Michael Vick sucks!...

Michael Vick SUCKS!

There, i said it...ok? Don't give me this crap on "it's how they do it in the hood or wherever and/or it's a cultural thing" because that is BULLSH#*!!!

OK?

Because the day that dogfighting is simply a CULTURAL THING...then we as a nation are in a big MORAL CRISIS! And here is the scarey part...according to a friend of mine who works for MPS (and shall remain nameless because well, she works for MPS)...most of her students can't figure out what the fuss is all about...dogfighting is entertainment to them...and just hearing that scares the heck out of me.

The idea that is ok for one dog to rip another to death...with one dog screaming in pain as a bunch of morally DEAD pieces of crap cheer this on and consider it entertainment?

And yet, people are supporting Michael Vick...saying "innocent til proven guilty" and blahblahblah...ok...i gave OJ the benefit of the doubt...for all i know, he's out looking for the real killer right now on some golf course in Florida...but, the feds found bloody dogs and dead dogs, and dogs with glass embedded in them, and well...i guess the benefit of the doubt ended right there...although, you know, Vick claims that he was renting out the house or loaning out the house and didn't know what was going on so in that case here's where i would be willing to give Vick, that benefit of a doubt;
1. Apologize, you didn't know what was going on at your, um...mansion, and donate a huge sum of money to the humane society or pitbull rescue or some organization like that...

2. Apologize, and howabout a public service announcement saying how bad dogfighting is and, sure, it didn't work for that doctor from Grey's Anatomy but, he's not in as much trouble as you are buddy...

3. Apologize, and volunteer at the humane society or pitbull rescue...offer to walk a couple of the dogs or something, get one of your peeps to pick up the poo...dig what i'm saying brother?...

Right now, at this moment, you, Michael Vick, could influence an entire future generation of kids to STOP dogfighting, but honestly Michael, i don't think you have the (foot) balls!

Fm 106.1...My Adventure at Country Thunder

I guess i could have also titled this why it's never a good thing to meet your idols.
I've been a fan of county radio since 1984 and over the years i've been blessed to meet alot of awesome country singers, but there's always 1 or 2 that your in absolute awe of...and you always think to yourself, "man, i wish i could meet so and so and tell them how much their music has touched me," and well, Lorrie was one of those people. So of course i jumped at the chance to be an emcee at Country Thunder over the weekend and looked forward to the chance to tell Lorrie how much i've enjoyed her tunes. There was another jock there from Chicago who got to do the jumbrotron interview which was probably a good thing since, after i met Lorrie...ok, let's just put it this way...i lost 30 pounds last year, but honestly, i'd have to lose another 50 before i could on the jumbrotron and not look like a monster next to her.
So it got close to the time that Lorrie would be on stage, and i gotta tell you, although i've introduced close to a hundred country stars on stage i have never been this nervous in my life.

I've rehearsed my opening speech probably a hundred times til i know it forward and backwards, all two minutes of it...and then they drive Lorrie up in a golf cart and oh my God, she hasn't aged a year since i've been a fan...and that's about 18 years!

She steps out of the golf cart like i would bounce out of a golf cart, but she does it with about 8 inches of stiletto heels, a dress, and not one hair out of place. I suddenly become very conscience of the fact that i have been out in the sun all day, my eye shadow has now melted down to my chin, and i'm covered in Country Thunder dust...i'm embarrassed to even look at her.

So, now the appointed time comes and just as they're handing me the mike to step out on stage, her manager informs me that we're running late and to cut the intro to 10 seconds...arrrrrgh!!!! I'm not even sure now what i said, perhaps something like "her voice is going to break your heart" ...but Lorrie must have liked it because she stuck her hand out to shake mine and said "thank you" and then here it is; my opportunity to tell Lorrie how much her music has meant to me all these years...so, did i tell her that?

Not exactly.

In a voice about 12 octives above my own i said "i love you Lorrie"...actually, i think i screeched it...all i know was blood was coming out of her ears as she smiled sweetly, took the mike and strutted out on the stage, and i dragged what was left of my dignity off the stage in absolute embarrassment.

I've only been that bad once before...years ago i had the chance to interview Dennis Deyoung, formally of the rock band Styx, the man whose voice was the soundtrack of my entire high school experience...he called me up for a radio interview and every single rational thought and question flew out the window as i asked him the only question that came to mind;"Do you wake up in the morning and go, oh my God i'm Dennis Deyoung?"
He was very nice about it but my husband and kids weren't...for weeks after that they'd taunt me with "hey mom, do you wake up in the morning and go...oh my God, i'm mom and i need to do the laundrey?"....and on and on.....
So maybe i'm not really meant to meet my idols...maybe i'm better off in the future staying behind the mike, and not in front of a country star where i'm liable to embarrass myself with some harebrained compliment that would perplex them and humiliate me and wait, whose coming to Germanfest...Gretchen Wilson?

Game on.

Ps...thank you Kerry for being an awesome boss...i'd say more but then i run the risk of making a fool out of myself...again.

Psps...the above picture of Garth Brooks and me was taken at the Shawno County Fair back in September of 1990...you had to pay 10 bucks to see the Yuppers but Garth was FREE! This was also one of the few times i didn't make an idiot of myself.

Open Pantry has free internet and other things i discovered on my summer vacation....

Isn't this cool...Open Pantry has free internet...well, sortof...i had to buy a cup of coffee, sunflower seeds and Sominex for later, but...oh, the other catch...you have free internet but it's only for 15 minutes at a time which means this is the third time i've tried to post...here goes;
Well, i know i haven't blogged consistanty in a couple of weeks (um...actually, since May-but it feels like a couple of weeks)...but i think i have a decent enough excuse...
I HAVE A JOB!!!
Right about the time i resigned from KTI i marched into Remedy Staffing Agency armed with an absolutely worthless resume and about 2 pounds of ego left...
24 years of radio has left me with ABSOLUTELY NO SKILLS (with the exception of absolutely worthless trivia that nobody really gives a damn about although i think it's pretty darn awesome that the song that goes "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" was written in the hot heat of July...for real, cool huh?...hey, do you have a job?)

Where was i...oh wait, that's right, i walked into Remedy Staffing because i heard that one of the ladies that run it called Vicki use to listen to my show when i was on the Mix (about a hundred years ago)...and sure enough, Vicki gave me a couple of tests and i AM NOT MAKING THIS UP...i can type about 40 words a minute-not counting all the errors)...anyway...i qualified for something called "light industrial" and i got to tell you, i'm pretty excited...i even took the "light industrial" test and apparently ACED IT! (sample question: you hear your friend is stealing and you think A. This is ok...B. Not ok...C. None of the above...D. Don't understand the question because i work at K Mart)... Vicki said there was an opening in June...BUT THEN...something else opened up!!!
I got called to do a three week assignment at a place i can't tell you BUT...there's a recall going on and i'm the person making the phone calls...ok, one of the people...thank God for that because the first day was kind of rough...well, actually it was the second day...on the first day someone there told somebody else that i use to be a dj and so there was a steady stream of people coming down to look at the "celebrity"...at least they were polite...because by the second day of me bitching that
"I can't find the file."
"It's on your desktop."
"I'm looking on my desk and it's not there.."

Well, apparently this is a computer term and you'll be happy to know that i learned what "desktop" meant...But after someone told someone who told someone else; the second day everyone was coming down to stare at the incompetent moron...you'll be happy to know that
this incompetent moron doesn't care, because now she knows how to "fax, copy, paste," and talk "electrician..." Here's a sample;

"Sir, the problem is your cable was terminated incorrectly on the heat trace wire!"

I have no idea what i just said, but apparently, this is not good...but hey, it's 11 bucks an hour which ain't bad although i'm still upset nobody called from Starbucks...you know how in the last posting i said "they can't all be running to Starbucks for a job..." they weren't...they all went running to the donut making job at Pick n' Save.



BUT, at least this incompetent moron doesn't care cuz i'm making 11 bucks and hour and THEY HAVE FREE COFFEE!!!!

What i did on my summer vacation...part one

Long story short, after seeing the movie Office Space on cable on night, i too decided to do nothing, and try to find out if it was "everything i thought it could be."

I mean, i should be dropping applications all over the place, say maybe one for Starbucks or for my dream job of making donuts for Pick in Save (and no i'm not being sarcastic...i LOVE donuts!!!)

I mean, it's not like Starbucks is going to NOT need new barrista's tomorrow, right?..I'm not going down to Starbucks tomorrow to find that every single Starbucks in Milwaukee is full of employees and will not accept another application...especially from one who is as nice and sweet like me and always leaves an extra quarter in the tip jar after i pay for my triple grande mocha with extra whip...which, i haven't been able to order as much as i use to now with my unemployment running out...and honestly, i'm terrified that i'm going to GET the Starbucks job and it's going to turn out that I SUCK! That's right, i'm going to be the person that i HATE...the person who botches up my order with NO WHIP or accidently leaves out a shot of expresso or uses skim instead of whole milk on my mocha...the person who i look directly into their eyes and go..."don't you realize how much i'm paying for this cup of coffee and YOU JUST RUINED IT FOR ME?!"

Three years ago i was an award winning number one (25-54 women demos-kinda sucked in the other demos, yeah didn't have the teen vote, hey even my own teens don't listen to me) midday jock in Milwaukee...then some new boss flew in from Denver and said "you don't have the sound we're looking for"...and so today i'm trying to decide if i want the job with free coffee or the one with free donuts...at least i have karma working for me...the boss who didn't like my sound...he eventually got canned and had to take a job in South Dakota...hey, didn't they have tornados last weekend?
A girl can dream... : )
Love,
Cindy

Ps...ok, maybe tornadoes is too much...how about a mild snow storm, something like 6 feet or so...that's right, a mild snow storm in the middle of July, oh yeah...not too harsh at all...; )

CONGRATS RONNIE!

Isn't she hot?!

That's a very special friend of mine, RONNIE NYLES who has been my friend for WAYYYYY looooonger then i want to admit...(because we're both still 29!)

She is also this year's WAMI FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR!!!

I first met Ronnie in Green Bay when she was one half of an awesome duet called Ladysmith. (her partner was Chris Gerard who is the sister of Greg and the ex-sister-in-law of KEEDY who had a really cool song in the early 90's Called Save some love-i still love that song!)

We were both poor and starving...we use to take turns for dinner...and we always had the same thing...SPAGHETTI...here's the deal...with spaghetti....you always have plenty, and there is always leftovers...that's all we ATE...which is why, to this day, i don't care for spaghetti...it's all i ate in the 80's!

ANYHOO....flash forward um, a few years and;

Ronnie has recorded a very special song called Barbados Song which was about the famous race horse who had to be put down earlier this year...all the proceeds went stop the horse slaughterhouses that still exist in this country (i'll have more on that in a future blog).

Ronnie and the band Krash are going to be opening up for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at Pridefest, Sunday June 10 and rocking the Harley Stage at Summerfest, Friday, June 29!

Ronnie is this year's WAMI FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR and her fans, Tina, and me are very proud of her!

GOODBYE, KTI

I just want to say thanks to my WKTI family for a year of a half of fun, memories and Krispy Kremes!

There wasn't one day that i came to work and thought..."man, i'd rather be working at Burger King"...even though from what i understand they provide free uniforms... No, it has been a true vacation at KTI and i had a blast working with people that i absolutely admired and have come to love;

Lipps Labelle whose sense of humor made Thursday jock meetings so much fun that i was always tempted to sneak popcorn and sodas in so i could further enjoy the show...Dan Kyle who once shared with me his most deepest and innermost secret and which i promised never to reveal...(but what the heck, i'm leaving)...his love of the Macarena...sure, he'll deny that he once said it was his favorite tune of ALL TIME...but who are you gonna believe, a guy with a successful midday show or this loser(?)...Gino who was so hip i knew the first time i met him that he wasn't from Iowa...and the one person i refuse to say goodbye since i know i will run into him at Speedway...Gene Mueller..."hey Gene, that one chick with 6 tatoos who makes coffee in the morning says hi--i can't remember her name but she says you'll know who"...then there's Lisa Letterman who always had the right words at the right time like last November after i got out of the hospital...she comforted me with words of wisdom from the guy who wrote the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff." Then two days later i read his obit in the Journal...(should have sweated the small stuff i guess....)

Earlier this year i decided to challenge myself with new challenges that absolutely scared me...like math classes, and i'm happy to report that i now know how to multiply fractions AND identify mixed ...um....oh shoot i forgot how to do it again...i'm sure this knowledge will come back to me right about the time your car pulls up to my window and i hand you your delicious golden fries...ummmm...no more transfats...i hope you don't mind if i eat a few of your fries...it's not like you need that many anyway...

You probably noticed that i didn't include Bob Reitman in this list...that's because he promised to loan me his Bob Dylan CD....the one that had Tangled up in Blue on it...and then never got back to me...thanks alot Bob!...just for that i want ALL my Abba 8 tracks back...that's right...ALL OF THEM...even Super Trouper ...and while your at it Dan Kyle would like his cd single of the Macarena back...

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

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

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

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

The other picture is my daughter in my neighbors garden...a picture that appears in one of my posts from last year...in that particular post i extol the virtues of a summer garden while talking about how my garden sucks...then i lead you to believe that picture is from my garden...it's not.

My garden does suck...and i was too embarassed to take a picture of it...so i used my 81 year old neighbors garden...see that pretty tree in the picture? My neighbor planted that tree the year her sister died...it was her way of keeping her sisters memory alive...see those really nice bushes in the back, same thing...in a weird sort of way it's almost like looking at headstones...really beautiful headstones that bloom in the spring...certainly NOT like my yard...(although the creeping charley has a nice little bloom in the early spring...sadly though it's the only green thing in the yard.)

My grandma was buried last November in Iowa so visiting her grave today wasn't an option...and my grandma wouldn't have liked that anyway...she always said "i don't want flowers when i'm dead."

Which is why i planted a cherry tree in honor of my grandmother today...it's not much of a tree at the moment...it's more like a two foot twig...but i ordered it a month ago from Publishers Clearing House where right this very moment, i could be a winner...and sure, you don't have to buy anything to qualify to win...but hey, there is that 4 easy payments of 3.99 thing...well, anyway, what i'm saying is, i'm missing my grandmother today and wishing she could have made it to 99...and pissed at myself for never remembering her birthday--until she died.

So today, in honor of my grandmothers 99th birthday...i planted a two foot twig that i hope someday will grow into a beautiful Washington DC type cherry tree...i just hope i don't accidently kill it before i make my fourth payment.

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

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

And how weird is that?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

In praise of nothing special...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AAAAAAAAARRRRRAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dancing for a CAUSE...

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

This is NOT a post about Steven Avery...

I still have NIGHTMARES about what happened that horrible Halloween Day in 2005 to Theresa Halbach that makes those old Halloween movies with "Jason" more like The Three Stooges...

Good riddance...i hope Avery rots...

This is a post about reptiles and i don't mean to imply that Steven Avery is a reptile...it's not fair to snakes, turtles and other various creatures to call him that...

What i really want to say is, i'm a cat and dog person and i never thought i'd LOVE reptiles BUT...when i bought Mr. Tim Turtle for my son's birthday a few years ago...i thought that box turtles lived as long as, well, hamsters...boy was i wrong! Apparently box turtles can live to be 75 years old which is something to consider the next time your at the pet store and your kid says "can i have a turtle?"

But we didn't buy Tim Turtle at the pet store...one of my son's friends didn't want him anymore and just happened to call on my sons birthday...does it sound like i was set up...you betcha...

And anyway, i have really come to love this turtle (sure he and i may someday share the same nursing home--but if i'm lucky i'll die first)...he doesn't do much quite frankly but stare at himself in the mirror, soak in his little pool...and eat everything that i should be eating...things like fruits and veggies...oh, and crickets...but it's the little things like the absolute pleasure Mr. Turtle gets on the first warm spring day when we take him outside and let him roam around a bit...his little tail starts wagging excitedly and he moves as fast as i do when i hear there's an extra Krispy Kreme in the studio...

And he has Taste buds. For real. He will eat something like green seedless grapes nonstop for three years and then one day, just stop...doesn't want them anymore...and he won't eat freeze dried crickets, he has to have the real thing. This year he likes fresh strawberries and bananas...everyday!

He also likes to hibernate...up to six weeks at a time, it's normal for him...which is why i'm so worried that there may be something to this Green House effect, because Mr. Turtle only hibernates in the winter, and he hasn't gone to sleep yet...but other then that, when horrors like the Iraq war and the Steven Avery trial air on the tube, it's kinda nice to go upstairs and check to see if the turtle has gone to sleep yet...nope, he's still in his pool.

My snowman is drunker then your snowman!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

As you can see winter has been toooooo long and one snowy winter morning i decided to take a break from shoveling and make a drunken snowman...it didn't start out that way, it's just everytime i tried to straighten him out he would just start leaning to the left again...

the same thing use to happen with all my boyfriends!

WINTER SUCKS!

Our groundhog didn't see his shadow this year and has predicted an early spring...what is he smoking...crack?

I'll tell you this, if Britney Spears lived in Milwaukee she would'nt have shaved her head!

This is the time of the year when you start hearing and reading about Seasonal Affective Disorder referred to as SAD with all sorts of advice on how to not get depressed this time of the year;
1. Get up early to maximize your daylite time.
2. If possible, sit near a window at work.
3. Try light therapy.......OR... in my personal opinion;
4. Move the hell out of here!!!! (some place...any place warmer than here...which according to the weather channel just happens to be Florida--but wait--don't they have hurricanes? Today, that sounds like a fair trade off!)

However, if you don't mind waiting a few years...like 93 years from now...according to a recent interview i heard from a climate instructer here at MATC...by the end of the century our climate will be just like Southern Illinois-Northern Kentucky...which means much less snow and cold BUT a whole lot more tornadoes...of course, i'll be long gone by then...something to think about while i shovel the snow this afternoon.

They're Stealing OUR songs...again!

So i'm trapped in the car during rush hour when i start channel surfing (oh right, like you don't do it too)...when all of sudden i hear The Fray--one of the bands we play--on the Christian channel! And i'm p*ssed...they did it again!...stole one of our songs! It seems like everytime i turn on their channel they're playing one of our tunes...like Natasha Bedingfield or Los Lonely Boys!

News flash...Just because Los Lonely Boys are singing about heaven doesn't mean they're singing about your heaven...and how the heck did you even justify stealing The Fray's How to save a life?!

Hey Christians, STOP stealing our songs!!!

I'm willing to make a deal with you...i'll give you back your Amy Grant AND Michael W. Smith IF you promise never to touch our Mr. Misters Kyrie AGAIN...

The Dog says "no."

It was sooooo cold the other night that the strangest thing
happened...i asked my dog Max if he wanted to go outside
and he said "no."
Which i thought was strange since i didn't know dogs could
talk.

I finally broke down and bought boots for Max, i mean i
don't own a pair of gloves that match, but the dog now has
doggie boots...not that he wants to wear them. He put up
a big fuss skirming and yipping but he'll get use to them. He
did the same thing when i bought him a winter coat last year...yeah, a winter coat...oh never
mind.

Not pregnant at the "Happiest Place on Earth"

I see Christina Aguilera is denying reports that she is pregnant again. This time she pointed out that she couldn't be pregnant because she spent this past Valentine's Day at California's Disneyland "screaming with delight" as she enjoyed the Matterhorn...a ride not recommended for expectant moms.

Which really sucks! Because i'm NOT an expectant mom...and when i took three of my kids to Disneyland last Thanksgiving the ride was CLOSED! In fact, lots of rides were closed for repair or not operating at this time. We found that so many of these rides were not open that day, that i finally gave up and took pictures of my kids standing in front of the barricaded rides...this picture is my kids in front of the "closed for repair" Matterhorn--i got a whole photo album of these...wanna see it?

blahblah...hey, girl scout cookies have no transfats!...blah blah

That's right, thats what i said! The girl scouts have very kindly removed ALL the transfats from their cookies...no more worrying about bad fats while i eat something like the 40 dollars worth of thin mints i bought last weekend...although i smoke so transfats are going to be the least of my problems in 20 years...

But i'm sure i'll have it coming...it's my fault for engaging in such high risks behaviors like smoking, eating girl scout cookies or filling up my gas tank on Capitol and Sherman...

And as long as i'm on it...i admit that i'm part of the Britney problem on the tube and in print...i can't seem to stop myself from checking out the latest stupid mess this bald headed millionaire seems to indulge in...maybe it's because it's always nice to see someone who has 100 million dollars so messed up...as in "i'm broke but at least i'm not as stupid as Britney!" Let's see Britney answer the phone and come up with a new inventive excuse for not paying her cable bill this month instead of the boring "i'm broke" same old same old...bet she can't cuz she's stupid!

It just depresses me that someone as untalented, "can't sing, can dance a little" as Britney has 100 MILLION DOLLARS!!! WHAT THE HECK! What kind of cosmic lottery did she win while someone like you and me...nice attitude, sound morals, underwear wearing person struggles...you know what kind of problems i would have if i had that kind of money...who to call for delivery..."should i call Dominos or Pizza Hut...hey, wait a minute, i'm rich...i'm calling Rosatti's!

I suspect a major part of Britneys problem is....(drumroll)...herself...and i don't mean bipolar or too much to drink...her real problem...she's narcasistic...check it out...she has 100 million and two beautiful healthy young sons yet she is jetting all over the world with guys she barely knows paying 40 thousand a night at some hotel...when she's not shaving her head...i mean i have bad hair days too but that is what bleach and Cost Cutters is for...i have a girlfriend who has tried for the last decade to have children and all she has to show for it is a weird sort of rare cancer she got from the fertility treatments...yet she's shown nothing but grace and peace...plus she's a damn fine cook, but no one knows about her...and then there's the brave teenagers who stayed by the side of a dying man they didn't know at Citgo on the corner of Capitol and Sherman...how many teenagers or adults would do that?! Damn few...but then again, they're no Britney...thank God.

Sharing a recipe from my grandma

Well, it happened again. This time i was at Walgreens picking up a perscription when i happen to see some Christmas cards i liked...and as i was looking through the boxes it occurred to me that i didn't have to buy my grandma a Christmas card this year (since she passed away around Thanksgiving) when all of a sudden a tidal wave of tears flowed up my throat, through my nose and out through my eyes...and i COULDN'T STOP! Would you believe, i had to leave the store...i muttered "allergies" to one of the clerks who asked me if i was ok as i made my escape. Up to this point, i thought i had done pretty good...but, you know, with grief, you never know when it's going to happen...one minute i'm laughing along at something as normal as the next person and then something, a song, a chance comment like "sorry about your grandma" and the next minute it's waterworks...and i'm just going to have to accept that it's going to hurt and soldier on...

I was at Southridge Mall yesterday when i saw a tee shirt kiosk and a woman making personalized tee shirts for somebody...i asked "if i brought a picture of my grandma, could they make that into a tee shirt?" and she said "they do it all the time." So, now i know what i'm going to do this week...i'm going to make a tee shirt with my grandma's picture on it...and i'm going to wear it on my grandma's 99th birthday...what the heck, i'm going to celebrate my grandma's birthday after all! And you know, i'm pretty sure she would approve of that...although, what to put on my shirt along with her picture i'm still wrestling with...at first i thought of putting "Rest in Peace" on it along with her name, but my husband thought that was way too morbid...then i thought her name with birthdate and death date and my kids said that i was depressing them...so now i'm thinking of trying a little humor...something like "my grandma died and all i got was this tee shirt!"

My grandma was a terrific cook...it's very unfortunate that i didn't inherit that gene from her...although, the last 30 years of her life she ate cabbage every day (since she thought that would help her live to one hundred)...and i'll tell you...i had to bust my butt to find a recipe of hers that didn't include cabbage in it...but i think my grandma--who loved to cook for people and enjoyed sharing recipes--would love it if i kept her memory alive with one of her recipes...in fact, this one was featured in her church recipe book in April, 1987...and if you have a grandma coming this holiday season, feel free to use it, and just tell it you got it from your friends grandma...i know my grandma would love that.

Pork Chop Noodle Dinner............ Reba Davison

4 pork chops.........................2 C. cooked noodles

1 tsp. salt.........................1 can cream of chicken soup

1 tsp. prepared mustard...... 1 C. water

1 tsp. chopped onion

Brown chops on 1 side; turn and season. Brown side with salt and mustard. Place noodles in buttered casserole. Place pork chops on noodles, brown-side down. Pour soup, water and onion into skillet; stir and heat until blended. Pour over chops. Cover and bake 1/2 hour at 350 degrees, then uncover and bake 1/2 hour til brown.

Cucumber-Pineapple Salad ........Reba Davison

1 pkg. lime jello............. 1 C. Dream Whip

1 C. crushed pineapple.. 1 C. mayonnaise

1 C. cubed cucumber

Add 1 cup boiling water to jello; stir until dissolved (2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup pineapple juice and cold water. Chill until jelly stage. Add pineapple, cucumber, Dream Whip and mayonnaise. Let set.

When it's 9 pm here...it's 6 am in Fallujah...

My husbands son, my stepson Mark, (he's the one in the middle of our Christmas photo) is now in Iraq. It sounds so ominous...for the last year or so we had the knowledge that he was going hanging over our heads like a sword...and now, it's here.

Last week, my stepson told his dad that once they got to Kuwait...they would be flown in a helicopter where it would be "so high" but not too high, as the terrorist's had rockets they could use to shoot them down, and not "too low" as the terrorist had shoulder rockets that could also, shoot them down.

My husband takes comfort in that this is something his son has always wanted to do...to join the Marines and serve his country. He also takes comfort in a fathers day card his son gave him two years ago...right before he joined the Marines:

"Well dad, i've been yours for the last 19 years now and it's coming to that time in our lives that soon i won't be around at all, who knows where i'll be next year, if i'm even gonna be in this country. You are the best dad in the world, i wouldn't trade you for any other. I mean that, i love you more then anything in this world. Keep safe dad , and no matter what ever happens to me in the future KEEP THE FAITH! Everything and every choice i make, i try to make so you'll be proud of me. That's the most important thing to me is that you are proud of me even when some choices i make, i know you wouldn't be, i look down on those choices.

I don't know what's gonna happen to me while i'm serving the country. Tell you the truth, fear of the unknown scares me to death...one thing that i do know is death. If and when i die i know i'm going to heaven. I know my sins are forgiven, i will never forget what you taught me about our creater, and savior. Thank you dad, you will live forever because of what you have done for me. The people i change for the good will (be) because of you, even if they don't know it yet. I also know that light that is inside of me, the fire that burns within (is) the fire you made.

Thank you dad,

your son,

Mark

Fallujah is northeast of Bagdad and nine hours ahead of Milwaukee, so when we go to bed at night we say a prayer for Mark as he is just waking up...and when we wake up, we say another prayer for Mark because we know he is out there, somewhere, serving his country. It is all we can do for him now.