Sam In The City

A New Beginning

2006-12-31T20:06:00.000-06:00

This past year has had its' ups and downs, just like all the years before it. I am looking forward to following the new ambitions and self-challenges I have set up for myself for 2007. I'm really excited about working more on my music and spending more time with my family, friends and most importantly, God. ;)

Short and sweet, just wanted to tell all my internet friends, thank you so much for sticking around to read a year's worth of my random posts. God bless you all with a very safe and Happy New Year. I look forward to blogging next year! ;) I'm off like a dirty shirt.

Feliz Navidad, Prospero Ano, Felicidad!

2006-12-25T11:48:00.000-06:00

I seem to have skipped all of November and most of December in regards to posting a new entry. The thing I love about this blog is that it doesn't require a stressful load of writing. I can hop on the computer whenever I have time and write. :)

(The below pic was taken at my dad's firehouse...we visited him with Donna because he was working today. Ryan and her beau surprised him, too!:)

My inspiration for blogging today is Christmas. The holidays are always a very busy time, but they're fun, busy time. I love going from one family's house to the next to visit with such a beautiful array of people. Right now I'm at my "in-laws" house and they're playing a game. Our beautiful new little niece is resting and I hear the fridge opening, so food must be on its' way out. ;) When my husband and I leave here today, we'll spend some time at our home, and then be off to visit more family members. The holidays are tiring, but truly rewarding and something I always look forward to.

I'm being called to play "Deal or No Deal"....write more later! ;)

Same day, 12:25a.m. now and I still have the Christmas spirit...I'm just gettin' a little tired. Right now my sisters Donna and Ryan are over, and Ry's bf Jason, is playing video games with my adorable husband. I know it probably sounds redundant, but I truly feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. I am grateful for every day I wake up and all the opportunities and memories that are made in twenty-four hours. ;) My little sister, Donna, who is not so little anymore is patiently waiting to use the computer so she can "My Space". Don't judge her...because I have an account too! :o) It's fun. Anywho, I hope you all had a GREAT Christmas and that you enter the New Year surrounded by loved ones. I'm off like a dirty shirt-peace out homies. ;)

-->The above picture was taken on Christmas Eve at my groovy parent's house. Dan is so handsome! ;)

Back In The Saddle Again

2006-10-29T16:12:00.000-06:00

There will be no excuses on my behalf this time to explain by blogging absence of over two months. Am I sorry for neglecting my internet social life and reading some wonderful blogs? Absolutely. But I haven't written in the past two months because I was having a hard time accepting things that were going on in my life, so how could I publicly write about them? Nevertheless, I've always enjoyed blogging and I feel good about posting a new entry today.

It only feels right to begin this entry by first talking about the death of my dear Auntie Debbie. She passed away last month, as I'm sure many of you are already aware of from Frema's blog. My Auntie Debbie struggled with a vicious case of cancer that she fought for nine and a half years, when the doctors told her she only had six months to live. Bottom line, Auntie Debbie was the bravest and most courageous woman I have ever met or known throughout history. She could have very well given up or succumb to her cancer years ago to rid herself of the excruciating pain this disease inflicted upon her and her family, but she fought with an unstoppable will. Auntie was only forty-nine years old when she died, she would have been fifty the day after Christmas. Knowing that Auntie was terminally ill did not cushion the blow of her death, despite what many would think. Just because you know that someone you love is sick doesn't mean that you're ready to lose them to heaven and never see them again.

When Auntie died, I was became depressed, unknowingly to myself though. During the wake services, I kept myself busy cleaning the community kitchen and engaging in nonchalant conversation with compassionate family and friends. After the services resided, my behavior did not seem to improve, in that I was CONSTANTLY finding a new project to keep myself busy. I must have rearranged my classroom and apartment about five times until I reached a personal level of satisfaction. Long story short, I began neglecting people that meant the most to me because I was so concerned about keeping busy, I didn't filter in the fact that I was ignoring the people I loved the most. My husband had compassionately approached me about my busy agenda and behaviors, but I took offense and told him it was my way of dealing with the loss of one of my best friends, Auntie Debbie. Poor Dan was only trying to help me and I was not responding to any of his sincere concerns. Luckily Dan had it in him to approach me a second time, and for some reason this conversation really hit home. He was able to reach me in a way that no one else could and I really feel that he literally pulled me out of my depression. Words can't do justice to how thankful I am to have Dan is my life. I would have never known the extent of my sadness had Dan not pointed it out to me and had enough courage to tell me the truth about my everyday behavior. I could go on and on about this, but the point of this entry is not sadness, it's about a new beginning.

After I realized I was depressed, I began analyzing my life and thinking about the many people and blessings I have to be thankful for. I started to build inner strength and reach out to my family and those who I trust dearly. I began thinking about what a full life my Auntie Debbie lived and started to think about the gifts God has blessed me with. Rather than being sad, I started to look at life and appreciate it in a way I had never done before. Instead of avoiding the ringing of my phone, I began excitedly answering it. Instead of always finding new projects to begin, I gave my husband back the wife he spent so much time with. I began playing the piano again and practicing harder than I ever have before. My music became such a wonderful outlet and sign of peace for me that I started to appreciate it and love it in a new light. I brought my passion for the piano into my classroom and began teaching my students about Beethoven and Ray Charles. Together my students and I began an unending learning journey that originated from the death of a loved one. After bringing music to my classroom, I reached out to a few students who displayed an extraoridnary talent and interest in the piano. I am now teaching private lessons to four students after school during the week.

I can't stress enough how thankful I am for my Auntie Debbie and husband Dan. Auntie's death and Dan's encouragement brought me to a new and exciting place in my life. Of course I miss Auntie and all the beautiful and sincere things she brought into my life and the lives of many others. However, as my mother reminded me, Auntie Debbie would not have wanted me to stop living my life. I have learned so much from this tragic experience, but most of all I have learned to be thankful for each and every minute of my life. Prayer has always been an important part of my life, but now it's such an integral part of my life that I feel connected to God in a way I have never felt before. I feel so blessed everyday I wake up and look at my husband in bed next to me. I know now that God works through all of us, even when we're not paying attention.

Thank you all so much for sticking with my blog and continuing to check on my writing. I love you all and hope that you're doing GREAT! I hope to be a better blogger again in reading about your thoughts and daily lives!! ;)

Creepin' Like A Wedgie

2006-08-22T19:41:00.000-05:00

When I say creepin' like a wedgie, I'm referring to the first day of school for my Kindergartener's this upcoming Monday. Since the middle of last week, I've been making frequent trips back and forth to my school to set up my classroom and prepare for the little people that I will be teaching. :) Although setting up my classroom before school starts can be fun, it is also a GINORMOUS pain in the rear.

Sunday afternoon I went to school to finalize the furniture arrangement for my classroom. The hardest part of setting up is making my small classroom spacious enough to accommodate five large tables, which serve as the student's desk, four book shelves, one large manipulative shelf, a reading center table, block shelf, overly large teacher's desk and student mailbox shelf. I'm sure I missed a few pieces of furniture, but I'm sure you get the picture. Anywho, when I got to my classroom Sunday, I found a long rectangular table pushed against one of my blackboards where the students have their "Morning Meeting". (Morning Meeting time in a nutshell is where the students learn and review their letters, sounds, numbers, days of the week, months of the year and a many other concepts.) Whoever put the desk there moved my mini-chalk board and a few other items that are essential to our "Morning Meeting time". I knew the table was put in my classroom because each class is supposed to get more computers and a table is needed to accommodate them. Anyway, I moved the table to a different spot to create a computer center and didn't think too much of it. Moving on...

Well, Monday when I went back to school, and to be on the safe side I asked my principal if the table HAD to be in the specific spot it was placed. I explained to her that it was put in my "Morning Meeting" spot and it messed up the arrangement I had worked SOOO hard on in my classroom. To make a long story short, the table HAD to be left in that spot. :( Okay people, most of you are probably thinking I'm making too big of a deal out of having to move a rectangular table to a different spot in the classroom. Early childhood teachers out there understand how many painstaking hours it takes to hang up educational decorations/posters, personalize name tags and a zillion other things, and especially arrange the furniture. To make this already long story short, everything worked out. After a long time of moving several shelves and rehanging decorations, I finally came up with a new arrangement. God bless my little sister Donna who has been helping me set up my classroom ever since I became a teacher two years ago! If she wouldn't have been with me when I have to rearrange everything, my head probably would've popped off!

For the rest of the week I'll be at school making the finishing touches in my classroom. I just recently found out that the Kindergarten teachers will not be getting aides this year, so I'm trying to really work ahead to keep up with the work load I know will hit come Monday. I'll truly miss the much appreciated and needed help a teachers aide offers, but there's nothing I can do about it. Plain and simple, it's going to be me and my twenty-two little learners.

Well, I could probably blab on and on about school forever so I'll stop. Thanks for reading about what's been filling my days and evenings lately. Much love to those of you out there who continue to read my blog. You guys are the best! ;) Have a great evening friends-I'm off like a dirty shirt.

Summer Daze

2006-08-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

Yes people, I am alive and have not fallen off the face of the internet world. This is my latest entry in over a month and I have no good excuse for that, except I've been too lazy to haul my ass three feet from the couch over to the computer. When I come home from work or physical therapy (for my knees), I'm just not in the mood to share much of anything these days. However, with school starting up again at the end of this month, and classroom preparations in the mix, I'll probably get caught up in the Back To School madness. I'm actually looking forward to the set routine and classroom environment. Working with the day campers hasn't been too terrible, but it's not like the structured environment of a classroom.

Since my last entry not too much has been going on. Dan and I took a trip to Indianapolis to visit Frema and Luke, and had an absolute blast! Their apartment complex is beautiful, with a groovy gated pool and large pond of cute little ducky wucky's!!! We spent some time in their apartment, but also went miniature golfing, explored downtown and the Canal, in addition to dining out a few times. It was a really fun time and Dan and I hope to plan more trips to visit Indy in the future. We're also going camping with Frema and Luke the weekend after next, and I'm really looking forward to it! Yay for summer fun!

I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly. In just a few short weeks Dan and I will both be in the swing of things for Back To School. I hope that you've all enjoyed your summer thus far and continue to live it up. I don't plan on skipping an entire month blogging again, (sorry July), so be sure to check for new entries. Thanks for sticking out my lazy stretch with me and continuing to read friends! Have a groovy day and stay cool! ;)

A Current Affair

2006-06-27T17:51:00.000-05:00

Although I've steadily neglected my blog up until this past Sunday, I've been cheating on blogger with My Space. Yes people, I am aware that it's more "kiddy-like" compared to blogger, but people actual visit my page and comment. So, until I get back into the blogger swing of things, I'll continue to comment on your entries, but I invite you all to check out my My Space page. If you're having a hard time clicking on the link, just type it in the URL address. In the meantime and between time, I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball. ;) Have a wonderful rest of the week.

S-L-A-C-K-E-R!!

2006-06-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

Yes it's true. I am true slacker when it comes to blogging. Although I do enjoy sharing my thoughts and life snippets with the internet, I am nowhere near as dedicated to posting as my amazing sister Frema. Maybe it's because I don't really know my limits as to what I'm comfortable sharing with the internet. I love to write, but it's different when you're keeping an on-line journal, rather than a private one. I get a little apprehensive about getting possible negative feedback from strangers, and loved ones publicly. In the mean time, I hope those of you who have continued to read my blog enjoy my entries. I sincerely appreciate my readers and their comments.

Since the last time I posted, I've been to a few family parties, Dan's brother's wedding and welcomed my beautiful Brooke's new baby boy Michael into the world! ;)

Michael Alan and me on June 9, 2006, his birthday! ;)

Dan and I at his brother Mikey's wedding.

This past week I also had my training for my summer job, which I have done for the past eight summers. The training was soooooooo boring and redundant, but I had to go. I work as a seasonal recreation leader for the park district day camp, which begins tomorrow. It's an easy job that requires no planning on my behalf, so it's a nice change from teaching. :) Besides working over the summer, I hope to be motivated enough to update my teaching portfolio so I can market myself better when I decide to apply at other schools. Near the end of the summer, Dan and I will be going camping with Frema and Luke at Indiana Dunes. Other than that, I've been spending a lot of time with my siblings and family, which has been a lot of fun. ;) Well, to those of you who actually still read my blog, mad props to you all! Have a GREAT week and be on the look out for the next post. ;)

The Last Day Of School

2006-06-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day of school and Kindergarten graduation! These past few weeks have been pure madness with all the planning and practicing that goes into Kindergarten graduation. From creating a program, memory books, to practicing graduation songs and procedures, I'm ready to hear that graduation march tomorrow!

Although I'm ready to be off for a few weeks in the summer, I'll sincerely miss my students this year. As a gift to them this year, I put together Kindergarten Memory book for them. Each child completed a writing page in which he/she wrote their favorite color, food, book and what they like the best about Kindergarten. On the top of the page there was a space for their first and last name, along with a picture of that student. On the back of the paper the students drew pictures of their favorite Kindergarten memories. Then, each of the 22 student's pages were xeroxed and bound together using yarn and a three hole punch. The students traced and painted hands were the covers of the books. Today after I gave the students their memory books, they were able to walk around the classroom and have their fellow classmates sign their books. The students absolutely loved it! ;) I talked to the children about the importance of saving and taking care of their memory books so when they grew up they could look back and remember all the wonderful times they had in Kindergarten. Yesterday the parents received a laminated poem about the end of the school year, with a picture of me and their child on it. Is it weird that I enjoy laminating things?? ;) Today I received several kind and thoughtful notes from parents saying what a great teacher I am. I even got a one hundred dollar gift certificate to a day spa downtown from one parent/student! ;) In no way am I trying to toot my own horn or anything, it just felt really good to hear so many nice words from the parents. A thank you or a compliment can really go a long way. ;)

Anyway, I won't miss the break from all the paper work, planning and much needed tedious organization that goes into running a smooth and successful classroom. My vacation officially starts once my classroom is completely cleaned and emptied of all its' contents. Let me tell you, end of the year classroom clean up is anything but a good time. I didn't realize how much I had on the walls or stuffed into the shelving space until I started taking everything down.

Well, just in case you've been wondering what I've been up to, now you know! I hope all is well with my groovy internet friends and thank you to those of you who continue to read. I'll be sure to let you know how graduation went! ;)

Life Altering News

2006-05-22T23:14:00.000-05:00

It's almost 11:15p.m. on a Monday night and I couldn't wait to share this exciting news with the internet until tomorrow. Today I called the landlord to notify him that our bathtub was getting a little backed up; there's nothing like standing in your own scum in the shower. Yuck. Anywho, it didn't take but a few hours to send a plumber over to correct the problem. This plumber has been to our apartment several times due to this very problem. The root of the problem rests in my hair, in that it is literally clogging the drain. After fixing the drain, the plumber did something extra for us that is absolutely AMAZING. He fixed our water pressure people! He fixed it! Before this miraculous man came into our apartment today, our water pressure was about as forceful as a drizzly day. Now it's as forceful as an old lady claiming her prize at a Sunday Bingo game! Now the water drips luxuriously, like the kind of pressure a shower at a fancy hotel would have. Or anyway, I assume so, because I don't recall ever staying at a fancy hotel, unless the Holiday Inn counts...does it? I think it should. ;)

Well anyway, Dan and I are just ecstatic about the life altering cleansing change. For our wedding shower we requested a power shower head because of the poor pressure, and we did get it. However, in trying to install the shower head, we stripped the threads on the screw connecting the precious new shower head. Imagine our horror when our high pressure shower dreams were shattered! Shattered I tell you...until now. Ah, it's the little things in life that I appreciate. No longer will I dread taking an agonizing twenty minute shower to rid my hair of the day's grease with drizzling water, oh no. When I washed my hair tonight I felt like the shampoo was literally blasted clear off my scalp people! ;)

Anywho, for those of you out there who don't understand the source of my joy... consider yourself lucky friends! Wait 'til you feel the difference this weekend Frema-it's awesome. You and your thick hair will appreciate it! Well, I better go to bed now before this euphoric state wears off. Over and out. ;)

Happy Friday

2006-05-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

Whaaaaaa-whoooo! It's finally Friday and I'm welcoming the weekend with open arms. Toward the end of this week my students made a pact to drive me insane, which almost worked. I wish kept better mental notes of the things my students did in class to share with you all because they're pretty funny kids.

Anywho, there's not a lot going on for me this weekend, which is great, because the last couple of months have literally been jam packed with events. Tomorrow I'm going to a birthday party for my groovy aunt, and Frema and Luke will also be in town. I'm excited to see the newly weds and hear all about their honeymoon. Dan and I didn't really go on a honey because we got married on a Friday, and he started work the following Monday. We did however, go to Jellystone Park campground for a little getaway over Labor Day weekend, which was really nice. We want to plan a small trip this summer to just kick back and relax. Dan and I like water parks, so I'm thinking Wisconsin Dells would be fun. We're pretty laid back people, so a campfire, some beer and a day at the water park sounds great. The idea of going to Vegas for a weekend also came up, but it's cheaper to just throw our money away in Chicago. On the other hand, you can always guarantee a great time in Sin City. We'll see what happens! Well, enough with the random vacation rambling...can you tell I've been thinking about it? Anywho, have a great weekend everyone-I'm off like a dirty shirt. ;)

Cheers to Breain and Luke!

2006-05-13T19:15:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken throughout yesterday, for Frema and Luke's beautiful wedding. The ceremony was very personal and touching...I didn't think I'd cry as much as I did! Your reception was a blast, as I'm sure you could see how much fun I had! ;) I just want to say again how happy I am for you two!! You looked AMAZING Bree and the red toe nails were quite cute! I'm so glad to have you in our family Luke. You're such a great guy and I love you both!

Here comes the beautiful bride!

First dance as husband and wife

Cutting the cake

Father/daughter dance

Bouquet Toss

Pictures of fabulous people

Congratulations Breain and Luke! I love you so much and know that you are having a wonderful honeymoon; can't wait to see you! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO, Sissy

Dan, Dan the Meteor Man

2006-05-08T18:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Dan had a second interview to teach at the high school he attended. He was excited about it and called me after work today to tell me how it went. Dan sounded really sad on the phone, kinda stalling to say whether or not he actually got the job. At first I thought he was trying to trick me into thinking he didn't get the job, kinda like pulling a Joey from "Friends". After a minute or so he caved and excitedly reported that he indeed had gotten his dream job! :) Dan has always wanted to teach at this high school and this is such a GREAT opportunity for him. Currently he is a third grade teacher, so you can see the huge grade jump, in that he'll most likely be teaching sophomore Geometry. He has always wanted to teach older students. I'm just so proud and happy for him. My hubby's really anticipating teaching where he attended high school and said he can see himself settling there. Go Meteor's and CONGRATULATIONS baby, you did it!!

P.S. The countdown is on Miss Frema and Mr. Useful! Can you believe your BIG DAY is already this Friday?!? Yea baby!! ;)

The Arm

2006-05-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

Yawn...time for bed. It's been a long day and you want nothing more than to crawl into a nice warm bed and snuggle next to your honey. You want to snuggle up next to that special someone and fall into a blissful sleep...but wait, you can't! You discover that there really is no truly comfortable position to sleep in because of, dun, dun, dun THE ARM!

Yes that's right people, I'm talking about The Arm. Everynight when Dan and I go to bed we always start out snuggled close next to each other ready for a peaceful sleep. But then he puts his arm underneath my pillow and it lifts my head up in an awkward position that makes it impossible for me to comfortably fall asleep. A few weeks ago he fell asleep right away with his arm under my head and I didn't want to wake him, so I left it there for like two hours! Finally, after watching the clock hit one in the morning, I said screw it and moved The Arm.

Sometimes I can fall asleep no problem with The Arm under my head, but most of the time it's more of a sleep hazard. Occasionally Dan will wake up with a sore arm due to our attempts to sleep holding eachother. It's a lose/lose situation because I like it when Dan holds me at night, and it feels weird when we're facing opposite directions. I've been meaning to write about this for awhile now, curious to see how others comfortably cuddle at night with no uncomfortable casualties. Let me know what you think. ;)

Where In The World Is Sambo?

2006-05-03T21:22:00.000-05:00

I've been quite the absentee blogger lately due to an overload of doctor visits, preparing fieldtrips and projects for my students, attending family gatherings, watching Friends, and um...just pure laziness. The Friends portion of my busy schedule is now eliminated because I have successfully finished watching all ten seasons. (Frema and Brooke, you'll be happy to know that you can now have your seasons back!) By the time I'm done with all the day's work, I just look forward to sitting on my couch and zoning out. I borrowed "The DaVinci Code" from my cousin Kenny about two and a half weeks ago, and it's currently buried under a nasty coat of dust from being neglected. Somehow it makes me feel less guilty about not reading it yet by just looking at it everyday. Weird.

Anywho, I'm back, for now at least and I totally LOVE reading all of my blogger friends posts. I have to learn how to multi-task my blog better...I've missed reading and commenting on your blogs friends, and I'm sorry.

Jumping around a little, Frema's and Luke's wedding is less than two weeks away!! My big sister will be a married woman in ten days people. I'm so happy for her I could burst! ;) Dan and I were talking about it today and I told him I was so happy for Frema and Luke that I could cry...and probably will at the wedding. Then Dan shared with me that when I got married, as soon as I began walking down the aisle Frema turned on the tears. It's hard for men to understand the very sacred bond sisters share. I'm so lucky and blessed to have three sisters.

(Frema and Ryan in the back, Donna, Styxie and me in the front)

I could not imagine life without Frema, Ryan, Donna and my brother Geo. As the matron of honor, one of the things I am responsible for is making a toast at the reception. I've been thinking a lot about all of the things I want to say and it's going to be hard. How to you summarize twenty-four years of sisterhood love and overwhelming happiness for the happy couple into a brief, yet meaningful toast? I'll figure it out. I'm just really happy to have the honor of proposing a toast to Frema and Luke. ;)

And That's A Wrap

2006-04-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, for the first time in about ten days I will wake up at 6:05a.m. to get ready for work, and bid farewell to Spring Break. :( It was really great to have a whole week off of work to get doctors appointments out of the way and random things done around the apartment. The best part about the time off was being able to spend time with Dan. On Tuesday we went to the Field Museum and had a great time! Dan and I didn't get lost in our travels to the museum as anticipated because my groovy father ended up driving us there. The only problem we encountered at the museum was Dan getting a little jealous about some hunk hitting on me. I was quite taken by the sculpted stranger...

Dan ended up taking a blow to the face after exchanging some nasty words with my new found hunk!

After leaving my hunk, we walked around the museum some more and saw some interesting exhibits about Earth's evolution and the Tsavo lions, just to name a few. Upon leaving the museum, we took a nice long walk to a fancy shmancy restaurant we had reservations for and ate meals fit for a king! ;)

Anywho, I had a wonderful Spring Break. It really ended with a bang last night for Frema's bachelorette party. Yesterday Frema's family and close friends celebrated my dear sister's last night out with the girls as a single woman. We began the fiesta at my parent's house, where Frema was showered with pizza, liquor and fun presents. Afterward, we went to a really fun bar where we drank a lot and danced our butts off! From bun pinching to dancing on bars, I don't think Frema will ever forget her bachelorette party. ;) She was such a fun and cute bachelorette and I'm so happy to be her matron of honor!

Well, I have to end this entry now so I can go grocery shopping. After a week of procrastinating this much dreaded task, I can no longer stand to see just a few bottles of water and one can of yogurt in the fridge. I hope you all had a great weekend, and as always, thanks for reading! ;)

Eggcellent Memories

2006-04-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

Easter has always been a special holiday for our family because with it, comes a special tradition. In addition to celebrating Christ's resurrection, we also get together to dye and decorate Easter eggs. Every Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, all the Ma'Ayteh children gather around the kitchen table and delight in making a plain white hard boiled egg look FABULOUS!! We decorate the eggs using the special wax crayon that comes with the dye boxes and dye our eggs beautiful colors. I always wondered why there is only one wax crayon in those darn dye boxes. Don't the manufacturers know it causes World War II like fights amongst families with more than one child?? Sometimes we use the shrinky dink wraps to put around the eggs, but not often. We Ma'Ayteh children welcome the challenge of making an ugly egg artlike. ;)

This past Saturday, we continued the tradition of coloring Easter eggs at my parents house. There were three important things missing from this time honored tradition this year: the white wax crayon, Frema and Luke. While the white wax crayon's absence was substituted with colored pencils, we could not replace Frema and Luke's missing presence. The happy couple did not make the road trip to Chicago this Easter, but we were sure thinking about them! ;) We did however, make a special egg for Frema and Luke. The other side of the egg was more artsy, but the darn flash on the camera would not allow the images to show up. It's the sentiment that counts though, right? ;)

Anywho, my Easter weekend consisted of:

1.Dying lots of Easter eggs

2. Taking goofy pictures
3.After accepting the fact that Ryan's bunny isn't a rat, I fell in love with it and played with it quite a bit

4. Looking for my Easter Basket and watching Ryan's boyfriend, Jason, search fiercely for his Easter basket, that my vindictive husband hid. Jason was seriously looking for his basket for at least an hour and a half. Dan finally told Jason where it was, the bathroom hamper. Earlier when Jason was looking for his basket, my brother Geo gave him the hint that,"as the day went on, the hiding spot got better." Basically, by the time Jason found his basket, it was completely immersed in the day's dirty laundry...yummy.

5. Pigging out of steak tacos and chocolate cake

6. Watching "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" with Donna

7. Hangin' out with the fam

(My goofy brother Geo and husband Dan are pictured above decorating their eggs. Some of their Easter egg writing decor included phrases like, "Eat me." "I'm a dead baby chicken and never had a chance at life." "I'm hard." <-- (meaning boiled, but that was not mentioned on the egg.) Tomorrow we are going downtown to the Field Museum to see the "Evolving Planet" dinosaur exhibit. I am sooo excited about it! I'm doing a dinosaur theme with my class for April and some of May and I want to take a lot of good pictures and get information to share with my class. After the museum, we have reservations at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, which is supposed to be a really nice place. We got some gift certificates for Christmas with a few restaurant choices on them, and this place seemed the most appetizing. My only fear for our big date tomorrow is getting lost. We're taking the Orange Line, (Chicago Transit) to avoid parking rates and crazy downtown drivers, but then we're walking from the museum to the restaurant. We've both taken the train a million times, but it's always a quest if it's to an untraveled to location. We'll see how this works out my friends. Wish us luck! ;)

Well, since Dan and I are Spring Breakin' it all this week, we'd better get started on our very important task of watching all three "Lord of the Rings" movies we rented. ;) I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday with your family and friends!! As always, thanks for reading. Over and out.

A Little Bit Weird

2006-04-15T16:04:00.000-05:00

Frema has tagged me with a Meme that requests I share six weird things about myself. As I carefully select the unique habits or characteristics about myself that indeed "make me weird", you must promise that you will try not to judge people. ;)

Six Weird Things About Sambo

1. Before I go to bed each night, I obsessively check that our front, back and balcony door locks are secure in our apartment. I also do these little rituals when I check that my phone alarm and night stand alarm clock are set for the next morning. I know you may be thinking it's no big deal, but these pain in the butt routines take away about ten to fifteen minutes of my sleep time every night. Just ask my husband, who patiently waits until I come to bed every night to turn off the bedroom lamp. Even after I check that the doors are locked, I have to go back to make sure that I didn't forget to secure all three locks on each door. I realize the craziness of this time consuming routine, which is why I have tried to lower the number of times I check the doors, and I have to say I'm doing much better.

2. Yet another bedtime setback...I have to be the last one to use the bathroom before Dan and I go to bed at night. Even if I have just used the bathroom, and Dan goes, I will try and go again after him. I know it's weird, but you promised you wouldn't judge, remember? ;)

3. I can't stand it when unwashed dishes are left in the sink, it drives me NUTS! Today I made eggs and sausage for Dan and I for breakfast, and immediately after I was finished eating, I started washing the dishes. Even if just a few glasses are left in the sink, I feel compelled to wash them.

4. I have a very addictive or compulsive personality. When I find something I like to do or am good at, most of the time I tend to overdo it. For example, when I used to smoke cigarettes, I smoked a pack and a half a day. When I began running more, I ran six days a week, and now I can't run at all until the orthopedic doctor says so, because I have hurt my knees.

5. I'm a die hard Molly Ringwald fan. I own and frequently watch "The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty In Pink" and "For Keeps". I'm aware that this is the year 2006, but Ms. Molly's movies are timeless classics people! ;) By the way, does anyone else out there have a crush on Randall Batkinoff?? Just wondering...

6. As I've mentioned previously in other entries, I'm not much of a phone person and have never really been one. When I was in high school and would get calls from people and didn't feel like talking on the phone, I would answer our house phone and pose as one my sisters, saying that I was not home. Example--> Riiiinng, riiinng!!! (me) "Hello?" (person calling) "Hi, is Samantha there?" (me) "No she's not, this is her sister Frema, I'll tell her you called though." I didn't do this all the time, just when I had to avoid an awkward or unwanted lengthy conversation.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about about my quirks friends! Have a happy and safe Easter holiday with your family and friends. ;)

P.S.
Today Dan and I went to our gym to view a weight lifting competition. It was absolutely insane to watch! This one man benched 750 pounds people! Anywho, the judge asked me to take pictures with his camera as he judged the competition, and when I was done, he told me my name was going to be in an issue of the "Powerlifting USA" magazine for taking the pictures!! Dan said he never thought his wife would be in a body building lifting magazine before he was. ;) I'm thinking my name/photos will either appear in the May or June issue of the magazine.

The Countdown Is On!

2006-04-06T17:42:00.000-05:00

One week from today mine and Dan's students will have an early dismissal...and then it's SPRING BREAK 2006 BABY!! Don't get me wrong, we both like kids and love teaching, but we need a break. I wonder if there would be as many teachers if it wasn't for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and Summer vacation. Spending an average of six-seven hours, five days a week with your students can almost drive one to border line insanity.

We're Spring Breakin' it at our apartment this year my friends. I'm most looking forward to not having to wake up at 6:00a.m. and leave for work while Dan is sleeping sound, because he doesn't leave for another half an hour after me. His alarm goes off about two to three times before I actually leave the apartment, and his snooze button always prevails. Dan wakes up to my Ray Charles Greatest Hits CD, and all I hear is, "Weeeeeeeellllll, I gotta woman, way over town, that's good to me...". Usually Ray only gets to sing, "Weeeeelllll..." before Dan slaps his snooze button silly. ;) It's really nice that we both have the same vacation time because we can hang out and really relax together.

Besides sleeping in, we really have no other plans and that makes me excited! Of course we'll find something that needs to be done, but there's nothing really scheduled other than visiting my cousin Kenny at college. I foresee lots of Texas Hold'em and a case of Miller Lite in our near Spring Break future, and that's just fine with me. ;)

The countdown is on people. Spring Break is keepin' like a wedgie! ;)

Sherlock Sambo

2006-04-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been holding my breathe with the nervous anticipation leading up to Frema and Luke's wedding shower. This past Saturday, April 1st was the happy couple's big fiesta and I have to say I'm very pleased with how smooth everything went. Frema and Luke had a good time with their family and friends, and enjoyed the wonderful presents they received, which is the most important thing of all. This post was going to be full of photos, as they paint the best picture of all. However, blogger is acting up and only let one picture upload. :( As soon as it stops being so ghetto, I can share more pictures with you all. The only visual the pictures can't show you is the story I'm going to share with you now.

At the wedding shower, we played a poem game to determine which person at each table would get to keep the table's centerpiece. There was a silver coin placed next to each centerpiece, and the coin was passed according to the poem's specific directives. It was a cute little game and everyone seemed to enjoy playing it. Toward the end of the shower, my dad's aunt, our Tia, came over to my table and pointed to the centerpiece, saying that she took one. I knew that she didn't win the poem game, so I asked her if she meant that she took a party favor instead and she said yes. Then I explained to her that only the winners of the poem game were supposed to take a centerpiece because I wanted mine and Luke's parents to be able to also take one home, and there were just enough for that. She still insisted on not taking a centerpiece, and then continued on socializing with other people.

I didn't take a picture of an individual centerpiece, but it is the glass vase with blue jewels and rose candles on the banquet table pictured below.

Shortly afterward, Tia was getting ready to go home, and saying her goodbye's. As she was walking, I heard the jingling of jewels coming from a large plastic bag she was holding. (And no people, plastic bags were not given out at the shower...so I'm thinkin' brought her own goody bag.) Anywho, suspicious that Tia stole a centerpiece several glasses of alcoholic punch later, I approached her and opened her plastic bag. Lo and behold, what do I find...the missing centerpiece. Not only did I find the centerpiece, but a handful of party favors as well. Dun, dun, dun. Busted. I actually took the centerpiece from her bag and explained to her that there were no extra centerpieces and she had taken one that belonged to Luke's parents. All she said was, "Do you want me to do a somersault out of here so you can make sure I didn't take anything else?" and I told her that wasn't necessary. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky I tell you. Although, I must admit, Tia has a little rep for displaying off the wall behavior. Don't get me wrong though, I love her to death and she'd give you the shirt off her back-just not the centerpiece off the sweets table! ;) Anywho, enjoy the rest of your evening and I hope to have pictures to share with you very soon!!!

My momma always said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

2006-03-23T18:04:00.000-06:00

It's been two weeks to the day since my last post. My last few entries have been kinda downers, so I decided that I was not going to write anything new until I had something uplifting to share. I feel like a lot has been going on lately, and the majority of it hasn't been too peachy. So, to the faithful few who've continued to check my blog, thanks for sticking around! I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog and share your thoughts with me. ;)

As far as pleasantries are concerned, I've been pretty wrapped in the planning of Frema and Luke's upcoming wedding shower. From party favors to centerpieces, my apartment wreaks of wedding bliss! I've never been a matron, or maid of honor, and I want everything to be just perfect for Frema and Luke. I'm so honored to have such an important responsibility during the pre-nuptial events. My big sister is getting married in less than two months my friends!! Whaaa-whooooooo!!!!

In other news, Sunday evening Dan and I got some Chinese food and received some very insightful fortunes in our fortune cookies. Dan's was, "Find some release from your cares, have a good time". Pretty good advice coming from a cookie, huh? My fortune was even more earth shattering, "Within the coming 5 months you will find 3 missing socks". Can you believe it?! I'm gonna find 3 missing socks by August! Seriously, that would be amazing, considering the fact that everytime I do laundry a sock miraculously disappears. I immediately thought of Lost a Sock when I read my fortune. ;) All this talking about socks reminded me that I have to go switch my laundry! Until the next time friends...over and out! ;)

One Sweet Day

2006-03-09T19:10:00.000-06:00

Sunday afternoon Dan and I were driving to his parents house when the song "One Sweet Day", by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men came on the radio. Fully knowing that listening to this song always makes my eyes glossy and my heart sad, I turned the radio up. When I hear this song, it instantly makes me think about my dear grandmother, my Nana, who passed away in December of 2001. The song is meant to be somewhat comforting with the lyrics, "And I know you're shining down on me from heaven. Like so many friends we've lost along the way. And I know eventually we'll be together, one sweet day, and I'll wait, patiently to see you in heaven". But the lines that really make me choke up and get the lump in my throat are, "Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say, and now it's too late to hold you, cause you've flown away, so far away...darlin', I never showed you, assumed you'd always be there, and I took your presence for granted, but I always cared and I miss the love we shared". So as I'm driving I'm getting all weepy eyed and trying to hold it together. It's not that I felt I had to hide these feelings from Dan, but the fact of the matter is Nana is gone and no tears or sadness will bring her back. Some tears stem from feelings of regret about where my relationship was with my grandmother before she died.
Nana lived downstairs from my immediate family in the two flat apartment building my parents own. My sib li ngs and I were all extremely close to Nana because we had the luxury of seeing her everyday. It was not unusual to find my siblings and I playing Scrabble, Phase 10, Skipbo, or watching The Golden Girls with our very cool grandma.

When I went away for my first year of college, I didn't see or talk to Nana as much as I had before. I wrote the occasional letter and saw her when I was in on weekends or holidays, but I still didn't spend as much time as I did with her before. I still feel guilty about that. Nana and I, along with my siblings would indulge in countless hours of the Nintendo, and I'm talking the original NES. Her favorite games were The Legend of Zelda, Tetris and Dr. Mario. When we were playing Nintendo with Nana, it was serious business I tell you! ;) Besides Nintendo, the Ma'Ayteh children (my siblings and I) could often be found downstairs with Nana at her kitchen table pigging out on strawberry shortcake and pineapple upside down cake. Actually, Nana made the pineapple upside down cake especially for me, and it was always very soggy and undercooked, but I always ate it with a smile and told her how delicious it was. Of course this explains why she would always make it for me. She was always so excited after making it for me and I loved the feeling that Nana did something special just for her Samantha. God, what I would do for a piece of that cake now.

One Saturday morning my father called me while I was away at college to tell me that Nana passed away. I was half asleep when he have me the awful news and I just remember being totally shocked. The night before my younger sister Ryan had called to tell me that Nana was brought to the hospital for something, and that she would keep me posted on her condition. My grandmother was always in and out of the hospital for a number of serious health concerns, but she always came home. One might say it was routine for Nana to be in the hospital, and then come home a few days later. So when Ryan called me, I was worried, but did not think that Nana would be in heaven the next day.

It was a really hard time for the whole family when Nana passed away. Prior to her death there were some unresolved family issues that caused some major tension. But I'll never forget when my mom had to tell my youngest sister Dee, who was about seven years old at the time, that Nana had passed away. Nana and Dee were best friends in the truest meaning of those words. Dee and Nana ate goldfish crackers with chives and onion cream cheese together, watched "Golden Girls", had endless conversations and ate about 50% of their meals together. Poor Dee was heart broken, just as we all we to lose our Nana.

I had about Nana on Sunday night, the same day I heard the song "One Sweet Day". In my dream, I saw my Auntie Mo, who is Nana's older sister. I tried avoiding eye contact with her because she reminded me too much Nana, but I ended up saying hi to her and giving her a hug. While I was hugging her, she turned into my Nana, and it felt soooo incredibly real! I have never, ever had a dream that felt so real and good in my life. While I was hugging Nana in the dream, I was squeezing her so hard and did not want to let go. I woke up a little sad, but moreso happy because I felt like I had been reunited with my missed grandmother, if only in a short, wonderful dream. Yesterday I was talking to Dan about my dream and I started crying and then sobbing. Even though the tears won't bring her back, sometimes it just feels good to let it all out, and that's just what I did.
Nana, me, Frema and Grandpa Corky

Years have passed since her death and it's hard not having her around. I wish she could have seen me and Frema get married, or be around for her future grandchildren. The best consolation for myself is knowing that although she's not physically here, she's watching from another place. I love you Nana.

Knock, Knock...

2006-03-06T17:44:00.000-06:00

As I sit here typing, Dan and I can hear our neighbors SCREAMING at each other through the walls. This is not something new, as the unhappily married couple next door often has shouting matches at one another.

This past Saturday, Dan and I invited two friends to come over and play cards. I like having people over, but we always have to be very aware of the noise level because the walls are so thin you could hear someone farad. We were all having a great time playing cards, listening to some tunes and drinking a few beers. In the middle of our game, we heard very hard and loud obnoxious banging on our kitchen wall. The banging was so bad that the clock on our wall shook. Honestly, I am always the one on music patrol and always make sure that the level is kept low, in consideration of our neighbors. The speakers are not even on the floor or against a wall to avoid any annoying bass vibrations to those who live underneath and to the sides of us. After the crazes banged on our wall twice, I banged back once out of anger and then turned the music down to a ridiculously low level.

After the banging match ended, we continued to play cards without any further interruptions...Until our door buzzer sounded about twenty minutes later. We never buzz anyone into our building unless we are expecting them because you never know what nut case is on the loose. If it's someone we know, they call to let us know they're waiting to be let in. Anyway, I ran to the door to see if anyone was coming and heard footsteps coming up to our floor. I hurriedly moved the dart board to look through our peep hole, to see two Chicago police officers standing outside our door knocking. As I opened the apartment door, I was mentally cursing the crazy neighbors out for calling the cops on us. I asked the policemen if they'd like to come in and they said no, and asked if we were having a party. I told the seemingly friendly policemen that we were just playing cards with a few friends when we heard a neighbor banging obnoxiously on our wall. They kindly said to make sure we kept the music low due to a complaint that was called in.

After the police left I was really bummed. Even though nothing bad happened to us, I felt very angry and embarrassed that the cops were called on us. I know some of you may be thinking that our music was probably too loud or that I shouldn't have banged back...But you had to be here to truly understand. The music was low and the insane banging was unnecessary.

We also had a little scare yesterday evening when Dan found that our storage space lock had been cut off! In my paranoid mind I thought that someone was out to get us, especially after the police incident. It turns out that our landlord forgot that he told us to use that specific storage space, rather than the one labeled with our apartment number, because that one was occupied when we moved in. I called our landlord to let the company know how upset we were that our belongings were exposed this weekend because our lock had been cut. A rep from the realty company apologized and said we would be reimbursed for the new lock we purchased.

This weekend has not been our first ill encounter with the people who live around us and I'm sure it will not be the last. This past December a neighbor hit Danes parked car and cracked his tail light. When it happened, Dan heard the noise and went to our balcony and saw the neighbor's van pulling away. The next morning when Dan approached the neighbor about it, he said that he didn't do it. A few minutes later that same neighbor came to our door apologizing, saying that his wife hit the car and she was scared to tell her husband she did it. Yea, real nice that the poor woman is scared of her husband.

What it all comes down to is that Dan and I would like to buy a house. However, until we save more cajole, this is not an option. Although we could move into another apartment, this one is great...Despite some neighborly issues. The rent is very reasonable, we don't have to pay gas and it's pretty big for a one bedroom apartment. It can just be frustrating to want to advance, but not be able to because of money. In the meantime, we'll be fine, because we have each other and that's enough.

The Balancing Act

2006-02-27T22:32:00.000-06:00

I've attempted to blog twice since yesterday evening, but until now, all attempts have failed. Dan and I had a great weekend full of Texas Hold'em, Scrabble, Blockbuster and the Olympics, which I really wanted to write about. I even took pictures of the Scrabble boards, after receiving a royal @ss kicking from Dan in game two.

Game 1
Final Score: Sambo 294 Dan 304 What a close call!

Game 2
Final Score: Sambo 247 Dan 418 I got the Scrabble smack down!

Well, anywho, there's my elaborate fun weekend in a nutshell. Today I came home with a headache after school and thought it'd be relaxing to blog before doing anything, so I got the computer all set up and ready to go. Then I decided I should open the mail first to see if there was anything important. After discarding the usual junk mail, I came across an unexpected letter from the bank. The letter stated that Dan and I had accumulated over one-hundred dollars in overdraft fees! My initial reaction was anger because Dan and I are very careful with our check book and recording transactions. I'm so meticulous with it that I used to balance our transactions before even leaving the actual store when using the debit card. After giving into the realization that it wasn't the safest thing to do, not to mention a tad neurotic, I broke that habit. After reading the brief bank notice umpteen times, I finally called the customer relations service who basically just spat out numbers and was not really any help.

Dan called me on his way home from work very cheery...until I gave him the bank news. Dun, dun, dun!! No longer was he so eager to get home from work and really, I couldn't blame him. We both knew a trip to our local bank branch, which is past the railroad tracks, in traffic was necessary. So we hopped in the car and made it to the bank without getting stopped by a train! Whoooppeee!!! ;) To make a long story short, the very sweet young banker woman told us we had to go back to our bank statements and check the banks balance with our own. Simple task, right? WRONG!!! Although Dan and I were complimented today for keeping such great track of our bank statements and a chronologically correct check book, we were not given an A+ for checking which checks have cleared on our monthly bank statements. This has never been a problem for us before because we always just deduct any check amounts/debits immediately from our running balance after funds are used. To find where the numerical error occurred, Dan and I have been going over bank statements since about 6:00p.m.!! It is now almost 11:00p.m. and we quit doing it about a forty-five minutes ago. We started with February 2006 and stopped for the night when we hit June 17, 2005!! Although it this has been a very aggravating process, we're both glad it happened because we are finding little mistakes here and there that we miscalculated. Those damn ATM fees a were popping up left and right! Even though we recorded the fee from using another bank's ATM, there was another fee that didn't come up when using the ATM, and only showed up on the bank statement. Those snakey ATM slime balls!
I must admit though, it's been kinda fun looking back to see what we've spent our money on.

Anywho, it's getting late and I'm sooooooo tired. I feel like all Dan and I did today was crunch numbers and read bank statements. Little by little we are discovering that our check book is more of a B than A+. Unfortunately when I come home from work tomorrow I have to start balancing again from June 2005...Dan's teaching night school-that lucky man! It felt good to vent a little bit, thanks for reading. I'll keep you updated on our progress. Buenos noches! ;)

A Nightmare On Mason Avenue

2006-02-21T16:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening was so great! A few friends came over to play Texas Hold'em, we got a sugar rush from eating the GINORMOUS bowl of Valentine's Day candy from our students, and Dan and I just watched t.v. for a bit. By 11:00p.m. we were ready for a good night's sleep. We did not have work this past Friday or Monday, which meant that last night our very long weekend came to a raging halt.

Anywho, don't you just love those those nights when you're just so tired that you know you're going to pass right out when you crawl underneath your covers? I don't seem to have many of those nights, but Dan does. Well last night, I thought both of us would be snoozin' in no time at all...but no, not me. As we're laying in bed, all of the sudden I can't stop thinking about the movie "Final Destination 3". Dan and I recently saw parts 1& 2, and went to the movies to see the third one this past weekend. Anywho, I told Dan that I was really creeped out because I started thinking about the movie. He told me to think of our wedding, which is always his way of trying to comfort his infantile wife when she gets scared at night. Fifteen minutes later, Dan was out like a light. Well, fifteen minutes of wishful sleeping isn't so bad, right? A half hour later I'm still scared and by this time have imagined my death and dozens of other unpleasant images a million times. I got out of bed to use the bathroom and ran back to our bedroom whispering, "Dan, Dan, are you awake?". Clearly he was not up, but I was hoping for a response anyway. I just crawled back into bed and eventually ended up dozing off. However, I definitely did not sleep through the night, and felt as if I never really slept.

The only reason I know that I fell asleep for periods of time last night is because I had awful nightmares. Although "Final Destination 3" is what triggered my sleep deprivation, I did not dream of that movie. Often when I have bad dreams, the devil/some kind of demonic figure or ghost is the source of my terror. Maybe that's because my grandmother used to tell my siblings and I stories of how the devil appeared to children in Mexico when they were bad boys and girls. Last night in a dream, I saw a shadow of the Blessed Virgin praying, and it started to bleed all around the silhouette, with evil noises mimicking in the background. I remember going to touch the silhouette of Mary and then pulling myself back...that's all. I'm sure it doesn't sound too scary to you, but believe me, it was. I had a few nightmares last night, but can only really remember that one.

A few months ago my nightmares used to get so bad that I would actually wake Dan up in the middle of the night on the verge of tears. He would hold me for a while and I would fall asleep saying prayers in my head. That folks, is the reason why I try to stray away from scary movies. After I saw the movie. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", I was also very much freaked out. (And that is a religious movie, so imagine those dreams.) I'm twenty-four years old, but whenever I watch a scary movie to this day, the blinders come out. The blinders are my hands and I still watch scary movies through the separation of my fingers. Even though scary movies have negative sleep effects on me afterward, a part of me still likes watching some of them.

Needless to say, when the alarm clock sounded at 6:10a.m. this morning I was already half-awake. A whoping forty-five minutes earlier, I had to use the bathroom, and before that it was broken sleep almost every hour of the night. Oh how I longed to hit snooze and snuggle under the blankets and try the whole sleeping thing one more time...but no such luck. I looked over at Dan, as I did all of last night, and wished I was sleeping as peaceful as him. Tonight I'm hoping to pass right out, since I didn't get much sleep yesterday. Wish me luck and a good night's sleep. ;) Hopefully these scary thoughts and nightmares don't follow me into my dreams tonight.

A Love Story

2006-02-15T15:50:00.000-06:00

Flashing back to October 1997
(Circa sophomore year of high school)

The first time I ever saw Dan was when my friend Seamus, (who I met through high school Theater) and I were talking on the platform of the good old Orange Line on the 35th/Archer train stop in Chicago. I just happened to catch Seamus as I was getting off the train and he was getting on. We quickly said hi to one another and that's when I saw Dan in the background, not thinking too much of it at the time. I was beginning to develop a little crush on Seamus, and so were a ton of other girls at my high school. (It wasn't 'til later on in life I would learn that Jim wasn't interested in female companionship.) Did I mention I went to an all girls high school? Well, anyway I did and anytime a cutie was in sight, you better believe that one of us teenage girls were drooling over him. Anywho, after getting to know Seamus for a few weeks through Theater, I found out we had a lot in common and we quickly became friends. My parents were always very strict when it came to dating, meaning I was not allowed to have a steady boyfriend until I was sixteen. Come to think of it, I wasn't even allowed to go on actual dates (except dances and that did not include the after dance festivities). Nevertheless, at the time I was dating a smart and very dull guy named Brady. We met back in grammar school through little league. Brady lived fairly close to my family, but I only rode my bike sneaking to see him a few times throughout the duration of our two month relationship. There were no sparks in our courtship or my boring teenage love life.

At the time, my high school was putting on the production "Anne of Green Gables". After hearing from our friend Seamus that our school production of "Anne of Green Gables" needed another guy for the role of a priest, Dan tried out and got the role. Dan and Seamus also went to the same single sex high school and were very good friends. They were also very active in their high school's Theater program. You can only imagine the excitement they must of felt being in the presence of so many girls! The first time Dan and I officially met we were standing behind a convenience store with some friends smoking cigarettes before play practice began. I thought he was really cute, but that I'd never stand a chance with him. Besides that fact that I had already had a boyfriend, Dan was/is quite the looker and caught the attention of several other girls. Until...one day at play practice I was wearing a t-shirt that he said he liked and Dan kept hugging me over and over again. I thought it was kind of unusual, but hell I liked him, so what did I care? After that Dan and I began talking a lot more.

My high school's annual Homecoming dance was just around the corner, and I took my very nice, but dull boyfriend Brady. Dan went with a girl that he graduated grammar school with and I was so jealous. When I saw him that night he gave me a warm hug and told me that I looked beautiful. My own date didn't even comment on how I looked. Anywho, the whole night we exchanged glances, even while we were slow dancing with our dates. Shortly after that dance, Dan and I talked about the possibility of us going out and it made me want to dump Brady...so I did. One night I called Brady and told him that we never really see each other or spend time together and that it would be better if we were just friends. I ended our two month high school fling in a record breaking three to five minute phone conversation. Needless to say, we didn't remain friends. The next day I was ecstatic to see Dan and tell him that I broke it off with Brady. The very same day he asked me to be his girlfriend outside of my high school on a bench next to the softball field. I tried not to appear too excited, but I was and of course I said yes. ;)

Our 1st picture together a few weeks after we began dating, November 1997

To make an even longer story short, Dan and I began our journey as boyfriend and girlfriend without the permission of our parents. We did a lot of sneaking around to see eachother, and shortly after the Valentine's Day of 1998, we were busted for sneaking him over to my house when my parents weren't home. It was such a clever plan and we never would have gotten caught if my grandmother didn't have super power ears and hear Dan leave from our upstairs apartment that night. Anywho, after my parents found out that Dan snuck over, my mom raided my room and found some not-so-parent-friendly notes. My poor little sister Ryan, who I shared a room with at the time knew the raid was coming and tried to hide all my notes and important information for me. Anywho, out of all the notes she gathered, she missed one...and boy oh boy was it the wrong note to miss. After my parents read it, I was basically on jail watch. I'm telling you though, Dan and I were so crazy for eachother we still found ways to sneak and see eachother. I ended up getting a D in Driver's Ed because I'd ditch class to meet Dan at the Orange Line to exchange kisses and notebooks that we wrote for one another. Some may think that was stupid, but when you love someone that much, the risk is worth it.

In the late Spring of 1998 I was spending the night at an old friend's house when I used her phone to sneak and call Dan. His sister answered, said he wasn't home and dropped a bomb on me that I was anything but ready for. She told me that they had just found out Dan had cancer, in particular Hodgkins Disease. I was in total disbelief and couldn't believe it. When I got home that night, Dan and I told my parents the awful news and begged them to let me see Dan. After crying for what seemed like forever, they said okay. From then on, they very slowly started letting Dan come around more and more. Dan began Chemo and radiation, and thankfully, by the end of that summer he was in remission!

The above picture was taken in June of 1998 at my parent's house for Frema's college going away party

He still goes for yearly checkups to make sure that everything is okay with him, and thank God it is. When Dan had cancer, he never complained or questioned why this was happening to him.

Junior Year of H.S. Homecoming 1999

In fact, he actually said it was cool because he was exempt from a few finals due to chemo treatments! ;) Talk about an optimist. Dan's told me on several occasions that he's glad he had cancer, because that was what allowed us to see eachother. Back when we were fifteen I was completely head over heels for him, and now as a grown woman, I love him even more than I ever thought possible.

The below picture is from our junior year of college, 2002

We began dating our sophomore year of highschool, and continued throughout four years of college, where he went to the University of Illinois and I went to St. Joseph's in Indiana. Through the years we've definitely had our share of "on and off time", but always found our way back to eachother. This post was originally intended for Valentine's Day, to reminisce our relationship throughout the years. Once I started writing though, all of these memories and feelings started flooding me. I feel so blessed to have such true happiness and love with Dan. We're only twenty-four years old and will have been together for nine years this October 16th. I thank God everyday for the many blessing he has bestowed on me...and Dan will always be on the top of that list.

San Diego, California October 2005

B is for but!

2006-02-09T22:28:00.000-06:00

I wish I had enough time to blog everytime one of my students did something funny. Today a student did something that I just have to share with you.

Everyday the students have Center Time, in which they are split up into small groups and work on different activities. One of the Center assignments today was for the children to walk around the classroom and find words that begin with the letter B. After they wrote their B words, they had to draw a picture next to the word describing it. Even though I've gone over the two different meanings/spellings of the word "but" a million times, kids will be kids. The below picture is an a child's attempt to illustrate the word "but". (refer to the 4th picture)

I tried as best as I could to scan the picture accurately. Notice how the "but" looks kind of like a very large tooth. When I saw that picture I couldn't help but give a giggle/good job to the child. When I asked the child if the picture was of a butt, s/he proudly smiled and said, "YES!" Maybe you don't find this as cute as I do, but I had to share it! ;)

Soccer Mom

2006-02-08T15:59:00.000-06:00

For the last couple of weeks, a few students in my class who play soccer have been asking me to go to one of their games. Jack told me that their game was at 7:00p.m., but that I should leave about 6:30p.m. to get a parking spot. I told the students that unless my car wasn't working, I'd be there.

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. After work I was on the prowl looking for Wedding Shower invitations for Breain and Luke. There wasn't much of a variety at the two places I checked, so I'm going to look at couple of other places. As of now, my mother and I plan on hand writing the invitations, because she believes it adds more of a personal touch. ;) After the invitation search, I picked up Dan's Valentine's Day gift and headed home. When I got home, I had to fill out a social security name change form and call the social security office to ask a few questions. By the time that dreaded task was completed, it was nearing close to the time of my student's soccer game and I was not in the mood to go. I thought about ditching it and then telling them that my car was not working. Even my students know how ghetto fabulous my Buick is, so of course they would have bought it. Then I started thinking about how disappointed they would be if I didn't show, so I decided to go.

I left early, just as little Jack suggested so I could get a good parking spot. In fact, I left so early that I even had time to stop and get coffee and a big fat blueberry muffin from Dunkin Donuts. Thanks to Jack, I had a great spot and was still about twenty minutes early for their 1/2 hour soccer game. I sat in the gym waiting for the students in my class to arrive for their big game. When Luis, my little Mexican Simon Birch entered the gym and saw me, he sprinted toward me with the cutest, cheesiest smile I'd ever seen him wear. ;) That alone was worth coming to their game. When the two other students in my class arrived they were really excited and a little shy about me being there. I cheered and yelled for the mini-soccer players like I was at a Sox game. It was hysterical watching Luis play. He is a very tiny child, with a large head and little glasses that really magnify his eyes. Everytime the ball came at him, he either backed away from it, wasn't paying attention or was talking to his dad, complaining about how hot he was. Nevertheless, the team did well and the students really did try their best. Unfortunately, they still lost and did not score one goal. When I told Luis that I was proud of how the team played and I would share the exciting soccer news with the class, he was beaming! ;)

This morning I bragged about how well the students played and their smiling faces were priceless. Today alone I've been invited to at least three other student's games. It does feel good to be wanted though and I'm glad my students like me enough to want to see me when the school day is over. I tell ya, I'm going to be one busy soccer mom and I don't even have any kids. ;)

On Strike

2006-02-01T20:19:00.000-06:00

Dearest Bloggers,

The messed up sidebar on my blog pains me friends. I'm on strike from blogging until I can figure out this technical glitch. Just looking at the uglified template discourages me from writing. Frema, if you're reading this, I need your help! :( Holler back sister.

Have a groovy evening everyone.

Grasshopper On The Road

2006-01-26T19:15:00.000-06:00

Many Thanks Mr. Grasshopper

I had a wonderful day at school today with my students! For the most part, the children were very well behaved and attentive. (Besides Elizabeth spitting a wad saliva on the floor during naptime for no apparent reason and Martin punching Adam in the stomach, the day was great.)

Anywho,I love reading to my students more than anything we do throughout the entire school day. It's so much fun to create different voices for the characters in stories and play around with reading tones. The students really get into the stories that I read in class and that just thrills me. After reading a story to the children, many of them will ask where that particular book is so they can read it after their work is done. I don't want to sound arrogant, but the kids think I'm a pretty cool chick. ;)

Today, for the second time, I read the story "Grasshopper On The Road", by Arnold Lobel. This story is about the journey of a grasshopper who takes a journey on a road he finds, not knowing where it leads to.

While Grasshopper is walking down the road, he meets several characters. He met a housefly, who was only interested in cleaning, and one day hoped to clean the entire world.Then there were the butterflies, who everyday sat on a big mushroom, scratched their heads three times, spun around six times, took a nap, and while they were napping, dreamed that they were taking a nap. The butterflies told grasshopper to stay with them because they liked talking to him and they wanted to talk to him everyday and add them into their strict schedule. Grasshopper declined their offer and moved on because he didn't want to do the same thing everyday. There's also the horseflies, who had an exclusive club for only those that loved the morning. After grasshopper told them that he also loved the morning, they invited him to join the club to sing and cheer about how much they loved the morning. When grasshopper dropped the bomb that he also enjoyed the evening and night, well they kicked him out. :( The grasshopper then comes to a small puddle, in which he finds a mosquito in a boat. The grasshopper's legs are easily long enough so he could simply walk over the puddle. But the mosquito tells him that rules are rules, and even the grasshopper had to let mosquito escort him across the puddle. So grasshopper ends up just carrying the boat, with the mosquito still in it, across the puddle. When they get to the other side of the puddle, the mosquito explains to grasshopper that he's been transporting other insects across the puddle his whole life, and had to hurry back to the other side of the puddle in case someone else needed a lift.

For the life of me, I cannot remember what kind of insects the last and most important characters were, so we'll say they were hornets. Anywho, the grasshopper encounters these hornets who are speedily zooming back and forth in the sky. When they see grasshopper, they stop and tell him that they feel bad for him that he can't fly. Grasshopper tells them that he doesn't mind that he can't fly because as he walks, he notices such beauty around him. He then goes on to tell the hornets that they can't see what he does because they're too busy flying back and forth. Once again, grasshopper is left alone as the hornets return to the sky to keep flying. Grasshopper made it clear that he was perfectly content being by himself and exploring the new road he's traveling down. I'm rattling my brain to think if there are any characters I missed, but I think I that's all of them.

Anywho, the point of this story is that grasshopper was content doing his own thing. He didn't conform to what everyone else was doing just to belong or stay settled. The opinions of the other characters never brought the Grasshopper down or made him feel bad about his journey. As the book came to an end, I was explaining the lessons that can be learned from this story to the students. I told them that it is okay to be different and change can be good. Since the first day of school, I told them that if everyone in the classroom did the same kind of work, it would be boring. So of course, being the smart little Kindergartener's they are, they tied that point in as well.

As we're discussing "Grasshopper On The Road", I was thinking out loud and said, "Mrs. Villa has the same thing for lunch everyday". That thought led me to many others that made me analyze my daily routine. I wake up, pour my coffee, eat breakfast, put my make-up on, brush my teeth, wake up Dan and after he's ready, we split. When I arrive at school, I do work until the first bell rings at 7:40 a.m. and then get the students and then teach the whole day. After work, I clean up the apartment, work-out, eat dinner and fart around with Dan or on the computer. (This is not filtering in doctor appointments or other scheduled activities that may come up.) Anyway, this book really made me think about the way I live my life. I want to be more like the grasshopper who welcomes the unknown and doesn't stress about unnecessary anxieties. It's funny how one children's book can make you analyze your whole life and I'm glad for that.

Anyway, I know this entry was incredibly long, but my blog is a way for me to articulate my thoughts and share them with those I love and those who enjoy reading my writing. So if you've made it through the whole entry, I strongly suggest that you read "Grasshopper On The Road" or at least think about the content of the book. Life's too short to let a puddle in the road stop you from your journey.

The Big Evaluation

2006-01-24T21:33:00.000-06:00

Today was a BIG BIG day for me at work. Since I first started teaching in August of 2004, the Early Childhood teachers have been working very hard to get accredited by a prestigious Archdiocese program. To make a long story short, we Early Childhold teachers(who teach 3 and 4 old Preschool through Kindergarten)have been working with a woman sent from the program to help prepare us for the validation visit. This woman, who we'll call C.K. has given us ideas and suggestions to modify lesson plans, teaching styles and classroom arrangement, in order to comply with the prestigious Archdiocese program guidelines. Our school was given a little over a year to prepare for the validation visit, which would determine whether or not our Early Childhood program received accreditation. In addition to the Archdiocese sending C.K. to help us prepare in a variety of ways, the Early Childhood program also received a very large shipment of educational support materials for each classroom.

It's too complicated to explain everything in detail, but the point is that most of us teachers have been working our butts off to receive this accreditation. Today the Archdiocese's validator came to our school to visit the Early Childhood classrooms and ultimately decide whether our program "passed". The validator had to observe the one and only 3 year old preschool class at our school, one of the two 4 year old preschool classes and one of the two Kindergarten classes for one hour. It was really nerve wrecking wondering if my Kindergarten class would get the hour visit or not. The other Kindergarten teacher just began teaching Kindergarten this year and was introduced to all of the accreditation news the beginning of this school year. As nervous as I was about the validation visit, I wanted the validator to come to my Kindergarten classroom and observe...and she did!

The validator observed my class for about an hour and basically raided my classroom today. She looked through my lesson plan book, weekly parent letters I send home, student portfolios, emergency information, cleaning procedures, child/teacher interactions and about anything else you can think of. Afterward, she individually met with the teacher's whose classroom's she observed. I have a really good feeling about how things went today. I'm not sure exactly when our Early Childhood program will receive the news on whether or not we were accredited, but I hope it's soon! If we do get accredited, we get to keep all the educational support materials we received to help us prepare for our validation visit. From what I understand, if a school is accredited through this Archdiocese program, the school's program is outwardly viewed with prestige. It looks great on a resume to say that you taught at a school that received this particular accreditation. If we don't get accredited, then C.K. told me we will get another chance, with new guidelines to follow that the Archdiocese just came out with.

Anywho, whether or not we were accredited, the validator made me feel great today. When we were talking one on one, she told me that my class had a very warm feeling and that she liked the arrangement and presentation. She also complimented on my interactions with the students and said I read very well to them. Our conversation made me feel very proud of the job I do everyday with my students. When she was in the classroom, I saw her smiling while looking through some of my students notebooks. I was beaming when mentioned how nice my students writing is. If our school had not undergone this very stressful and anticipated validation visit, I would still put just as much time and effort into my job. It was just nice to be complimented and appreciated by someone high up in the education field. I love teaching Kindergarten and today I feel like another individual from the outside really noticed that. I'll be sure to let you all know if our school passed the big test today. This validation visit was a challenge and blessing in disguise. Regardless of the results, personally and professionally I am very proud of our Early Childhood program and give us an A+. ;)

P.S. I was going to post pictures of the beautiful Frema in her gorgeous wedding dress she purchased this past Saturday, but after reading her blog entry and also realizing her wonderful fiance is a frequent blogger, I came back to planet Earth. Sorry folks. :(

Dun, dun, dun!

2006-01-19T18:21:00.000-06:00

To those in the blogging world, it may seemingly appear that I have not posted an entry for over a week. However, last Saturday I posted an entry and then unposted it on Sunday. I was really angry when I posted and afterward thought it was tacky to leave up. Anywho, to the few readers who actually caught the post, thank you kindly for your comments. ;)

This past Monday, I did not have to work because it was a day of observance for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I spent my kid free afternoon going to the dentist. In the last year I have been to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth yanked, have cavities filled, and the latest visit...the beginning of a root canal. As I sit here typing this entry, my poor little molar is THROBBING! :( The pain doesn't stop there folks, oh no! My frickin' tooth has decided to start a conspiracy with my left ear now. I really think my tooth and ear are going at it, trying to see who can give me the most pain. The root canal was started on Monday and the second and last part is being done tomorrow. After briefly seeing the dentist for an unscheduled appointment yesterday, he told me to take three Advil's and one Extra Strength Tylenol for the pain, which is about the equivalent of one Vicodin. I've taken the extreme amounts of non-aspirin, and yet the pain is still there. I can't wait to go to the dentist so I can chew my food without being conscious it. More importantly, I just want the pain to go away.

Yesterday I got the complete second season of Roseanne, which brightened my spirits quite a bit. More importantly, just thinking about Saturday makes me smile because we're finally going to get Breain's wedding dress! Yea!!! ;) Well bloggers, thanks for continuing to read, even though I've been slacking lately. I'm sure after this root canal I'll be able to crawl out of my slump. Say a little prayer for me. ;)

XOXO, Sissy

2006-01-10T16:57:00.001-06:00

Frema on the left & Samantha on the right

Dearest Frema,

This entry is dedicated just for you! ;) Yesterday was your birthday and I had every intention of blogging about you for the big day. Better late than never, right?! ;)

I just simply wanted to say Happy Birthday to you dear sister! I love you very much and you make me so proud! You're a great role model and I really look up to you. Thanks for all the fun memories we've share together and cheers to making many, many more! I'll never forget the childhood memories we've shared, namely: Ding-dong Ditch (in which we'd ring someone's doorbell and run), Friend(the made up drawing game we made up about the friends we drew on paper), Hide-N-Seek and the mini-Lifetime specials you'd make up about drowning in our pool. Those are just a few of the cherished memories I look back fondly on and laugh about. ;)

Anywho, I hope you had a fabulous birthday Breain! You mean so much to me and you are truly one amazing woman! I love you Nootch.

XOXO,
Sissy

Woof, Woof!

2006-01-04T20:13:00.000-06:00

Today was my first day back at work after fourteen consecutive days off! 14 days my friends! Needless to say, I'm pooped. When I checked my mailbox at work today, I got a little note saying that I would be getting a new student, today. I was a bit surprised to get a new student in the middle of the school year, and it's been an interesting experience thus far. As I'm talking to him, he starts to pat me on the head like a dog. Fun times I tell ya. I can already tell this child is going to make my Kindergarten class much more, well...interesting.

After work, I went to check out yet another hall for Frema and Luke's Wedding Shower. There are so many options for halls and decisions to make for the big fiesta! ;) Can you believe they're already getting married this May?! The time is just going to fly by before the wedding and I want everything to be perfectly intact for the big day. ;)

Well, after a long day of work, hall shopping and working out...I'm going to try to go to bed. It seems like every time I attempt to turn in early, I end up going to bed even later! We'll see what happens tonight.

Buenos noches and
HAPPY NEW YEAR! ;)

Farewell 2005!

2005-12-31T12:25:00.000-06:00

Today is New Year's Eve. I sit in front of my computer with mixed emotions on what to write about and where to begin. Tomorrow marks the beginning of a brand new year, a fresh number on the calendar that welcomes resolutions and changes. I've never really been adamant about making New Year's resolutions before, but this year I have a few. I guess I would have to say that these are not so much resolutions as improvements to aspects of my daily life. Rather resolving not to do certain things, I'd like to look at how I can improve my quality of life.

And the categories are...

Marriage
Dan and I have been married for almost five months now! ;) He's a great husband and I'm completely head over heels for him. We're very affectionate and loving toward eachother, so no improvements needed there. However, I'm going to work on showing Dan more appreciation for being such a great husband and friend. I realize how blessed we are to have found eachother so young.

Church
I feel bad about not going to church more than I do. For a while Dan and I were going on a somewhat of a regular basis, but we've just gotten lazy. I keep thinking about when we have children and how we'll want to go to church as a family every week. How will we go as a family if we're not even going now? I definitely want to improve my church attendance with the coming of the New Year. I need to set the alarm on Sunday and stop the groaning. After all, the early bird does catch the worm. ;)

Work
I love my job! I put my heart and soul into my job because I love teaching. For 2006, I'll continue to think of new fun and creative ways to teach my students. I won't stray away from pursuing a lesson because of massive prep time! I'd also like to push myself to answer a difficult career effecting question: Public or parochial? If I plan on making a move to teach in the public schools, I need to do so soon. If I worked at a public school, my salary would increase by about twelve thousand dollars! On the flip side, I love teaching religion and am fortunate enough to be teaching the grade I believe to be my calling. Go Kindergarten! These are just a few of the factors that are involved in this decision making process. Wish me luck! ;)

Family and Friends

Anybody who knows me, knows that I'm really not a phone person. It's terrible, but sometimes I don't even answer my cell when it rings or even call back until the next day. I'd like to get rid of that bad phone etiquette. Although I'm not a big phone person, I do believe it is important to keep close touch with those you love. I'd like to make an effort this year to call my family and friends more. (The above picture is of Brooke and I when I was about twelve and she ten...oh how time flys!)

Exercise
I love working out, but life gets so busy that I neglect my "me time", which is time I truly enjoy for myself. I'd like to set a realistic gym schedule for myself.

Blogging
My dear older sister, Breain, introduced me into the wonderful world of blogging. I know that my writing doesn't get a lot of comments or outside attention, but it's important to me. I like having a "journal" to share with family, friends and acquaintances. I'm going to try to be more of a consistent blogger. Thank you all for reading and taking an interest in what's going on with me. ;)

Finances
I want to work on being smarter with my finances. With that I mean, reading the Suze Orman book that Frema bought for me. Dan and I really want to be in a house within the next few years and I want to be readily prepared and educated for this huge step in our lives. Thanks Frema! I love you.

Well bloggers of the world, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Eat, drink and be merry in the comin of 2006! God bless you all and thanks for reading Sam In The City! ;)

Chef Boyersambo

2005-12-27T16:25:00.000-06:00

What a lazy day it's been for me thus far. I started my day off by making a nice french toast breakfast for Dan, Donna and myself. We all woke up at around 11:00 a.m. and leisurely moved around the apartment until I had the great idea of making breakfast. Out of all three daily meals, breakfast by far is my most favorite to prepare! Frema and Luke got me a waffle maker for Christmas, which I can't wait to use. ;) Making french toast always reminds me of my Auntie Betty because whenever I spent the night by her house when I was younger, I always looked forward to her french toast with powdered sugar! Mmmmmm.... I especially love making breakfast when people stay the night with Dan and I. It's so much fun to play hostess and pamper the ones you love. Donna and Dan said everything was really good- go me! ;) I'd like to practice my omelet making skills while I have some quality cooking time over Christmas vacation. I wish my dear little Frema would be so adventurous to try my omelet...but I won't hold my breath.

It was really hard to take a break from watch Friends so I could blog. I thought while I had some time off I would be more eager to write than I am, but I find myself just wanting to sleep, eat and watch t.v. Dan bought me the first season of Friends, in addition to some pretty groovy Christmas presents. These earrings are my favorite gift from my thoughtful husband. Well, I'm gonna go haul my vacationing butt over to the couch now and watch The Exorcism of Emily Rose with Dan now. It's a hard job, but someone's got to eat popcorn and snuggle with that husband of mine. ;) If I don't blog within the next few days, please call me to make sure I haven't become permanently attached to the couch. Thanks. ;)

My beautiful mother also got some diamond earrings from my dad for Christmas. I tell ya, our men really know how to spoil us.

WWF Match On 63rd...

2005-12-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry I've been so unfaithful to you! Instead of writing fun and interesting stories, I've been wrapping Christmas presents, going to the gym, cleaning like a mad woman on speed and doing seemingly endless loads laundry. But I'm done with all the wrapping and cleaning for now, so unless my two week vacation lures me into laziness, I will be writing more! ;)

The past few days have been sleeping bliss for Dan and I! Our Christmas vacation started on Wednesday, and we celebrated by having a few people over and partying like Rock Stars. When we woke up the next day our apartment looked like the aftermath of a college drinking party. When Dan saw the mess, he called our night of party fun, "Teachers Gone Wild". Anyway, Wednesday night consisted of a Texas Hold'em game, a lot of beer and a hysterical WWF wrestling session between Dan and I on the kitchen floor to end the night. One of Dan's friends J.C., came over with his girlfriend Lisa to celebrate our last day of work with us. The last time J.C. came over without Lisa, he told us that Lisa really wondered if Dan hit me. You may be asking, why would Lisa think this at all? Well, Dan and I are just silly and we joke around with eachother all the time in good fun. For example, if Dan asked me to get him a beer and I'd say no, he'd say, "Don't make me hit you in front of other people, Sam". I'd crack up and he'd get his own beer. That's just one way we kid around with eachother. Anyway, Lisa must have thought that Dan and I were serious because she asked J.C. if Dan really hit me! Ooops. As bad as it is, I think it's kinda funny! Dan is the sweetest, most gentle husband and would never ever hurt me. So when J.C. and Lisa came over on Wednesday and witnessed our little wrestling extravaganza, needless to say she was probably in awe.

Our little wrestling match started by me approaching Dan, putting up my dooks and fake punching him. Before I knew it, we were running all around the kitchen chasing and tackling eachother. At one point, we traveled into the front room, where I was tossed over the sofa. I'm sure the massive amounts of beer we both consumed had a helping hand in us thinking this was a good idea. The whole time we're "fighting" we're both laughing, but really trying to pin the other down so we could win the match. It's debatable, but claims he won.

Thursday I woke up with a hangover and the same headache I've had for a whole week. Dan and I couldn't help but laugh how Lisa must think I'm a foolish young woman to stay with a man who beats me. Is is bad that I find this amusing? I don't think so. I did feel a little bad that she perceived our relationship as an unloving, abusive one. But on the other hand, anyone that really knows me and Dan, knows that we're crazy in love and have a very happy marriage. The important thing is that we had a good time together and came out of this with no concussions. So if you're ever interested in some good old WWF fun, gimme a call and maybe we can set up another match.

Down and Dirty

2005-12-18T20:38:00.000-06:00

Three days until Dan and I officially go on Christmas vacation!! Two weeks of no work will be AMAZING! I have plans to tear my apartment up and bleach and dust every corner. Some people may find this task dreadful and annoying, however, being raised by Mrs. Danny Tanner herself, I enjoy cleaning now that I'm not nagged to do it. Don't get me wrong, our home is always clean, but I'm talking clean, clean. I love the feeling of walking barefoot on the kitchen floor after it's just been bleached and scrubbed. Crawling into freshly washed sheets and using a fresh warm towel after a shower are just a few of the things that make me smile. Whenever I do my deep cleaning, Dan hibernates in the front room. He tried a few times to assist with the deep cleaning, but I don't think he really understands the art of cleaning. I'm content with him washing the dishes, making the bed and helping with the daily ordinary chores.

Other than the excitement of getting down and dirty with the apartment, we have several family gatherings to attend over our vacation. I can't wait to spend unlimited amounts of time with my family, in particular my siblings. I love it when we are all together like the good old days. I don't mean to brag, but I do have the coolest family ever. ;) Anyway, I hope to write more soon. Really funny things have been happening to me and Dan lately, and it'd be a shame not to share them. Have a good night everybody! ;)

Frema & Luke, Sitting In A Tree...

2005-12-12T20:03:00.000-06:00

Frema and Luke, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage! This weekend Frema and Luke came in from Indianapolis to announce the wonderful news that they're engaged! That's right, Luke proposed to my beautiful sister on Wednesday, December 7th and she happily said YES! I've always wanted a big brother you know. As if it's not cool enough that they're getting married, but I get to be the matron of honor!! ;) I'm so happy and honored to be Frema's right hand woman as she prepares for her big day. Still being somewhat in wedding mode myself, I have lots of ideas for my groovy sister and future brother-in-law. I'm so happy for them and I bet you are too! I knew that Frema and Luke were eventually going to get married, but I really had no idea that their visit this past weekend was to annouce their wedding date this May. What a happy and emotional visit. It was so cool looking through bridal magazines and hearing about the kind of dress Frema wants to wear for her big day. Their hall is absolutely beautiful and I know that the handsome couple will only make it look ten times better! I can't say enough how happy I am for Frema and Luke, and how excited I am to have a family expansion! Big Daddy D. and Molly, we're family now! ;) My mom was by the stove finishing up cooking a big breakfast for everyone and when Frema and Luke announced the big news, she shrieked tears of joy for them, along with our sentimental Auntie Donna. Wedding bliss is in the air and our family couldn't be happier.

Well Frema and Luke, here's to you-the very happy couple! You've got a fun road ahead of you planning this wedding. Don't let anyone try to force their opinions on you, because it's all about you on the big day. Just because it worked for one couple, doesn't mean it will work for you. People can be really pushy and opinionated, so just relax and enjoy this very exciting time in your lives, as I am sure you will. I love you both very much and am SO HAPPY for you! You know if you need anything I am here for you both. Have a groovy evening and a great time spreading the great news to your families and friends. XOXOXOXO

P.S. Dan has asked me to send a special shout out to the blogging world. I tried to tell him that it really didn't go with this entry, but what can ya do.

Too Close For Comfort

2005-12-08T20:08:00.000-06:00

Flight 1248 from Baltimore has slid off the runway into a fence on 55th and Central at Midway Airport. The 98 passengers on the flight have been reported to be shaken, but safe and four people that were on the street are reported as critically injured.

I got home before Dan and decided to surprise him with his favorite tuna casserole dinner when he came home from tutoring at about 7:15p.m. When he wasn't home at 7:30p.m. I called him to see where he was and what was going on. At this point I had no idea about the plane skidding off the runway, I was just worried about him driving in the snow. A few minutes after I called Dan, he called me back to tell me to turn on the news because a plane skidded off the runway at Midway and into the street. Dan's dad called to let him know about it so he didn't take Central home after tutoring. Dan was late from leaving work because he was talking to some other teachers after class and doing some school work. If he would have left on time then maybe he would have been a car on the street when the plane skidded into the street. Dan and I both take Central all the time, and it really psychs me out that one of us could have been hit by that plane. I stayed after work late for a class I'm taking at school, and a colleague drove me home. I normally take Central home, but my colleague friend took a different route today, and we had no idea about the horrible accident. I'm so grateful that Dan is okay. We got into an arguement before he dropped me off at work this morning over something stupid, but before I left the car we kissed and made up. I'm so thankful we made up and that he is okay. This plane accident got me a little sentimental and I just want Dan to be home now.

Those people on the plane and on the street must have been so scared!! I'm still waiting for him to come home so I can attack him with a huge bear hug. Several very busy Chicago streets are closed due to the accident, so it's taking him a long time to get home. Dan said he's driving 10 miles an hour right now and cops are helping to redirect traffic away from the closed street. Dan said there's cops everywhere and just a bunch of flashing lights. I just called him and he said traffic is understandably ridiculous.

Well, I'm going to continue to watch the news and wait for my husband to walk through the door. Be careful driving if you decide to venture out and God bless you!

Mad Props To Nyquil

2005-12-07T21:22:00.000-06:00

I will definitely be getting some Zzzzz's tonight, thanks to nasty tasting liquid Nyquil. This cold could not be prevented. No matter how many times I told little Andrew or Emma to cover their mouths when they coughed or sneezed,they always seemed to get me in the face. I hate not being able to breathe through a nostril...it's so annoying having a cold and it makes me realize how lucky I am when both nostrils are working!

Anywho, today was definitely a long day. I'm really looking forward to the weekend, but this week is moving as slow as a 90 year old woman on a tread mill. There's a Chicago Bulls game lined up for Friday and then a birthday party/Christmas party for an old friend of mine on Saturday. I can't wait to wake up on Saturday without having to even think about the alarm.

Well, off to bed I go now. Have a groovilicous night! ;)

P.S. You'll be happy to know that Donna is now 13 years old today and I did not have a heart attack. ;)

WhAt A CrAzY WeEk!!

2005-12-06T21:02:00.000-06:00

It's only Tuesday night and it's already been such a crazy week, and will only continue to get crazier. Last night and tonight, our school had their annual Christmas Show, where my students shined signing, "All I Want For Christmas"...and they were fantabulous!! :) I've been staying after school late and am totally pooped by the time I get home, which is why I've been neglecting my dear blog.

Tomorrow will be the busiest day of this week though. The students are dismissed at 2:30p.m., rather than 3:00p.m. due to our faculty meeting. I have to leave our meeting early though to go to my new dentist, so he can fix what Dr. Dipshit did to my teeth. (That's a whole other blog entry.) Anyway, after the dentist, Dan and I are off to my parents house to sing Feliz Cumpleanos to my sister Donna, who will be thirteen!!!! If her turning thirteen doesn't give me a heart attack, Dan and I are going to see my Auntie who is very ill afterward. Please keep her in your daily prayers.

Did I mention that my beastly car has yet again failed me? Yea, so poor Dan has been carting my butt around, because basically there's no other option. On a positive note, Dan did get the part-time job he wanted teaching Freshman algebra two times a week for night school! :) GO DAN!!! Still no word on my Dollar Tree application...boooo-whooo!

Anywho, it's really hard just to focus on this entry because I'm just plain old pooped! I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well, and will be writing more when this week slows down!

Peace out homey's! ;)

Random Fun!

2005-11-28T21:33:00.000-06:00

Pick 20 random people of your friends that you know personally (i.e. have actually met in person). Type them out first BEFORE reading any of the questions, then answer the questions accordingly.

Don't cheat...it definitely ruins it!

1. Dan
2. Frema
3. Brooke
4. Ryan
5. Kenny
6. Geo
7. Donna
8. Ro
9. Luke
10.Auntie Betty
11.Liz
12.Micah
13.Sasha
14.Ray
15.my landlord
16.Stevie
17.Hannah
18.Jason
19.momma v.
20.Twiney

-What would you do if you had never met #5?
I'd have missed out on many, many treasured childhood and adult memories with my dear cousin Kenny!

-What do you honestly think of #10?
Auntie Betty is very easy to talk to and has a heart of gold!

-Would/did #19 and #8 go out?
My mother in law and Luke have and will never be an item. Besides the fact that they're both taken, they'd totally clash anyway.

-Did you ever like #3?
Hmmm...Brooke, are you telling our secrets? ;)

-If #1 died tomorrow, what is the one thing that you would need him/her to know?
The thought of this makes me ill. If Dan died tomorrow, part of me would die with him. He already knows that I am madly in love with him...and that's all that matters.

-Would #2 and #11 make a good couple?
Hahahaha! Frema and my dear friend Liz would be a good couple if they were lesbians. It'd be like The Odd Couple and they'd balance eachother out.

-Describe #7 in three words:
Donna is beautiful, strong-willed, leader

-Do you think #12 is hot?
Micah's a cutie.

-Would #1 and #17 make a good couple?
Hysterical! Dan and his two year old cousin Hannah would not make a good couple...try Lifetime! ;)

-What do you think of when you see # 8?
When I see Ro I think about how successful and sincere of a person she is

-Do you know any of #6's family members?
I know ALL of my brother Geo's family members.

-What's #20's favorite color?
I think Twiney likes purple...I think!

-On a scale of 1-10 how cute is #14?
Ray's an 8...he's got a great personality too.

-What would you do if #4 just professed his/her undying love for you?
If my younger sister Ryan professed her undying love for me, I'd profess it right back!

-Who is #16 going out with?
Stevie is married to Angie.

-Is #9 a boy or a girl?
Luke is a man.

-Would #18 and #4 make a good couple?
This is just weird...Ryan and Jason are a GREAT couple and have been dating for about two years. (I swear I didn't cheat!!!)

-Who do you think #15 would be great with from this list?
My landlord is loaded...Dan and I wouldn't mind shackin' up with him!

-When was the last time you talked to #12?
I talked to Micah in the beginning of November about his lovely wife's birthday! :)

-What is #3's favorite band?
Brooke has always been a loyal New Kids On The Block fan.

-Does #2 have any siblings?
Frema has 4 sibs.

-Would you ever date #6?
There's no hillbilly blood in these veins...I'd never date my brother! :)

-Would you ever date #15?
We've discussed this already...my landlord is rich and desirable! ;)

-Is #7 single?
Donna is single.

-What is #20's last name?
Twiney's last name is Shenoo.

-What is #1's middle name?
Daniel Anthony

-Where does #9 live?
Luke you are so popular! #9 resides in Indianapolis.

-Would you make out with #13?
Once again, I have no romantic feelings for my sis in law.

-Are #5 and #6 best friends?
Actually, Geo and Kenny are pretty darn close!

-Does #7 like #20?
Donna likes Twiney!

-How did you meet #18?
Through my sister Ryan, because she took Jason to her junior prom and the rest is history!

-Is #12 older than you?
Nope!

-Is #17 the sexiest person alive?
Well, Hannah's mom likes to call her sexy...being 2 years old and all-I'd have to say no.

-Have you hooked up with more than three people on this list?
Well I'ved hooked up with almost all of these people for coffee and drinks...but no romantic hook ups besides my honey Dan! :)

This was so fun! The people in my family and my closest friends popped into my head 1st and it was so neat to see how this all played out. I'm still tripped out about Ryan and Jason. Have fun if you decide to do this for yourself. ;)

Job Application or Psychoanalysis??

2005-11-28T19:57:00.000-06:00

The day started off with me hitting snooze from 6:05a.m. to 6:25a.m. when I finally dragged my tired butt out of bed. Dan and I were up late talking last night and didn't go to bed until almost one, which is pretty late for the both of us. Thank God for coffee and french vanilla cream! My students were pretty well behaved, which was great, especially considering it was their first day back after Thanksgiving break. I felt so bad for them though because today their lunches were an hour and fifteen minutes late! They kept complaining they were hungry and wanted to eat. :( One of my students said, "Mrs. Villa, but I brought my lunch. Can't I just eat it now because I'm so hungry." I had to remind Elizabeth that it's rude to eat in front of others who have no food. Poor little Elizabeth's bottom lip curled and she hungrily went back to her seat. When the lunches actually arrived, you could've heard a pin drop in that class!

Not only was lunch late, but Music was cancelled too. We normally go later in the week, but the music teacher rescheduled our time for today so we could practice for our big Christmas Show next week. Both Kindergarten classes are singing, "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth". They're as cute as you probably think they are! :) Anyway, I was really mad about Music being cancelled because I was not informed until the students were getting ready for Music in the afternoon. Another teacher came in my room to make sure I heard the news, which I obviously hadn't. It really frosts my cookies that the teachers are so poorly informed and that people think we don't plan our day around scheduled activities.

Anywho, so today I applied for a job at a Dollar Tree store very close by my apartment. Dan and I won't be performing on the street for quarters anytime soon, but a second job would definitely help us move forward financially in saving to buy a house. Dan is also going to apply for a second job at some local gaming stores. I just wanted something nearby so I could walk to work and not worry about getting home too late. But that Dollar Tree application was like a frickin' psychology test! After asking me a million and one times where I live and if I've ever committed a felony, there was a questionnaire with about ninety-six weird statements I had to respond to. There were only a few statements on each page, and there were twenty-four pages! I had to apply on the computer in the store, which was dated back to the early 90's and worked as poorly as Carnie Wilson's natural attempts at dieting. I tried to remember a lot of the statements so I could share how ridiculous they are with you. I couldn't believe how long the questionnaire took me to do. A lot of the questions were repeated and just restated, so the same things were being asked over and over again.

Anyway, here are some examples of the questions/statements I had to respond to.
(All responses had to be answered with Strongly Agree, Agree, Strongly Disagree, Disagree)
1. You feel like it is hard to be optimistic all the time.
2. You have few or no close friends.
3. You care what other people think about you.
4. You take breaks when working on a long project.
5. You often start projects and do not finish them.
6. You always finish the projects that you start.
7. Are you finished causing trouble? (yea...)
8. You always think about other people's feelings.
9. You call in sick if you are a little sick. (Now honestly, in applying for a job, you have to wonder what moron what put Strongly Agree or Agree.)
10.When you are finished with one project, you immediately move on to the next.
11.When someone hurts you, you want to hurt them back.
12.You deserve more than you have. (why is this relevant??)
13.You have done things in the past that you regret.
14.You have few or no friends that you have made at work.

Those were just of the statements that I can actually remember. It's fine that the people in charge of hiring want a little insight on future employees, but honestly, that application was a load of crap. If, now that's an if I get hired, then I'm sure that questionnaire with just play a HUGE role in my job as a cashier at the Dollar Tree. I wish I could remember some more of those statements, because the ones I do remember were actually kinda normal in comparison to the other seventy something odd ones. Regardless, I really do hope I get this job. The extra money would be great and it is only about five blocks from our apartment. Wish me luck! :)

In other news, Dan and I joined a gym today! This gym just opened up a few weeks ago and is right by the Dollar Tree. We got a really good membership price because we were among the first one-hundred members to join! :) I'll let you know how my first workout there goes tomorrow. Have a great evening. :)

Blessings All Around Me

2005-11-27T19:18:00.000-06:00

What a blessed young woman I am to have such great family and friends! The Thanksgiving holiday was absolutely wonderful because I got to be with my family all weekend. Frema and Luke stayed with Dan and I, so I felt very spoiled having them stay with us! :) Dan and I really need to get an extra mattress or something though so our family is more comfortable when they stay over.

Yesterday was an interesting day because my grandfather, his wife and son came in from Indiana to visit. The visit was interesting because we really don't see grandpa often, and when we do, it's usually due to a special or unfortunate event. Anywho, the visit went really well and I was glad to see him. God bless my parents for not holding life long grudges and always keeping their door open to crazy relatives.

My cousin Kenny was also in from college and lives very close by, so I spent a lot of time with him this weekend. Kenny, Frema and I were always together growing up. We were always plotting sleepovers and opportunities to spend time together. It's crazy how fast the years have gone by. The three prepubescent sobrinos who were connected at the hip are now all in their twenties with real life responsibilities. I feel so proud of my family and all of the goals and dreams their working so hard to reach. Not to get too sappy, but I really do feel blessed and so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.

This past Thanksgiving holiday lasted four days, rather than one. I'm really looking forward to Christmas when we will all be together again. Whether we're putting mom's sparkly Zsa Zsa slippers on our dog Styx, or just hanging out talking at the kitchen table, I can always count on a good time. I keep thinking about back in the day when we all lived under the same roof and got to see eachother everyday. When you're a kid, I don't think you truly appreciate your siblings and parents the way you do when you're an adult. My youngest sister, Donna, will be thirteen next month and that just blows my mind. We spend a lot of time together and I'm really grateful for that. Pretty soon she will be busy with the teenage life, such as going out on dates and taking hours to get ready for them.

Well, anyway, what a weekend! I had a FABULOUS time and am trying to get my mind ready for work mode tomorrow. Have a great evening and thanks for reading. :)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

2005-11-25T13:31:00.000-06:00

Yaaaa-hoooo! So how lucky are my siblings and I to have two Thanksgiving dinners! Unfortunately, dad was at the firehouse for Thanksgiving yesterday, so we are having our celebration today. As long as the whole family is together, it doesn't matter what day we share the holiday on. :)

Anywho, so yesterday Dan and I ate dinner by his parent's house and it was really nice. That was the 1st time I ate over there with his family on Thanksgiving. It was cool to be a part of their special day. No disrespect, but there's no cookin' like my momma's, she and dad sure make a wicked cooking team. Actually, Dan and I are on our way out in a few minutes to begin the festivities! ;) I'm so excited about being together with all of my family. Frema and Luke are staying with me and Dan, and I'm really excited to see them! It feels so homey here when the fam is around and I love playing hostess. I want to make tuna casserole for dinner tomorrow night, a delicious recipe handed down from mom. Dan seems to have taken quite the liking to it. :)

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending time with your families and friends. God bless you and be safe in your travels!!

Because She's Broke

2005-11-23T14:16:00.000-06:00

The students rushed quickly into class this morning to hang up their bookbags, hand in their folders and get back in line for church this morning. One of my students worriedly approaches my desk and says,"But Mrs. Villa I don't have any money, and my mom said she's broke because she don't have any money." I told him that it was okay he that he didn't have any money, because you don't need any money for church. He happily accepted my answer and went to goof off in line.

Anyway, the concern on that poor little boy's face about having money for church was so sad. It's such an amazing thing how honest young children are. A few weeks ago, Luis told me one morning that his dad did his homework so Luis could go to bed early because he was sick. I wrote Luis' parents politely telling them that next time Luis is sick, just write me a note. But please don't do his homework for him. Luis hasn't snitched on his parents doing his homework since. :) Good times.

Well, you all have a very happy, fun and safe Thanksgiving holiday. God bless you and your families!

Random Memories For 500 Please...

2005-11-21T16:45:00.000-06:00

1. I was born in North Carolina on a Navel Base in Cherry Point where my dad was stationed as a Marine.
2. I was born in the hallway and delivered by an orderly because the staff didn't believe my mom when she said I was coming!
3. I absolutely love ketchup and firmly believe you can eat it with almost anything
4. My dearest friend in the whole world, Brooke and I used to sing, "I'll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me" by Expose in my bedroom. Then we would make a real live music video and crack up as we finished by mooning the Boulevard!
5. My husband and I dated for seven and a half years before marrying.
6. My older sister Frema taught me how to "street fight" as a kid when we would whoop eachother's butts over the last Nutty Bar.
7. I had a crush on a boy named Richard from Kindergarten to 5th grade straight!! Then when he finally asked me to smooch him in 5th grade, Frema found out and snitched on me to my dad! ;0
8. Brooke and I would make the BEST tents in the world in her old house on Leavitt using sheets and chairs!
9. I believe I am obsessive compulsive because I check the locks to my apartment and that my alarm is set at least a million times a night!! It's really annoying.
10. This was originally supposed to be my 100 list and then I got side-tracked...Frema's gonna be ticked!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

2005-11-21T15:45:00.000-06:00

It has definitely been a while since I've been into blogging mode. Today as I write this entry, my wonderful husband is ironing the last of our new curtains so we can hang them up. That's right folks, no more thin sheets that don't quite hit the floor. Because of balcony window is so darn long and wide, it's harder to find inexpensive, but cute curtains. Anyway, the ones we found at Wal-Mart are nice, even though we had to get 2 packages, which means 4 total curtains to be ironed. The reason I keep moaning and groaning about the ironing is because it takes FOREVER to iron them. Nevertheless, it does feel fun to have real curtains now and it definitely adds a bit more touch of home.

In other news, my youngest sister Donna helped me put together and decorate mine and Dan's very 1st Christmas tree together. While Donna and I had a blast figuring out where it would go and how to decorate it, Dan watched the Bears game at his brother Mike's. Besides the fact that it was an utter joy having my baby sister help decorate my tree, it was even cooler that the tree (already pre-lighted) and ornaments were free! :) My Tia gave me the tree and Dan's aunt gave us three boxes of ornaments over the summer. After the tree, I decided that all the Christmas must go up, so I finished decorating the whole apartment. I'm talking Santa's and candy canes, and the cute cheesy cut-outs all over the cabinets. Dan said that I was decorating kinda early, and although I agree, over Thanksgiving I have to go and decorate my classroom. So I'm actually right on track. Besides, I love Christmas and I want to enjoy all the perks of it as long as possible. I have already done all the Christmas cards for my colleagues at work, so I'm not overwhelmed when I do the family cards. What can I say, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! :)

I just love Christmas time. I'll get to be with all my family at the same time and enjoy their company. With my sisters Ryan and Frema being out of state, they are missed dearly!! The chaos of everyday life seems to revolve around fighting over the wish bone from the turkey, or who will wash the dinner dishes. I'll take these memories anyday. :) I feel so "adult" this year with sending out Christmas cards and ironing curtains. (That's not to say that Sallie Mae doesn't make me feel adult the 15th of every month!) Being a teacher, we really do get the nice perks of having an extended already paid vacation over the holidays. I don't think the teaching field would be as large if there weren't extended periods away from the students! ;) It felt good to blog...maybe I should try it more often. Until the next time, over and out! :)

blah, blah, blah

2005-11-19T15:33:00.000-06:00

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Spending more and more time at work, I'm finding that I'm getting so much done there, but being more and more lazy at home. I come home from work and think about dinner, making tomorrow's lunches and preparing the coffee. I'm lucky if I get up to go to aerobics these past 2 weeks. Anyway, I love my job and what I do and I've been getting a lot done. I steadily read everyone else's blog, and fail to update my own. Anyway, just wanted to explain the lack of writing lately. I hope to become more motivated and crawl out of the slumps.

It's Been Awhile!

2005-11-13T11:23:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I last blogged, almost a week ago tomorrow. My excuse, well I spent a lot of prep time last week for Parent/Teacher Conferences that took place this past Friday. The Conferences went great!! It was so good to hear the parents say how impressed they are with what much their kids are learning and how much they love school. :)

Flashing back to earlier last week, my birthday was very nice! ;) The day of my birthday, Dan and I went out to Red Lobster for dinner, which was awesome. I swear that place has the BEST stuffed mushroom's and biscuits. Mmmmmmm!!! The Red Lobster staff even sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a huge brownie sundae that I found out later was not on the house. :( Then we went to my parents house and had a little cake and the wonderful birthday song. ;) I really wanted to stop home on my birthday, it would have been weird not to. Dan gave me my presents early, like I said before. The Ray Charles CD and Cinderella movie have already been listened to and watched! ;) The coolest, oh my God, I really love this present was from Frema. She got me the complete first season of Roseanne! :) I have been watching it everyday and I am almost done with the whole season. Frema really surprised me and it was so sweet of her to mail it to me, especially considering the postage rates these days. I LOVE YOU BREAIN! ;)

24 has been busy thus far, but I'm expecting things to slow down in the next week or so. I literally just got my car back from Dan's cousin. He said there were quite a few things wrong with it and there is still one more thing that needs to be fixed. It's such a relief to have the beast back! I haven't driven in three weeks...talk about being chauffered! After one more repair, he said the car should last another year and a half at least. That's fine with me because Dan and I are saving for the summer and a house right now. In order to keep a comfortable life style, we have to be sure to save steadily throughout the year because Dan doesn't get paid over the summer like I do. So his checks are bigger now, but non-exisitent over the summer.

Anywho, it's been a busy weekend. After Parent/Teacher Conferences on Friday, Dan and I picked up Donna, my groovy little sister spent the night on Friday and stayed with us most of the day on Saturday. On Saturday morning, Donna and I went to church with Dan to see his 3rd grade students make their First Holy Communion. Dan has been working with the students since the beginning of the school year to prepare his students for this big day. Everything went smoothly and the kids were so excited. I'm really proud of the wonderful teacher my husband is. ;) After church, we hit up White Castle and then went to see Saw II, and even got carded. What a great flippin' movie! I highly recommend it. Then Donna and I parked our butts on the love seat and watched television. We were highly engrossed in the Laguna Beach marathon that MTV was hosting and the My Fair Brady show that was marathoning on VH1. I don't watch t.v. a lot, but it these two shows just seemed to glue our eyes to the screen. Who woulda ever guessed that I would be watching Peter Brady's reality t.v. show...or more importantly, who woulda guessed he'd ever get his own reality show??

Anywho, last night my little brother, G-Unit, who is not so little anymore, spent the night. I flip-flopped siblings this weekend, which made me feel like the cool older sister. I always thought of Frema as a cool older sister and I would also like to have that repuation amongst the sibs. ;)

It's been loads of fun catching up in the blogging world. I have lots more news to share, but I'm pooped, so I'll write more later. Buenos noches!

Adios 23! Hola 24!

2005-11-07T21:14:00.000-06:00

Ah yes, my last official blog entry as a 23 year old woman. Why does the coming of my birthday tomorrow seem to be urking me so much? I received two great presents from my husband, and had a celebratory lunch with my groovy in-laws this weekend, but yet, I'm bothered. I guess it's because I feel like 24 is old. Now I know you may be thinking, no, it's not old and you're right. It's not old old, but I feel like it's a good "adult" age. Whatever. Twenty-four is inevitable. It's creepin' like a bad wedgie and tomorrow I will no longer be 23 years old. I even have to change the age on my profile...dun, dun, dun! Twenty-four will be a good year for me. Since Dan and I were just married in August, this is the age that I'll go through our first year of marriage in.

One of my students asked me today, "Mrs. Villa, are you going to bring in treats for your birthday tomorrow?" I laughed and told the student yes. The funny thing about being a teacher is even when it's your birthday you still have to bring the treats. :)

To bid 23 a proper farewell, here are 23 memories/thoughts to remember about being 23: (in no particular order)

1. 23 was my first year teaching
2. Dan proposed to me on Thanksgiving
3. Obviously, I said yes :)
4. I got my first apartment and moved out of my parents house for good
5. My groovy sister Frema threw Dan and I an awesome Wedding Shower
6. Frema also threw me an incredible Bacholerette party
7. Dan and I got married! :)
8. I went to California for the 1st time
9. I really got into running and aerobics
10.I learned that when there is pee under the toilet seat, that it could be my fault(says a close marital source)
11.Out of 30 men, I was in a Texas Hold'em tournament as the only female, and came in 4th place-winning my $60.00 buy-in money back :)
12.The Chicago White Sox kicked some major booty and claimed ownership to being the WORLD CHAMPIONS!!! :)
13. My older sister, Frema moved to Indianapolis
14. My sister Ryan went away to IU
15. I danced around the kitchen with Dan to my new Ray Charles CD and had a blast
16. I learned how to make tuna casserole and omelets!!
17. I ventured into married life and all the little changes that go with it
18. I entered the wonderful world of blogging (thanks, Frema!)
19. My Brookita discovered she is pregnant! :)
20. My 13 year old sister got a cell phone...wow
21. My brother, Dan and I went to Great America and rented a wheel chair so we didn't have to wait in the horribly long lines...and yes, thinking back, I feel a twinge of guilt-this is the 2nd time I've done this, remember Frema?
22. I had my very first visit to the foot doctor
23. I developed a real love for Ray Charles' talented musical genius

I'll Take Random Fun For 500 Please...

2005-11-06T21:07:00.000-06:00

What a weekend! Friday night Dan and I started to watch "Hot Shots" and then I conked out on him and we went to bed. Saturday we slept til 10a.m. and then I made myself breakfast while Dan went shopping for my birthday present! ;) I was so happy to have not broken the yoke in my over easy eggs, until I realized I had overcooked the yoke! :( Nevertheless, I'm still excited about cooking more these days. When Dan returned we did our dreaded laundry at the laundry matt. A lady there told me I had a good man to be helping me do the laundry. I thanked her for the nice comment and then told her that it wasn't all my laundry, which means I expect him to help. I felt really bad for this lady because she had about 5 washers going and four kids with her. When she left her young daughter was helping her push the laundry in an empty baby stroller. If we wouldn't have had so much crap in the trunk, we would've asked if she wanted a ride to where she was going. Then again, she may have thought we were weirdo's for asking.

Anywho, so after laundry, my wonderful friend Carrie came over and we drank some Pinot Grigio at about 4p.m. and ate countless Starbursts, while catching up with eachother's lives. I love those kind of visits!

Later in the evening, Dan gave me one of my birthday presents early...Ray Charles The Best of Ray Charles CD!! I was SOOO EXCITED. Earlier we went to a music store and I really wanted to buy a Ray Charles CD and Dan kept ignoring my great idea. When we got back home I was trying to download some of his songs when Dan surprised me by giving me the CD early. We then had a few drinks together and literally started dancing in our kitchen to the CD. I don't care how corny it sounds, it was so much fun! We don't really get to dance together, besides going to celebrations or the oh so rare club trip. I was cracking up as Dan was spinning me around the kitchen being all suave and smooth like. ;) Thank you Mr. Ray Charles Robinson. After our awesome dancing session, I called Frema a tad tipsy and had to hang up because the wine was being evil!! After we hung up, I got a call from my younger sister, Marge, who was also tipsy. It's something about a Saturday night that brings out the wine! ;) Dan and I ended the night watching UFC on Spike TV. UFC fighting is a mixture of all these different kinds of martial arts styles being used to fight. Man, these fights were really crazy and bloody. Is is sick that I had fun watching them?

Anywho, today the husband and I drove separately to his cousin's house in Bufu Egypt, a.k.a., Lockport, IL so he could look at "the beast" (my car) and let us know if it could be fixed or should be junked. On the way there, I got lost when I misread a sign. :( Dan honked at me and I fearfully looked to my right as I saw him drive past me on another road! Not only was I lost, but I was lost in a car that is known to die out randomly. Dan and I were snippy with one another on our cell phones as I was trying to get "unlost" because he didn't know where I was to help me get back to him, and I started getting really scared. To make a long story short, I am very proud of myself that I found my way back to the right road, all by myself. Don't get me wrong, it took me a few minutes and some back tracking to get there, but the point is that I got there. After we got back to Chicago from dropping my car off, we met my groovy in-laws for a pre-birthday lunch at the cute little restaurant we live next door to. They got me an ABC, 123 teacher shirt, a Wal-Mart gift certificate and the sweetest card ever! Basically, the card says that I am not a daughter-in-law, but a daughter. :) Very nice, very nice.

This weekend has been very busy and fun! Between pre-birthday fun and getting lost , I was even able to do all my students report cards. Parent/teacher conferences are this Friday. Two thumbs up my last FABULOUS weekend as a 23 year old woman!

Question?

2005-11-02T20:01:00.000-06:00

Why would someone gossip about another person to you, and then turn around and gossip about you to that person??? Perhaps brain damage is a sufficient answer...I dunno. What do you think? Please feel free to comment and share you own gossip experiences to make me feel better. I'm so mad!

Do, Re, Meme!!

2005-11-01T22:12:00.000-06:00

Three names I go by
- Samantha
- Sam
- Sambo

Three screen names I have or had
- samanthajul
- sambosam8
- sambita8

Three physical things I like about myself
- eyes
- legs
- lips

Three physical things I don't like about myself
- don't have a six pack
- random pimples
- thin hair

Three parts of my heritage
- Irish
- Mexican
- Arabian

Three things that scare me
- death...when I think about it too much
- sleeping an a house/apt. all by myself
- Chuckie from the movie Child's Play!

Three of my everyday essentials
- Walking or running
- Mascara
- Coffee with French Vanilla cream! ;)

Three of my favorite musical artists
- I'm a new fan of Ray Charles(after watching "Ray"...although I don't own any CD's YET
- The Beatles
- Beethoven

Three of my favorite songs (but not all of them!)
- "In My Life" The Beatles
- "Colorblind" Counting Crows
- "Uanswered Prayers" Garth Brooks

Three things I want in a relationship
- Honesty
- Passion
- Unconditional love

Three lies and truths in no particular order
- I love to eat octopus!
- I sometimes drool at night.
- My birthday is November 8th and I will be 30 years old! ;)

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to me
- Bottocks
- Arms
- Warm eyes and smile

Three of my favorite hobbies
- exercising
- watching movies
- playing Texas Hold'em

Three things I want to do really badly right now
- To not have work tomorrow
- To see my Nana...(random thought)
- To go to bed

Three Places I want to vacation
- Italy
- Tanzania (to visit old friends)
- Hawaii

Three kid's names I like
- Daniel
- George
- Elizabeth

Three things I want to do before I die
- Have kids
- Publish my journal that I wrote while in Tanzania
- Go to Italy!

Three ways that I am stereotypically a boy
- One of my nicknames is Sam
- I don't have double D's
- I love to play cards

Three ways that I am stereotypically a girl
- I actually enjoy Lifetime television for women
- I'm paranoid about my gut
- I'm 23 and sleepovers are still cool!

Three celeb crushes
- Tom Cruise-I've been obsessed since watching "Vanilla Sky" and "Collateral"
- Ryan Phillipe-Watch him in "Crash"
- Randall Batkinoff-He's a hottie in "For Keeps" with Molly Ringwald!

Three people I would like to see post this meme
1. Brookita
2. Frema
3. Luke

Happy Halloween!

2005-10-31T20:08:00.000-06:00

As you can tell from the below picture, I was a clown today for Halloween. I did my best NOT to look like the clown from Stephen King's movie "It", as I didn't want to traumatize my students as my father did to me after viewing that chilling movie as a child. After watching that movie, I was really freaked out and my parents said it was bed time. When I went up to the top bunk, I was horrified to find balloons underneath my covers and my dad laughing by my bedroom door. Sweet dreams...I think not.

Anywho, today was a fun day for me and my students. We got all of the work done that we needed to in the first half of school, and celebrated Halloween for the duration of the school day. The kids looked so cute and were so excited about Trick or Treating today! I remember the glory days when I would walk hours on end with my siblings and best gal Brooke, going door to door in hopes of our favorite candies. Brooke and I would always switch costumes and then go back to the same houses to get more candy. It's so funny how we thought we were getting over on the naive treat givers! ;) My brother Geo is over right now playing John Madden football on Playstation with Dan. Initially, my 17 year old brother called in hopes of getting Dan and I to go Trick or Treating with him, and we both declined. Besides the fact that it's obvious we're not kids, Dan and I have a monster load of candy from our students.

In honor of this wonderful Halloween holiday, I'll end this entry with my top five choices of the best scary movies! Have a groovy night and watch out for the little boogers that like to throw eggs...I was almost hit last night. ;(

TOP 5 SCARIEST MOVIE PICS (not in favorite order)

1. The Amityville Horror
2. A Nightmare On Elmstreet (I love them all!)
3. Halloween (part 1,2,4 and 5)
4. Child's Play (Part 1 &2...even though I still have to watch these between my fingers!)
5. Pet Sematary (This is by far the scariest of them all!!)

Sambo The Clown

2005-10-30T22:17:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I am in the perfect profession for being very excited about Halloween! Not only am I a teacher, but I'm a Kindergarten teacher, which means I get act like I'm five years old all day long! ;)

So after searching for the perfect, yet inexpensive costume, I decided on being a clown. Now I haven't been a clown since I was about five years old myself, so it feels like a new costume to me. I originally wanted to be Dorothy, but it would've cost me $45.00 to be the scarecrow's heart throb. Anywho, my only fear is this-what if one of my students if afraid of clowns?? I'm not gonna be like the clown from the movie "IT", but nevertheless, some people, kids and adults included, are afraid of clowns. Take the lady at Factory Card Outlet last week who rung up my costume at the register. She is so scared of clowns, that when I approached the register she called another cashier to the front to ring me up. She stood to the side the entire time and called my clown jumpsuit a smiley costume. I'm not gonna lie, it made me second guess my costume decision, but not enough to put it back. Besides the fact that the clown gig was reasonably priced, a lot of other costumes were slutty! I mean, I know Halloween can be a time to get a little crazy, and for some, a justification to dress like a hoe, but what about the rest of us, huh? If you can't afford a $45.00 Halloween costume or go to work the next day dressed as a sexy nurse or naughty devil woman, I guess the clown jumpsuit is the best route to go. I'm just wonderin' how hard it will be to use the bathroom tomorrow! ;) I am really excited to dress up though and I know the kids will get a kick out of me going all out. I have a few parents coming in to help me run some games and my classroom has been decked out with decorations for about three weeks now.

As I'm into my 2nd year of teaching, I'm really starting to realize how quickly time goes by. Everything is outlined by seasonal holidays set as beginning and end points. August is Back to School, time to get ready and decorate the classroom. Ocotber is Halloween, time to get ready and decorate, December is Christmas madness...and the cycles continue. In the midst of all the holiday madness, we teachers continue to help shape the minds of America's youth and set some time aside for family and friends and a few cocktails. I'm not complaining by any means though, because I truly, genuinely love what I do. A good teacher friend of mine once told me that teachers don't have only good or bad days, they move from one minute to the next. Anyway, where am I going with all of this? Well, I'll wake up tomorrow morning and put on my clown jumpsuit, wig, red nose and try to teach my students with a straight face! ;) Then after school, I'll tear down all my Halloween decorations and prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday. :)

When Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong...

2005-10-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

I love the saying, "Keepin' it real". Whenever I'm with a close friend or loved one and a controversial or questionable comment or action arises, I like to share my Keepin' it real 101 advice! ;) If you watch The Chappelle Show, you can appreciate that. ;) Basically it means you tell it like it is.

So anywho, today Dan came to walk back with me from my aerobics class and I was all pumped and excited about a great workout. Dan had brought a dollar so we could stop to get a few more newspapers with the awesome Sox headlines. I want to laminate the 1st page of one paper and hang it in my classroom and then keep the other copy to show my kids one day. We went to 7-11 after discovering that Wal-Greens was flat out. I bought 2 copies of the Chicago Tribune because my favorite paper, The Sun-Times was out. Anywho, as I'm walking out of 7-11, Dan's lagging behind looking at some magazines and this lady in I'd say her early 50's asks me why I bought 2 copies of the paper. I excitedly said, "GO WHITE SOX!" And then explained to her about my plans to laminate one copy and then keep the other one to show my future muchachos. So she tells me, "You really think the Sox won the series fair and square?" I said, "Well yes, because they did." Then I asked her if she was a Sox fan and when she said adamantly said, "NO", I told her that's why she didn't believe they deserved it and of course a Sox fan would not agree to their awesome winning streak. Then she starts talking about some bad calls that were made in the earlier games and asks me if I watched them. I was very proud to say yes, and tell her that there were quite a few calls made in the Sox favor and against them in those games. Pyscho lady, who has now been drilling me for a solid three minutes, tells me that I just don't get it and then asks me how old I am. I opened the 7-11 door and yelled, "Dan..." as I mustered a fake, confused smile at this lady. So just for shits and giggles, I continue on this conversation with the anti-Sox woman and she smirks and looks reassured with her points after I tell her I'm 23 years old. This encounter gets increasingly weirder when Dan walks out of 7-11 just as this lady asks me if I know how Michael Jordan's father died. When I told her that his death didn't relate the Sox winning, she snapped back saying, "Forget baseball for a minute!" I was like...hmmm, and looked back at Dan as I uneasily said, "Wasn't he murdered?" Dan agrees and then this woman turns into crazy CSI anti-Sox be-otch!! She starts going into this whole theory that Michael Jordan's dad was killed by the mob because of money and they killed his dad because he went to all of his games, not Michael's mom. She makes it a point to say that they killed Michael Jordan's dad because they knew he was closer to him than than his mom. Then she proceeded to say that someone paid someone else off to have the Sox win this and if I just looked at sports history, I would understand because it's all about money.

Okay, so at this point I was talking to CSI anti-Sox fan for about a good five to seven minutes. (At least it felt like it!) I decided that I'd had enough of this weird conversation and Dan and I start walking away, as I half-way turned around and told her to have a good night and take care. Can you believe that she starts walking too, only a few steps behind us, STILL mumbling about her crazy mob related sports suspicions. Dan and I cross the street and pick up our pace, as he says to me, "Yea, I don't wanna get stabbed tonight Sam." What a bizarre walk back from aerobics...all I wanted was a few newspapers as a remembrance of the Sox's awesomeness last night.

When keepin' it real goes wrong, you realize what you
could've done to prevent the unexpected situation. You see I kept it real by openly proclaiming my love for the Sox and continually defending their legitimate win last night. What should I have done? Well I shouldv'e walked right past this CSI anti-Sox fan be-otch with my newspapers to avoid any unanticipated encounters.

The 4 D's...

2005-10-25T21:24:00.000-05:00

The 4 D's:
1. Dr. K (foot doctor and bunion alertest)
2. Dr. B (dermatologist who told me I have acne that needs to have "preventative measures taken")
3. Dr. A (my dentist who is at the top of my shit list today)
4. Dan (my amazing husband who somehow manages to keep me sane)

So anyway, since this past Saturday I have seen ALL of these men only to get bad news. It turns out that I have to have surgery on my left foot, take a pill and apply topical ointment daily to get rid of a cyst and the alleged acne that appeared to horrify the dermatologist. Is my acne that bad guys?!? But none of these things tick my off more than my visit to the dentist today. Before I get into it though, I should tell you that my morning started off leaving the apartment early to get donuts for my students from Dunkin Donuts. I told them that if another teacher complimented them in the hall I would bring them a special treat, and I was genuinely happy to do so. Anywho, I took a different route to work today to get to Dunkin Donuts and on the way, my ghetto, pimp-ass ride decided to slowly die out without no warning on 63rd street (a fairly busy street in Chicago.) Thank God I was driving with the death mobile in the right lane. Anyway, after using all of my strength to turn the steering wheel...bye-bye power steering fluid, I called Dan to come and get me. A few seconds later I called him back because the car decided to run. Anyway, by the grace of God I made it to work safely and even risked the ride to Jewel to get the kids donuts, which they happily gobbled up later in the day. (I was going to go to Dunkin Donuts but I didn't make my left hand turn because the turning lane was stopped, and I didn't want the beast to die out again. Using the brakes, although necessary, makes the beast mad!)

The kids had a good day and I really felt like they were excited about the things we learned in class. Well after school I had a date with D #3, my dentist Dr. A. I wasn't too eager to attend this appointment, seeing as my previous appointment was rudely cancelled when I was five minutes from the office after fighting traffic and the receptionist called me and snobbily told me I was late, and then apologized after she realized SHE messed up the time. Grrrr! Anyway, today I had the pleasure of waiting a half an hour for D #3 after walking to the dentist office from my mom's house. My car BARELY trugged down Archer (yet another bust street-you can't really avoid them in Chicago)so I didn't want to drive even further to the dentist. Anyway, the dental assistant gets the doctor after I politely complained and in the blink of an eye he was there. Now, I would go into even more detail about the actual D#3 visit, but I'm not even sure I understand what went down. I was told I was coming in to get 2 cavities filled and he didn't even touch them!!! Apparently, I had a cavity between a molar and the very expensive $500 porcelain crown my parents so graciously paid for last year. D#3 fixes this cavity and I was like okay, time to get cavity #2 taken care of, and he proceeds to tell me that it doesn't need to be taken care of now, and he can put "a watch on it" along with the other cavity I have. Wait...back up-what OTHER cavity??? I thought there were two. The last time I checked 1+1=2...but not with D#3. Anyway, the conversation became pretty heated after that and although we both stayed calm, I am most certain that D#3 understood the concerns I clearly expressed about all THREE of my cavities. You may be thinking two things right now...when is Sam going to stop bitchin' or that 3 out of the 4 D's should be bitched slapped. I'm obviously going with the second of the two. The dentist visit just gets worse after I tell D#3 I won't miss any work for an appointment because last time, they frickin' cancelled on me and it was their fault. So, he was nice about it-but nice does't cut it when someone is holding a drill in your mouth. Anyway, he tells the receptionist to schedule me an appointment to get the other 2 cavities taken care of and then I repeat to her I won't miss any work, so could we please make the appointment no earlier than 4p.m. Needless to say, she was not the brighest crayon in the box and offered me two appointment times before 4p.m., even after I told her a SECOND time I can't and won't leave work early. I didn't even care that both of the appointments she offered me were on my birthday...I just want my teeth fixed!!! Well, I'm kinda sick of complaining now and I think I have rightfully so vented.

I run almost everyday, do aerobics twice a week and I eat healthily. Yet, I still have the three D's telling me I need foot surgery, acne treatments and unknown cavities filled. They can all kiss my Mexican, Jordanian, Irish, German ass!

GO SOX!!!

Alllllll-Riiiiight!

2005-10-23T22:37:00.000-05:00

SOX ARE DA BOMB and Houston SUCKS!!!!

Chillin' Like A Villa

2005-10-23T21:11:00.000-05:00

So I'm watching the Sox game as I am writing this entry sippin' on some Bella Serra Pinot Grigio. Ahhhh, total relaxation. Dan's friend is over with his girlfriend, and so is my fabulous brother Geo. This wine is finally kickin' in, and it's making me wish there was more. Now it's not that I'm a wino, but I can't help but be a little bit mad that Dan's friend's girlfriend spilled a FULL GLASS of my favorite wine. Oh well though, no use crying over spilled wine. Anywho, I should be more focused on the Sox game than the computer and our company just reminded me of that. This is Sambo V. signing out and chillin' like a mo' fo' villian. SOUTH SIDE!!!! ;)

1 Down...3 To Go!!

2005-10-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

GOOOOOOOOOO CHICAGO WHITE SOX!!! Only three more games to go until we win this World Series! Houstin, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!! ;)

Paul Bunion

2005-10-22T14:43:00.000-05:00

My wonderful sister Bree, a.k.a. Frema came in from Indianapolis with her beau Luke yesterday. I always get excited when they come in, especially when they stay with me and Dan! I love playing hostess, even if it only means offering cold beverages and the limited food choices in my refridgerator. ;) Everytime Bree leaves a get a bit sad and try get her to stay, even if just for a minute longer. I guess asking her to rub my feet wasn't the best way to lure her into staying. It was worth a shot though. ;)

So I went to the foot doctor today so he could look at the protruding bones sticking out on the sides of my big toes. Diagnosis, bunions. Cure, surgery on my left foot. I've decided to name the bunion Paul because it sounds a lot nicer when talking about it. The doctor was really nice and explained everything well, so that made it easier for me. My party session last night, however, did not help this 10:00a.m. doctor appointment run smoothly.

Dan and I woke up this morning, took our coffee to go and groggily drove to have my abnormal feet examined. I was totally fine on the ride there and in the patient waiting area room. When we were in the examining room though, my stomach "dropped". I believe that a #2 (in regards to bowel movements) gives your stomach three warnings to get your ass in the bathroom! To make a long story short, my stomach skipped straight from a warning #1 to warning #3 in the examining room. I cursed my self for indulging in greasy pizza, wine and beer last night after making 4-5 trips to the restroom during this visit. Of course I lied to the nurse and said I was fighting a flu that I couldn't get rid of, but nevertheless it was utterly embarrassing. I mean the office wasn't huge, everyone saw me entering and exiting the one room restroom a million times within the 20 minutes of Dan and I waiting in the examining room.

Anywho, I'm feeling soooooo much better now and have decided to be lazy and lay around all day. I always have a hard time relaxing and am infamous for making list and sporadically cleaning like a mad woman, but not today. Nope. I'm just gonna sit my unshowered butt on the couch, watch a movie and then cheer for the White Sox with the rest of the proud Chicagoans tonight at 7:oop.m. ;)

The Glamour Girls

2005-10-22T13:18:00.000-05:00

These are the lovely ladies who all play very important roles in my life. You may recognize the famous Frema from her own blog, "What're You Lookin' At?"
From left to right: mom, Frema, Brookita, Me, Dee and Marge ;)

A Salute to the Sox!

2005-10-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

Little Matthew salutes the Chicago White Sox!

The Newly Weds

2005-10-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is me and my wonderful husband Dan at the Rainforest Cafe. ;) We were celebrating 8 years of being together. The Rainforest Cafe was so pretty! There were ginormous fish tanks everywhere and the dining area was set up like an actual rainforest. If you have kids, it would be a great place to take them. Dan and I were one of the few couples without rugrats. ;) We never really go downtown, except for the occasional trip to the beach or shopping with my sisters. It was cheaper to do Valet Parking then in a parking garage, so that's what we did. Well anyway, we're dressed nicely excited about our big date riding in Dan's maroon 85 Oldsmobile. Dan was hit by a semi-truck this past January and his car obvioulsy suffered the effects because the whole driver's side is dented pretty badly. Thank God Dan was okay! So anyway, we pull up to valet and Dan tells the valet driver, "Make sure you don't make any dents in the car!" It took the driver a few seconds to catch on and realize that Dan was kidding. ;) It was just so funny pulling up to a nice place downtown in Dan's beat up pimp mobile. ;) Ahhh....good times.

What a View!

2005-10-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

Sweet Home Chicago! I took this picture on the way downtown to the Rainforest Cafe with Dan. We were celebrating 8 years of being together. ;)

I'll Take Questions For 500 Please...

2005-10-18T16:02:00.000-05:00

What a day! I actually didn't hit snooze on the alarm today and as all snoozers know, that's a pretty big accomplishment. :) Anyway, my students were pretty well behaved today and are on this "I say cute things streak".

Today some older students came in our class to briefly talk about Dear Abby, the school newspaper question/answer section. It was so funny to listen to the 4th graders seriously talking to the Kindergartener's about this. One of the girls said," Just write your question on the paper and put it in the box. You don't have to just ask questions about school, but you can ask about family problems too. But don't write your name on it because you don't want people to know who you are." I was like...hmmmm...the kids are not even writing full sentences yet! ;) We're getting there though. So anyway, I asked the students to help me think of some questions to ask Dear Abby and the following questions are what they came up with:

1. Why do we pray?
2. Why do zebras run fast? (a personal favorite of mine)
3. Why do we have to pray for people who die?
4. How did God make the brain?
5. Where do bats sleep?
6. Why did God destroy all the dinosaurs and make people? (this question was asked by Luis, my Mexican Simon Birch. I told Luis I would get back to him on this one very soon.)
7. Why did God build the world?

So you see, I had to write down all these questions and share them with you because they were all do darn cute! Feel free to commment on your favorite question with an answer.

Anywho, my poor husband came home from work today sick, so I feel the desire to baby him and take care of him. Have a groovy evening!!!

Kindergartners Say The Darndest Things...

2005-10-17T18:34:00.000-05:00

After spending a nice relaxing weekend with the fam, it was hard to wake up this morning. My lovely sisters and future brother-in-law came in from the Indianapolis/Bloomington area and we hung out the whole weekend and celebrated my dad's 45th birthday! : It was quite groovy. ;)
So anywho, my students greeted me this morning with smiles and even a few fly by hugs as they entered the classroom. Little Ally stopped by the door as she entered class to hug my torso and say, "Happy Sweetest Day Mrs. Villa!" Even though Sweetest Day was Saturday, she was cute enough to remember me today...even my own husband ignored the Hallmark holiday. :) Well anyway, kids sure do say the darndest things. Take Elizabeth for instance...today during Learning Centers she called me over to the Reading Center with an important look on her face and said," Mrs. Villa, I've been wanting to tell you something." And I crouched down to her height to listen as she said, " I really wanted to tell you that you're adorable." It was so cute!! I tell ya, a few of those kid comments and I would almost think I was ready to think about having kids in the near future. Almost...

Anywho, then there's Luis...ah, yes, my little Mexican Simon Birch. He is very petite with huge eyes and glasses to frame them. Anyway, most of the time I eat lunch in the classroom with my students. It's nice to have a meal with them and I know they think it's cool for their teacher to sit at their table in the classroom. When the kids start to eat, I always tell them to be quiet, or else they'll never eat a thing. So today, I'm sitting at Louis' table for lunch and he says to me,"I'm sorry." And I said, "Louis, you're doing a good job eating and you're quiet, you don't have to say you're sorry." And Louis says, "No, it's because I farted!" I wanted to burst out laughing! Now keep in mind, this is not the first time Louis has farted in class. You may think because he's only five that the smell can't be that bad, but it's quite a whoof to take in.

Anyway, I always have a few stories to tell after the school day ends. Sometimes their funny and cute and other times they're kinda sad. Today Gisi told me during Free Choice time that when her dad was little, he used to be poor. I told Gisi that Daddy has a good job now and everything is okay. You just never know what they'll say! Well, I'm gonna finish a movie (Crash..I highly recommend this movie) with the husband now and then take a little run. It's so beautiful in Chicago tonight. Ahhhh yes, it's a great day to run and to be a Chicago White Sox fan!! ;)

GO WHITE SOX!

2005-10-12T22:09:00.000-05:00

WHHHHAAA-WHOOOOOO! My very 1st blog entry will be a celebration one for the Chicago White Sox!!! Way to go Good Guys! Even though I'm not so sure that A.J.'s run to 1st was a legit call...I'm glad we won!!! Have a great night everyone and there will be more to come soon!