Hilarious Roller Skating Babies Video

Texting and Driving Bill

Another development which could impact so many of us just came across the AP wire:

Do you text and drive? Ever been in an accident? Email me at: mwright@Hearst.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A bill is on the move in the Pennsylvania Legislature to punish people caught sending electronic text messages while driving.

The state Senate voted 44-3 to approve the bill Thursday and send it to the state House of Representatives.

Under the bill, a motorist in Pennsylvania caught texting while driving would be fined $100.

The violation would be a secondary offense, meaning the motorist must be pulled over for another, more serious violation in order to be ticketed for texting while driving.

The sponsor, Sen. Robert Tomlinson of Bucks County, says 10 states have outlawed texting while driving, and eight other states bar texting by novice drivers or motorists with certain specialized classifications.

Swine Flu Shots Coming to Your Child’s School?

This story just came across the Associated Press wire and I thought parents might be interested to see what might welcome their kids to school in the Fall:

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line – at their local schools – the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they’ll tackle the virus’ all-but-certain resurgence.

“We may end up averting a crisis. That’s our hope,” said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home – the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu’s fall threat.

No final decision has been made on whether to vaccinate Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stressed. That depends largely on studies with experimental batches that are set to start the first week of August – to see if they’re safe and seem to work and to learn whether they require one or two doses.

But if all goes well, the federal government will buy vaccine from manufacturers and share it for free among the states, which must then “try and get this in the arms of the targeted population as soon as possible,” Sebelius said.

First in line probably will be school-age children, young adults with risky conditions such as asthma, pregnant women and health workers, she said. Unlike regular winter flu, the swine flu seems more dangerous to these groups than to older people.

“Schools are natural places” to offer those vaccines, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

Go home and get schools, mayors and other community leaders to spread that message, Sebelius said.

“The last thing we want is millions of parents to be surprised” the day the get-your-kid-vaccinated-at-school note comes home, she said.

Jerome Bettis Asthma Camp

I spent the day with Jerome Bettis as his Asthma Camp at Duquesne University.  The camp is free to children who suffer from asthma thanks to Children’s Hospital and The Bus Stops Here Foundation. Jerome went through some football drills with them and then the kids went into the locker room to learn about asthma triggers and how to manage asthma.  The doctor who helped organize it told me that our region has such poor air quality that our children have even more to be worried about when it comes to having trouble breathing.

I interviewed the most adorable little girl. She’s 10 years old and recently was released from the intensive care unit of the hospital after being treated for an asthma attack. Wait until you see her darling reaction to having the opportunity to meet The Bus in person… and see the special gift she brought for him. : – )

(It’s on tonight at 5:35)

How to Moonwalk

Celebrating the 4th With the Enemy?

I have the greatest neighbors. Honestly. One very special couple, the Sparkes, always open their home for gatherings ….. on special occasions or just ordinary evenings. It was no surprise that they offered to host the Independence Day party.

They promised food and fireworks and fun. I wouldn’t miss it! But then it hit me. They’re British!

They’ve lived in America for 15 years now… but they’re from England and actually offered to host a party celebrating their defeat? HUH? Should I back off of the potato salad?

We had a great time as always…. but couldn’t help throwing out some historical trash talk. LOL

A Story Everyone, Especially Girls, Should Hear

I had the honor of interviewing a fascinating woman with a fascinating story.  She is now 86 years old and has had quite a life. Florence Shutsy-Reynolds (Shutsy) served her country only to have her country ignore her service.  She’s waited 65 years to be recognized for her efforts in World War II and told me she doesn’t have another 65 years to wait.  Now, finally, it seems she’ll get the honor she’s due. (click here to watch my Action News report or keep reading my blog for behind the scenes of my interview).

When Shutsy was seven years old she dreamed of flying. She told me her siblings and classmates all laughed at her for it.  She got  her pilots license in Connellsville, Fayette County just as WWII broke out.  At 18, she knew she had a lot to offer and wanted to serve her country.

In the early 1940’s America had a huge problem. It needed to deliver military aircraft and materials to bases across the country but most of our pilots were already overseas fighting in combat missions.  To fill the void, the government finally was coaxed into trying out a program called WASP. It stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots.

(This is Florence Shutsy-Reynolds at age 20)

The WASP program received 25,000 applications. Fewer than 1900 accepted into the program and only 1078   finished.  Shutsy was one of them.

For one year and 13 days Shutsy got behind the cockpit and flew military missions for our country. She loved every moment of it. The women flew 60-million miles serving their country.

Although it was non-combat, it was still very dangerous. 38 WASP members died when their planes went down. Because they were not considered military members their family members had to pay to have their bodies shipped back home and they were not allowed to place a flag on their coffin.

Shutsy told me when the war was ending the women were told their service was done. “No thank you,” she said.”Just pack your bags and go home.”  WASPs were not considered veterans. And their story was so unusual for women in those days that when they did talk about their service, people did not believe them.  Shutsy told me,  ”because of the roles of women back then, our government was  now sweeping us under the rug.”

Shutsy says about 300 WASPs still living today and still have reunions.  She says they’ve always felt something has been missing.  But last week, President Barack Obama signed a bill, formally named S. 614, awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

As I talked to her, I thought of her dream at seven years old and I thought of my own daughter, Ally, who’s nine. Things have changed so much for Ally because of women such as Shutsy who were ridiculed for following their dream. She told me to tell Ally that she could accomplish anything and to never stop believing in herself.

She gave me a small charm as I left the interview. I love it. It is the symbol of  WASP.

Appropriately, it has wings with a diamond in the middle which is the Greek symbol of wisdom and war. Shutsy manufactures these charms from her home and sells them to make money for WASP.  She wants every member who’s passed away to have a proper grave marker for their service, something the government ignored for so long.  She said some of the family members of her fellow WASPs didn’t even realize their loved one had served in the military…. not surprising since many of the women wouldn’t talk about their service since people accused them of making it up.

Shutsy expects it will be November before the medals are ready.  I asked her where she’d put it. She said she planned to proudly wear it around her neck. I suppose that way, all of the people who never believed her when she talked about living her dream by flying for her country won’t question it again. I’m going to get a chain for Shutsy’s WASP charm and encourage Ally to wear it around her neck, too. A proud symbol of  never giving up on your dreams….. thanks to beautiful and courageous women like Shutsy.

Squirrel in Woman’s Shirt

Just because I couldn’t resist……

Vacation Pictures

Long overdue…. but finally …. here are some photos of our fun vacation.

We went to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. I knew it would be educational…. but it was also a lot of fun and my kids loved it.   We stayed at The Williamsburg Inn which was so cool! The Queen of England stayed there twice! It’s right in the middle of the colonial street which was so convenient for seeing everything. It also has a fantastic restaurant. I highly recommend it! I think my favorite part was the demonstration at the old printer’s shop. It would take weeks to gets news out to everyone back then.

Here are the kids getting lost in the maze behind the Governor’s Palace.

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Here’s a video of a woman teaching Zach how to properly bow. LOL

The kids are learning some old fashioned games….. a lot different than the wii in our basement.

It’s really amazing walking the streets where Washington and Jefferson and Henry hung out before the Revolution.

We took a quick trip (15 minutes) down to Jamestown…. where our country began.

Writing our names in the sand  on the shores of Jamestown. Amazing!

Jackson’s Death

   I’m not sure what to say or think about Michael Jackson’s death.  He was a musical genius. The controversy surrounding his personal life was extremely disturbing.  On his passing, I will try to remember how his music impacted my life.  I think back to high school and think of classmate, Dana Burton, blasting songs from  Thriller in her basement…. teaching us all how to moonwalk.

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry Stops By

In Bizzaro World… yesterday, Joe Perry from Aerosmith stopped by our building.  First, we spotted his tour bus in our parking lot. Then watched him walk into ESPN radio which is on our first floor.  I ask Scott Paulson if I could come take some pictures… and he said for me to come on into the booth while they were on the air and snap away.  I think he’ll be 59 years old in the Fall. He’s small and skinny with an enormous amount of hair! 

Perry was on “The Drive” with Eddie Crowe, Scott Paulson and Mike Logan promoting his concert last night. (If any of you out there have photos of the Aerosmith / ZZ Top show please send them in)   Perry told them, “The Rock and Roll thing never gets old.”  He also said he’s drank out of the Stanley Cup in ‘04 .. and likes to tailgate at the Patriots games. Although admitting he’s not a huge sports fan, he says as he travels the world he tries to take in lots of different kinds of sports whenever he can.

Lisa’s Surprise

My infamous cousin, Lisa, is always doing something special for my kids. Always. Incessantly. It’s ridiculous.

So on our last day of vacation last week she woke us up before 8:00 with this surprise. She and her husband, Wayne, brought over this monstrous toy.

      We plugged it in … and a few minutes later it turned into this: 

     She rented for the day… and kids got a good five hours of jumping time out of it.  More vacation stories coming soon. I’m just swamped at work getting caught up on everything.  

B-day with The Clarks and The Cup

Blog reader, Tammy wrote to tell me about her cool birthday and I wanted to share. 

She had seen my post on The Clarks concert and wrote in and told me that she and her husband bought tickets to celebrate her birthday. I told her to be sure and send me photos and tell me how the show was because I was going to be out of town.

Read what she sent me about her birthday adventure!

We went to Pittsburgh on Saturday to see the Clark concert for my birthday.  When we checked into the Marriott Hotel they told us our room would not be ready for an hour so I went into the lounge and ended up right into the middle of the Stanley Cup Celebration with the Penguins.  My husband Allen thought the cup was just a party prop and said the lounge was probably full of drunks.  He really regrets not going with me now because he missed out on all the fun!

My birthday was Saturday the 13th.  I celebrated it with Penguin Bill Guerin #13 on my birthday on the 13th – how ironic. Bill was so nice.  I had no clue anything like that would happen at all to the meet some the penguins, coaches, etc. or to see the cup and celebrate with them.   It was awesome!   The story was in the Cumberland Times news paper today, Sunday, June 14th.

Then somehow my luck hit a again on a fluke and Allen and I were given VIP seats up front at the Clark Concert and I got to go back stage and get photos with the band leaders. It was unreal.  Allen took my hand and we went looking for a lottery venue before my luck run out.  I think I turned back into a pumpkin at midnight.

Here are a few pics to share – Have a wonderful vacation!

Take care – Tammy

 

 

 

HockeyTahn T-Shirt

I”m back from vacation and pictures are coming soon…. but for now I wanted to share this cool find.

I just saw this and I am going to order one! I love it! I’m also going to get a couple for gifts (including one for Paul Van Osdol, whose brother came up with the slogan “Hockeytown”  for Detroit) .

Click here to order one.

 For those of you who may have missed it… Detroit has trademarked the name “Hockeytown” so no one else can legally use it. But since we won the Stanley Cup we earned the name! Not only that, but we earned it based on the thousands of people who showed up outside Mellon Arena to watch the game on the big screen!   Pittsburghese lets us claim the title despite that silly trademark!

What Zach was Screaming About

We were at my parent’s house when all of a sudden my son starts yelling for us to rush into the living room.  This is what we saw through the window:

We have no idea from where he came or to whom he belongs…. but my kids immediately claimed him as a pet. 

His name is Indigo. 

My mother ran and grabbed her camera and snapped some pictures.

But now, Indigo is missing. We haven’t seen him in two days despite all of the bird seed we’ve thrown into the yard.  The kids want to put his picture and Grandmother’s phone number on telephone poles in case someone finds him. . : )