Because You Asked Friday

Today is a continuation of the questions posted to this blog and emailed questions.

J.T. asks:
"What ever happened to the book you were writing? Are you still writing it? When will it come out?"

My book is still a work in progress. After having Lilly Faith, I haven't been able to write on it as much as I wanted with so many other things taking up what is left of my spare time. The publisher was pushing for a winter release for this year, but that was before I knew about our latest addition to the family. So, we are hoping for a late '09 release. I have been toying with the idea of no longer writing on this blog consistently (Monday-Friday) and only blogging once a week so I could devote more time to writing on the book and finishing it. Blogging takes quite a bit of time for me because I am always searching for scripture and thinking about the various topics I can share with you. Limiting my blogging would provide that extra time.

Jack posted:
"I love reading your blog. Since this is ask your questions Friday, I'd like to ask some questions. What are some of the funnier things that have happened while doing the weather? And what are some of the funny bloopers that have happened? I would love to see some bloopers maybe at the end of the newscast someday! Keep up the good work, Barbie and this blog. We love you here in Clinton."

When you work in the LIVE tv business, things are bound to happen and I not the most graceful verbally on the air. During our Hurricane Gustav coverage, my weekend meteorologist Eric Law and I were wall-to-wall with our weathercasts. Around 3am, the worst of the weather was over and we were concluding our coverage. I said to Eric on the air, "It's time for us to go home and go to bed." Eric blurted out, "But not together!" Last winter, I was giving a forecast and mentioned there would be some "light assing of the roadways". I meant to say "light icing of the roadways." When I was co-anchoring the Morning Show, Jack Hobbs read the church announcements on the air. He read about one church that was having a 'yoke breaking ceremony' where people could come and have their burdens prayed for. Jack asked me what I thought about this and I said, "I'd like to have my yoke broken." But the one I remember the most was when I was co-anchoring the Morning Show with Wilson Stribling and we had read a story about a new kiosk being put in at some gas stations up north. These kiosks would let the customer buy groceries, fill prescriptions, and making doctor appointments all while the customer was filling up their gas tank. I looked over at Wilson and said, "Well, if I've got that kind of time to do all of those things while I'm standing there, then I've got time to make my own gas!" I didn't realize how it sounded. Poor Wilson never recovered. Sometime at the end of the year, WLBT has been known to show a 'best of" montage of snippets from funny moments throughout the previous months.

P.Ramone asked this question:
"Just wanted to ask a question about the newsteam wardrobe. Do you all have a dress code that you must follow or are you allowed to wear what you want? And does the station furnish your outfits to wear every day? You and the others look fabulous, by the way."

We don't necessarily have a dress code, but we try to adhere to dressing professionally. Some newscasts lend themselves to wearing more casual clothes. When I was on mornings, I wore more dressy shirts and sweaters. When I was promoted to chief meteorologist, I found myself wearing more pantsuits. We are allowed to wear whatever we want within reason. The only time my wardrobe was furnished was when I was expecting my children, but we currently do not have a store that provides us clothes. We don't even get discounts. Just like you, I try to stretch a dollar and don't shop the high end stores. But it can get very tricky in trying to piece together several outfits to make them look different every night. The news men are so fortunate---they can wear the same suit every night, change out the shirt and tie and no one would know the difference. For us girls, it is more difficult because if I wear the same suit twice in 2 weeks, someone inevitably calls and complains that I wore "that same outfit 2 Tuesdays ago!"