Vanna's Voice

When we take our show on the road, not only do we do lots of shows, we also do lots of interviews! They consist of radio, TV, magazine, and newspapers. Here I am sitting behind the stage talking with a reporter. We do the interviews before we start our first show of the day.

Do you know the difference between the two? Full Screen DVD's are intended to be played on traditional TVs that are more square in shape, and widescreen DVDs are intended more for the current rectangular-shaped TVs.

"Full Screen" DVDs fits perfectly on the more square TV as they have the same 4:3 aspect ratio. Since almost all theatrical releases are filmed in a widescreen format, a full screen edition DVD must be "formatted" to fit a full screen TV. This is like cutting a 4x6 inch photo to fit in a 3x5 frame. Some of the image will be lost.

"Widescreen" DVDs are intended to be played on widescreen TVs - those that are more rectangular in shape. A widescreen DVD will fit close to the full size of a widescreen TV (16:9 aspect ratio), but since widescreen aspect ratios vary, the picture might not fit exactly. A widescreen DVD is the original unformatted movie just as it was released in theaters.

Both types of DVDs will play on either type of TV.

If you play a full screen DVD on a widescreen TV, the picture can either be stretched to fit the screen (making people look a little distorted), or it can be shown in the full screen format with 2 black bars on the right and the left of the screen.

If you play a widescreen DVD on a full screen TV, the picture will be shown with a black bar on the top and on the bottom of the screen. The size of the bars will vary depending on the aspect ratio of the DVD.

Do you feel like you drink too much coffee and you want to cut down? I have a suggestion: water your coffee down. Start by adding a little water to each cup, and as time goes on, keep adding more water. Before you know it, you'll be having half a cup of coffee instead of a full cup!

Another idea to cut down on caffeine: when you brew your coffee, mix half caffeinated and half decaffeinated together. I buy the same brand, but one package is regular and the other is decaf, and then I mix them in equal parts before I brew my coffee. You can't taste the difference, but I can tell the difference now.

You could also make your coffee weak when brewing it. This might take some getting used to, but it certainly helps cut down on the caffeine.

On July 1, 1998, my daughter celebrated her first birthday. She had never had a cupcake before in her life. When she saw her brother holding one, she wanted it more than anything! Look how wide she opened her mouth just waiting for that first bite! Of course he teased her several times before giving it to her.

Ladies, how many times have you almost fallen into the toilet when you sat down because your man or your son did not put the toilet seat down? Well, there probably isn't much we can do about it if they are over seven years old but for those young boys that are yet to be potty trained, I have a solution. When you are teaching your son to go potty, make sure he ALWAYS puts down the toilet seat when he finishes his business. It will become a habit for him at that young age and hopefully he will continue doing it for the rest of his life!

Is Vanna my real name? Yes it is. It is not short for Vanessa or any other name. My mother named me after my grandmother's next door neighbor. Her name was Vana. My mother added the extra "N".

Growing up, I only knew of one other Vanna. Her name was Vana Knight. We went to the same school. Kind of strange, huh? I remember in school when they would call one of us to the office over the loud speaker, both of us would go because we didn't know if they were saying Vanna White or Vana Knight! They sounded alike over the intercom.

Having an unusual name, everyone had a hard time pronouncing it right before I was on TV. Thanks to Charlie O'Donnell announcing me by name at the top of each episode of Wheel of Fortune, people have learned how to say it correctly!

Also, being on TV, some people have named their children, Vanna, after me. (What an honor! Thank you.) On a funnier note, someone also named their white llama after me!

Here's a list to keep handy in the kitchen.

• 1 cup
  8oz    16 TBS    48 TSP


• 3/4 cup
  6oz    12 TBS    36 TSP


• 2/3 cup
  5.3oz    10.6 TBS    32 TSP



• 1/2 cup
  4oz    8 TBS &emsp   24 TSP



• 1/3 cup
  2.3oz    4.6 TBS     16 TSP



• 1/4 cup
  2oz    4 TBS    12 TSP



• 1/8 cup
  1oz    2 TBS &emsp    6 TSP



• 1/16 cup
  1/2oz    1 TBS    3 TSP

No, not really but I do watch what I eat. I also only eat when I'm hungry. That's a hard one to learn. Here's some helpful hints to eating less...

• Eat slowly. You will tend not to eat as much that way.

• Try not to go back for seconds. If you wait a few minutes before you head back for more, you will realize that you really aren't hungry.

• When you go out to eat, share an entree with someone. You can both get a salad to start or even split that.

• Limit your dessert to a couple of bites instead of a whole dessert. Just cut yourself a sliver of pie instead of a large piece. Say to yourself, I'm only going to take three bites of the vanilla custard and stop there!

• Substitute a piece of fruit instead of dessert. Cut up an apple, dip it in cinnamon or slice some other fresh fruit. It satisfies that sweet tooth.

Every year on Christmas morning, my brother and I would wake each other up before going into the family room where Santa had been while we slept. We always went in together to share that special moment of surprise when we saw what Santa had brought us! He never wrapped our gifts. They would be just lying out neatly displayed.

Today, I share the same tradition with my children. When they wake up on Christmas morning, they have to wake me so that we all can go downstairs together to see what Santa left. I lead the way with video camera in hand!

The above photo was taken on Christmas Eve 1968. We slept near the Christmas tree.

What are some of your holiday traditions?

Many years ago when I was visiting Paris, France, I went to a taping of the French version of Wheel of Fortune. It was very strange seeing another girl turning my letters! I wanted to jump off the bleachers where I was sitting and go help her but of course, I didn't. Did you know that locally produced versions of Wheel of Fortune air in a dozen other countries, including Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Brazil? Our version airs in Canada, too!