Q's Crib

People always look at me as if I have two heads when I say I don't see myself having children. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that it's WAAAAY more responsibility than I want. That, and a parents job is never over! But spending a few days with my nephews gives me confidence that I've made the right choice.

First, my nephews are good kids. They turned 7 while the visited me with their mom (my sister) and we all had a really good time. But man was I tired every day!!!!! I turned to my sister at one point and asked, "Do you hear them saying 'Mama" in your sleep?" They had to call out to her at least a hundred times a day! I had their "7th Birthday" trip all planned and I really shouldn't have bothered. We visited Plimoth Plantation, took a Duck tour, went on a whale watch, and walked through the ships at Battleship Cove. A lot of money later, I realized something that I hope others will remember as we quickly approach the holiday season. Kids really like the simple things.

Of all things we did, my nephews Kennist and Kelton's favorite activity was taking the dog through the woods and watching him swim after sticks. And they had a blast making salad and pizza with my husband while my sister and I went shopping. Two things that didn't cost a thing. But of the paid excursions, Battleship Cove in Fall River was the hands down winner. And that was the least expensive trip. They spent hours there and probably would have stayed longer if I didn't have to get to bed for work the next day.

As I went to bed, my sister pulled out thier homework. Most parents know the drill but I was new to the game. I asked, "When do you get a break?" Her answer. "Maybe when they're in college." To all you good parents out there, I bow down to you. You truly have the toughest job in the world. And I still don't want it.

Sign me up for a support group. I'm apparently a shopaholic. According to the quiz on the homepage, it's time to freeze my credit cards and step away from the mall. The sad thing is, I've known about my little problem for some time. Do I really need 50 purses? How about the more than 100 pairs of shoes? I'm a walking case study in gluttony. But yet, like so many other people, I find it incredibly difficult to stop. I can tell you all the psychological reasons for my addiction. How? Well I've read books on people like me. One of my favorite TV shows is big spender. And you can always find an article on the subject in one of the 20 magazines to which I subscribe. (Subscribing to 20 magazines? Shopping problem!) I tell myself, "I pay off my credit cards at the end of the month" or "I work hard, I deserve this really cute bag!" It's all a crock of bull. Like most shopaholics, I'm trying to fill a void. Had a bad day? Buy some shoes. Bored? Go to the mall. But now, as the financial markets collapse around us, I'm going to try a new addiction. Saving. Just as soon as I use those coupons for Bloomingdales Private Sale! Baby steps, right?

Take the quiz, tell my how you scored and if you plan to change your big spending ways. My score was 33. Thanks for hanging out with my handbags, shoes and closet full of clothes in my crib!

Q

I know I'm not supposed to do it, but I couldn't help it. I looked at my 401K. Then I wanted to drown my sorrows in a Peach-Mango Martini. But I can no longer afford that so it's rot-gut vodka for me! I'm down 19 percent for the year. But hey, that's not so bad! I was down 21.5 percent yesterday. While I'm not going to do anything drastic like put everything into bonds, but I am tempted to just stop contributing. I still have school loans for God's sake! I could be paying those off or saving like mad for a house. I'm so confused. Am I the only one?

What a crazy week it's been!  The media (yes, I know I'm part of it) has been sidetracked so much about lipstick and Barack Obama's comments about putting it on a pig, that I've been forced to stop watching the news when I get home.  I just couldn't take it anymore for fear I would throw something at the television.  Is this election over yet?  Why is it so easy for everyone to get distracted with the mundane and miss the meat?  What matters most, a tired cliche or the direction of the country?  If you watched the news this week, it seems the "putting lipstick on a pig" cliche is the winner by a landslide.  How sad is that?   Does anybody care about the issues anymore or did they ever?  To ask the question is to answer it.  After all, it seems the Presidential election is becoming more like a popularity contest.  Remember all those people who said they were going to vote for George Bush because he seemed like a nice person to have a beer with?  Nevermind that he doesn't drink.   With our attention firmly focused on lipstick, I wonder if history will repeat itself.

I'm Anqunette and I am an SUV owner. Owning a vehicle that gets 14 miles to the gallon (on a good day and when the tires are properly inflated) does make me feel as if I should be going to a Gas Guzzlers Anonymous meeting. So to reduce my carbon footprint, last week I decided to depend on public transportation to get me where I needed to go in a timely fashion. THAT WAS SUCH A BAD, BAD, BAD IDEA!!!!!

I was invited to speak to teenage girls about my career for the City of Boston's "Girl's Inc." conference last Saturday at Simmons College. I was supposed to get there at 12:45. I live in Canton and the commuter rail was scheduled to stop in Canton at noon and I would arrive a block from my destination at 12:22. Perfect, I thought. But at 12:05, things took a turn. The message board stated my train was running approximately 35 minutes late. Not wanting to take a chance with "approximately" my husband agreed to pick me up, even though he had a job interview that day, and tried to get me to Simmons on time.

Well, there was a Red Sox game and traffic on 93 crawled at 20 miles an hour from Canton to Downtown Boston. I eventually made it to Simmons by 1:30. Fifteen minutes before my scheduled 1 hour appearance was set to end.

How do people who depend on the "T" to get to their jobs deal with this? How can "T" officials explain a 35 minute delay for a train that only runs every two hours on the weekend? Talk about giving people no options! I will take the Commuter Rail again, but only when I need to take a leisurely trip downtown. If people are counting on me to be on time, watch out for my massive carbon footprint, because I'm gassing up the truck and hitting the highway! But I will check the Red Sox schedule first. Got a gripe with the "T"? Let me hear about it and, as always, thanks for hanging in my crib!

Q

If you've been paying attention to the show for the last few years, then you know I'm not one to hang on every word a celebrity says. In fact, I'm usually the first one to tune them out all together. However, I really like Paris Hilton's latest commercial.

If you've missed it, you can watch it here. But to give you the nuts and bolts of it, she takes a dig at John McCain for putting her in one of his recent presidential campaign ads, calling him a wrinkled, white haired guy. And she didn't give Barack Obama a free pass, either. She gave a little jab to his over-used "Hope" message. One swing, two hits! You go, Paris!

Politics is often a dirty game and in the end, it seems the general public is usually on the losing end. So thank you, Paris, for giving us a little laugh along the way. Now that's hot!

Thanks for hanging in my crib!

Q

Maybe it's because I have hideous feet, but I just can't understand what goes through the mind of someone who walks up to a woman, talks her into taking off her shoes, and puts that person's foot in his crotch.

If you've missed the story, police in New Hampshire are looking for a guy who has done this twice in a shopping plaza off Route 111.  Apparently, he warms them up by talking about karate or pilates and when the lady is comfortable enough to take off her shoes to perhaps learn a new move, he grabs the foot and places it on his groin!  In a word, EWWWWWW!

What do you think should happen to this guy?   Is he a perv on his way to committing bigger crimes?  Or just a wierdo who's taken his foot fetish too far? 

Q

It seems the story of the Middleboro Town Hall being haunted is getting a lot of traction lately.  Paranormal activity experts have been dispatched to the building and they believe "spirits" in the form of orbs can been seen on pictures taken during a wedding held at the hall.  There are lots of people who see this as a bunch of  "hooey".  But I'm not one of them.

For me, it's not much of a stretch to believe the place is haunted.  I feel lots of places are haunted and spirits are around all the time.  Now before you go and write me off as a crazy person, just hear me out.  I have two experiences that made me a believer.

My stepdad, Kenny,  died years ago after a short battle with cancer.  A few weeks after my Mom said "I do" and moved into his house, he was diagnosed.  He was dead in a year.  My Mom can be described as a somewhat stoic person.  She's not touchy-feely, into new age spirituality or even outwardly emotional .  In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen her cry.  Intangible things just aren't her thing.  So, a few days after Kenny died, the doorbell at his home started ringing out of the blue, in the middle of the night.  Mama would go to the door and no one would be there.  This happened just about every night for weeks.  Mama said it stopped when she finally yelled to the top of her lungs one night, "Kenny, I'm fine!  Now let me sleep."  To hear my mom say this is akin to hearing someone say, "Martians landed in the backyard and we had a cookout."  It's so not like her and she said it with the calm demeanor of someone saying, "Green beans were on sale so I bought two cans."   Yet, after she did it, her doorbell hasn't rung in the middle of the night since.

Here's example two.  Three years ago,  my friend, Tony,  died suddenly of pneumonia.  He was only 37 years old and was a mentor and great supporter of mine when I first started out in TV News.  We would also get together once a year at an industry convention and catch up on things.  I hate these conventions and he would always pressure me to go.  He died about a week before the convention.  I went and missed him terribly.  After spending the night crying in my hotel room, I decided to pick myself up and go and have my work critiqued by industry big wigs, which is one of the main reasons to go to these conventions.  Bad idea!  One of the most powerful women in Broadcasting starts grilling me about my work and I LOSE IT AND START CRYING!  This is so out of character for me!  I call it a day and walk away, thinking, I just wish I can find someone who knew Tony.  I'm standing at the concierge desk and a woman walks up to me and asks if this is where she can get directions.  I tell her yes and asks where she's headed.  She said Huntsville, Alabama.  That's where Tony lived!  Out of the thousands of people at the convention, what are the chances of bumping into someone who worked in tiny Huntsville?  I asked if she knew Tony and she said he was the only reason why she was there.  She gave me a copy of the program from his funeral, which I still carry in my briefcase every day.  I know Tony sent her and I know there is something beyond this life. 

So sorry this was such a long post!   But if you believe in people who go boo from the great beyond, or even if you don't, drop me a line and tell me why.  I love a good ghost story!  And as always, thanks for hanging out in my crib.

Q                

Did you hear about the guys who were arrested for videotaping thier lesbian neighbor's bedroom tryst and then posting it on a college website?  How low can people go?  Apparently the ladies, who attend another college, left their blinds open and didn't know some guys who lived across the alley could see right into their bedroom.  As they performed intimate acts, the guys called some of thier otther roommates to watch.  At one point, up to 10 guys were watching these women!

The ladies found out about it because people were stopping them on campus and saying they were all over the internet.  The university pulled the video, but not before a lot of people downloaded it.  But what's worse than this invasion of privacy, is that the courts are waiting to see what the university will do to punish these guys!  Why?  It's illegal to videotape someone nude or partially nude without that person's consent.  These guys admitted they did it.  One even went as far as to say he knew it was wrong but he wanted to fit in with the guys so he went along with it. 

Prosecutors, do the right thing.  Make these guys pay for what they did.  Sure, the ladies should have shut their blinds, but what gives these guys the right to turn their private moments into an internet porn flick?  They have no right, and the law should remind them of that.  If these guys don't do time, I think the ladies should sue them!

A lesbian couple is upset because they were asked to leave a Red Sox-Mariners game in Seatle after they refused to stop kissing each other in public.  One says they were discriminated against because they're gay.  My response?  GIRL, PLEASE!!!!! 

Now don't get me wrong.  Gay people are discriminated against in more ways than I can count.  But I don't think this particular situation is one of them.  Nothing gets me rolling my eyes more than public displays of affection.  That includes gays and straights.   Love is a wonderful thing, but do you really have to maul each other in public?  What's the point?  Are you marking your territory?  Have toxic fumes driven you out of your home?  Have you considered getting a hotel room? 

Both my former and current husband have taken me to task about this and I admit I might be a bit more prudish than most.  I'm reluctant to even hold hands in public!  But I'm getting better.  However, that and a quick peck on lips is as far as I'll go in mixed company.  I believe anything else belongs behind closed doors.  Thanks for hanging out in my crib!  

Q

Hi!

I've always looked at kayakers and all those white river rafting commercials and thought, "Too bad I can't do that because I can't swim."  Well, this week I proved myself wrong.  Keba and I went kayaking in Essex.  It was actually really fun!  Keba and I were in a double which made things interesting because she kept forgetting to paddle.  So unless you have a tremendous fear of water, I recommend giving it a try.  Also, if you want a few laughs, check out our story on the Morning News page. 

In the meantime, I'm taking a few days off so I'll see you in a week!

Q

Greetings,

I admit I often think of cosmetic surgery especially when I drag my butt out of bed at 1am and pop in my "The Firm" DVD, I often wonder, wouldn't liposuction be easier? And who hasn't looked in the mirror and thought, "Maybe a lift here, or a tug there or a bit of Botox above the brow would do this girl some good?" Well put down the scalpel and take a look at the buxom brunette from Brazil. This woman is beautiful.

She's stunning! And yet she says she's living her dream by having FFF breast implants. What on earth would possess someone to want to be a circus freak? It's insane. And honestly, I think this borders on criminal.

When did women start hating themselves in droves? I don't always have the highest self-esteem. Good grief, I work in a newsroom where quite a few of my co-workers wear 00! Even if I never eat again, my "junk in the trunk" won't come close to squeezing into anything near that. But to borrow a line from the 80's diet diva Susan Powter, it's time to STOP THE INSANITY! If you watch shows like The Swan, Extreme Makeover, or I Want a Famous Face, it seems it's normal to undergo outrageous amounts of cosmetic surgery. It's not. And this woman should be the poster child for all the reasons why.

Look, I'm not knocking plastic surgery. If you want a lift, tuck or little less in the backside, more power to you. But isn't the purpose supposed to be to enhance what you've got? Isn't this woman going overboard? Check out the picture and read the entire story and then tell me what you think. And as always, thanks for hanging in my crib!

Q

Am I the only one a little worried about my 401k being wiped out because of the downturn in the markets? Did we all get accustomed to 10 and 15 percent returns and now that things are in the negative territory, we're headed into panic mode? I must admit, I thought about moving my entire 401k out of aggressive stocks and into something really safe. But after talking to a financial planner, I'm breathing a little easier and leaving my money where it is. I talked to him for a story we're running tonight. If you're wondering what to do with your money during different stages of you life, watch the story on the Fox 25 news at 10. Also, how concerned are you about your retirement savings? Are you even saving at all or has the rising cost of everything made it impossible to set aside something for those supposed golden years? Let me know and thanks for hanging out in my crib!

Q

So, the Boston Marathon is just a few days away and every time it, I think, "Should I try to run another one?"  For those of you who don't know, I ran two marathons within a few months of each other a few years ago.  I can't put into words how good it feels to see the finish line.  But at the starting line, I always asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" 

In Kona, Hawaii, the answer was simple.   I was running to bring attention to stroke prevention.  But I also wanted to drop a few pounds.  Well, I ended up gaining 10 pounds.  Funny thing about running, it makes you want to eat!  I dreamt of food every night!  On the day of the marathon, it was hot and humid and most of the route was on blacktop.  I desperately wanted to plunge into the ocean that ran the length of the course.   I got my first tan.  My legs ended up being 10 shades darker than my thighs. People who actually survived having a stroke passed me left and right!  Six and a half hours later I crossed the finish line.  I wanted a redo.

So four months later, I found myself in downtown Chicago with 39,999 of my closest friends.  About an hour in, I was so over it.  After 3 hours, I was walking through a Walgreens looking for Skittles.  I needed sugar.  About 2 miles before the end, I could barely move.  I would have given up, but a woman with a prosthetic leg ran past me.  You meet the most inspiring people during marathons.  I thought if she could do it, I can do it.  I staggered across the line just under 5 and a half hours and caught the attention of some  Red Cross workers.  Turns out I was dehydrated.  I grabbed my medal, took my picture and kissed my marathon days good-bye.  But every Patriots Day, I watch the marathon from the controlled course of a treadmill, and wonder, should I give it one more try?  What do you think?  Should I?  Give me your advice and thanks for hanging out in my crib!

Q 

PS!  God Speed to Monday's Marathon Runners!

Just where do they come up with these things? There is a story out of Georgia in which nine 3rd graders plotted to knock their teacher unconscious, handcuff and tape her up, and stab her with a steak knife.

The wee little tots plotted this vicious attack to seek vengeance against the teacher for scolding one of them for standing on a chair. Thank God one of the students told because these kids were quite serious! Police found a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight in one of the students' bags.

Again, we're talking 3rd grade here! These are 8 and 9 year old children and according to the school, they are in a learning disabled class. But they have apparently learned a lot of all the wrong things!

My question is, what should happen to these kids? They are obviously too young to prosecute, but do you expel them? And if so, what other frightening things will they learn if they have a lot of free time at home? If they're already plotting murder before the tender age of ten, what will happen when they reach 16?

Q