- Part 2

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY AND I’M NOT BOWLING

January 10, 2013 By Wendy 4 Comments

Following Christmas, the attention (ok my attention) goes to the next big thing. My birthday! I was actually due in December of 1971 but I was 2 weeks late!! My poor Mom! So January 11th is a big day… At least for me. I LOVE my birthday. It’s the one day I get to decide exactly what I want to do. (Traditionally I call my out of town friends at 5am so they can wish me a happy birthday. Yes it’s an asshole thing to do. No I don’t care it’s before sunrise when their phones ring! It’s my birthday!!) And this year I’m going bowling. Well, I was going bowling until this conversation happened.
I was talking to my friend Megan and we were making plans to bowl at the National Bowling Stadium (yes, Reno has a National Bowling Stadium. And no, locals can’t bowl in it. It’s just for professionals. I’m not kidding. But once a year members of a group called the Prospectors get to play there and this year it’s on my birthday!) So we are sitting at my bar talking about our plans when suddenly Eva says to me, “but mom, if you go bowling I won’t get to spend your birthday with you.” I gazed down at those mournful hazel eyes and nearly cried. My 9 year old wanted to be with me and she felt excluded from one of my favorite days of the year. I was making plans right in front of her that didn’t include her. I was heartbroken and humbled at the same time. How much longer will my kids actually want to be with me on my birthday? How much longer will they even realize the importance of January 11th? People always say time goes so quickly with your kids and it suddenly hit home with me at that very moment. That moment I will never forget when my daughter truly wanted to share my birthday with me. And right then I turned to Megan and said, “It’s my birthday and I’m not bowling.” Instead I will be with my kids and my husband. And that’s exactly where I want to be.

Filed Under: Live, Wendy Tagged With: Holidays

COLLEGE SPORTS

January 7, 2013 By Wendy Leave a Comment

Why is it every time I watch the BCS championship football game, I cry? Why is it that even the pre game show makes me fight back tears? Well, it’s because college athletics IS THE GREATEST THING ON EARTH! There is no greater high for a college kid than getting to compete for your school. The be a part of a family that’s roots run generations deep. To be on a team where everyone has the same goal: to win, hopefully with integrity, grace and grit. We get to watch these kids every Saturday during their game. But I know from personal experience what happens when the cameras aren’t there. I swam for the University of Nevada. My teammates and I woke up three mornings a week at 4:30 to be in the pool by 5. We swam every afternoon before heading to night classes. We said “No thank you. We can’t” to weekend social events because our meets often took us on the road. Yes. There were huge sacrifices. But they were all so worth it because we were a part of a team. We were sisters who may not have shared a bloodline but we shared a dedication to that black line at the bottom of the pool. That line was our goal line on the football field. We crossed the T into the wall before our competition enough times to go 31-0 my sophomore year. And I have that championship ring forever. I no longer have the stamina (nor desire!) to swim 7,000 yards a day. But I do miss being a part of a team. And that’s why I cry when I see these 19 and 20 year olds talk about their team. Because there’s nothing that compares to being on a sports team. And that’s why we encourage our kids to compete in sports. To be on a team. To get that feeling that only sports provides. It’s the greatest high we can only hope our kids embrace.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: sports

HD MAKEUP PART 2

January 4, 2013 By Wendy 5 Comments

So yesterday, I said I didn’t like my new HD makeup. That not entirely true! For a non makeup gal, this stuff by Colour Basis is makeup for morons. I have a jar of eyeliner gel and a brush that says eyeliner gel brush. Brilliant!! I can literally do my face simply by reading the labels on my brushes. That I like. What I don’t like is this thin little pencil that’s white. White is an odd color for a pencil, even I know that! And this pencil is odd! You put it ON your lowered eyelid. Not UNDER it, like we all did in a sparkly shade of blue in 7th grade! Apparently, it’s an old modeling trick to make your eyes look brighter. It probably came from that Twiggy girl who ruined girls’ body images for decades… Because this stuff is ruining my ability to anchor. The moment I put it on it blurs my vision! So for the last week I’ve been trying to anchor with far less than my normal 20/20 vision. You too can give this a try!! Simply smear Vaseline on both eyeballs and try reading your TV’s closed captioning.

Ok take a look for yourself.

Here’s my left eye without the white eyeliner (sweet blemish above the eye! WTH??? I guess I didn’t apply enough of the blemish remover with my blemish remover brush!!):

Here’s my right eye with the Twiggy inspired crap!

And now compare side to side:

(is it just me? Or do I appear to be having a stroke on my left side?? )

Ok! If you all comment that, YES Wendy! You look 12 cups of coffee brighter eyed with the Twiggy liner then I will just consider it a hazard of the job. But if you can’t tell the difference, I’m ditching that Twiggy crap… And eating an entire cheesecake too!

And next week, I’ll take you through my entire process… from sans makeup to full HD ready! Stay tuned for that episode of fun!

Filed Under: Wendy, Wendy's Work Tagged With: HD MAKEUP, work

SNOW ON THE RANCH

December 26, 2012 By Wendy 2 Comments

I came home tonight to two glaring headlights flying across the field in front of our house. This usually isn’t a good thing. It means Darrin is on the quad. And that means a cow is sick or a bull got loose or a beaver dammed up the creek and flooded our road. Either way, I’m coming home to a grumpy husband and a late dinner. But tonight was different.

Tonight there were two flashing headlamps about 20 yards behind the quad. Aaaahhhhh!!!! Sledding season at the Damontes!

The field that surrounds our house has been laser leveled so there’s 50 sections that are perfectly level. Each section is divided by burms called checks. In the sumertime these checks keep the water flowing within that section. But in the wintertime that watering system means sweet jumps on a sled! Even when there’s just a dusting of snow the kids beg to go quad sledding. Finally, Reno got dumped on enough the new non chloric silicon base kitchen lubricant was brought out (I assume you’ve all watched Christmas Vacation as many times as we have this past week!!) They had a BLAST! It still meant a late dinner but every family member was happy. Well, all but one. Donner was running along side the sled and Darrin forgot to put her snow boots on. Ha! Just kidding! She doesn’t have snow boots!! So when she came inside she was a covered mess of snow dingleberries. And there is only one way to get those off.

So I dragged her to the shower and melted them off with hot water. Needless to say, everyone will be sleeping soundly at the Damonte household tonight… Including me. While they all played in the snow, I enjoyed a quiet glass of wine to myself.

(personal note: I would like to personally thank all of you for your amazing messages and prayers following my mom’s story. And most importantly, I would like to thank those of you who took action and made an appointment for a mammogram or linked my mom’s story onto your Facebook pages and emails. My mom and I truly believe the more people who see it, the more lives will be saved. If you haven’t seen it, here’s my mom’s story.)

Filed Under: Live, On The Ranch, Wendy Tagged With: family, KIDS, PETS

HD MAKEUP

December 20, 2012 By Wendy 1 Comment

For those of you in my viewing area… Have I looked different lately? Well, I should have. That’s because recently my station switched from standard to high definition. And shortly after that, we got HD makeup. Now let me tell you a bit about my makeup history.

When I first started reporting 19 years ago (gulp) I wore a touch of blush, some mascara and lip smackers lip gloss. You can see makeup isn’t my thing. I went on air like that for about a year until my then boss, Nancy, called me into her office and said I had to start wearing makeup meant for TV not a 7th grade date to the movies. She even popped in a tape to show me what I looked like. That wasn’t very nice but boy did it drive home to me that makeup was just as much a part of TV journalism as spelling is to print. You have to have it! So around 1997, we had a Mary Kay consultant come make us over. And then Mac moved to town.

And now HD makeup. Christie, with Colour Basis, is the latest consultant to walk to hallowed halls of the Deuce. It’s been quite the progression… Both for my face and the makeup industry. But, man, there’s one thing I hate about this new makeup. I’ll write about that tomorrow!

Filed Under: Wendy, Wendy's Work

EVIL VS. THE BEST SIDE OF HUMANITY

December 16, 2012 By Wendy 1 Comment

A mom hugs her kids following the shooting at a school in Connecticut

This has happened way too many times. Far too often I’ve fought back tears during live TV because of a senseless act. And the latest time happened this past Friday. And it was particularly tough on this day. December 14th was my station’s 20th annual Share Your Christmas food drive. We raise more than 170,000 pounds of food in one day. We help to feed 97,000 people a month who depend on the Food Bank of Northern Nevada for food. This is an important day because it shows the best side of humanity. It shows what we are truly all about as a community and as a race. We were all in place in the darkness of the early morning. And right at 5 am, the cheerful, lighthearted, Christmasy music went out over the airwaves and with smiling face, we began encouraging thousands of people to come donate food. The day started just as it had the past 19 years. My co-anchor, Kristen, even bought us fun braided hats so we could all laugh and create an air of silliness. That is what this day is all about. But just after 10 am we learned CBS was cutting into our show with breaking news. We sat in the freezing cold watching the chilling details of the school shooting in Connecticut. The tears immediately filled to the brim of my eyes and then slowly overflowed, unstoppable, as we learned dozens were dead, mostly children between the ages of 5 and 10. Schools are supposed to be safe. When a gunman opens fire at a shopping mall, we think “our kids are safe, they are at school.” When a crazed lunatic opens fire inside an I Hop restaurant we think, “our kids are safe, they are at school.” But this time a school became the shooting range. Didn’t this asshole know SCHOOLS ARE OFF LIMITS TO COWARDS LIKE YOU!!!! I wanted to run to my kids and take them home. It took every ounce of strength I had to not pick them up. But I didn’t. I had a job to do that day. And that was to show the good side of humanity. To not let evil win. To shine some light on this horribly dark day. So at 3pm, once again, the cheerful, lighthearted, Christmasy music went out over the airwaves and then we popped up on live TV. At first, I was afraid to speak. Afraid my voice would crack and the tears would return. But instead, as the words flowed from my heart and out of my mouth, I gained strength. We spoke about the horrors one single person can inflict upon a town, but we also wanted to show the good side of humanity and how an entire community comes together to feed the hungry. From darkness to light. From horror to hope. This is what we do. We make difficult transitions on live TV because we believe in the largest part of humanity. The part that comes out and donates food and money so those facing harder times than ourselves can feed their families. People like you who live every day as a good decent human being. What evil people don’t understand is when they act out and terrorize a community, the rest of us circle the wagons. We come together as stronger communities, families and individuals. Yes, evil people break our hearts. They make us cry and ask why. But in the end, they make us better people. More loving. More kind. More compassionate. And by the end of our Share Your Christmas food drive, more than 190,000 pounds of food was collected. And more than $170,000 was donated. That’s the good side of humanity. The side that will never be defeated.

Filed Under: In Case You Missed It Tagged With: Grief, Grieving

A GOOD CRY

November 29, 2012 By Wendy 10 Comments

My parents at my Dad’s surprise 80th birthday

I’m an orphan. At least that’s how I think of myself on my weepy days. Yes pathetic. I lost both my parents before age 40. Tough shit. Some people lose theirs at birth. Or worse, get to know them and love them and depend on them only to lose them as children. I’m blessed. I know that. But it still hurts sometimes to not have parents. My wounds are still raw from losing my mom on December 21st of 2011. My dad went two years before that. Both died of cancer. Both shitty deals. I got through Thanksgiving this year. You didn’t hear much from me during that time. I had my head down, focusing on survival. I’ve become a pro at navigating conversations away from, “How are you doing, Wendy?” I answer quickly enough to satiate the person while not letting them dig any deeper into my outter crust which protects a bucket of tears and raw emotion. No one wants to see that. Trust me. So with one of the big holidays behind me, I’ve got one more to get through. And it’s starting to get more difficult. “How do you deal with the pain of losing someone so close to you?” is a question I get all the time. I don’t know the answer. But I know what I do. I train. It keeps my mind off the pain. And after today I realized how important training is to me. My last triathlon was back in June. I have nothing in the pipe so my long therapy runs have lessened to nil. And today I broke. The tears started as soon as I left the house. I ended up driving around town pulling up to red lights back far enough the driver next to me couldn’t see the tears. I didn’t want them to wonder, “What’s wrong with that poor woman?” Because the reason I’m crying doesn’t seem legit. There are so many other people out there with real reasons to cry. I feel like a kid who didn’t get ENOUGH Christmas presents because I didn’t get enough time with my parents. So what do you do? How do you get over these periods of sadness so they don’t grab hold and become full fledged depression?? For me, I’m signing up for another race. I’m giving myself something to look forward to instead of longing for what was in the past. This is how I grieve. I hope it works. Because at the end of the day this is my new reality. Nothing is bringing my parents back. And even with the sadness I’m still so blessed. I have two amazing kids and a great husband to live for. They are my true north. They are why I’m getting back on the bike. Why I’m putting on my Asics once again. My kids need me just like I needed my mom when I was 9. And even though we all still need a mom at any age, sometimes, heaven simply needs her more. And so we fill those shoes left by them… at least we try.

So, now that I’m a total wreck again…. what’s your favorite race? Please comment on this story with a race you suggest. Any length is fine. The longer the better. Cheers.

Filed Under: Live Tagged With: Grief, Grieving

DATE NIGHT ON THE RANCH

November 20, 2012 By Wendy Leave a Comment

If you’re thinking my date night on the ranch includes lighting from antique lanterns, a nice bottle of wine and a roll in the hay… well you’ve seen too many episodes of Green Acres. No MY date night is all about feeding cattle. All 500 of them. It takes about an hour but it’s an hour where Darrin and I are alone together. Just the two of us. I’ll take it! So just how do you feed 500 cattle in a feedlot? It starts with a 1980′s era garbage truck that’s been converted into a huge feed truck. First, Darrin loads the mixing box filled with gigantic augers with alfalfa hay that he grew all summer long. Then he adds molasses. No shit! Molasses! Next up? Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes and any other grain cereal you can think of! I kid you not! Reno happens to be home to a Ralston Purina cereal plant and if one little thing happens on the product line, the whole line gets shut down and all that product is recalled. So Darrin hauls a huge trailer down there once a week and loads up the recalled cereal and brings it home as cow feed. Darrin loads all the food by driving the loader up a ramp that gets him high enough to be able to dump his load into the trailer. Augers, the size of tree trunks, slowly turn and mix all the food together. We are now into our “date” about 45 minutes. So we now hop into the cab and start driving around all the corrals. But get this! Darrin says this load he made weighs nearly 7500 pounds. 7500 POUNDS OF FOOD FOR 500 COWS! That’s a lot of cow feed. And remember he feeds twice, sometimes three times, a day. THAT’S REALLY

A LOT OF COW FEED!

The food goes into feed bunks that are just wooden troughs, with wood panels on the outside and heavy cables on the inside. The cows reach their heads through the cables to the feed inside the troughs.

Darrin drives up and down the bunks spilling out the cow feed down the feed truck chute. Ok by NOW, our date is just over an hour and I’m starving, frozen and thirsty for a glass of wine. Seriously?? When was the last date that ended like that for you and you still ended up with the guy?? And what’s worse? I could relive this date the next morning and night and every day thereafter until I’m 85. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, date nights on the ranch are few and far between. And yes, my San Francisco self, still longs for quiet, candlelit dinners at Bix. But to be honest, dates like these are pretty cool too.

Filed Under: On The Ranch Tagged With: cows

MY NEW FAVORITE SALAD

November 19, 2012 By Wendy Leave a Comment

So when my little Friend Lynn and I go mountain biking, she talks non stop… For an hour and a half!! She talks because I can’t. Seriously I’m huffing and puffing and she’s gabbing on and on as if we were sitting down having a cup of coffee. It really pisses me off but during these rides she has to fill the time somehow and that often means sharing her cooking secrets. During our last ride, when I was demoing the 29-ER, she was raving about this new salad she just made that is healthy, light and filling. Healthy, light and filling are key words for me. So I literally tried to puff more softly to make sure I heard every word! And since I risked passing out to get this recipe, I feel entitled to share it with all of you! And BTW, I’m not a huge fan of salads at Thanksgiving dinner, but this one might change my mind!!

Dressing:
Equal parts fresh lemon juice and olive oil (I used 3/4 cup each) and 3 crushed garlic cloves. THAT’S IT!!

Salad Mixins’:
Arugula
TOASTED walnut pieces
Dried cranberries
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Roasted butternut squash pieces (I got the bag of butternut squash pieces from Trader Joes. Cook them with olive oil, plenty of crushed garlic, salt and pepper at 425 for about 30 minutes)

Mix everything together and then add your desired amount of salad dressing. I have lots of dressing left over, which is a good thing since I’m going to make this salad again next week.

I recommend adding the butternut squash to the salad fresh out of the oven. The hot squash does something to all the other ingredients that makes them all blend together.

Lynn and I are going riding again tomorrow. I’ll see what I can get out of her!!

Filed Under: Eat Tagged With: paleo, salads

BRANDI CHASTAIN

November 9, 2012 By Wendy 2 Comments

Brandi Chastain Celebrates after 1999 World Cup Win

Eva and I got to eat dinner with Brandi Chastain. No really! I was the emcee for the Salute to Champions dinner for women’s athletics at the University of Nevada and so they sat us right next to Brandi for dinner. So what?? you ask!! Ok so soccer isn’t exactly America’s favorite pastime and Monday Night Soccer will likely never be aired on a network. But sports heroes, from any sport, are my kind if heroes. And Brandi is one of the all time greatest in her sport. And she’s a really cool chick as well. She fully engaged Eva in conversation, even pulled out her iPhone to show us pictures of her 6 year old son, Jayden. During her speech, she had lessons on competing, celebrating (remember she made celebrating famous for ripping off her shirt after winning the

World Cup game against China) and not giving up on people. But the lesson that struck the deepest chord in me was about communication. During one of the World Cup games, Brandi accidentally shot a goal in the wrong goal!! Right after, her teammate Carla came running up to her and said, “Don’t worry about it. We are going to win this game and you are going to be a big part of that win.” Well they did. 3-2. And Brandi ended up scoring the final goal. But her game could have gone horribly wrong had her teammates blamed her for giving the other team a point. Her head could have been hung low by her teammates instead of held up high. Communication is so life changing. We don’t realize how powerful it can be. I think about all the times Eva spilled milk at the dinner table and I got on her case for making a mess. Wouldn’t the situation have been better handled had I said, “Let’s clean up the mess and try again tomorrow night. I believe in you.” How many times do we communicate negatively and gotten nowhere. When we encourage instead of dispirit the only option is improvement. Words may not break our bones but when used wisely they can actually make us stronger. Thank you, Brandi Chastain, for communicating that to me.

Filed Under: Fascinating People Tagged With: inspirational, sports