolate for Lent and well, that didn't work out real well, so this year I'm just giving up being thin! Look, if Charlie Sheen can conquer his addictions with his mind, I can conquer my willpower with chocolate donuts!

And I can celebrate Easter the best way that I can...with the Girl Scout Thin Mints I found in my husbands sock drawer where he tried to hide them--silly husband--I can smell mint cookies from a mile away and anyway, look, if he truly didn't want me to find them, he should've put the Thin Mints on top of the brand spankin' new Ab Exerciser, I'd never find them there.

It's been a weird winter so far, and I chalk that up to the Chinese Calender where it's officially the year of the Rabbit, it's also what's on the menu!

Anyway, what can you expect out of a year that starts out with the entire Zodiac Calender being changed...for real...for years I've been a disorganized, perfectionist Virgo, but NOW I find out that I'm really a uncomplicated and disciplined Leo...honestly, who believes this crap?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I smell cookies...

(picture taken by my friend Karen Trucks Karl-who makes winter almost look well, pretty.)

My Christmas News letter this year

2010-12-23T13:56:00.001-08:00

Some people are annoyed by the annual Christmas news letter, the one that lists all the apparently awesome things that happened to that family this year...the "my Billy excelled at Harvard" or, "my little Amanda took number one in the fire eating contest..." OK, I never got a Christmas letter that started out like that but fire eating contest! Wouldn't that be awesome? Anyway, put me down as a fan in the I love the annual Christmas news letters...

Look, there's so much bad happening all over the country, the fact that at least someone's family had a good time this year gives me hope! Although, at my house, all my kids were awesome! So here is my Christmas News letter this year, feel free to share with all your loser friends...; ) ...I'm kidding of course, don't share!!!

My oldest son finally realized his passion this year...growing pot, I'm thinking bible school wasn't the right fit for him...BUT...there IS a school for growing pot...Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, where they have the highest quality training for cannibis-according to the brochure and yes, I couldn't be prouder...sadder yet, this is probably the son I'm gonna have to borrow money from in my old age.

I turned 50 this year...what? Shut up, really?

I'd like to moan and complain about that but while I was busy getting older, my girlfriend was busy battling cancer for her life. She lost her battle shortly after I hit my milestone. Her sister dedicated a facebook page for all her friends to reminisce, and yesterday I read the nicest story about my Sue from Angelia Diaz;

I remember my first meeting with her. It was my interview as prep cook for "let's dish catering" I sat at this long table near the kitchen. Sick too, I was coming down with a cold. I was so scared that she was going to turn me away because I was feeling under the weather and I wasn't thinking clearly to show her the best side of me. Instead, she gave me soup. Chicken noodle soup. It was the best thing I ate that day. I never expected her call a few days later. I was so excited.

That, totally sums up my friend Sue.

Also this year, I lost my job, quit smoking and started up again about a hundred times, was hired at an awesome "classic country station," ended up with a new dog, found out I'm gonna be a grandma again and learned my cholesterol is 296. That's for another newsletter, another day.

Merry Christmas and much love,

Cindy Huber

My brush with greatness, and how I screwed it up

2010-11-29T10:12:00.001-08:00

Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday, he was 84.

I had a chance to interview him for my college newspaper (before Airplane came out). He was playing Harry Truman in a one man play at the Paramount in Aurora, Illinois...either 1979 or 1980. I had never heard of him but my mom was super excited because she loved him as the villain in her favorite soap (that's soap operas to you kids under 30), and my college Spanish teacher was excited because Leslie was his favorite bad guy in a lot of television shows. Stupid kid that I was (college freshman-like that's an excuse, I was a not very bright college freshman), I sat down with him, turned on my cassette recorder, and interviewed him-lots of (now very embarrassing) interview 101 questions;

Hi Leslie, do you like playing bad guys?
Are you married?
How many kids do you have?

Leslie was so kind, he gave me very generous answers-because, perhaps, I was a sweet little 19 year old blond wearing a skirt with a slit in it (disco wasn't dead yet) OR because he realized there was no way I was asking him anything I could use for my newspaper article and he was a very kind man with daughters my age.

Then, at the end of the interview, I thanked him for his time and asked, "Now, do you have any questions you want to ask me?" I remember he gave me a very quizzical look, and said "No," and then preceded to invite me to his play. If he meant anything in his invitation I was too stupid to pick up on it; I told him I had to work that night, but then asked him for his autograph (which I gave to my Spanish teacher! because he had begged me to get one for him), turned off my little cassette tape recorder and went back to school where I typed up my article. The next week I taped over his interview on some stupid new interview I did. When my mom heard I did that she was LIVID!!! She told me I would regret it, yeah, sure, whatever mom.

Then, a few months later, there was that actor I interviewed on the big screen, AIRPLANE!

My mom was right.

I Miss my friend

2010-10-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Sue is in big trouble. She's been fighting cancer since April and up until this week, we thought she was going to beat it. Today, we're not so sure. This comes as a complete shock to her friends and family, all who know Sue to be a fighter and a winner. When I first found out she had this cancer (via her facebook entry), I wasn't worried at all because she had already beaten cancer once before, and that was seven years ago. Plus, maybe it's the way she broke the news..."hey everyone I'm going to lose weight..."

Sue's a chef who had her own catering business "Let's Dish (ttp://www.lets-dish.com/)." I say "had" because her family recently contacted her clients to tell them that she was in rough shape.

Sue is the kind of friend...how do I put this...tough, tender, sweet, sassy, strong, demanding, hardcore left of left Democrat, incredibly loyal and funnier then heck...OK, hell...yeah, that's Sue. If I had even half of Sue's personality, I'd be incredibly rich and famous with a couple of Oscars under my belt. You see, Sue's the kind of person that didn't sit around and wish...she just...did. Want to live in Chicago next to Wrigley field? She did. Want to take cooking lessons in France, Sue did. Want to drive through the Alps, Sue did, although she told me she was so scared she promised God if she survived she would go back to church...she did, at Christmas time.

Seven years ago she beat sarcoma, although the radiation and chemo she got was so strong she was warned that she could possibly develop leukemia, although the chances were rare. When I saw her at her sister's 50th this past February, she was telling me that the doctors told her she was cured because it was over seven years. She was the picture of health, she had broiled several (over 30 at least) of filet mignons with a delicious dipping sauce and a ton of other stuff that she had prepared. (This was not unusual for Sue, who not only catered her sister's wedding, but her own as well!) Then April...now this. Her sister emailed me today to tell me that things are bad, her blood pressure and lung capacity is dropping, and the doctors have called a family conference for tomorrow to "make some decisions."

Everything is reminding of Sue today. Tonight, I saw a flock of geese heading south, and then another goose (solo)heading North and I teared up. I played Vince Gill's "Go Rest High on that Mountain" and darn near lost it on the air. Last Thursday I took part in an amazing prayer group...Sue's sister Sandie asked everyone to pray for Sue at exactly 10:30pm...and I truly felt God's presence, and I knew for sure Sue would be cured. Well...that didn't happen. I'm at a loss, because I know God heard us...

Earlier this year I read Alannah Hamilton's book about Farrah Fawcett's fight against her cancer, and about something Ryan O'Neal said when Farrah's fight was near the end, and that was how he wouldn't mind if Farrah stayed like that forever, just so she wouldn't leave. At the time I was like what, why would anyone want someone to stay in that condition, who would want to live like that...although today I totally understand what he meant. The thought of Sue leaving is worse then the thought of Sue being in her present condition, non-responsive and on a ventilator.

I miss my friend.

ps...Susan Spring Cotch passed away this morning, October 5, 2010.

If the kids are deaf...blame Sun chips!

2010-09-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you saw the recent report where hearing loss is becoming more common in teenagers...according to what I saw on Headline News, one in five teenagers NOW have a hearing loss..I told this to my kids last night but they just said WHAT?

I said hearing loss...

What?

I said you can't hear!

What?

But now I think I know why! SUN CHIPS!

For real, the bags are too noisy. This is how crazy this is...scientist have actually done studies on the sound the bag makes when you open it (because scientist don't have any cancer to cure or whatever)...they studied the big Sun Chip bags, because the small snack bags aren't made with the same ingredients. The problem has something to do with the fact the bag is made from plant based materials...they're biodegradable...and apparently biodegradable is noisy...A problem I don't have when I open my Pringles canister.

A Father's love, a son's legacy

2010-09-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the joy of touring the Kettle Moraine Ranch, and I just had to share this story with you...

This is Al Gagliano. He created this ranch back in 1967 with his son Jeff as a place where disabled and disadvantaged kids could enjoy hayrides, horse back riding, and picnics.

Then Al's son Jeff was killed in an airplane accident, and insurance rates skyrocketed making it impossible to host the children on the ranch. But Al refused to give up, and continues his ranch as a living legacy for his son.

Everyone knows about the tornado that hit Eagle, but it also affected Al as well, as he was caught in the middle of the storm, and barely survived. But this past Labor Day, he opened up his ranch to raise money for disadvantaged veterans. He has a huge heart, he really does, and so I'm going to try to do my part, and pass on info about his ranch, just in case you'd like to do some horseback riding, or take the kids on a hayride, or pony ride. He has general store, petting zoo, and mine shaft for the kiddies, and on the weekend, a saloon for the parents.

Here is his phone number: 262-594-2122 or you can check out the ranch at www.kettlemoraineranch.com email him at heavenjeff@netzero.net.

A thought about "Sin taxes."

2010-09-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

I just saw where New York city raised the price of cigarettes to eleven dollars...Yes! Eleven dollars for a pack of cigarettes in New York...they're calling it a "sin tax."

Forgive me if I sound cynical here, but of course these politicians are doing this because they have a passion for saving lives...and not because the state has a huge budget shortfall.

I have an idea for a "sin tax."

Let's apply it for all politicians who pass laws all over this country...If the politician "sin's"...he/she gets taxed!

Think about this for a second...a politician lies, steals, cheats on his/her spouse, promises something but does something else...SIN TAX!

We'd have the budget balanced in no time!

This just in...the moon is shrinking...

2010-09-14T12:25:00.001-07:00

These are my dog's; Brutus (black) and Max (white), and they could care less...

The moon is shrinking...how do I know...some scientist said so, that's how. (Scientists at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum calculate that the moon has shrunk 328 feet in the past 328 billion years)...but don't you worry about it disappearing in our lifetime...no, we'll be looooong gone by that time thanks to the astroid that's gonna wipe us out in 2182. (This killer astroid even has a R 2 D 2 sorta name...1999 RQ 36...isn't that cute...how could a sweet little ol' 1999 RQ 36 hurt us...puleeze!)

But why worry about astroids and shrinkage when you have rattle snakes in Wisconsin! For real...I found this out when a rattle snake-who apparently caught a ride from Texas on a train-found it's way into the backyard of some poor woman from Sheyboygan who proceeded to kill it with an ice chopper...what was shocking to me was that we have rattle snakes in Wisconsin...the massasauga rattlesnake which "Drop for drop, the massasauga's venom is more toxic than the"...well, I digress since according to the website I found, no one has been killed since 1900...probably because the snakes like to hang out in swamps, and most people like to hang out in their homes and watch the Brewers.

By now you've heard there's a salmonella outbreak in eggs...the good news is as long as you "cook" the eggs or they're baked in something, they're safe...and honestly, "eggs over easy" are gross!!! I've always been a "eggs fried rock solid in bacon grease" sort of cook, so you could say salmonella is going to be the least of my worries.

ps...This just in...first we have salmonella in eggs...NOW it's in frozen mice...for real...there's a company called MICE DIRECT...they sell frozen mice as pet food for reptiles...this may not be a big deal to you...but then again you don't own a turtle.

Off the Beach!

2010-09-03T14:47:00.001-07:00

I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to be back to work!!!
But you know me soooo, here goes...

1. I no longer hate Monday's...because after 5 months "on the beach," every day was a Sunday, except everyone else was at work, and I was still in my pajamas.

(Look mom, I have a job...I'm serving up barbeque at Steinhafels in Waukesha)

2.True boredom is being able to take your smoking break whenever you want.

(It's so good to see you again...at work and not on the unemployment line.)

3. It's always nice to have a reason to get out of your pajamas before noon!

On the beach...waiting out the storm.

2010-06-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

When you're unemployed, being short cash is always an issue...but being without cable is non-negotiable, anyway that's what I told my husband last week when he asked. Life is too short to be without the Weather Channel during storm season, at least that's my belief...that and the fact that we never got around to picking up one of those special boxes that enable you to pick up all the free channels. So the cable bill is one of those bills that always get paid well, almost on time. Plus HGTV is always on, which is a welcome diversion from the oil spill, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and unemployment.

Recently I had an interview where I got very excited, sure that I was the perfect candidate they were looking for. I had everything they were looking for, I was cheap, I was available to work immediately, and I had personally met Garth Brooks. My husband, well, I can't even begin to tell you how excited he was for me! The day of my interview I woke up to see him reading the bible...that's when I got a little nervous. He was reading the from the Old Testament...Psalms...ok, I can't remember which chapter, I believe it's the one that starts "I raise up my arms crying out to the Lord, please give my wife a job..." (I think that's how it reads, it's not in the King James version, I think it's the newly edited version from Readers Digest)...but anyway, he certainly made his point...it was time for me to nail an interview...And I believed I was ready, having spent an entire spring reading all the latest Monster.com tips on how to dress and prepare for the interview...unfortunately when I came out from my interview, I noticed the next candidate had also read the same articles. I was dressed in a suit, so was he...in fact, he was a friend of mine from another radio station but we didn't recognize each other at first, probably because we had never seen each other in anything but jeans!

So the day came when they were suppose to make their decision, they were going to call me if I got it. I jumped every time the phone rang but each time it was only my husband, asking if they had called yet. By the end of the night, total despair. The "heck with it, I give up..." I put the phone back in the recharger and pulled out the popcorn popper...(and it's not an AIR popper either!), melted half a stick of real butter and totally sabotaged my diet! Then the EAS (emergency alert system) started blaring underneath House Hunter's International so I moved my bowl of total diet disruption out to the porch to watch the coming storm...And what a storm, sirens blaring, thunder blasting!!! Then it rolled over the lake, recharging itself for it's march into lower Michigan, and it was time for me to go to bed.

I dreamed about my nephew last night, two weeks ago I helped with his high school graduation party and I met one of his friends. Two years ago on Memorial Day weekend his family was involved in a head on crash that killed his sister and father. He was in a coma for months, no one knew if he would survive. He did, but will carry the scars of this tragedy for his entire lifetime; his vision is screwed up, his speech is slurred, and he has trouble walking. If anyone should be bitter, it should be him, but he's not. He's all excited about going to college this September, excited about his upcoming new life, grateful to be alive.

I woke up ashamed of myself. And the storm was over.

Update...On the "diet" beach

2010-05-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

Let's give this cute little kitty a name...like "craving" and pretend it's shooting at, say, self-control, and then you'll have an idea why my sweet little daughter posted this on her facebook page tonite;

Okay, a diet is called a diet so that you don't eat food that's bad for you...so taking other people's Taco Bell food is not a part of that DANG DIET! -__-

And everyone who replied correctly guessed she was talking about ME!

Hey! If I had any willpower, I wouldn't have to be on a diet!

And why the heck is she posting about my stealing her taco bell food?! Here's how I look at it, if you stand next to a hungry giant bear in a bear cage eating a soft shell taco supreme, don't be too surprised if the bear reaches out and tries to grab your taco...and in our house, I'm not in a cage.

I think I've been out of work too long because as the 24-7 dog walker in our home since January 23rd, I now know waaay to much about my dog's bowel habits. On the plus side, that's still more entertaining then anything else on the tube!

I just took what's called a Myers-Briggs career assessment-which included two days of testings to find-and I quote-"specific occupations and career fields I might enjoy" and here's the "career fields and occupations" suggested by my results;
1. Announcer.
2. Radio disc jockey.
3. Automobile salesperson.
4. Elected public official.

Starting tomorrow I'll be taking campaign donations at the Honey dip donuts on South 27th to fund my run for Wisconsin governor this fall...OR I'll be using the donations to buy more donuts...or tacos.

On the beach AND on the diet!

2010-04-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Just because I'm out of work doesn't mean I'm always sitting next to the phone waiting for it to ring...oh no...sometimes I take a nap too...and walk the dog...change out of my pajamas...take a nap...load the dishwasher...watch some Weather Channel...walk the dog, AND take another nap...busy, busy, busy. Then, because I don't want to waste this wonderful opportunity, I've also taken this opportunity to change and enrich my life...No, I'm not selling AMWAY...I'm on ANOTHER DIET!

My mom (bless her) signed me up for Nutrisystems and like Marie Osmond, I'm now changing my life with weight loss, and in three days I've already lost THREE POUNDS! I've already tripled my weight loss from my last diet ALLI-in which I spent three days in the bathroom, BUT STILL didn't lose ONE POUND! Nutrisystems is one of those diet plans where they send you all the food you should eat, and as long as you don't cheat on it...you will lose weight. And the food is delicious, for breakfast I had a blue berry muffin, for lunch, chicken noodle soup, and supper was a buffalo chicken wrap...unfortunately, it is now 10:30 am and I have already eaten my entire meal plan for THE DAY. I'm now wondering, if I go to bed now, and sleep for eight hours, does that mean it qualifies as tomorrow and I can start eating again?

I also read over the weekend that the health Nazis have targeted hot dogs as unsafe for human consumption, arguing that hot dogs should have warning labels on their packaging! As you know, warning labels work...just look what they've done for cigarettes! Honestly, you could put a warning label on hot dogs that show the "dog" holding a gun while smoking a cigarette, and I'd still be looking for the ketchup and mustard.

More later...it's time for my nap.

On the beach update...part two

2010-04-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Since I was laid-off at B93.3fm, I've been asked if I ever listen to my old show and truthfully...NO...but not because I'm hurt, bitter or angry. I loved my afternoon show and how do I explain this...getting laid off in radio is alot like getting dumped in real life. It's like, I want my ex-husband to be happy, I just don't want to hear him with his new girlfriend.

I haven't got a new job yet but I'm hopeful...you may not realize this but when you're on unemployment in Wisconsin you're required to apply for two jobs a week...and as of April 1st, Wisconsin is using a lottery system to randomly call people in to prove that they've been doing just that. Not a problem for me, in fact, the highlight of my day is going online to see who gets my resume this week and drum roll please...it's NASA!!! Congratulations NASA!

I just sent them some information and you won't believe this but I have an interview!!! I've always wanted to be a space cadet. I'll let you know how that goes.

The good thing about all this new free time is I now have time to hang with the girls! Last Friday I went to this "pampering" party for Arbonne and my girlfriend served several bottles of red wine and...weeeellll...I did something bad...real bad...

Get wasted and spend all night in the bathroom?
Worse.

Drink too much and insult the hostess?
Worse.

When I came to the next morning I realized I had signed up to host a party...hey, you got any plans two Friday's from now...want a free facial?

My long suffering better half just recovered from pneumonia last week and I, the smoker have been giving him a lot of grief over it like..."hey, you're always on my case about smoking BUT YOU HAVE PNEUMONIA!" Not me-3 cigs a day Huber! My lungs are clear! Of course it's probably because of all those carcinogens in my Marlboro smooths fighting off the pneumonia bacteria. Man, I hope karma doesn't come back and bite me in the butt for that.

On the beach update

2010-04-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

RIP Big Dave!

Yeah, on one hand, I still don't have a full time job, but thanks to the fine folks at the Wisconsin Hire Center...I have leads, and interviews. A couple of weeks ago I interviewed with a nice lady for a job outside of radio but with benefits you don't normally get in radio (at least anymore)...things like weekends and holidays off, a decent wage, a future with a company, hope in the future, 401k's and dental. Now I'm a firm believer in honesty so I didn't flinch when she said there was no smoking on the premises...but then she asked me if I had ever smoked.

I quit smoking.
When?
About 30 minutes ago.

I'm still waiting for a call back on that one.

Still, this forced time off hasn't been all that bad. I've had plenty of time to watch Oprah AND Ellen, and one of them, I don't remember who, interviewed Wynonna. (Judd-former country singer superstar-and darn-it, I still play her music!) Now Wynonna has either an album or book out-I don't remember-because all I remember was Wynonna was talking about some new diet PILL she was on, and I'm all about (DIET) pills! It's called Alli, and it's suppose to prevent your body from absorbing fat from your food, so I put down the bag of fritos I was consuming and speeded down to Walgreens to buy this new miracle product. It looked simple enough, take a blue pill before you stick something in your mouth and try to keep the fat grams down to 12 grams...easy, right? There was also something in the fine print about exploding diarrea and such, but it said the side effects would show up anytime in the next 12 to 48 hours, so that night when I served the family pizza I wasn't too concerned. And 12 hours later when nothing happened I was elated! I did it, I found the magic pill! Unfortunately, when the side effects showed up a good 48 hours later...well...let's just say it's a good thing I'm unemployed. And, I have plenty of things I can read while holed up in the bathroom...like the newspaper, or bible, or that fine print that came with my Alli bottle.

I lost a good friend in radio last week. His name was "big Dave" Niles, and although I hadn't talked to him in years, it says something about how special this man was that I was shocked, and devastated when I heard he had passed. It also prompted me to have "that discussion" with my family for what I wanted played at my funeral when I died...Old Rugged Cross, God knows when the sparrow falls, and Radar Love, by Golden Earring...

Radar Love was the song I played when I use to work for KRIB in Mason City, Iowa back in 85-87, when the cops were running radar in front of our studio...oh yeah, it was ok with the police, it was one of the cops that told me. They'd pull up outside the studio and tap on the door, I'd put the song on, and they'd run radar and some unsuspecting listener-with some other radio station on would cruise by, and bam!...another radar lover gone!!! Then the cop, as he handed out the ticket would tell the speeder "if you'd had KRIB on, you'd know we were running radar!"

Too much me time on the beach...

2010-03-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

The only bad thing about being stranded on the beach this time of year is that i have too much ME time! Honestly, I've just spent the last, well, seven weeks with Me, and honestly, it's not all it's cracked up to be...for instance, I just gave up smoking and I'm seriously having a hard time, and do you think Me has been supportive...heck no! I'm sick to my stomach, frustrated, depressed, argumentative and all Me had to say was "you only gave it up 30 minutes ago, take a ambien and go to bed!" Unfortunately, it's not just Me I've had to deal with...my Gut had to jump into the action and Gut reminded me that there was still half a Reese's in the fridge...i kept waiting for Willpower to show up but he's across the street at the neighbors house...I'm guessing he's just not that into me!

On the plus side, all this "free time" has given "me" time to empty out 15 years of old radio logs, notes and celebrity trivia I've never been able to dispose of because i just might need it someday. Someday showed up occasionally, but, of course, I couldn't find it because it was buried under 15 years of paper. Yeah, paper kids...trust me, there were no flashdrives in 1995 and even if there were, odds are i would have lost it. Paper-on the other hand-lasts forever in a landfill unless you recycle it.

Which brings me to the added bonus of discovering long (and not so long) ago emails from some of my former bosses...now, keep in mind that I'm paraphrasing the notes to some extent to protect the innocent...ME!; Cindy, we're thrilled to have you work here and look forward to a long and prosperous time with you...(four months later)...Cindy, i'm very sorry to have to lay you off but I thought when corporate allowed me to hire you, we had enough money to keep you...would you like to work part-time for us, and when the economy gets better we can hire you back?...Cindy, you just don't have the sound we're looking for...what SOUND are we looking for?...not your sound...Yes, I know you're number one in your time slot but ratings aren't everything...Cindy, if you honestly think Michael Bolten is good what drugs are you on and where can I get some...Cindy, how many times do i have to tell you to please check the request list to see if the song is approved...even if the song IS approved it doesn't mean it's approved, check with me on all songs and if I don't get back to you on it, don't play it...just because it says request show doesn't mean it is...Cindy, I can't believe I heard you say douchebag on the air...do you even know what a douchebag is?"

The great thing about recycling is I can have the visual of it being turned into toilet paper and someone wiping their butt with it...after all, even douchebags need to wipe.

p.s... I saw the first bud of spring this morning...it was a Budweiser can sticking out of the snow next door and my neighbor yelling "hey Huber, get your beer can out of my yard!"

On the beach-Clean house

2010-02-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

So i decided to do something productive with my time since i was blessed with all this free time, and because i simply couldn't tolerate one more minute of my husband asking "so what did YOU do today?"
(Answer: Everyone Loves Raymond, House Hunters International and Clean House...)
And maybe because the last show i watched before i hurried into the bedroom to change out of my pajamas before my husband came home WAS Clean House, i got this bright idea to clean my house...no really...it's a no brainer really. Every "on the beach jock" knows this drill, pull out all the station tee-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, wash them and then try to figure out who to give them too...it's a way of wiping the slate clean, start over, move ahead...it's part of the five stages of grieving;
1.Denial
2.Anger
3.Bargaining
4.Depression
5.Acceptance...although we in radio have our own special five stages we call the five stages of job loss;
1.Is this some kind of a joke?
2.Moron
3.Howabout if i promise never to say douchebag on the air again?
4.I'm never gonna find a job with free coffee again.
5.Look for new job/career
I'm now in the "looking for new career" part of a job loss...and it's more productive then the "never gonna find a job with free coffee again stage" I've been stuck in for a better part of a week. Then i moved on to the front room, packing up clothes and books, found the vacuum cleaner and then discovered a very unsettling fact about myself...I'm seriously one item away from appearing in a reality show about pack-rat interventions.

On the bright side, i can take my smoke break whenever i want.

On the beach...again...update

2010-02-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hi again...been on the beach for the last three weeks (on the beach-code for unemployed jock) and let me tell you how enlightening this has been to me. For starters I've been to Iowa and seen my parents and it was wonderful. I've spent the last ten years asking God for more time with my folks and He answered my prayers. We fed the ducks, looked at the deers, and watched Murder She Wrote; seasons one, two AND three...one hint...the old lady didn't do it.

I'm back in Milwaukee now, just in time for the snow storm...and just time enough for the kids to get sick of me. For starters, there's a weird smell coming out of my son's room, but I'm afraid to go in without dropping breadcrumbs to find my way out. I've told the boys for years not to leave food in their bedrooms or it'll turn to mold so that smell better be a dead body or they'll be in trouble!

And I've been trying to quit smoking...really trying...or at least throw off the family by hiding it better...we have a dog that won't do it's duty unless it's hooked to a leash and paraded up and down the neighborhood. In the past I've had to spell the words "leash, and walk, and outside"...just recently though, since I've been on the beach, I've had to spell a new word...cigarettes...as in "just a second doggie, where are my cigs." It's amazing how quick a dog can pick up a word you don't want him to understand, just like kids. The only problem now is, the dog's on to me. The other day I was ignoring him because I had already taken him out 5 times and darn it, the Real Housewives of Orange County were on. The little demon went over to my coat, pulled it off the hook, and fished my cigarettes out. A few minutes later when I went to check on the dog-since he had suddenly become so quiet-I found my seven dollar pack of cool, refreshing Camel #9's tore up all over the back room...my husband, accessing the situation, felt the dog was only trying to send me a message on how bad smoking is on my health. I looked into my devil dog's eyes and I got his message alright!

It's gonna be a long winter on the beach.

On the beach...again

2010-01-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

So, a funny thing happened on the way to work yesterday...

Um, there's no easy way to get laid off...no matter how nice they are about it, it's still a loss, a breakup, a "it's not you, it's the budget..."

Worse, i was sitting on the couch when my son came home from college and i didn't even have to say a word, i could see it on his face..."oh no, i'm not gonna be able to borrow money from mom...again."
My daughter took it harder, unknown to me she posted my loss on her facebook page so last night when i was wandering around Barnes and Noble one of her friends parents came up to me and said "we hear you lost your job."

I didn't lose my job...i know exactly where it is...it's in the last place i left it...it's just that it's not mine anymore although i have every intention of continuing my 3p-7p show coming soon to a McDonalds near you. And as an extra benefit i will supersize your fries for you...free, just don't tell my boss.

Three summers ago i was working in the basement of a local corporation for a temp agency calling up factory managers to tell them that a piece of equipment they had, well, let me read from the script..."Sir, the problem is the wire is terminated incorrectly on the heat trace wire." Now i didn't know what the heck i was saying but the guy on the other end would get really excited...especially the guy working at the chemical plant...one day in the middle of all this fun i was checking my emails-ON MY BREAK-wasn't misusing company time-when i got an email from Stan Atkinson asking me if i was interested in an interview...Was i?...Was i ever! Granted, it would be hard to leave my job at the temp agency (they had an ice cream VENDING machine-how cool was that!) But then Stan pointed out that they had an expresso machine...and it was free...and i have spent the last almost two and a half years being extremely grateful for this job, and free expresso!

I love B93.3fm, and quite honestly i'm excited for Jane and CV's show, i really am. Jane Matenear has been a true and dear friend of mine since 1996 and i would trust her with my life...although hopefully that will never be an issue.

I know this sounds so cliche typing this and yet it's true...i have made lifelong friends at MRA (and i hope they remember me when i call and ask them for a loan.)

Now i have to turn my attention to more pressing issues like "why hasn't Starbucks called me back."

Love,

Cindy

Lily the bear

2010-01-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's not that you need another reason to log on to the internet, but i'm hooked on a new site called bear.org...someone had the bright idea to stick a camera in a bear den with the thought that maybe a bear might wander by and hibernate, and by God-that's EXACTLY what happened! Even better, Lily had a bear cub Friday afternoon, and since then i've been hooked to the site...it's a live camera 24-7 (with sound!)which means, last night, 3 am, i wake up, can't get back to sleep, let's check on Lily...an hour later my husband wakes up and goes "what in the heck are you doing, are you kidding me?! This is what you've been doing all night?!"

But there's something comforting about watching Lily comforting and cuddling her baby tucked away in a den in Ely, Minnesota while the snow flies that makes the uncertainty of surviving another day, another dollar, another job, "bearable."

(ps...you can check out the site yourself, www.bear.org and once there click on Lily live cam-on the left of the site.)

My Bra for the Cause...

2010-01-15T10:14:00.001-08:00

Introducing, the Ginny Electric Boa Bra!

Dedicated to the memory of my bff's Nancy and Sue's sister Ginny who passed away after a nine month battle with breast cancer. Ginny had a huge heart and had a electric personality so i attached a heart, and of course lights...which really was hard to do.

I tried to string battery operated Christmas lights but they kept shorting out on the bra...as God is my witness if i ever design another bra it won't be a padded one! But i was extremely blessed to be working with an awesome engineer by the name of John Church who saudered in some special lights just for the bra, and then, yes, they shorted out too...the problem was the wires kept touching so my husband came up with a plan, that included a glue gun...he worked it so the wires no longer touched and so the Ginny Electric truly is electric!

Welcome back Texans...

2010-01-05T18:52:00.001-08:00

My Texan cousin Mark posted this picture of a sign he took while strolling across the border into Mexico...Margaritas AND free parking?! We live in the wrong place!

Bras for a Cause

2010-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Bras for a Cause, as if bras didn't have enough to do, this year B93.3 fm needs your help to create a bra, and bring attention to the awesome group ABCD-after breast cancer diagnosis-the group the late Melodie Wilson created after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

What ABCD does is after someone (MALE or female) is diagnosed with breast cancer, they match them up with someone who has been through what they've been through; someone who has walked the walk to support someone who is just beginning their journey.

Our Julie Davidson is going to be one of the judges, and i'm going to do my breast, opps, best, to create a bra in the memory of my bff's sister Ginny, who passed away in 1997 after a 9 month battle with breast cancer. So think something with a feather boa and lights...really, lights...i'm looking for battery operated lights that i'm going to somehow magically attach to the bra because i don't know how to sew, but i've watched several episodes of Project Runway to get psyched up and honestly how hard could this be?

ps...So far i've invented a bra that you have to stand next to an electrical outlet to wear.

Resolutions-2010

2010-01-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

This year i resolve to lose weight, give up smoking for good, and try to wear grown up clothes instead of the jeans and tee-shirts that has been my uniform for the last 20 years.

2010 is really gonna suck!

Christmas 2009-part 2

2010-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

(My cousin Mardi, me, my brother Paul circa 1960-something...check out the 50 inch plasma screen tv in the background...)

My favorite Christmas memory involves my dad's layoff back in the 70's and my mom's sad "sorry kids, no presents for Christmas this year." And it's one of my favorite Christmas memories...go figure!

But here's the deal, my mom said we could vote on what we wanted for dinner and...well, we were kids, screw ham, we voted pizza, AND I had my entire family together that night-something that hasn't happened in almost 7 years since half my family isn't talking to the other half-and the night was so special, that the next year, when my dad had a new job, we didn't do presents, and a new tradition was born...the Christmas pizza...of course when i told my kids about my favorite Christmas memories they got all weirded out and wanted to know if i had gotten laid off!

Christmas 2009-Return of the family

2009-12-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

(The Huber family circa 1960-something...i'm the little girl on the left being held by my uncle, my parents are on the right.)

Everytime i need a good cry at Christmas time i throw on a Karen Carpenter Christmas tune...doesn't even matter which one, they all make me tear up...there's just something about her voice, so sad, so weary, so..."i don't have the one i love near me" tremble in her voice, even sleigh ride can get my tear ducts going...because i can just imagine her thinking, "i'm in this one horse open sleigh without the one i love, and geez it's cold!"

I live about six and a half hours from my parents, and about 4 plane hours (if you go Southwest, six if you do what use to be Midwest) from my mother-in-law and Christmas is always a reminder of that because they all claim it's too far to travel to my house for a ham dinner...but this year was different, we (hubby and I) were able to guilt my mother-in-law to fly here for Christmas (big, BIG mistake), because Milwaukee is NOT San Diego and it's not 60 degrees here at Christmas time. Nope, not even close. But mom flew here (God bless her) and paid the price, snow storms, rain, indigestion, and loud, LOUD grandkids (because they were old enough to drink) and LOUD great-grandkids, (who weren't old enough to drink) and me...old enough to drink, and darn-it, it's my house AND MY eggnog!...And so the noise, and the nerves merged together on this, the most holy of holidays, and all i could hear through the din was my blessed and very loving mother-in-law (to me) "i hear the alcohol talking!" Which was a blessing, because if it had been ME talking, it could have been brutal...none the less, it was a great day with the fam-dam-ly and next year i'm asking Santa for a big box filled with valium under the tree!

Snowmaggeadon, part 2

2009-12-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Didn't have to sleep overnight at the station, the boss made a deal with the Hilton down the road so i slid (literally) down the road to the Hilton at Park Place. And it was beautiful, puffed up pillows, sinfully comfortable bed, pool, hot tub, sauna, and me with no bathing suit. And no family. So it's 9pm in a beautiful hotel room with cable when i discover a very uncomfortable fact about myself, i'm boring, and i bore me! Oh wait, i have one ambien. Problem solved!

Snowmaggeadon 2009

2009-12-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

My car, one hour ago.

Oh yeah, i'm ready for winter now. I'm no fool, i know how nasty the weather can be, plus one year i was snowed in at a radio station...actually, i lived close enough to walk home if i was desperate enough but nobody else could get in, so in the days of 24 hour live dj's i was on the air...for 18 hours. I was so exhausted, that when i did finally get off the air and go home, i couldn't sleep!

Today, i'm ready. I have a box in my trunk that contains all my winter necessities just in case i'm snowed in at work; Pillow, blanket, box of honeydip donuts, and ambien...you can never be too careful!

Defiant!

2009-12-01T13:35:00.001-08:00

It's 51 degrees on December 1st and my beautiful iris decided to bloom! Take that mother nature!!

Long after my mums have called it a season my bearded blue iris has stuck it's neck out against the approaching winter.
DEFIANT!
I need to be more like my iris.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

2009-11-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you! I was just thinking how much i have to be thankful for...my dad's colon cancer has been in remission now for about 4 years and i'm so grateful for that. Sure, there's a little less money in the pocket then in previous years, but the bills are getting paid, my husband, kids (and grandkids are healthy) and honestly, you can't put a price on that...i mean, literally...3 years ago i was rushed to the hospital with pain so severe i thought for sure i was having a heart attack. Once in the emergency room-loaded up on morphine, i overheard my doctor talking to someone about a blood clot and how they might die. I'm thinking to myself "poor sucker, i hope they make it" until i realized it was me he was referring too...at that moment my life became crystal clear, i wasn't worried about my job or lack of fame or how broke i thought i was...my thoughts were for my husband and family and how much i loved them. Thankfully it was a misdiagnosis (although i'll be paying on that bill for the rest of my life), but from that point life became easier because i stopped sweating the small stuff (well, except for that 10 pounds i really need to lose)...it's about my family and i'm thankful this year.

And now, for the Bill Nicholson Krispy Kreme doughnut butter rum pudding!!! (As seen on the Paula Deen show)

Ingredients
2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated-you use evaporated for fudge-and this ain't fudge)
2 (4.5-ounce) cans fruit cocktail (undrained)
2 eggs, beaten
1 (9-ounce) box raisins (i don't know about you but i always skip them)1 pinch salt
1 or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Butter Rum Sauce, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cube donuts into a large bowl. Pour other ingredients on top of donuts and let soak for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together until donuts have soaked up the liquid as much as possible.

Bake for about 1 hour until center has jelled. Top with Butter Rum Sauce.

Butter Rum Sauce:

1 stick butter

1 pound box confectioners' sugar

(lot's of) Rum, to taste

Melt butter and slowly stir in confectioners' sugar. Add rum and heat until bubbly. Pour over each serving of Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.

Oh, how many calories...you don't want to know.

ps...if you don't have time to put the Krispy Kreme pudding together, do what i do...buy some Malibu Rum, put that in with the hot chocolate, slightly nuke the Krispy Kremes...eat...repeat. ; )

God bless our Veterans!

2009-11-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

I just want to thank our veterans for their sacrifice, although a simple thanks does not seem enough.
This is my favorite picture of my stepson Mark taken Christmas, 2007. His dad, mom, stepdad and I are very proud of him.

It seems like a lifetime ago that Mark was in the play Music Man in high school, singing and dancing but we always knew his desire to be a MARINE. There was never any doubt on his part. It was something he was born to do.

Mark has been to Iraq twice and will be heading to Afganistan in February, but we have never heard him complain. This is the job he signed up to do, to serve our country as a marine, and we love him very much.

May God bless all our veteran today, and everyday.

Why i don't go to Haunted Houses

2009-10-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

My teenagers are always asking me why i don't go to haunted houses, but honestly, when you work at a haunted radio station, why would you...i don't like to mix business with pleasure! I just wish the owners hadn't built the station on a haunted ancient indian burial site!

This tree is a few blocks from where i live and i like to take my grandkids by there, they get a kick out of it...there's no halloween candy at my house as my daughter was too sick to go trick or treating this year (swine flu-really, not a joke), so when i get off of work tonite i'm gonna have to go home and shake down the grandkids!

The night the remote broke

2009-10-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Two hours and 43 minutes ago Jim and Pam from the television show THE OFFICE got married. Two hours and 44 minutes ago i asked my husband to turn the channel from Channel 3 to Channel 4. It should have been real simple, but rarely is anything in life simple.

So here's what happened. My husband bought a 50 inch plasma television that has high def (whatever that means) and my husband was indeed watching the ballgame on "channel 3" but it wasn't TBS channel 3, it was the TBS in the HIGH DEF channel....with me so far? The problem was that he didn't know what the NBC channel was in high def so he started flicking through the channels...i saw 8pm come and i saw 8pm go because my husband INSISTED that i must watch the HIGH DEF channel when ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS WATCH JIM AND PAM OF THE OFFICE GET MARRIED! (oh wait, i was yelling...sorry)
Now i know what you were thinking, why didn't we just hit the guide part of the remote, but that was, um, accidently broken last week when when i flung it against a wall because once again the remote didn't work...turns out the batteries died, (which was a whole nuther problem as the kids keep substituting their worn out batteries from their ipods into the clicker and taking the good ones out)....and it was a bad week, and i had just given up smoking for the hundreth time, and if you can think of another good reason please let me know...

So what happened next is the channel got stuck on some animal fishing show...in high def...and i finally resisted the urge to bang my head against the wall, and ended up taking the dog out for a walk. As i was walking by my 84 year old neighbors house, i noticed her tv was on and stuck my head in the window to see watch channel was on...she turned and noticed me and started screaming but thankfully recognized me and didn't call the police on me as that would have been a bummer...(hey boss, the reason i won't be in work tomorrow...).
So my neighbor, being the kind of wonderful soul she is, turned from Channel 5 Survivor to Channel 4 The Office and i was able to watch the last 30 minutes of the show on a 19 inch color tv...wasn't sure if it was in high def but sincerely doubt it...some of the humor was not her style but i made up for it offering to walk her dog tomorrow morning.

When i got back home my husband was watching some baseball game...in high def.

Why Tamper with Perfection?

2009-09-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

I got an email from a friend of mine (Tom Greco) yesterday who went on and on about how awesome the remastered Beatles cd sounds "sharp, no background noise."

I don't get this fascination with "if it ain't broke, let's fix it...NEW Coke anyone(?), KFC's new grilled chicken...excuse me, you already have Original and extra crispy...could this have been the same dude that said "bacon taste good, but lets see how it tastes slathered in chocolate on a stick?" (oh wait, that WAS a good idea)

Why tamper with perfection? Who was the dude that was listening to Sgt. Pepper and thought, yeah, this is ok but how about making it sharper, ...well, it's like taking a song by Karen Carpenter (one of the world's most beautiful and soothing voices)and throwing Mariah Carey high notes to it...sooooo not necessary!

Really, if your listening to the Beatles Long and winding road and thinking this is ok, but let's add technology, you've missed the point!

FREE Family Fun at Flabbergast Saturday...A Recap

2009-09-09T19:09:00.001-07:00

I want to thank all of you who stopped out and said hi to me at Flabbergast last weekend in Sussex...

This is my friend Reyne who actually challenged me last year in the LA Weight loss Challenge, and she has actually kept ALL her weight off! We are busy petting a 69 pound Belgian Malinois from Holland that the Waukesha County Sheriff Department uses instead of German Shepard's. (Oh, the reason, because the dogs are healthier and live longer then the Shepard's, and they've cut their vet bills in half) Bronco the dog was extremely friendly but the sheriff had to keep telling me to keep my face away from his (i kept trying to hug him...apparently the dogs have a thing about people putting their face in "their face")

This is my friend Tracy who is a teacher at Early Momentum Childcare which is right next to Flabbergast. I met her a couple of years ago when i was in between radio gigs and we both worked as temps in the basement of Bradley Corporation. She is the one who taught me that "desktop" in a computer is not the same as "boy, my desktop is a mess!" She is awesome and it was great to catch up with her and her little boy Sebastian!

I LOVE the bouncy castle!!!!

While we were at Flabbergast the fine students from HEAT (cheer leading school) assured me they could teach me how to do a somersault.

I believe they were overly optimistic.
If your kids drive you crazy on the weekends, bring them out to Flabbergast in Sussex.
You can also tour Momentum Early Learning which is located right next to Flabbergast at W248 N5250 Executive Drive in Sussex.

Not my kid's BFF

2009-09-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

I was finally coerced by one of our B93.3FM sales accountants to join the rest of civilization yesterday on Facebook and OMG, there's an incredible number of you who do nothing but hangout on there and i know that because NOW I'm hanging out there too...when i wake up in the middle of the night facebook is always there...waiting for me to log on and an hour later i'm still on!!! Plus, i suck at Mafia wars, and honestly, i don't need another bouquet of flowers for my farm in Farmville...although if you have an extra sheep...

The problem with facebook was the same problem i had with myspace, linkled or whatever it's called and all the other web pages clamoring for my attention...i don't have any free extra time to read up on anyone else cuz there's just too many good shows on tv! Which brings me to another problem with facebook...my kids...i sent both of them a request to be their facebrook "friend" and i noticed this morning that my request is still pending and neither one has said anything about it...you don't think they're ignoring me do you?

Ps...oh wait, i have a friend request...uh oh, it's my boss...hmmmm....ignore...hey, you can't be friends with everyone!

Cindy at the State Fair 2009

2009-08-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Just to put an end to the "we're all the same person" rumors (which i believe our boss Stan started), this would be me, Julie, and CV hanging out at the Fair in one of those rare times that we're all up at the same time!

Isn't this little girl a sweetie?! She told her mom she wanted to meet me.

I was hoping i'd run into Roz, she of the "if you get your fingers to close to her hat it'll bite you(!) fame"... And for the record, i needed two stitches! ; )

I LOVE RONNIE NYLES! I've known her since we were starving artist in Green Bay, and what the heck, i'm still starving. Ronnie has won several best artist WAMI's and is one of the most incredible singers i've ever heard! Her partner Tina is an incredible artist as well and is one of the best hairstylists in Milwaukee and both have been incredible friends of mine and i was honored they stopped by to say hi.

I know you hear her on the air all the time, this is Karen Fox with her beautiful family and her husband whom i use to listen all the time to, before i started my shift at the same time, JJ from the Brew...i really miss him on the air.

I am the very proud "bonus" grandma to my grandson Aaron, granddaughter Lily, my stepdaughter Karen and her friend. Let me assure you, it's really a lot of fun when they're your grandkids!

One of my absolute favorite place to visit at the Fair this year (other then the Cream Puffs, chocolate bacon and baby animals barn) was the Loreal Tent where they had experts to help you and FREE MAKEUP MAKE OVERS!
This is my beauty consultant Yvette who was a sweetie, and worked very hard to give me the perfect look!
It's a pity i won't look this good until they come back and do it again next year!

Thanks Yvette...you made me look awesome, it's a pity i don't remember how you did it!
The solution to bad hair days at the Fair!

Also, you can't overeat with the Bee head on...you can't breather either!

Too old for the room

2009-07-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me why i don't do comedy anymore. That is a true friend. She's also a friend that has never seen me get up on stage and literally suck wind out of a place. I didn't even rate a heckle from the room, although the last time i got up on a comedy stage it was for a Nickelodeon funniest mom in America contest so perhaps the audience was too polite.

It was at Zanies in Chicago and for the first time ever, i didn't have to be first. (Even at Comedy graduation class-"Cindy, you go out first and warm them up"...riiiight...) Maybe that was my problem. I've always been the first one out so in the past whenever someone asked me, "how'd you do" i'd say i was great but my audience was too sober and whoever had asked would say "riiiiiight." But this time I was number 8 or 9, and here was my chance. My audience had had a few drinks and were warmed up so off on stage i went with my little yellow postnotes of solid gold nuggets written up with past experiences tweaked with my comic insights.

"Hello there, i'm Cindy Huber from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and my family thinks i have a problem with road rage. Yesterday when my daughter was in the car with me she asked me "why are you always flipping people off, i told her cuz mommy doesn't have a gun!"

That got a huge laugh but would you expect anything less from Illinois? Then i launched into a sweet but funny phone call i had made to my 98 year old grandma and the room went quiet. Deathly quiet. Except for the sound of crickets which at the time i thought was weird because here i am in downtown Chicago and it was November so how did the crickets get in here? Never had three minutes gone by so slowly (for me-so i could only imagine how the audience felt). Jokes that had worked on stage in Appleton only a year before were crashing and burning all over the place and i could smell the sulfer, and hear the crickets. The next "mommy" comic got up and told three minutes of kid fart jokes and the audience was applauding and screaming for more. I kept thinking "am i the only German in the audience who hates fart jokes"...i cringe whenever i hear Jessica Simpson say she toots in bed). But what do i know, that mommy got a call back. And my grandma died 3 days later, and with her, some of my best material.

So a couple of days ago i'm in the studio's backlot recovering from my radio show, and listening to the kids from promotions (alright, they're all in their twenties so technically they're not kids) but then again they are playing foursquare, burning off the excess energy that comes with being young with a healthy immune system but they're also shouting out categories, and if you can't keep up with the flow your out. So i thought "easy enough" and joined the fun. The subject was beer, when the ball came my way i shouted "zima" but apparently, Zima is not a malt liquor and so does not qualify. And i was out. Then the "kids" went on for 20 more minutes on beer and i didn't honestly know there was that much beer and that's big coming from someone who was once a country-western dj! But i'm no quitter, so when they paused i jumped into the game again and rattled off the next subject. Menopause. "Mood swings!" I won.

Sara's burial garden plot

2009-06-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, first i have to tell you, this was not a burial plot. It was suppose to be a vegetable garden!

Last year my daughter cleared a spot in the backyard, and we had the greatest garden! Even the bunnies liked it, but for the most part, all the tomatoes survived and it was great. This year my daughter expanded the spot until it unfortunately resembled...a plot. Or as my husband called it, "a baby burial plot." But that was because we hadn't put the vegetables in yet, we were waiting for payday to do it. In the meanwhile my neighbor found another dead robin in her yard. It was the second one to fall out of the tree with no other signs of trauma. She was quite disturbed and i asked my husband (a mortician) if he would go over and get rid of it for her (since death is normally no big deal for him). The last thing i told him was "whatever you do, don't throw the bird in Sara's garden burial plot."

So guess where he buried the bird?

You got it...Sara's garden burial plot!
And my daughter is IRATE.

But wait, it gets better!

In the meantime, my neighbor saw something in the paper that said if you have more then one robin die mysteriously, you have to call the DNR. Which she did. And then she told me what they said.

They said, we have to go out, dig out the robin from the "burial plot" and wrap it in a double baggie, and put it in our freezer til they can come get it and check it out to make sure it doesn't have the West Nile virus or something.

I'm calling my husband right now. You don't think i'm going out there to dig it up do you?

Next years garden...this year

2009-06-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

I have always dreamed of a garden in which the impatiens and begonias were color coordinated and the weeds thinned themselves. I have always thought myself "a gardener" but my husband says that's too strong a word. He says I'm more like a four year old someone gave a hand grenade to and told to go crazy-without the bloodshed.

Every spring i start the season vowing this is going to be the best year ever! I start out at Kmart (because they have the cheapest prices in my area) with about 40 dollars of dreams and stamina. I say stamina because after i get home with all my impatiens and geraniums and waxed begonias, it suddenly dawns on me "whose gonna plant all this crap?"

Pictured above is last years "next years garden project." What you see is my neighbors crappy fence and about 40 bucks of Publishers Clearing house irises and glads (10 dollars a month in 4 monthly installments!) which i planted in remembrance of my grandmother and uncle. (Actually i planted a cherry tree in honor of my grandmother but the rabbits ate it.) They've (bunnies) left the iris and glads alone. Shortly after i took this picture the lavender my neighbor gave me bloomed. You can't really see this because it's hunched over as the bunnies have been chomping on it, but the smell is absolutely intoxicating!

Everything in this picture (above) was donated years ago. The hosta's, the snow on the mountain, and the bush on the right. I have no idea what that bush is called, my neighbor Violet didn't want it, and so i went over and dug it up. Also pictured is the phlox before they bloomed. They're the tall plants to the right of the hosta's and next to the bush.

I LOVE pansy's but they break my heart every year. They look beautiful until July 4th, you don't even have to look at the calender, July 4th they still look great but i swear to God the very next day, July 5th, they bend over and die, they can't take the heat. It doesn't stop me from planting them, I mean what else can you plant in March that will survive the early spring frost?! The pansy's are the yellow and blue in the background. They looked incredible this past May but you can already see them fading.

I should have suspected something when a fellow coworker gave me a small paper bag with an innocent looking little "weed" and told me "just be careful where i plant it." I should have said "why?" I didn't and as you can see, this little "perennial" is taking over the entire yard and running over everything in it's path. I've spent three years trying to dig it up and it's spent all three years going "up yours" and re rooting itself all over my other hosta's and perennials. I recently went to a garden store and saw they were selling this "plant" for six bucks for a three pound bucket. You are welcome to come dig mine up for FREE! I'll even provide you a shovel.

Life in 46 seconds

2009-06-02T21:37:00.001-07:00

There's a sad story out of Oklahoma City involving a Desert Storm veteran who worked as a pharmacist in a crime ridden section of the city, and an unarmed 16 year old who made the fatal mistake of helping his 14 year old friend with a robbery one week ago today. Except, neither boy expected the pharmacist to have a gun. The entire botched scheme was caught on video, and the robbery, from start to death took only 46 seconds.
In the first 10 seconds the armed 14 year old, and his unarmed friend enter the pharmacy, with the 14 year old waving the gun as his 16 year old friend struggles to put his mask on. In the next few seconds all hell breaks lose as the 16 year old jerks to the right of the video and falls to the ground while the 14 year old runs out of the store. The Desert Storm veteran is seen holding a gun and chasing (and firing) two more shots at the 14 year old. The pharmacist then returns and after checking on his two female employees, returns to the injured 16 year old and fires FIVE more shots into his stomach, killing him. The entire scene plays out in about 46 seconds on video. The police filed murder charges against the pharmacist after viewing the video.

You occasionally hear about these stories in the news, thief killed by store clerk in robbery attempt but maybe it's because after several years of living in Milwaukee I thought I was immune to the stories, until I saw this bad decision by a couple of teens play out on video, in only 46 seconds.

You have to wonder how long the teens planned for this, a couple of days, a week(?), did they single out this particular pharmacy or was it just opportunity, and a gun? And just how did the 14 year old get the gun, or did he steal it, did the boys flip a coin to decide who would hold the gun, or did the 14 year old have to talk the older teen into helping with the robbery, which I suspect could have been the case after watching the 16 year old struggle to put his mask on while his friend waved the gun. You have to wonder on watching this if it ever crossed their mind that maybe something could go wrong, or were they too focused on what they could buy with all their easy money. Did they ever once consider how easy it would be to die, in only 46 seconds.

Tonight, it's one week later and the 16 year old is in the ground while his 14 year old friend is behind bars, and a disabled Desert Storm veteran with a legally concealed weapon is facing murder charges, thanks to a bad decision played out in life, in only 46 seconds.

Being Stalked by Swine Flu

2009-04-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

With all the tv coverage on the latest "soon to be" health disaster swine flu, it almost appears the swine's are getting even with us for our love of sausage. So the next time you open that package of bacon, make sure you look over your shoulder because...

Oh wait. It's a flu, that started with swine? Wow, i've always heard that pigs were smart, and now they've found a way to wipe us humans out with...

Look, i'm not trying to be funny, (oh wait, yes i am!) but my lack of humor is beside the point. Yes, people in Mexico have died from swine flu. People in Wisconsin die from drunken drivers. Maybe it's the fear of being struck down by something you can't see, much like any of those horror movies that have Jason in them, where you just know you shouldn't spend the night in that abandened summer camphouse, but you just can't help it...although in this case it's the flu, and it's hiding out in a beach near Cancun...well that explains the recent swine flu case involving drunken college students...i presume they had plenty to drink but you know what, maybe they were all sipping tea...no wait, they were college kids in Cancun! Are you sure they weren't drinking the water?

I can remember the hysteria over Aids in the 80's...Oh my goodness, beware of gay men! Oh wait, it's a virus...it affects the immune system. You don't have to be gay to get it. It's viral opportunity, let your guard down, let your immune system suffer, and one of many hundreds of thousands of viruses just waiting for their chance will pounce.

So don't eat meat, stomach cancer, don't go out in the sun, skin cancer, don't fly in airplanes, terrorists. Do like i'm planning to do, lay in a fetal position on the couch with a glass of red wine and the weather channel on the tube...til the husband stops paying the cable bill (or i run out of red wine) and i'm forced to go back to work.

My grandmother Reba Davison, who was a nurse and spent her life in the health industry survived the great flu epidemic of 1917-1918 and i asked her if she was ever scared. "No," she said, "i just washed my hands, washed my hands." And honestly, that's the best way to prevent most flu's, cold's, noroviruses, and um...colds, wait, i said that already.

So tonite, wash your hands, wash your hands, turn off the news, and enjoy the sunset...now where's my red wine?

We might need a new word for racist.

2009-02-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

You were probably as shocked as i was to hear that Disney's Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, is a racist.

You see, sometime last weekend, Miley and her friends were goofing off while the paparazzi were near and Miley pulled her eyes in a slanted position. RACIST! That's right, Miley Cyrus got up that morning and decided to insult all of her Asian fans...at least that's the position of the OCA, which is an organization dedicated to the well being of Asian Pacific American's. They urged Miley to apologize and she did, explaining to anyone who would listen that she didn't mean to insult Asians...she was just trying to be goofy!

Sure, whatever Miley, we're on to you.

Honestly, racism is an ugly word that involves the idea that one's race is superior to another...but we've been throwing the word racist around for just about every stupid thing lately, that i believe we've totally diluted the meaning. We may have to invent a new word that means racist.

And if you don't agree with me, your probably a racist.

(see how stupid that sounds?)

Cindy

No good deed goes unrewarded...

2009-01-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

Last week when the temperature was minus 10 below and the windchill double that...my mom and her friend were turning around in an Iowan parking lot when they saw a small cat dragging itself through the frozen pavement. The cats back paws appeared to be frozen and it was literally trying to pull it's body across the ground.

Well, who wouldn't be moved at the sight of such suffering? My mom immediately stopped the car and her friend rushed over to rescue the cat. My mom took the cat home, fed it some milk, wrapped it in a sweater and took it over to the family vet. The vet said, "what do you want me to do with it" and my mom replied, "save it."

My mom couldn't keep it as she already has three dogs but her friend offered to give it a home. The vet said that the cat would probably lose the top of her ears and perhaps a paw, but one day later, after putting the cat on an IV, the vet said it was looking pretty good for the cat. They just needed to do one more test.

The test came back positive for feline leukemia, and the cat was put down.

The vet bill came in the mail today. It was 200 bucks.

A New Day...or just a song by Celine Dion

2009-01-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we get a new President! (and a free donut from Krispy Kremes...hey wait, they give you a free donut just for walking in the door there...doesn't matter, any excuse will do for a donut!)

You'd think it was the Second Coming by the way people are acting about the inauguration and you know what, it's about time. But i don't mean just because it's President-elect Obama, we should have been doing this every four years, even if it was a president we didn't vote for...because democracy won. People voted, and the guy with the most votes won...Someday we might even say the gal won...Anyhoo, this is the way it works in America, and we're about the only country this happens in...Um Canada, I said just about or aboot, eh?...

You know what's happening in Russia? Putin, the guy that use to be Russia's president who hates our guts...he hand selected a a "puppet" um, man to be president when the Russian constitutional forbid him from ruling...i mean serving three terms...his yes man then made him prime minister, and then changed the constitution so when Putin fixes the Russian election and renames himself president, he won't have to worry about a crazy little thing called term limits. Oh, and when honest journalists and lawyers point out inconvenient truths about how he's actually running and trashing the country, they get assassinated.

So, it's a new day tomorrow, good luck and God bless our new President...and please resist the urge to trash the last one...it's time to move on.

(ps...New Day is a song by Celine Dion, but i prefer Love Can Move Mountains...i love songs with choirs in them.)

Thankful.

2008-11-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

From February 2006...

I have always envied people who live near their parents...i'd hear them gripe and complain and i'd think..."wouldn't that be cool to live close to your parents so you could see them whenever you want - wouldn't that be a luxury instead of maybe a week out of a year and then again when there's a funeral to attend?" Tomorrow i load up the kids and head out to Iowa...a place where i use to joke "it's not the end of the world but you can see it from there...the big thing in the summer is to sit on my brothers roof and watch the storms roll in...i try to time the vacation so we get at least one tornado warning while we're there...

But lately the trips to Iowa have taken a different tone...my grandma is 98 this year, and my dad is fighting cancer and i find myself holding on to them a little bit longer and begging for stories about when they were younger...you know, the stories they've told a hundred times that i use to be able to say in my sleep...like the one where my aunt met Elvis Presley and was so nervous that when he asked her who her favorite singer was she blirted out "Pat Boone" (totally true)...Elvis thought it was funny BUT for years afterwards when anyone said something STUPID we'd say "Pat Boone."

Every spring my mom and i visit the graves of my great grandparents to lay flowers but the last couple of years she's taken to pointing out the spot where she and dad want to be buried and i find myself being jolted by an incredible burst of pain...like, someday it's going to be my turn to bring my daughter here to lay flowers and honestly, i don't think i'm ready for it, and time which use to move so slowly in Iowa is now suddenly moving too fast for me...but you know what..?
Tomorrow is a time for celebration because i'm going to go home and see my family and even if i win the lottery someday...I will never be as rich as i am now, at this moment.

November 2008 update...

My grandmother passed away later that year, and my grandfather-who i told you about last year when he got married again at 92(!!!)-just had a stroke about 3 weeks ago and doesn't know anyone including his lovely 85 year old bride...but you know what, i'm so thankful because my dad who had been fighting prostate AND colon cancer, is winning the battle! And my stepson Mark who has been to Iraq TWICE, is currently home on US soil and i'm incredibly thankful for that. And sure, i'd like to go home to Iowa to see my parents this Thanksgiving, but i have three kids at home, neighbors whom i love, one turtle and one demented dog, and i'm going to really enjoy this Thanksgiving surrounded by all of them.

"He's not my president..."

2008-11-11T16:17:00.000-08:00

Just wondering...I didn't vote Obama...do i get to say "he's not my president..."

Because for the last eight years, that's been the thing to say when your candidate loses. "He's not my president."

I've never understood that, "he's not my president." But the bottom line is, whether i like it or not, he is going to be the president, and honestly, this nation NEEDS him to be successful, so the bottom line is; I didn't vote for him, but Obama is my president.

Just one thought President-elect Obama,

You promised your daughters a dog if you won the election...might i suggest one of our beautiful Wisconsin greyhounds? See, this way your daughters would have the joy of a dog who acted like a cat...sort of a two for one deal...just think about, ok?

Cindy Huber
ps...God bless our veterans and their families...thank you very much for your sacrifices.

It's so hard to say goodbye...

2008-11-11T15:58:00.001-08:00

For most of this fall, i've been bringing my pots from outside into the house to protect them from the cooler autumn nights, but my husband finally put his foot down today saying the entire house was starting to smell like moldy dying plants, which is something coming from a funeral director...i would have thought his nose would be immune to that by now...but noooo....which is why, on this last sunny freak 70 day i'm gathering up my potted outdoor plants and saying goodbye.

So i'll start by saying goodbye goofy low hanging plant whose name i can't remember but i think started with a "b", i'll really miss banging my head on the bottom of your basket everytime i walked out the front door...but it was worth it because you looked stunning most of this summer.

Goodbye metal bistro set, which in concept, should have worked, but we didn't count on the tree branch that hung directly over the table, or the birds that ate the berries directly over our table, and then used the table as a pooping target...or at least that's what it looked like most of this summer.

Goodbye hobbits playing chess who did a poor job of protecting my ferns from the rabbits and chipmunks...have a nice winter rest in the garage, perhaps you can protect the lawnblower from the snowblower, or vice-versa.

VOTE!

2008-11-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

I was amused at how all the local news channels were covering the election...folks, this occurs every four years, until they started interviewing people who were in their 40's and 50's who have never voted until today claiming they didn't feel they had a voice before...then i was annoyed...shame on those people...you had a voice...you just chose not to use it!

Not me...i cast my vote every four years and some years i'm real excited about the choices, and some years, not so much. I've also written a candidate's name on the ballet because the man i absolutely respect, Ralph Nader, needed my vote, regardless of whether he had a shot or not, because as he has said...

"A vote for someone you don't believe in, is a wasted vote."

Plus, my vote canceled out Julie Davidson's...sorry Julie...; )

This could have been anyone of us...

2008-10-23T13:56:00.001-07:00

Seriously, this could have been anyone of us on any given day..."but Cindy, i don't drag race..." Perhaps you don't...it's been years since i was challenged to a race and yes, i did use to race back in the late 70's...i was a very good kid (i think anyway) who worked fulltime, and went to college fulltime and didn't drink (well, in the early years anyway)...but yes, i did race my dad's 76 Buick "boat" down Highway 47 at speeds at over 100 miles per hour, and this was the era before seatbelts-no one i knew wore them. And i have no excuse for it. I can't even tell you why i did except someone said "hey Cindy, i'll beat ya to Denny's" or something stupid to that effect...At any time i could have lost control and killed myself, or just as important, i could have killed someone else, someone who didn't deserve to die just because i wanted to shave 3 minutes off my drivetime to Denny's.

Stupid, stupid, stupid...and i still can't tell you why i did it...i have no excuse; i did it and i was lucky, and so was everyone else that day. I was a good kid, doing something incredibly insane, and i was lucky it didn't cost me.

Yet, i see the same mistake happening over and over on Highway 45 on my way to work and back every single day...not that anyone is officially drag racing

...No officer, they're not drag racing, they're just late for work, or running late, or in a hurry, or not paying attention with their speed...

Honestly, it seems as i've slowed down, everyone else is speeding up...if i drive 55 on I-45 i'm afraid i'm going to get run over by a SUV or a truck...don't believe me...feel free to follow me home tonite at 8pm...it's a lot of fun, believe me, but it's not for the faint of heart...

This picture above (reprinted from WTMJ 4) absolutely breaks my heart and my sympathy and prayers are with the family of Justin Meyers, but don't think for one second that couldn't be one of us at any given moment, on any given highway here in Milwaukee.

They're like cats...except they're dogs and they need a foster family

2008-10-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Question...would you like a dog but worried about long term commitment? Also...do you think this picture of Flanders and Fiona is cute?!

I just got an email from Ellen Paulus of Greyhound Pets of America-Wisconsin chapter...there is a real pressing need for foster homes for these Greyhounds...there is just too many retired greyhounds and not enough homes...but this isn't like adopting an animal where you have to take care of it for years and years...(you know, like adopting a turtle, i found out i'm on the hook for 75 years!)
Anyway, here's the email

..."Greyhounds make wonderful pets and there is always a surplus of them. People think they'd be wild and energetic, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are really laid back and calm dogs. More like cats actually."

Hi, we're adorable, and we need a home.

Greyhound Pets of America could really use your help to act as a temporary foster homes for these ex-racers to make a transition to home life while waiting for a home. If your interested, just email my friend Ellen at pauprint@execpc.com. Or if you want, check out the greyhound website at www.gpawisconsin.org.

NO MORE AUTOGRAPHS!

2008-10-14T17:20:00.001-07:00

Ringo Starr has announced on his website that as of October 20th, he will no longer be signing autographs or answering his fan mail...and you know what's weird? Up til today, i couldn't have cared less about a Ringo Starr autograph and now all of a sudden i WANT ONE! That's right, 24 hours ago if you had said "hey cindy, Ringo's in the hallway passing out autographs--do ya want one" i'd be like, "nah, not right now, i'm checking to see if the coffee's fresh...or trying to download Beyonce ringtones or watching paint dry..." But now that Ringo has given us some kind of deadline, i'm frantically trying to come up with a Ringo address...

So i went on line and to the best of my knowledge this is his fan mail address;
Ringo Starr
1st Floor
90 Jermyn Street
London SW
146JD
UK

I have to give Ringo credit, i do have to tell you he has a reputation for being one of the nicer celebrities in the business and who does, in fact, answer his mail which was also the basis of a famous Simpson episode which appeared in 1991...(yes, i'm a Simpson geek-it was the greatest episode ever)

Oh, and by the way, Ringo's got a new cd coming out...it's called Liverpool 8....hmmmmmmmm, publicity stunt?

Random thoughts from a simple mind...

2008-10-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Only OJ Simpson, found guilty of all 12 charges of kidnapping and robbery by an all white jury, could claim he was a victim of racism...which, i believe was the same claim made by others after he was found not guilty of murder by an almost all black jury 13 years ago!

News flash...apples can lower your risk of cancer, diabetes, and lower your cholesterol...cool...when they turn it into a pill I'll start taking it!

So another presidential debate...um...i mean town hall meeting comes and goes and Obama and McCain must think we're stupid...ok...maybe not Obama and McCain, both whom i personally like but neither one of them said or offered up one real thing that i could go, "you have my vote..." I mean there was nothing new to go on (one's about change although I'm not sure how since he didn't go into details and one is a maverick, but couldn't really come up with anything that separated him from the current administration) and i guess maybe i should blame their handlers, press agents or whoever is telling them what to say...or i could just go "screw you both I'm voting Nader!"

And tomorrow John Lennon would have been 68 years old...what a waste huh? And the guy that shot him, Mark David Chapman, recently tried to get paroled after 28 years...it was denied of course...do you remember the reason Mark gave for killing a Beatle? He wanted to become famous!...Well Mark, if you wanted to spend less time in jail, maybe you should have killed someone a little less famous!!!

True ghost story...or why i don't get coffee after 8 here.

2008-10-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

After suffering through the final Brewer loss of the season, and unwilling to subject myself to yet another Packer disaster, i decided to take a little walk through the woods...me, the dog, and an interesting tree...hey wait a minute...look closer...did that tree just wink at me?
It's interesting what you can find if your just willing to look a little closer, like here at work, for instance...now i don't believe in ghosts...but i do believe that there are people here that do...and that's because a certain little spirit has been bothering them late at night...apparently this ghost shows up sometime after 8 pm when most of the employees here have gone home and are listening to Terry Love on the radio...now i want to emphasize that this certain "spirit" has never bothered me ever...I've never had the hair on the back of my neck stand up, I've never had the chill of fear or whatever you get when something from another dimension shows up...but that might be because this--whatever it is--doesn't particularly care for me...nope...this "spirit or mist" likes to bother the female jock on our alternative rock sister station...showing up late at night to peek through her window while she's on the air...it doesn't hurt that she's cute, young and blond i suppose...making me suspect that this is a male spook...although, it scared the heck out of another of their early morning weekend jocks, who happened to be male, which makes me think that the spook overslept...which again, makes me suspect it's not only a male ghost, it's probably a teen...one of our older jocks who is "in tune" to this sort of thing once observed this spook who was walking around late at night wearing a baseball cap and cut-offs and little else...which struck her as weird as it was late December...oh, and she could see through him--that was the other tip off that something wasn't normal...however, when this "thing" realized he-it-whatever was being observed...he disappeared...totally freaking her out...which is why when she comes to work late at night she always brings coffee from home now, and which is why I, who firmly doesn't believe in such nonsense...never goes into the last place this spook was observed after 8 pm (the kitchen)...not because i believe or i'm afraid, but because i figure i have enough problems with the live ones...why cheese off the undead?

Lose ten pounds in two days! My new diet "secret!"

2008-09-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

I once had a friend who lost almost 50 pounds in one year, and when i asked her how in the heck she did it she said one word..."gallbladder"...(or is that two words...I'm not sure because on the surface it looks like two words but when you type it out as gall bladder...see, it looks weird, doesn't it?!)

Now I'm not one to play the blame game but "curse you Wisconsin State Fair" with your half price Cream puffs and your delightful funnel cake stand situated directly across from where i was forced-against my will-to stare at your sign while i attempted to do a live broadcast from the fair...I've had nothing but stomach problems since. I've spent the last 3 weeks being sicker then a dog and like any concerned person, went directly to a informed source to further research my painful problem...that is, i called my mom...(she use to be a nurse and because of that and because of the fact that she is my mom...she officially knows everything...and she did, too!) I told her that lately everytime i eat something i get sick. She carefully considered this statement and then replied, "what are you eating?"...(see?...mom knows how to ask the tough questions!)

And i gotta tell you...i like to eat crap...or more specifically...fried crap...fries and Flintstones vitamins capped with a vanilla coke...(honestly, who needs drugs with you have vanilla coke-and it's still legal...although good luck finding vanilla coke!) And yes, i know i was on a big radio station contest with the awesome folks at LA Weight Loss and honestly, when i followed their plan i lost the weight, and i can just as honestly tell you that fries, and vanilla coke were not on it...or cream puffs...or funnel cakes...or deep fried snickers...i'm telling you i was doing great til the State Fair and then i fell off the eating healthy wagon right into the pits of deep fried heavenly hell!--(with a fringe on top.) Unfortunately willpower is not my God.

It was then i remembered my friend from Green Bay. She lost a lot of weight because of her gallbladder! She didn't get it removed until it became...well, almost a dangerous situation...You've seen that pill that advertises that it will flush out your fat when you take it with meals...sure, the one with all the embarrassing side effects like gas, and painful stomach upset, and exploding diarrhea...well, a gallbladder is like ALL that but without the 50 dollar price tag for 60 caplets...in other words, i'm getting the product for free!

On the plus side, i've just spent the last week cutting down on fried and greasy foods and it was a lot easier then i thought...and what made it so easy was everytime i cheated and ate something that tasted better then heaven, i had to grab a book and head to the bathroom...so now i'm looking at food and thinking to myself, is that delicous Taco John fried potato yummy thingy worth leaning against the toilet for three hours waiting to throw up...?

So after i consulted my mother the nurse, do you think i did the natural follow-up and consulted the doctor-haha...i mean the internet...you betcha! It's amazing what information you can find if you type in gallbladder detox...WOW! (pages and pages of stuff...(and not one piece of internet porn!) Unfortunately every single piece of gallbladder detox starts out the same way..."STOP EATING FRIED FOOD."

So i've found one detox recipe i think will work...or actually because it's about the only one that's easy enough for me to attempt...it involves 1. 8 ounce glass of apple juice, blended with 4-6 cloves of garlic that i have to roast for about 30 minutes...(now, i've never roasted garlic before...do i then put the roasted cloves directly into the juice or do you crunch them or...i always just buy garlic salt so i wanted to check with you first...) ...then i have to add ginger root and after i blend it all...i'm suppose to drink it...um...maybe i should call a doctor...right after i eat this donut one of the kids forgot to hide...

Actually, it was a quiet week...

2008-08-25T17:38:00.001-07:00

Heeeeeeeey, it could've been worse, it could have been Alf. Speaking of celebrities, now it can be revealed that actor David Duchovny's recent rehab stay for sex addiction was actually an addiction for internet porn...couldn't they have just saved the money for rehab and canceled the internet?
So THIS is why Joanne Beachum couldn't work over the weekend. Our Joanne went and adopted this kitty (yes, the one pictured) from Purebreadcatrescue.org. And yet, amazingly enough, they still have a couple of cats left if you want to adopt a kitty, or cat...go ahead, check for yourself! Now how weird is this...the author of the best-selling novel THE Horse Whisperer, his wife, her sister and brother-in-law are all in the hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms they picked in the woods, cooked, and ate. It was serious enough that they all had to have dialysis. (You see, that right there, is why i only eat cheese pizza!)

Cloris Leachman is going to be one of the oldest dancers ever on Dancing with the Stars. Cloris is 82. Julie Davidson and i got our butts kicked by a 72 year old in a dance competition so do not rule out Cloris! (By the way, that is my grandmother Reba V. Davidson with Cloris...my grandmother use to babysit Cloris when she was a little girl) Meanwhile, everyone who was ripping on Republican John McCain for being too old, is now ripping on his running mate Sarah Palin for have a pregnant teenage daughter...(honestly i could care less...what does a pregnant teenager have to do with starving polar bears in Alaska or global warming or less foreign oil, cuz that's what i'm worried about this year)

My "next year's garden"

2008-08-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

(This is a picture of one of my gardens, and that thing on the right is something called "lambs ear" which is very soft but doesn't do anything...it doesn't bloom, it doesn't smell...my grandson likes to pet it...but if you want it i'll trade you it for some black eye susans)

I have a saying this time of year when i know i did everything i possibly could to make my garden nice, but somehow it didn't match my vision, and now the season is coming to an end. I go "maybe i didn't get it as nice as i wanted, but there's always "next years garden!"
It's no secret in my neighborhood that i'm gardened challenged. I once planted a pretty cherry tree i bought for four easy payments for my grandma's 99th birthday, and that tree didn't even survive to the fourth payment. Then again, i've had some happy surprises. Like three years ago when i planted a sprig of peppermint because i like the smell of peppermint and exactly one year later the peppermint had pretty much overtaken the entire garden. Now to you, this could have been a big crisis, but i had just discovered how to make mojitos and now, just about every August 1st, i dig up the entire harvest of peppermint, invite the neighbors over and i'm the life of the party! Plus, the peppermint battles the "snow on the mountain perennials" i stupidly planted a few years ago. Now, that's a stinking crisis!

(This picture is next years next years garden)
I start out the summer with a dream, one or two garden coupons and a gardening catalog. I know exactly where i'm going with this, and how nice my garden is going to look...til i get to the gardening place and then it's like i have ADD...oh wait, i do have ADD. Then it becomes "boy oh boy look at the pretty flowers, and oh, i want that one and that one..." Then i go home and my husband goes "oh my God, how much did you spend?!" So i start digging holes and eventually i find a place for everything i bought. I'm out every morning with a garden hose and miracle grow and my weeding thingy i bought off the internet and "is that another weed?...darn it!" And it's always a happy surprise when plants thrive and prosper, and then again it's always painful when they crash and burn...and wilt...and die (kinda like being a Cub fan). Then again, i've discovered things that are pretty cool along the way, like rotting bananas don't always have to attract fruit flies on your kitchen counter...you can bury them next to the rose plants for fertilizer, and cheap beer your never going to drink can be used to kill the bugs that are trying to kill your roses...and, that's about it i guess...
So this growing season is over and maybe my garden didn't turn into the garden of Eden i'd been hoping for... but that doesn't matter, cuz there's always my "next years garden."

He leaves the light on for me

2008-08-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wondered what this radio jock does after she leaves the station...wait...you've never wondered...not ever?! Shoot...because, when i was a little girl listening to the radio and television, i use to imagine all of my favorite celebrities leaving the airwaves and heading out to their fabulous lives which involved mansions and kids didn't try to stay out all night. But honestly, perhaps celebrities are humans, just like you and me, who put their pant legs on, one leg at a time. ("more cowbell please")

And maybe none of them are lucky to have someone waiting home for them, like i do. Sure, my babe Max is only 12 pounds soaking wet, and honestly, i know that for a fact because he spilled over his water dish the other night in disgust because his food bowl was empty, and then for the fun of it--and because i had a couple of vodka lemonaides in me--i said "hey kids, the dog is soaking wet, let's weigh him!"

But, much like death and taxes, acne breakouts just before a special event, or a craving for a hot fudge sundae two minutes after Kopps closes for the night...my baby is always waiting for me...with his leash...ready for a walk regardless of whether it's raining, sleeting or lightning...which is comforting in a weird sort of way, knowing at least one person in the house is glad to see me, although on the other hand...doesn't anyone else walk the da*n dog during the day!

A CarTune Contest i'm excited to give you!

2008-08-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start this by saying "i hate getting old!" Ok, now that i stated the obvious, i just want to tell you how excited i am to share this contest with you. I first heard about profractional lazer two years ago on a tv show called LOOK TEN YEARS YOUNGER (where they put women in a glass tube in the middle of a mall and have people try to guess her age). Usually people would guess the women older then they really were, the women would freak out, the show would give them a profractional treatment and trot them back out to the glass tube where people would say, "wow, look at how young that sourpuss looks"-ok, i was the sourpuss because i figured i'd never be able to afford anything like that. Flash forward two years later and the treatment is not only affordable, but everyone is doing it...Kathie Lee Gifford-for instance, and this radio station.

That's right, this is me, looking like, well, the sourpuss that needs profractional help, or a weekend in the Dells...either way, i was lucky enough to team up with the great staff at TLC Lazer and Skin Center of Oconomowoc and experience a profractional treatment for myself.

This is immediately after the procedure. Ugh...i hate posting these photos but that's part of the deal...there's no way i'm going to promote something without trying it out myself!

This is RIGHT after my profractional treatment. I was somewhat nervous to post these next couple of photos because your looking at these and going "what the heck?! Ouch, why would anyone do that?" And here's the reality, i'm not in any pain...not at all, in fact i'm actually thinking about where i'm gonna stop to pick up lunch. And then i went to work...and grossed everyone out. Most people do this and go home, but i had no pain and figured shoot, i work in radio, whose gonna see me? The guy at Burger King seemed a little worried and asked if i needed any medical attention but i said "no, just a BK Mocha Joe and a whopper junior, no mayo and i went to work.

This is one week later after my profractional treatment and i'm feeling great...my eyes have moved up to where they were a few years ago, and my skin feels brand new. Most of my wrinkles are gone and i haven't had an acne break-out since!

If you want to check out TLC Laser of Oconomowoc at www.tlclaserandskincare.com--there's a link to their place on our home page at B933fm.com website cuz darn it, i'm not getting their web address to link with my site...i'm gonna try to fix that tomorrow.
Congrats to my CarTune GRAND PRIZE WINNER...Rose Karl! : )

I got to stop standing next to skinny people in photos.

2008-08-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Honestly, i got to stop standing next to skinny people!

However, i didn't mind it so much last weekend when i met Dancing with the Stars Elena Grinenko and Tony Dovolani--Tony was the partner of country singer Sara Evans when she dropped out of Dancing with the Stars. Fred Astaire Dance Studio was doing a "Night out with the Stars" and for 50 bucks you could get a dinner, dance, and hang out with the celebrities...and by celebrities i mean Tony and Elena, i was just there cuz i'm a huge fan.

So there i am, the fat one in the picture, but for once i didn't mind because, well...look at Tony. He's super hot! And i've got my arm around him! So anyhoo, i tell him my sad pathetic story of how i ended up sixth place in a dancing competition that only had six people in it. And how one of them was a 71 year old sausage king...who outdanced me! Then Tony looked at me with his deep dark eyes and softly whispered...ok, now i'm just messing with you...he simply said, "did you have fun?"

And honestly, i did. I didn't place first but i had a blast, and developed an appreciation for how involved some of these dances are. When you watch the dancers on the tube you and i are simply looking at their costumes and enjoying the music they selected, but the judges are studying their foot movements because each dance has it's specific foot placement. (That, i'm pretty sure, is what sunk me in my dance competition.) And then Tony told me that they have no idea if they are going to dance in any specific season and are notified just about the same time it's announced to the public. They are also just as surprised with who they are assigned to dance with and find out about a day before they actually meet their celebrity partner. And then someone took this picture and they were off to mingle with the other fans...but not before i told them about deep fried snickers which Tony thought sounded delicious. So if Tony looks a little heavier this fall...

DEEP FRIED SNICKERS recipe
*from recipezaar.com*

Snickers candy bars
funnel cake mix
frying oil

1. Push popcicle sticks into Snickers bar from bottom about half way up.
2. Freeze Snickers until frozen solid.
3. Funnel cake batter
4. Dip frozen snicker in batter.
5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown (just a few minutes).
6. Remove from oil and drain.
7. Top with powdered sugar if desired. (Cindy note: heck yeah!)
8. Can also use twinkie if you want.
9. After a few of these, make sure you are not standing next to any skinny people if someone has a camera.
10. Repeat.

I saw YOU at the fair...

2008-07-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Luckily-for this listener anyway- i didn't run into Peta, although, this hat gave me a great idea...when my dog dies i'm having him stuffed and turned into a hat!

You know what i love best about the fair? You run into everyone you know...like Chris, (pictured above with her beautiful family), an awesome angel (although she prefers to be called nurse) who helped me and my friend through our externship at St. Lukes Heart Failure Clinic. (Hey Chris, say hi to Cheryl, Sue, Tammi and Nancy for me-i love you all!!!)
My daughter and her friends Elizabeth and Emily...we discovered a sad truth; although funnel cakes are TOTALLY AWESOME(!)...not if you eat one first thing in the morning.

You've met our midday hostess Julie Davidson, right? As wonderful and sweet in person as she is on the air. (She was also very sweet and humble the night she kicked my butt in a celebrity dancing competition...although we both got beat by a 72 year old sausage king) Pictured with us is my adopted son "promotion guy" Ryan in a rare photograph...you may think we're smiling and having a good time but actually Julie and me are holding on to Ryan so we can get a picture of him.

So what was our promotion guy Ryan doing when not getting his picture taken? Another promotion guy stood in for this shot.

This is our over-worked staff here at Milwaukee radio and without them, there is no B93.3 radio!

This is the lovely 2008 Alice in Dairyland who kindly offered to go on the air with me everyday and talk about all the great products Wisconsin produces...like bison burritos, duck fahitas, maple sugar cotton candy and...wait a minute...how did this TMJ bag get in the shot?!

Here's a shot of a listener who said hi...too bad i didn't get his name, but he sure seemed nice...

Turtles grieve too...

2008-07-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have blogged before about how much i love turtles. It was a happy accident. My son got a turtle for his birthday present and i tried to read up as much as i could on turtles and found out all sorts of interesting things like how turtles have taste buds and can be finicky and how turtles-at least this one, will probably outlive me.

I also suspected for sometime that turtles have some sort of emotion as i know how much our turtle likes looking at himself in the mirror, except, of course, he doesn't know he's looking at himself. He thinks he's looking at another turtle. He will stare for hours at the mirror and try to bounce up against the glass of his cage to get at the "other turtle." And at times when we've moved the mirror (for some reason or another) he seemed to get depressed. So this article from Hawaii does not surprise me in the least. It does break my heart...it will probably break yours as well.

Nature at its Finest
By Ron Mizutani
When it comes to science, there is a strong effort not to give animals human characteristics, like feelings and emotions. But something happened at Laniakea Beach on Oahu's north shore Monday afternoon that challenges this concept and makes you appreciate nature at its finest.

Dozens of people flock the shoreline at Laniakea Beach hoping to get a glimpse of the Hawaiian Sea Turtle. News of the slaughtering of "Honey Girl" a frequent visitor to Turtle Beach, has generated even more interest in the threatened species.

"Look at how much joy people get out of this and then something like this somebody does something horrible it's terrible," said Heidi Walden an Ewa Beach resident.

But what happened Monday afternoon tugs at your heart even more. A large male, known as "Kuhina" suddenly appeared on the shore and quietly made his way to a memorial that volunteers had set up for Honey Girl.

"They had to move the ropes aside so he could come straight up through and just came up and put his head right near the memorial right near the picture and just stayed," said Michelle Meeks of Malama Na Honu.

Kuhina stayed for hours. Volunteers say it appeared as if he never took his eyes off her picture.

"Heart breaking to see those images but it was also so touching just to see him come up and be so close to the memorial it was almost like he was coming up to say good-bye," said Meeks.

Visitors are moved by the powerful images.

"Look at that -- quite unbelievable -- oh my -- nature is unreal isn't it -- just so fantastic," said Val Leech of South Africa. "That's unbelievable very sad."

"To me this is heart-breaking -- it's just so sad -- it's like he's grieving -- sad -- very sad," said Walden.

Science often discourages attribution of human motivation or behavior in animals. This story provides a different perspective.

"The way we've given names to the individuals here that is kind of borderline to me but now I feel its good to have those connections with the individuals," said scientific illustrator Michelle Schwengel, who also volunteers for Malama Na Honu.

An example of nature teaching us a lesson on life.

"I think that they're more connected to their feelings probably then we are. So we can really learn something from them and what he did," said Meeks.

"Because they know -- very sad -its awful, I hope it doesn't happen again," added Walden.

Cindy's note: You know what's sad, that someone could actually kill a defenseless creature, just for the heck of it. Here's hoping karma bites this idiot or idiots in the butt..

My daughter's summer garden

2008-07-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

My daughter has the green thumb i always wished i could have. Ummm, i'm not the only one who noticed how nice her garden looks!

Summer Vacation in Phoenix, where everyday is 110.

2008-07-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

Who goes to Phoenix in the summer? People who actually think there's such a thing as "dry heat."

When my son proposed a trip to Phoenix this summer to see the Brewers take on the Diamondbacks, i tried to talk him out of it..."it's hot down there, it's a desert, it's over 100 degrees everyday in July," to which he replied "yes mom, but it's dry heat."..to which i should have replied, "sure kid, say hi to my buddies the tooth fairy and Elvis"...but i didn't, because i'm an optimist, and occasionally i use bad judgement, like thinking i have more in my checking account then i do and that there is such a thing as "dry heat not being as bad as...well, humid heat. (dumb, dumb, dumb)

The tip off should have been the incredibly cheap rate we got on an awesome luxery hotel there with water park, but then again, see tooth fairy above. Nonetheless, it was cool being trapped in an air conditioned hotel room with the entire famDAMlee while waiting for the sun to go down so we could use the waterpark since it was too freaking hot for us when the sun was up because everyday there was 110! We were forced as a family to talk to each other, "hey kids, how are you doing?" "I'm hot mom, how much longer til the sun goes down?" Still, it was conversation, something that we don't tend to do anymore since the kids are teenagers and don't want to be hanging with mom and dad and stepdad anymore. (Oh, and by the way, we dragged my first husband out with us-if anyone should know what hell is like, it would be the first husband who was married to me for 9 years. Still, he thought Phoenix was slightly hotter then being married to me!)

Say what you will about Wisconsin winters being too cold, but still, it's not 10 below zero every single day of winter! It's over 100 just about every day of summer in Phoenix except when the monsoon hits...making it muggy, and 110!

While vacationing in Phoenix, we came up with the grand idea of visiting the Grand Canyon, which, on the map, looked like it was only a couple of hours up the road...um, which it's not...more like five hours and 5000 feet higher...but it was well worth the trip as pictures of the canyon do not do it justice...viewing the Grand Canyon is more like an experience, and thrill. The Grand Canyon grocery store however is more like a head scratcher. Here you are, on the edge of the canyon with a little grocery mart that carries all the essentials you might need for such a vacation like food, soda, beer, charcoal, chew, and First Response Pregnancy Test, which was displayed right next to the chew! I'm guessing after you finish your chew, you can find out when Junior's due.
My family learned a very important lesson this summer in Phoenix and that is hot is hot, whether it's "dry" or not, which is to say, how would i like to be cooked in the 110 degrees, baking in the oven, or in the crockpot, set on high!

Oh, and trapped in the hotel room during the day, we also learned daytime tv sucks!

The Weight Loss contest is over!

2008-06-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, the contest is over, and as you can see, LA Weight Loss really worked! I look just like Christie Brinkley, cool huh?! And we all know what being beautiful and thin has done for her life!

Seriously though, it was a successful contest and HEY(!)...who put this picture of a hippo and a turtle in here?! This was suppose to be my picture...oh well, cute picture isn't it! I love turtles.

Ok, here we go, i'm hanging out with my friends in this photo (i'm on the right), and although i didn't even come close to winning our weight loss contest, i'm a winner because i got to meet and compete with three of the nicest contestants ever!
Congrats to our Funjet vacation winner Greg Castle, who--while losing 40 pounds--still had time to bake all of his competitors a cake! (It was delicious too, thanks Greg!) Also a big atta-girl to our runner-ups Renee, our sixth grade school teacher from Milwaukee, and Lynette, our mother of three from Hales Corners. Renee lost 25 pounds, and Lynette lost 22! God bless you all, your winners in my book!

Cute picture of Julie Davidson

2008-06-28T16:31:00.001-07:00

Julie Davidson says she reads my blog...oh yeah, let's see how long it takes for her to notice her picture on my blog...good thing i didn't get one of her eating potatoe chips...that's because i'm afraid of paybacks, bad karma, and the amount of dirt Julie knows about me!

Confessions from the most unpopular girl in sixth grade at Summerdale Elementary

2008-06-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, i'm Cindy Huber, and i was the most unpopular girl in sixth grade at Summerdale Elementary in Rockford, Illinois. I'm not even sure how it happened, or how i won the "unpopular lottery," just that there was a girl in my class who was even more unpopular then i was, and when she moved, it was my turn. I can remember that it started with catty comments, which i pretended not to hear, so when that didn't work, my tormenters moved up to paper wads and light shoves when the teacher wasn't looking. I tried to ignore it back then and even today i'm not sure why i did, because today i never turn away from a fight(!)...but back in the early 70's-when i was an 11 year old kid-i tried to ignore the spitwads, the taunting and the occasional kick on the shins, or swat on the head, hoping my bullies would get bored and find a new victim, but they didn't. Sadder yet, i'm sure the teachers knew, partly because i was always trying to move to the front of the class, where it would be harder to attack me, or always offering to stay after school to clean the chalkboards under the theory that if i just stayed late enough, my tormenters would get bored and go home, but my teachers never said a word, and eventually-one night-my bullies waited until i came out, and then jumped me.

After i got beat up, i went home. My mom felt horrible and put ice on my face, but my dad was furious when he saw me...AT ME.
"How many hit you?" he asked.
"Well, there was a bunch of them," i said.
"How many hit you?"
"One."
"What'd you do next?"
"I ran home."
"The next time i hear you ran from a fight, i will kick you butt when i get home!" And that was the end of it from my father. Sounds harsh doesn't it(?)...except he was right, because the very next day when i went to school, my bully was waiting once again, so this time i threw the hardest punch i could muster directly at her belly.
She threw a punch and then i threw another, and then it was over. The bully murmered some excuse and left. Perhaps it was boredom on her part, or she recognized that her prey was no longer easy. I can't remember if she moved on to anyone else. I just remember how much it sucked to have someone want to hurt you, and that no one, not the teachers, or even your school friends would help you out. I was truely on my own in sixth grade.

Maybe that's why i took this kid's beating on a city bus so bad...six bullies kicking the crap out of him, and no one on the bus...not the bus driver, or even the other riders tried to intervene. Just the opposite, the driver continued to drive, and the bus patrons all looked the other way while kid was being beaten. Honestly, that p*sses me off so bad, i'd like to kick their butts!

My heart just goes out to this kid, but i, the most unpopular sixth grade girl at Summerdale elementary school, wants to tell him this; "that which doesn't kill him will only make him stronger"...because it will.

Ps...if this kid ever wants to get in touch with me, i would be willing to help out with giving him rides to school next fall...and to show him the best way to throw a punch, because thanks to sixth grade, today i'm an expert on it.

Happy Memorial Day to you...

2008-05-23T16:10:00.001-07:00

Here's wishing a wonderful and blessed Memorial Day to you and your family, and just as important, say a prayer for our troops and our veterans who made this holiday possible.
This is my favorite picture of my stepson, Mark Olsen, who is serving in Iraq in the marines. It was taken at Christmas time.

The first Memorial Day was "celebrated" um, observed, in 1865, to honor those who lost their lives in the Civil War, but these days this holiday has turned into a kickoff for summer...but not to us. There isn't a day that goes by that we aren't scanning CNN when their showing the troops in Iraq to see if we can see our son. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't jump when we hear the news say "new bloodbath or increased fighting in Iraq today".....we grieve for those parents whose sons and daughters aren't coming home...everyday is Memorial Day for them.

We thank God everyday that he has spared our son.

This is my stepson Mark "at ease" at a Chuckie Cheese in November...although honestly, have you ever seen a marine at ease? We miss him very much.

BEE Fit for Summer, so far....

2008-04-22T13:39:00.001-07:00

Here's an idea...

Ok, ok...if that doesn't work for you, plan B;

About three weeks ago i sat down with my co-workers and read 162 emails from listeners who wanted to challenge me in the Bee Fit for Summer Contest and we apparently chose well, because...well...i'm getting my "phat" butt kicked!

Our baker from South Milwaukee Greg (who goes to the LA Weight Loss in Oak Creek at 8907 South Howell), bakes delicious cakes for a living and has already lost over 18 pounds in two weeks! He just emailed me yesterday to tell me that thanks to his weight loss, he has already been able to cut his blood pressure medication in half!

Our mom Lynette from Hales Corners (who goes to LA Weight Loss in Greenfield located in the Steinmart Plaza by Southridge) has lost over 9 pounds, and our hardworking sixth grade school teacher Renee (who goes to the LA Weight Loss Center in Menomonee Falls) was telling me how she had a huge event to attend and was worried about how she was gonna resist all the delicious food at this thing, and how the fine folks at LA Weight Loss showed her that she could still have her cake (and eat it too!) and still lose weight...and Renee has lost over 9 pounds!

Ps...i've lost over 5 so far but this contest is only beginning...so to Lynette, Greg and Renee, i say "bring it on!" : )

My grandma's dash

2008-04-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my grandmother, Reba V. Davison, this week...she would have turned 100 this Saturday. She almost made it too, but i think losing her son and having to go into a nursing home was more then she could bare.
I was trying to think of a way to honor her, being that the cherry tree i planted in her honor didn't make it, further proof that her green thumb skipped my generation! A wonderful listener of my show emailed me this poem written by the awesome Linda Ellis whose wise words both comforted me, and made me cry!
Warning: Keep the tissues nearby as you read this...you will need them.

I read of a man who stood to speak, at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth, and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth, and now only those who loved her, know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash, what matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left, that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough, to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more, and love the people in our lives, like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash, might only last a little while. So when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

My grandmother would be very proud of what we have to say about her dash.

In Praise of "Nothing Special"

2008-04-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

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 2008 and look back at these pictures...they suddenly take on a new meaning to me...there's my incredibly handsome then 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 Al Asad, Iraq now, it's his second tour of duty....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...he told his dad, mom, and me that he's going to what they call Camp Cupcake which is suppose to reassure us that he's going to be safe, but we watch a lot of CNN and FOX especially when the headlines "new blood bath in Bahgdad" scroll across the screen...before he left last year he told us he was going to be guarding a water tank and it turned out to be a lie...he was the guy in back of the machine gun on top of a hummer guarding a convoy...this time he'll be inside the Humvee driving...

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.

Anatomy of a Weight Gain

2008-04-01T17:53:00.001-07:00

This is what i first looked like when i started at B93.3 in August. I had lost over 30 pounds with LA Weight Loss, and had actually been off the program for over 5 months when this picture was taken and had not gained one pound! I was still walking on a daily basis and i was watching what i was eating.

Here i am about two months later and i'm up about 5 or 6 pounds because i had started school (fulltime) and was slowly starting to re-introduce the bad habits that had gotten me to 204 pounds in the first place...and what the heck am i doing at a rib eating contest?! The only tip off is i'm starting to wear a sweatshirt draped around my waist.

Now, as you can plainly see, i've got a bulge starting once again but i don't seem to notice because my teeshirts have gotten bigger...

Be Fit for Summer Contest...the one where we didn't think anyone was going to enter

2008-03-26T17:23:00.001-07:00

Man, i wish it were that easy!
I mean, howabout if scientist could invent a magic weight loss pill so we wouldn't have to rely on willpower anymore! Honestly, they can put a man on the moon, but they can't invent a fried chicken or chocolate malt that melts fat on your thighs!

This is what i looked like when i first started here at B93.3 last July. I had lost over 30 pounds on LA Weight Loss (204 pounds and got down to 169) and kept it off!...Until the last couple of months when i slowly allowed the bad habits that got me to 204 creep back in again; Here's how it happened...i went back to school fulltime and i was working here at B93.3 (that's right, blame the radio station) and instead of using the common sense that LA Weight Loss had taught me, i slowly introduced the bad habits that had originally gotten me to 204 pounds in the first place! (If i stop at McDonalds and have a couple of fries or drink Coke instead of Diet Coke, whose it going to hurt?)

I have never been more disgusted with myself! After all that hard work, it only took a couple of months (no lie) to put that weight on and the only one i have to blame...is me!

I don't know about you, but i'm getting sick of radio jocks-including ME-telling you how great a diet is...as if that should inspire you, especially if you followed my last journey through the weight loss jungle...after all, wasn't i the jock who told you how great Metabolife was? (I was and it was until it was deemed unsafe and taken off the market) If i'm going to do a very public diet on the radio, the least i can do is give you a chance to join me! And because LA Weight Loss taught me how to eat, and how to lose weight eating real food, they were the people we (B93.3 and me) approached with this idea; How about a contest where people could write in 93 words or less why they would like to challenge me in a BE FIT FOR SUMMER CONTEST...easy right?
WRONG!
We had 162 entries, (after the doubles/duplicates were taken out) and every single one of them, heartfelt, heartbreaking, and honest. And i related to each and everyone of them! I knew i was in trouble and i called in the promotions staff, and coworkers (six of us, including me, all who were either fighting the battle of the bulge, or had won the battle). I want you to know that each and every one of your 162 entries were read, and argued about. The first 100 eliminations were somewhat the easiest because of health problems (some of you are battling cancer and heart failure and i honestly think that you have a hard enough battle to worry about without adding a public weight loss challenge on your plate!-you are also in our prayers)

The next 50 entries were the worst! Honestly, you all should have won, but we only had three slots. Now the real arguments began, and we all had our favorite entries and people we felt should win. I had about 15 i was pushing for, and so did everyone else. We then cut the entries down to 20, and then 10, and finally to 5 listeners, and we still couldn't agree. I can tell you now, that when we announced this contest last week, my promotions boss and myself thought we'd be lucky if we got 5 entries! Our LA WEIGHT Loss contest ended at midnight, March 30th and by 6 pm last night (March 31) we still didn't have a clear winner!
Want to know why it took so long to announce a winner today? We still weren't sure on the last winner...

Finally, this afternoon (at 5:15) we had our three challengers;

1. Renee Clark of Milwaukee who told us about being a 6th grade teacher (who gets taunted by some of her kids because of her weight-she was our clear cut favorite)... 2. Gregory Castle who owns a bakery and is facing a 50th birthday this summer, and 3. Lynne Litzenberg whose weight battle began nine years ago after she quit smoking and switched to food, who was worried about how her bad food habits have transferred to her 3 sons (one who is graduating this year and she was terrified at the thought of being in pictures with him), and was also worried about a 25th high school reunion (motivation).

Were they the most deserving winners? I think that's impossible to say for sure, because this was such a subjective contest. I even eliminated two very dear friends of mine that i know personally (i love you DawnEllen and i will call you this week), and have witnessed their battle with their weight (and who i knew were worthy)because i was over-ruled; Angela of West Allis, for instance, she just turned 40 with enough stress on her to cause a heart attack (she has a son in Iraq), Paula of Muskego who i'm probably gonna call up and exchange recipes with, (or maybe email, i don't want to bother you during dinner), Kelly of Waukesha you are "one sassy-you know" and have exactly the same challenges as me...lets do coffee soon...Kate of Franklin whose trying to get in shape with her husband and Kathy from Milwaukee who wants to go from a 14 to a 4 or 6...trust me, you can and if you need a walking partner i'll find a way to make that happen...Debbie K of Greendale who was munching jellybeans while driving home from work...you should have your own blog! I LOVED your entry, but i was over-ruled...Amanda of Milwaukee has a fiance in Iraq that wants to look good for her upcoming wedding-God bless you and i hope you and your husband-to-be have a long and wonderful life together...i loved loved loved an email from a listener who told me how she cheated on her honey with her lover Haag N Daaz-you were in the top 5(!)...and a very inspiring email from

Susan Duvall of Wauwatosa: Turning 60 in April, i need to lose at least 40 pounds. I went back to college at age 56 and am now a fully licensed Registered Nurse. I have shown perseverance and dedication to achieve one of my life's dreams and losing this excess weight would be the other. Help me achieve this new goal/dream for beginning my 6th decade.

Some of your emails were heartbreaking and incredibly inspiring and much too personal to share here but i will email you to see how i can be of help.

All i can say is we tried to make the best decisions possible, and to thank you so much your entries.

Cindy Huber
April 1, 2008

Love in the 90's

2008-03-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is my grandpa George Huber and his new bride and my new grandma taken on their wedding day last August. My grandpa is 92, and my new grandma a much younger woman, 85. Aren't they adorable? Young love is so overrated!

Why Easter is my favorite holiday

2008-03-22T15:05:00.001-07:00

I love Easter, i really do, and it's not because of the chocolate's or candies because if that was the case, Valentine's Day would have Easter beat. (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that i feel guilty biting off the head of a chocolate bunny, but no such guilt when it comes to biting off Santa's head-he knows when you are sleeping, oh yeah(?) Not without your head Santa!)

No, i love Easter because of the promise it holds, victory over death, and the promise of something "out there" and to me that means the promise of seeing my loved ones again. You know, the family members that have left the building, like Elvis... And i hope you know that i have no intentions on getting all preachy on you, honestly, i'm the last person who has the answers to, well, anything though i'm always happy to share my opinion...but i'd like to think that that has more to do with me being a female!
Honestly, we have a staffer here who doesn't believe in life after death (although she does believe in ghosts!-go figure) and i love her dearly. She always wants to argue about how impossible it is to believe in Adam and Eve, and the flood, heaven and hell and stuff like that, and i say it doesn't really matter if neither of us can or cannot explain it because when it comes right down to it, you either can believe in something, or not, and i prefer to believe in something.
It's called faith, and it takes faith to believe in something, or faith to believe in nothing...but anyway, i like the hope that i will see my loved ones someday because the alternative is not something i want to believe in...and that is why Easter is my favorite holiday. (well, that and the peeps)

Jesus take the wheel

2008-03-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

You know how mommy's cry when their kids go off to grade school the first time? The daddy's usually cry the first time their kid comes home with a brand spankin new drivers license!

This is my little boy Mike. I was just walking him to first grade yesterday and now he has the keys to my car.
Exactly one week ago he conned some driving test instructer into issuing him a license...at least that's how i saw it. He did get some points taken off for not looking over his shoulder during a lane change, but that was it! I told him it might have been a few points for him, but in real life that could have been a car accident! He rolled his eyes and told me to lighten up, and that nothing was gonna happen to him. Which is what i believe i told my dad some, um, years ago...that was a few hours before i was grounded off the car for a month for running a red light. That's right, yours truly didn't even have her drivers license for 24 hours before she ran a red light with her daddy riding shotgun! Yep, this broad had balls! About a year later i plowed my daddys 78 Buick (big giant boat cars!) into the back of a sheriffs car. It was my first time to hit a patch of ice and i did what any teenager who has never driven in the winter did...i panicked and slammed the brakes. This was a long time ago when dinosaurs ruled the land and antilock car brakes hadn't been invented yet...wouldn't mattered...the sheriff was very kind considering that it was my first time, and although there would be a few more accidents, you always remember your first time!

This is my stepson Seth, who passed his drivers test 2 days ago...that's right, 2 teenage boys with a license in 2 weeks...as you might imagine our rates have instantly doubled along with this brand new ulcer i just developed! (Brought about by fear and stress of course) The boys think i'm being silly and can't imagine what i have to worry about! I think back to my youngest brother Doug, who got so many speeding tickets one year that my dad made him become a race car driver and sponsored him in amateur racing in Clear Lake, Iowa! My brother was actually very good but unfortunately his pit crew was always drunk so his race car driving career never took off! As for me, my nickname was speed queen in high school--and not because i was doing drugs-but because i once (ok, maybe twice) raced a couple of guys in my dads Buick boat doing 100mph! (oh, and yes i did win) Then about a month later i got busted in a "speed trap" doing 11 miles over the speed limit and was so upset by the (30! dollar bill) that i stopped speeding...(technically, as i only go the same pace everyone else is--and yes, i will use that as my legal defense, officer)

Here's my future race...er...driver...Jesus, take their wheels!
I called my dad the other day and asked him how he survived our driving, and he "are you kidding, he's still worried!"

Tim's Awake

2008-03-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Who needs a groundhog to "guess" how many weeks before spring when a turtle waking up from hibernation confirms it?
This is Tim and oh my goodness, is he posing?! Tim use to be my son's but, well, i'm the one who buys him his fresh lettuce, carrots, and crickets, and i'm the one who took him to the vet when he got an ear infection...(turtles have ears--who knew?!) The vet bill was over 70 bucks but it was worth it just for that knowledge! And the added information that Tim could last for up to another 70 years was icing on the cake! That means Tim and me could both be sharing a room in a nursing home some 70 years from now...man, i hope i die first!
But honestly, i have really come to love this turtle even if i'm the only one in the house who gets all excited when he wakes up from his long winter nap, (turtles hibernate for 6-7 weeks at a time during the winter) because that means he senses spring!!! (Or he wants to mate, or she wants to mate...i guess i should have asked what sex he/she was the last time i had Tim in there--maybe the next time i have an extra 70 bucks...)

Signs that Spring is coming....

2008-03-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

I saw the first bud of spring yesterday, it was a budweiser can sticking out of the snow on my neighbors lawn!!! Yippee!!! Of course, with yet another winter storm watch hanging over our heads you've got find hope wherever you can.

Here's a reassuring sight, the proof that winter is slowly losing her grip, because my lilac bush is budding. Welcome back shrubs!

Then again, my husband and Max don't care either way!

People give up, but hamsters NEVER give up

2008-03-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

For HAMSTER FANS ONLY!
This is the first video that i have ever attached to my blog, because, well, number one, i didn't know how, but number two, there never was a good enough reason to for me, til now. It's not just because i had a hamster growing up...didn't everyone in the 70's? It's because in watching this video, i was struck by the fact, that unlike myself...that hamster is going to keep working on achieving his goal, until he accomplishes it...which in his case, is getting through a door! Of course, for Mr. Hamster's sake i can only hope there isn't some big, fat cat on the other side waiting for him!

Persistent Hamster
Like i said, it's a video that anyone that ever had a hamster will appreciate...sorry that you have to sit through the 30 second commercial that precedes it...but as a kid who had something like 100 hamsters...(we always started out with two hamsters...but as anyone who ever had a hamster...there is no such thing as TWO HAMSTERS ever because those babies mate...well, like rabbits) and pretty soon the house is swimming in hamsters...although if you have a hamster like the one in the video, and a cat like we had...well, God forbid if the hamster figured a way out of it's cage! Which he or she would do eventually, because, well, they never give up! It's kind of weird, as i was watching the video and thinking about every hamster i ever knew, it occurred to me that i would have been more successful in life if i had been less human, and more hamster...then again, knowing my luck, there probably would have been a cat waiting for me on the other end.

When life gives you lemons...

2008-01-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

These beautiful ladies are my classmates and teacher in the Medical Assistant Course at Bryant and Stratton College here in Milwaukee. I'm not in the picture since i'm the one with the camera!

I had always planned on going back to school when i turned 50 (and no i'm not 50 yet, but thanks for asking!) but sometimes life doesn't work out quite like you planned and you find yourself making new plans earlier then you thought you would.

In my case, my life took an unexpected turn when i got laid off from what i thought was going to be my dream radio job here in Milwaukee. I never saw it coming-does anyone(?)-and then my life became a "what the heck am i'm gonna do with the rest of my life", which sucks since i just spent the last 24 years of my life behind a microphone which means i essentially have no marketable skills whatsoever!

Then i heard about a cool program Milwaukee County offers those of us who are unlucky enough to be on the "not so wanted" side of employment. Your unemployment benefits qualify you for retraining and tuition. You go to the Job Hire Center just off the highway on National Avenue, sit through a couple of orientation classes taught by people who have been through what you're going through, and then you get assigned a caseworker (which in my case was the awesome and colorful Alvin-i love you Alvin!) and then they decide whether you qualify for retraining and tuition, or not. In my case, 24 years of radio made me a shoo-in!...i'm not sure if i should be depressed about that or not.

My inspiration in going back to school was my late grandmother Reba Davison, who went back to school in her 50's to be a nurse. I felt her presence all eight months that i attended school and my only regret was that she wasn't alive to know how much i appreciated her example.

If you have ever thought about going back to school, but thought, "there's no way i can do it, i'm too dumb or it's too late or i'll never be able to remember anything" IT'S NOT TRUE!
Here's a little known secret about college, teachers love adults who come back to school, because they know we're really here to learn and most of us don't come in to class with hangovers (at least most of the time) because we were out partying with our friends! Sure, it took me a little longer to remember things-what with my brain hard drive already full from years of worthless Madonna information, and yes, in order to relearn math i had to wipe out years of Madonna album and boyfriend information...but it was worth it.
You know why?
I spent the last eight months, not in front of the tube, but at places like Barnes and Nobles or the cafe at Borders doing homework with my kids, although much to my embarrassment, i had to ask my kids for help with my math! The coolest thing though had to be getting up early with my kids on the mornings after a severe storm to see if school was canceled!
You know what?
If i hadn't gotten laid off, i might have never gotten this opportunity to try something new, learn something new, meet wonderful classmates, and spend precious bonding time with my children over homework and vanilla steamers (you don't think my kids were gonna hang out with me unless i bought them something do you?!)
When life gives you lemons, make lemonaide!
(Then add half a quart of vodka to it)

Turtle Updates...or why i haven't been posting on my blog lately

2008-01-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

Obviously, this isn't my turtle. But you gotta admit, this crocodile looks pretty pleased doesn't he? Luckily, no one was hurt by this croc, well, as much as someone can be "not dead", but is missing their arm...this picture is an example of what happens when you let your guard down at your job, and your job just happens to be a zoo keeper. This is why i chose radio, cause when i screw up, the boss calls me in the office and chews my ear...but he doesn't chew my arm off...so, it was a pretty easy decision...not that anyone offered me a "croc feeding job" although i'm sure one or more of bosses would have if they'd have had that option!

Actually, i have spent the last few months going to school full-time to be a medical assistant. I had always planned to do that; follow my grandma's example when i turned 50 and go back to school, but a brush with my mortality about a year and a half ago speeded up my decision. I took a good hard look at where i was going with my life and i wasn't happy, i was in a job that didn't matter (to anyone but my husband cuz he really enjoys it when i bring home a paycheck!) and i was more or less drifting through the years, waiting for something to happen...but a weird thing happens when someone tells you that you could die...you start realizing that tomorrow isn't necessarily guaranteed, and you get a real sense of time flying by like a windy day...so i spent a few months looking for a school and now i'm knee deep in math homework going "what the heck was i thinking-wouldn't it just be easier to be a zoo keeper? "

ps...btw, my turtle Tim is fine, he just woke up from his long winter nap (he hibernates for 6 weeks)...i hope that's a good sign that winter is almost over.

Off the diet at Christmas time

2007-12-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

Actual photo of me the day after Christmas, 2006.....

Should have left the Christmas ham alone...ok, not just the ham but the Christmas mints, chocolate Santas, and anything with a hint of chocolate in it! Ok, you caught me, i just think this is the cutest picture in the world!...and Mr. Kitty, i feel your pain!

Trying to diet at Christmas sucks! And this comes from a disc jockey whose technically on a diet 364 days a year, taking only Christmas day off.

(um, i take half a day at Easter, July 4th and i partied a little too last Thanksgiving too...i'm at the point where maybe i should call Jennie!-right after i polish off this piece of cake...move over kittie)

Where did i put the dog's booties?!

2007-11-26T16:46:00.000-08:00
I don't own a decent winter scarf, i don't have a pair of gloves that match, and i have no idea where the snow shovel is...but the dog has a winter coat and bright red booties...somewhere...i guess i probably should look for the booties and coat when i get home...

Ok, you caught me...i know where the coat is, and the booties got chewed up probably about 3 minutes after this picture was taken...this was just an excuse to post a picture of my cute dog on my blog...pathetic huh?

Ok, you really caught me...this picture was taken just after my son did his own laundrey for the first time...look how clean the bottom of his jeans are!

Learning to float

2007-11-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

It's been over a year now since my grandmother passed away, and i've found that i've just now learned how to float. One year ago i was in shock which seems really weird since my grandma was 98 and a half, and honestly, c'mon now...why would that be a shock?
But have you've ever known anyone that you thought would be around forever, even if common sense dictates otherwise?

Well, that was my grandma.

I've had friends that didn't live long enough, and friends that died too soon...and yet the death that really got me was the one where my grandma lived to be 98 and a half.

Wow, i guess you can't pick and choose your grief, can you? And grief can be sneaky too...it's weird how it sneaks up when you least expect it, like the Christmas card section at Walgreens when it hits you that you have one less Christmas card to send this year, or the song Amazing Grace at church when it hits you that it was grandmas favorite hymn.

Someone once told me that grieving was a lot like learning to float in a lake. When you first try to lay back on the water you sink...alot...but then, after you hit the bottom a few times you kind of get the hang of it. Once in a while though you get hit by a big wave, and you lose your balance and you sink again, and again...until, you accept that ever so often there's going to be a big wave that maybe you can't handle (like a birthday anniversary or death aniversary), but for the most part, if you just relax, you can float above the water.

Tooting someone elses (horn) blog site!

2007-11-13T17:08:00.000-08:00
I dare you to not to look at this photo and not smile!
This photo is funny to me for the simple fact that our building has a mouse problem...opps...mice cuz if there's more then one it's mice...my bad...and one scared the heck out of our Terry Love one late night during his request show...(of course Terry leaves the light down low-mood lighting he calls it) and apparently Mr. Mouse liked it too(!)...the rumor is the mouse hopped on the studio counter to request Ben by Michael Jackson.

This next photo absolutely warms my heart and not just because i love turtles. It's a picture of something experts say is impossible. It's a picture of an orphan who needed a mother, and found a surrogate or sorts in a 125 year old turtle that experts say is not "capable" of emotion or love. And yet, that's not what you see in this photo.
These pictures come from a website called Letsbefriends and you can find it on the web at http://www.letsbefriends.blogspot.com/ and i gotta tell you, on bad days or depressing days or any day the news is so horrible that i'm not sure i should even venture out of the house because i'm so discouraged with the human race down and can't have a beer til later day, this is the site i check out to reaffirm my faith in mankind...or maybe "animal kind!" It just seems the animals have a better take on love, kindness and compassion then anything i ever saw on CNN, Jerry Springer, or even Dr. Phil.
These are the kind of pictures you will find on the Letsbefriends website, and i gotta tell you, it's an upper for the brain, the kind of "oh my gosh isn't that cute" without the aftertaste of yuck. You'll find all these pictures on the website with explanations about the circumstances of how these animals ended up together. The doe in this picture is an orphan and the dog is mothering her/him.

Then again, i can't explain this one.
Neither do they...
doesn't matter...
isn't it sweet?...
um....
here's hoping the tiger doesn't wake up and go "i smell bacon..."

A Tornado of fire in our own back yard

2007-10-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Several years ago my husband and i visited San Diego and i asked him "why can't we move here" to which he replied "mudslides, earthquakes, and fires"...
I just thought he was trying to be funny until this past weekend when we got a frantic call from his mother. We had worried about her trip to Israel the week before. Turns out she was safer there. She had just gotten back from a tour of the Holy Land that Friday night, only to get a knock on her door early Monday morning from the police telling her to grab her keys and purse and get out now! She spent two days at a shelter in Miramar not knowing if she had a home anymore, and thank God, she was spared. Unfortunately, many of her neighbors were not. Many of the survivors said the fires looked like tornados.
There's this park about 10 miles south of Sturgeon Bay called Tornado Park and i use to drive by it alot in the 80's when i dated a guy from there. I use to wonder why it was called that so one day i brought a sack lunch and pulled over. It didn't take me very long to lose my appetite. The tornado the park refers to is of fire, and back in the 80's i had trouble wrapping my mind around that ..."a tornado of fire, what the heck would that look like?" Well, thanks to the California fires, now we all know what a "tornado of fire" looks like."
And that's why i almost lost my lunch that day. I realized that i was standing on sacred ground. Some 60 people burned to death on the spot i was eating my lunch. The park is quite close to what once was a village called Williamsonville where some 77 men, women and kids called home. On that October day back in 1871, the Chicago fire was in full swing and there was a fire brewing across the bay as well. But being that this was 1871, there was no tv or radio to warn the villagers of what was coming...and it became a worst case scenerio for these families. The fire jumped the the bay of Green Bay and surrounded the villagers who took refuge on this spot near Brussels, and literally burned them alive. Seven of the villagers hid inside the well that is pictured above, and only five of them survived.

So the next time you visit Door County, pull over and pay your respects to the lost souls of Tornado Park, and say a prayer for the California families as well.
Cindy note: If you'd like more information on Tornado Park, this is the website i'd recommend. These pictures are also from this website;
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/geolwisc/weather/tornmpk.htm
The picture of the fire is from the KNX1070 news radio website. Some of the pictures on their website are absolutely shocking.

Ellen, Mutts, and missed opportunities

2007-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Please, please, please...Ellen, mutts, can't we just get along?!

This much we know for sure. Last weekend the folks at Mutts and mom's called Ellen Degeneres and asked her how the "mutt" they placed at her home was doing. Ellen said she had fed the dog to crocodile, opps, i mean a snake, uh, i mean a family with two kids under 15!

Which was horrible, simply horrible, as Ellen and her partner had signed papers stating that if they couldn't keep the dog, they had to give it back.

Cut and dried.
Maybe.

It sounds like Ellen's producer got snippy with the owners from Mutts and Moms and they got snippy back. Ellen gets emotional on the air and the Mutts and Moms declare that they are not gonna take any crap from anyone. Then the owners of Mutts and moms get death threats and they start crying. And Ellen takes two days off from her show to recover.

All for the love of a little dog named Kibbles, Triscuits or Cheeseits or something i don't remember...here's what i know:

Last year over 14 THOUSAND animals came to Milwaukee's animal control center and over 40 percent of those got put down...put to sleep...what a waste! What i mean to say is, if your looking for an excuse to cry over something, cry about that!

Personally, i thought it was a huge missed opportunity for everyone...imagine this, the owners of Mutts and Moms comes on Ellen's show...they explain why they do the rules the way they do...Ellen apologizes...then the owners make an exception and check out the new family and EVERYONE IS HAPPY!!! Think about that for a moment, if everyone had taken a chill pill last week, the only problem Mutts and Moms would be having today is what to do with all the money in donations everyone would have sent them!

Pretty cool idea don't you think?! While your mulling that one over excuse me while i work out this Iraq war situation and what to make for supper....
Ps...this mutt pictured above is named Recco...i got his picture from www.dogsindanger.com According to the website he has 6 days before he gets put to sleep...if you want to cry, cry for him. Better yet, he needs a home. Ellen?
One more thing...Milwaukee's animal control shelter is holding an Open House tomorrow and they're offering a rabies vaccination for 7 bucks and a microchip for 10...(414) 421-8881.

One year later...

2007-10-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

I still feel the same way...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Why the Amish are better then you and me...
OK...just me then...

Your probably better then me too, because there is just NO WAY i could have been that forgiving if someone had shot ten little girls in my community (and five of them died!) No way!

I would have been madder then heck and i would have been on the tube and radio letting everyone know it!
You probably have heard how the Amish in Pennsylvania, on hearing that a local milkman-madman had shot and killed some of their neighbors, daughters and friends, promptly forgave him and lent their support to his widow and children.

Wow!

What's wilder...that their forgiveness made major headlines...shows you how rare something like that is...And i'm a little ashamed too...not at the fact that they can forgive and i, probably not as much...but the fact that i always sort of, well, while i didn't think i was better then them i certainly didn't understand how they could stubbornly cling to the 1800's while the rest of us went wizzing by them in 2006...

My son and i were driving towards Iowa one freezing January Sunday morning on Highway 18 when we passed several of the Wisconsin Amish on their way towards church...i had the heat blaring and the radio on and they were huddled together in open air wagons with blankets...my son had never seen Amish before and simply couldn't believe that they didn't have cars, and television and PS 2's..."they don't want to live in our world" i told him then...and today, who can blame them? But the fact that they can forgive and continue to love after all that has happened to them...well, i'm not even in their league.

Remembering an uncle who raised seahorses (still miss you Uncle Bob)

2007-09-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe my uncle, Robert (Bob) Falt has been gone a year.

He actually passed away a year ago yesterday (September 9, 2006), but i actually didn't get the news until the next day, right before i went to an appearance at the Milwaukee County Zoo...which was somewhat appropiate. My uncle loved animals...he bought a puppy 4 months before his death...how optimistic was that?!

My mom (his sister) and i visited him at his new apartment in Tucson, Arizona last April...after he defiantly checked himself out of a nursing home he had been staying in (he suffered terribly from poor health due to diabetes). Yet, about 6 months before he died, he decided he wasn't going to spend whatever time he had left in a home and out he went...ironically, he did bring one thing home from the nursing home...a new love for small dogs...because up til then, my uncle who could keep anything alive, including real live seahorses (in his basement no less!) was a big dog lover. He was also a smoker which prompted my mom to make a deal with him...stop smoking and we will get you a puppy, because that's what you do for someone whose dying...you get him a puppy, right?!

So basically, my mom and my uncle pored over the newspaper ads looking for shiatzu's (which was the nursing home mascot at the place he stayed at). I was the killjoy who kept questioning my mom (in private of course) "what the heck are you doing, he's gonna have a dog peeing all over the place while he's suffering from cigarette withdrawal..."

No one listened to me of course, and one day after we got to Tuscon, we ended up with a puppy named Buddy...who totally ignored my mom and me and went straight to my uncle like he was a big chew toy...which unfortunately, he was...my uncle had no feeling on his feet and legs and i kept begging him to wear socks and slippers so the dog wouldn't chew on him...but, my uncle just smiled at me and told me to quit sassing him and let him enjoy his dog...which i finally did.

We later found out that Buddy was at his side with him when he died, and that he brought my uncle an incredible amount of happiness at the end of his life. I did mention he raised seahorses didn't i?

Last year i bought some bearded german iris's which i planted in his honor but they didn't bloom this year(no surprise, i suck at gardening), so i did something else i thought i'd never do...and no it wasn't seahorses...they don't even sell those anymore because their almost impossible to keep alive...i thought i'd start small...a goldfish. That's right, a single solitary goldfish...i think i actually kept one alive for 3 days once...but, today in memory of my uncle Bob, i'm going to attempt to do something i've never been able to do in my life...raise a goldfish. I thought i'd start small, work my way up...
a goldfish this year, maybe a shark or electric eel next year...just kidding...i think i'll probably have my hands full with the goldfish. I named him Buddy. I don't think my uncle would mind.