Average Mom and MORE!!!

Yikes...I can't keep up!!!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:03:00 +0000

It seems like forever since I last updated this blog. So much has gone on, and there is so much to tell. I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first.

I made a trip to CA for my grandfather's memorial. He passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 89. He was a retired Lt. Col in the USAF and lived his final days in Palm Springs. Aside from the sad occasion, it was really great seeing my entire family all at once. My mother was caring for him and handled all of his affairs. It took a toll but she is bouncing back.

4 days after I returned from CA, my mother-in-law passed away at the age of 71. There was a 2 day wake and the funeral on the 3rd day. She was much loved by many which was appahrant by all of the guests, flowers and cards. She was ready and wanted to be with her husband.

Now for the not so bad stuff... Can you believe that my grandbaby turned 1 already. It seems like the days are just flying by way too quickly. Tara and Alan are doing fine and are great parents. Joseph isn't going to school anymore. He hated it!!!! He's working at a gym for now. We'll see what happens. Marissa is loving her cosmotolgy class and is taking a college course 2 nights a week at a local university. She's a good girl. Joe is working through his grief. Hopefully this will change his outlook on life and realize that life is too short to waste on anger and nonsense. As for me, if it wasn't for my job, the band, and my girlfriends, I don't know what I would do. Of course my family is my main source of happiness, but it's the other stuff that rounds me out.

So there it is. Have a fab day!!!

My Celebrity Look Alikes????

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:09:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!!!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Okay...it's official. I've officially made it half way through my 40's. I have to say I feel good about it. I've never really been caught up in that whole ARGH 40's thing. I do believe that women better with age. I love what Andy Rooney has to say of women in their 40's

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game , she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.

Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we! praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Great! Right?

Blah!!!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:35:00 +0000

Have you ever had one of those days where everything was blah? You feel blah when you wake up and can't seem to find the right gear. Today is that day for me. BLAH!!! I'm tired. I'm bored, although I am busy. I'm still feeling like I was meant for something more... something different. That could be my blah source. Hmmmmmmmm

TV Conflict

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:04:00 +0000

When I am programming my shows, I really don't even pay attention to the aire time. My friend, Kara, pointed out to me that Ellen and The View are now on at 11am. ARGH!!! Thank God for my dvr! I can record 2 programs at once.

7 Year Itch???

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:02:00 +0000

Ok so my main source of news is Yahoo News. Check out this story from today's headlines. The 7 year itch has just taken on a whole new meaning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_germany_politics_marriage

I'm a TV Junkie!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:28:00 +0000

Can you believe that I already have the fall tv line-up all programmed into my DVR. Now I'm thinking about getting another DVR for the other room so I don't miss those shows that overlap with others. ARGH!!!!! Who does this?

BB8 - E.D. won!!!! woooo hooooo, but the bigger question is... where was Danielle's boyfriend? Hmmmmmmm???

Survivor is on the way!

Sherri Shephard

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:23:00 +0000

WooooHooooo. Okay, if it wasn't me then I'm glad it's Sherri.

Good Luck, my friend!!!!

Ellen

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:13:00 +0000

So The View doesn't want me, I get it. They could have at least contacted me and said thanks but no thanks. I now blame them for my huge void. I loved every minute of my time on The View. It's in my blood now. I want MORE!!!!! I was on Ellen Degeneres' site and heard that she was looking for a fan who would like to be on the show. You have to love music, love tv, know a bit about current events, be funny but not over the top, etc. When I heard that I said to myself that her search is over. I'm her girl. I really love Ellen's show. The energy level is great and it's always funny. None of this... let's depress my viewers shows. Her performance in Finding Nemo sealed the deal for me. She was amazing in that role. So needless to say, I quickly composed my email response to her which, if I may say so myself, was quite brilliant. Hopefully I'll hear back from her.

Oprah

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:24:00 +0000

So the highlight of my trip was definitely my nephew's wedding. It was really beautiful and probably the most meaningful ceremony I have ever witnessed. Meeting Wendy, one of my Maya's Mom friends, was great. She has a beautiful family. My pals from LI, Marilyn and Barbara, met me in Chicago on Monday and we spent the day at the pool at the East Bank Club. It was a very shi shi club, and we loved it!!!! Thanks Wendy!! Oprah... we decided that we wanted to be in line by 5:30am. We woke up at 3am and was in the car at 5am. We gave ourselves 30 minutes to get lost, and we did! 30 minutes was perfect because we stepped into line at exactly 5:30am. There was already 4 people in line when we got there. The whole process was a hurry up and wait thing. When we were finally brought into the studio, we got nice seats in the center sections. NOTE: if you go to Oprah and you want to sit in the front, wear light, bright colors. Yellow, Pink, Peach, Light Blue. The staff will pluck you out of line and seat you in the front. We were hoping for a really great, upbeat show. It was all about being bi-polar. ARGH!!!!!!!! It was so sad in the beginning. Then they had Sonny from All My Children on via satellite to talk about his bi-polarism and how they wrote it into the soap story line. Jennifer Lewis as the next guest. She's a comedian. She was actually really funny. The highlight of my day at the Oprah show was looking over at my pals at one point during the taping and finding both of them SLEEPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it! All in all it was a good trip. Now I can say "I've been to the Oprah show"

It's been a while...

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:12:00 +0000

We've had some happenings in my family. Joseph got a new/used car and within 24 hours blew the engine... don't get me started. Situation normal with Marissa, she's still bored. Joe joined the gym (again) and has informed me that he will be trading his Yamaha in for a Harley. My grandbaby turned 5 months and has 3 teeth. My little cutie. Oh yea... one more minor happening. After 7ish years, I GOT OPRAH TICKETS. OMG it's true. Can you believe it. The poor guy who answered the phone must think I'm a nutcase. Okay, not so far from the truth. His name is Mark, and he was really nice. I planned on going by myself since I was going to be in Chicago that week for a wedding, but Mark said I could have up to 4 tickets. Now a couple of my girlfriends are going with me. I can't wait. Let me see..... I think that's it for a quick update. Be well!

My baby (grandbaby) is in CA

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 02:46:00 +0000

I am so used to jumping in the car whenever I want to a dropping in to see my precious baby Natalie. I miss her so much and she's only been gone for 5 days. I talked to Tara today and she tells me that they have decided to move back to CA. OMG she's taking my baby away from me. I can't imagine not watching her grow up. I can't think about it.

Dream On!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:19:00 +0000

Ok, I knew it was a stretch, and I really hope that everybody knows that I have been completely realistic about the whole thing. I have had a lot of fun with my quest and have met a bunch of really great people including Sherri Shephard! I am soooooooo thrilled for her. The dream is not dead! Now I will try for the 8 week gig while Elisabeth is on maternity leave. So everybody get back on the Natalie bandwagon and message Bill Geddie on my behalf! Thank you to everybody that helped me get my message out.

I'm Back

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:40:00 +0000

So I got back from San Francisco a few days ago. I'm glad to be home; although the king size bed all to myself was heaven. I love the mattresses there not to mention the flat screen tv and high speed internet. While in San Fran, I went to Ross and bought Marissa a couple of dresses to wear to the Sweet 16 parties she's been invited to. $16.99 can't beat that. I'm so lucky to be able to buy clothes for her when she's not with me. I worked a bunch and saw the new Harry Potter movie.

My house got new siding while I was away, so coming home to that was a pleasure. We got a new roof a few months back. It's black. The siding is sage green and the windows are white trimmed. I got shutters for one of the front windows and they are black. It looks soooooo pretty. I'll post picks when all the work is done.

I haven't heard a peep from The View. I'm sure I won't, but it's been fun. I still invite everybody to go to The View website and continue to post notes to the producer. That's about it.

I'm in San Francisco

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:14:00 +0000

So I'm in San Fran on a business trip. I'm at the Grand Hyatt in a meeting room listening to our outgoing CEO give his last presentation to our senior management. It's a bit sad, but I'm a firm believer in change is good. Some of us gals went to a late showing of Harry Potter last night. It was really good. Harry is growing up. My house is getting new siding while I'm away, so I'm looking forward to going home. I miss my family who are all doing just fine without me. I'm lucky that way. They are all grown up and need me less and less everyday. It's hard to take, but I guess that's life. Nobody told me that it was going to be so hard letting go. I always thought you raise them and clip their wings. That's easy, right? Nope! I know my girls will be fine as they approach life as a "grown up" and I know deep down that my son will be just fine, but I feel the need to stay attached to him and guide him. Why don't I feel that way with the girls. I just know they will be fine. I miss my grand baby terribly. I just want to sniff her chubby neck and make her smile. I brought pics of everybody with me, and even though I'm getting laughed at. I have the pics spread out in front of me. Hope everybody is having a great weekend.

Can The View hear me?

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:00:00 +0000

That remains to be seen. My friends and family have been so supportive of this whole crazy quest of mine. That includes my extended Maya's Mom family. One of my faithful told me that the Extra site was allowing people to post their comments on who should fill the empty seats on The View. Of course with that, I sent the link to ALL my great supporters, and they are doing it!!!! Check it out and feel free to post to your heart's content. http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2007/07/the_view_replacement_shocker_p.php#comments

It's Only July 11th...

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:40:00 +0000

I don't know if being the mom of a toddler is harder than being a mom of a teenager. When Marissa looks at me with that "I'm sooooo bored" look on her face, I just want to scream. She is a kid with a ton of friends, but she says there is nothing to do. It doesn't help that she stays up till all hours of the morning chatting with her friends online and then sleeps all day. Stop this you say... I am in bed before she is and out the door to work before she gets up. She's 16 and has every gidget and gizmo known to man to keep her entertained. ARGH!!!!!!!! I don't think I'm alone in this.

He's 18...

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:28:00 +0000

So now that my son has graduated from high school, I am asking myself, "Now What" I have huge questions and concerns about his future. I'm not saying that he won't make anything of himself. I just wish I knew what was going on in his head. Now that he is 18, he feels like he doesn't need to share with me. I just want to know! I'm entitled, right.

Maya's Mom Website for the Networking Mommy

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:44:00 +0000

So I found this really great MOM website called Maya's Mom

http://www.mayasmom.com/

There are some really great ladies there and a few dads. It's a great place to make new friends from all over the world. If you do decide to register on that site, my screen name is ignat62. Hope to see you there.

How you can help - Update!!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:36:00 +0000

My peeeeeepppppssss. I found a new way to contact ABC to show your support for me. It is a long distance call, so if you don't want to do it, I understand.

Call 212-456-7777
Ask for "audience comments"
select #2 (you don't have to listen to the whole message, choose #2 as soon as they start to talk)
select #4 (again, you don't have to listen to the whole message)
select #849 for The View (wait until the message says "Daytime Directory" then select #849

You will have 30 seconds to leave a message. Ask them to please bring Natalie Badolato back as a co-host. Thanks for your support!

Family Update

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:58:00 +0000

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm just kind of lost with this whole blog thing. I know now that I have to post more often, so here it is.

My granddaughter is now 4 months old. She is like the fountain of youth to me. I get her in my arms and I melt. I just want to sniff and nibble her. Is that weird. Tara and Alan are struggling a bit financially since Natalie was born, but they will find their way. We all do.

I'm really torn about my son graduating. YES, HE DID IT! Now I'm worried about his future. We think about it when they are babies, but then the time passes and now it's a reality. He's not a "student". I can't see him staying in college. I feel like I'm not giving him enough credit, but I feel like I should have been wearing a cap and gown and walking with him. I feel like I've been pushing him uphill for the past 8 years. Heck, I bought myself a tassel for my car. He is going to NYC next week to apply for the stage hands union. He is excited about it. If he gets in, I would be happy too.

Marissa is bored already. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She needs to find a job for the summer to keep her busy. She has a wonderful girlfriend that she spends a lot of time with, and I'm glad about that. I wish we lived closer to the beach or a town pool. With Joe and I working, there is nobody to take her places. Ask her brother you say????? Ya right! His car is dead anyway.

I'm heading out to San Francisco next week for 6 days. Don't get too excited... it's work. When I get back, I have to start planning our trip to Turks and Caicos; the trip they gave me when I was on The View. Oooops there... I said it.

E-Online

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:59:00 +0000

Hey there...
I found a really great message board on e-online. I posted my story, and got tons of looks and a fair amount of comments. If the over 1200 people that looked at my posting actually went the The View website and left a comment for Bill, the producer, that would be fab!

Drum Up Publicity

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:55:00 +0000

I'm getting really annoyed. I've emailed and called everybody I can think of to drum up publicity. I've even email the Letterman show. He likes human interest stuff like this. I need suggestions. What else can I do??? Maybe I should walk around NYC wearing a sandwich board that say "Make Me the Next Co-host" I would do it. HELP!!!!!

Here's How You Can Help!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:20:00 +0000

Click on this link. http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/

When the page opens, you will see a link under Elisabeth's picture called "ask a viewmaster" Click on that link and leave a message telling them that you think they should bring me back to co-host. If I can get enough people to do this, who knows.

Thank you soooooooooo much for your help!

Help Me!!!!!

ignat62@yahoo.com (Natalie) — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:18:00 +0000

Hey there all you bloggers. So here I am. On February 5, 2007, I co-hosted The View. I was picked out of everybody in the live audience. It was the most amazing experience in my life; except of course the birth of my children. I loved it so much that I have decided to throw my hat in the ring to become the next co-host. Nobody could every replace Rosie, but I would love to fill the empty seat, and I NEED YOUR HELP!