What do you believe is the key to happiness?

We had a story in the news today about people who tend to see the glass as half-full.  According to a new study, the people who are truly happy tend to be financially secure, healthy and well educated.  Well, I don’t think there are any real surprises here.  Let’s face it.  If you can face the pain at the gas pump without causing too much pain to your wallet, you’re pretty happy about that fact.  If you and the people you love are healthy, you should definitely be happy… and thankful. 

Good Morning America took a story about happiness one step further this morning.  Their story said that the key to peace and happiness is being with family and friends.  I would agree.  If you have all the money in the world and no one to share it with, what’s the point?  If you’re healthy but you have no one to run around with or share a great meal with, what’s the point?

There’s that old saying about money not being able to buy happiness.  I would even go a step further and say people who are at peace with themselves and a Higher Power are truly happy people.  We realize that in the midst of chaos, God is in charge and as long as we trust Him, our needs will be met.

Tom even made the comment recently that Julie Pursley is always in good spirits.  He said that she told him she always tries to take an afternoon nap.  On this schedule, a nap definitely helps get you through the day.  However, Julie is also a devout Christian and I would say that has truly put the joy in Julie.

The things in life that can make us truly happy are absolutely free.  And that should make all of us smile.

Our terrific traffic guy has been on a tough road lately.  He suffers from allergies.  A couple of weeks ago, he asked me if I could recommend a good doctor who could help him.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know of anyone.  At this point, my family is allergy free.  So, Tom got a recommendation from one of our photographers.

Yesterday Tom had his appointment and it turns out the poor guy is allergic to quite a few items, but no food.  The good news is the doctor is optimistic he’ll be cured in about 5 years.  He certainly seemed to be more comfortable this morning… once he arrived.  You see, Tom got his first dose of medicine yesterday.  As a result, he over-slept.  If you were wondering why you didn’t see Tom until close to 6 a.m., it’s because he wasn’t here.  I’ve never had allergies, but I understand they’re nothing to sneeze about and try to handle on your own.  Our trusted traffic guy tells me his allergies were driving him crazy.  We’re glad he made it safely to work this morning and we’re glad he finally has some relief from his discomfort.  He has a much smoother road ahead.

Many thanks to Paul and Joni who filled the gap until Tom could arrive.  As a former news director used to tell me, there’s no “I” in team. 

Rarely do anchors and reporters have to do any homework.  We can usually take care of everything we need to here at the station.  Sometimes reporters will make calls from home.  Most, if not all of us, try to read news magazines and newspapers so we can keep up with current events that don’t always make it into our newscasts. 

A couple of weeks ago one of my producers actually gave me some homework to do.  She gave me a book to read.  I like to read, but I was really nervous about having to read the entire book in a couple of weeks.  Before I had children, I used to read a couple of books a month.  It was no problem.  Now, most of my reading consists of Dr. Seuss and Dora the Explorer books.  Always trying to be the star pupil, I decided I was going to have to try to find time to read this book.  I’m happy to say that I finished reading it this weekend and I’m so glad I did.  It proved once again that we can make time to do the things we really want to do.

The book, Twenty Wishes, is a wonderful story about a group of women who form a bond after the deaths of their husbands.  The women decide that to add some enthusiasm and hope to their lives, they’d each make a list of twenty things they’d like to do.  Their wishes range from buying a pair of red cowboy boots… to travelling to Paris with someone they love… to falling in love again.  It’s a great story and you find yourself cheering for each woman as she works to make her wishes come true.  You discover that often in life your dreams can come true, just not in the way you think.  It reminded me of something my mother told me.  God answers our prayers, just not always in the way we think He will.

I’m looking forward to meeting and interviewing the author, Debbie Macomber, on the Noon Show later this week.  I’m even inspired to make my own list of hopes and wishes.  For now, I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday. 

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I take my job very seriously.  I believe we owe it to our viewers to be accurate… whether it be with information or with grammar.  So, imagine my panic when I heard we were receiving some complaints about our Weather and Traffic on the 6’s graphic.  Apparently, someone had passed along to Julie that our graphic was wrong.  The viewer said there shouldn’t be an apostrophe.  Well, our news director decided to have Tom Davis “investigate.” 

Tom paid a visit to his high school English teacher.  She said an apostrophe is used to show possession and therefore we should drop the apostrophe.  Well, after Tom’s story aired we heard from some of our viewers.  Some agreed that the apostrophe should go.  However, we received an email from Cheryl Money, who is a 7th grade English teacher at Jennings County Middle School.  She said she checked the Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition book.  It states, “The plural of numbers, letters, signs and words considered as words is formed by adding an apostrophe and s.”  Examples:  1800’s… or A’s, as in my child received all A’s.

Thank you to Cheryl and to all the viewers who took time to write to us.  We received yet another email after the show from a viewer who believes we should drop the apostrophe.  What’s kind of cool about all of this is we’ve led quite a few people to pick up some of their old grammar books and do a little research.  Ahhh… the things that can drive you a little nuts and lead you on a quest to find the truth.   

As always, we love getting feedback.  I think we’ve cleared up the debate.  Now  I’m working on a way to get in a quick nap on the 7’s… or should that be the 7s?

Last week, my six-year-old son came home with a note from his school, stating that this is National Turn Off the Television week.  Teachers and administrators are challenging kids (and their parents) to turn off the television all week.  The hope is to get more kids active.  We’ve all heard reports about the rise of childhood obesity.  By getting kids away from television, the hope is kids will have a healthy body and mind.  Many educators argue that kids aren’t as creative as they used to be because they don’t have enough opportunities to use a little imagination.

Now, both my husband and I are employed by a television station.  At first thought, it seemed a bit hypocritical to turn our backs on the industry that puts a roof over our heads.  Still, as I explained to my husband, moderation is the key to so many things.  For example, I refuse to totally cut out carbs and sweets.  The key to trying to stay healthy, however, is I don’t make them the main part of my diet.  It’s the same thing with television.  I can’t cut it out completely… and I hope other people don’t either!  My husband and I need to feed our family.

I did suggest to my husband, though, that we should just see if we could go without television for a week.  He gave me that “Grace-has-lost-her-mind-again look.”  My husband is a news junkie.  He loves to watch 24 hour news as well as the History Channel.  So, I told him he can watch all the television he wants while the kids are at school.  However, in the morning, the kids eat breakfast in the kitchen… not in front of the television.  When they get home from school, we have a snack and then head outside for some fun.  The weather has been great this week, so the television hasn’t even been a temptation in the afternoon.  I do listen to First at Five on 87.7 while I’m preparing dinner, but I’m determined not to turn on the television at night.  Last night I was a little tempted.  The kids were getting a little restless and my daughter started pointing to the t.v. saying, Doh-Doh… which means she wants to watch Dora.  Instead, I turned on some music, handed the kids some instruments and let them dance and sing around the room.

You can come up with fun things to do with your kids when you turn off the television.  All I ask is that you watch at least a little television, especially around news time.