July 29, 2007 by samantha.

I have to say that I had one of the best birthdays in a long time.  Nothing special happened.  It was just a nice, easy-going day.  I did some gardening, got a manicure, and then went to a nice dinner.  It was great.  Of course, the cherry on the top of the day was the gift left at my front door.  Thank you Kristi!!!  The bar for next year has been set pretty high.  How will I have better birthday?!?!?  Good thing I have a year to prepare!

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July 28, 2007 by samantha.

We made it back alive from Vegas! What was the best thing about the trip? Seeing Vegas in my rearview mirror!!! That is not true. Momma Mia was fantastic and our hotel room was nice. Other than that, I am struggling to find good things about Vegas. The aquarium at Mandalay Bay was fun and the Liberace museum was sparkly. In other words, Vegas did nothing for me. I think that if I was rich and willing to waste money gambling, I would have had a great time. And I do not understand how Vegas is family friendly. It is too expensive to be family friendly. I would rather go to Disneyworld. Epcot France is more French than the Paris Hotel in Vegas! At least at Disney, you know what you are getting! Despite it all, I did have a good time. Did you know that they have a four-story M&M store???

Totally off topic, but I had to add the link to this story.  I knew that tofu was good for you, but did I never knew that it could make you gay!  Damn!  No more Veggie Burgers!!!  I think this is one of the funniest stories I have ever read.  How many people are avoiding tofu because of this story?  Did the demand for beef go up?  How many people actually believed that tofu can make you gay?  Are the people who believe this story the same ones that believed that a Teletubby was gay?

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July 24, 2007 by samantha.

Not much to say, but I wanted to share some fun and interesting things that have happened. I went to see Wicked in Los Angeles. It is the Wicked Witch’s side of the story. Glinda is not as good as we all thought! It was fantastic. I recommend running, not walking, to go and see it if you have the chance. I enjoyed every minute of it and I will be going back. It is nice to have something live up to your expectations every once in awhile. Of course I downloaded the soundtrack and have been listening to it nonstop.

I did see the new Harry Potter movie. I think I should have waited. I went to see it to get my mind off of things and all I could was think of what was going on. I could not enjoy myself. I will need to go and see it again.

Last night I saw Hairspray. It was Afro-tastic! As much as I enjoyed it, I still do not understand why John Travolta played the mom. It makes no sense to me. He did a fantastic job, but why him?!?! Other than that, it was great. The music and the costumes were phenomenal.

Tomorrow, my mom and I are off Las Vegas. I have no idea what we are going to do the whole time we are there. We are going to see a show, maybe hit the Hoover Dam tour, and enjoy our room at the Bellagio!

Posted in Travels, Movies, Rants | No Comments »

July 23, 2007 by samantha.

What a crazy few days it has been.  We had the rosary on Wednesday night.  It was odd.  The casket was open and the whole time we were saying the rosary, my grandfather was just laying there.  The whole experience was bizarre.  What a crazy way to honor someone.  Why do people have an open casket?  The body lying in the casket did not look like my grandfather.  It was some mannequin-looking face with lots of make-up on.  I did have one funny moment.  After the rosary was said, the funeral director put on some instrumental music.  All of a sudden I hear Joe Cocker, Whitney Houston, and the theme song to An American Tail.  It gave me a very good laugh.

Thursday was the funeral.  We got up early and headed to the church.  Since there are six grandchildren, we were assigned the job of pallbearers.  It was such an honor. It was hard not to walk down the aisle and cry uncontrollably.  We joked about whether my grandfather would have approved. Usually, pallbearers are men.  But I think that he would have loved having his grandkids standing by him.  The funeral was beautiful.  It was short, but everyone said what he or she needed to.  Even the reception afterwards was nice.  I got to put some faces to many of the names I had heard about.

The burial was family only.  This was the most fantastic part of the funeral.  The Air Force Honor Guard came out and my grandfather would have been so proud!  My grandmother was presented the American Flag, a bugler played Taps, and my grandfather had a 21-gun salute.  It was amazing.  My grandfather always said that he wanted a military funeral and he got it.  Thank goodness he had a good seat.

Now the hard part has come.  We are going to try to make the transition for my grandmother as easy as possible, but how do you do that?  She was married to him for over 65 years.  How do you move on after that? She seems to be doing good.  All of her family is here and she knows that she can depend on all of us.  Life does have to return to “normal” sometime.

Posted in Family, Rants | 2 Comments »

July 15, 2007 by samantha.