Life As I Once Knew It.

My parents are home. The laundry is caught up, there's food all over the counter and my brother's have gone back to throwing their lunches at each other. *sigh*

Today is my first day of school. I have to leave home for my second class in about half an hour. I'll be there from 2:15 until 9:30pm... I should pack myself a sandwich for dinner... and maybe some chips too...

I made dinner for the family tonight, but I won'e be here... I hope they save me some. I made italian meat sauce and elbow noodles and garlic-herb bread. The kitchen smelled wonderful last night while I was baking that bread! :-) Mmmm :-)

Oh dear, look at the time! and the schedule! sheesh! This semester is going to be fun... but not laying-on-the-beach-catching-some-rays kind of fun :-)

Gotta go!

Samia

*sigh* Craziest Weekend

Nothings burning, no one's screaming, the floor is no longer sticky, I finally figured out why the sink smelled like dead fish, the baby is sleeping, and the laundry is done, for now anyway.

It's been a long weekend. Yeah, I know, it's Friday, it's only just started... I know... thanks for the reminder.

Don't get me wrong, this is going to be tons of fun, just, not the laying-on-the-beach-getting-some-rays kind of fun, if you know what I mean.

Trial by fire.

It's not all bad, I mean, for a pyro like me it's super cool! Up close and personal with the flames that purify...

Wow. I sound like I haven't slept in a while... hee hee!

So this weekend I get to try out being a Mom, a part time employee (at two places), a full time nanny, a sister, a conference Food and Beverages Coordinator, a part time student, and myself. All at the same time. Well, technically I'm not a part time student until Monday and I'm not really the Coordinator, I'm just subbing for her until Tuesday afternoon and I'm not really a Mom... I'm subbing for her... and if this sore throat keeps up I'll only have to work one job this weekend instead of two... *sigh*

(that was a happy sigh by the way, and no, I really do mean that, though it's crazy, I am actually enjoying this)

I probably shouldn't be blogging right now, there's a lot to do around here, actually, let me rephrase that.

I definitely shouldn't be blogging right now, there's a lot of things that I need to do, but it's quiet right now and--- sorry, the phone rang. Okay, quiet moment over, I'll tell you about the fun later, right now, I have to go to work...

*sigh*

(okay, that one wasn't so happy, work is not my favorite, I can handle the craziness, but having a real job is not appealing to me...)

See you on the other side of the fire,

Samia

I'm trying.

I'm having motivational issues today...

So I'm blogging.

We had a fellowship after church last night and I had a blast. :-)

I volunteered to help a friend of mine run the bean bag toss. They had put it together with adults in mind (the fellowship was to welcome new college students) but we had a lot of kids try it out.

You know what's funny? The kids were the ones winning prizes. :-P

Somewhere near the end of the evening, after we had run out of prizes, one of the little girls tossed the bean bag and managed to get it stuck in the tiny space between the Sunday School building and the stairwell beside it. It was a very dark, deep, tiny space. I'm pretty sure there were spiders back there. And it was dark.

We made the mistake of turning our backs on the kids throwing bean bags and pretty soon they were throwing bean bags at us! A hilarious war of colorful streaks and shrieks of laughter ensued. :-)

We almost got a couple more bean bags stuck in that tiny space. :-P

We had to call one of the custodians to come and get that lost bean bag and he came over to take a look. It was pretty far back there and our efforts at getting it out had only managed to push it farther back. So he disappeared and soon returned carrying a mop with no head and a wire hanger which proved to be quite successful in the bean bag's rescue.

With the missing bag returned and our attention to the kids resumed we realized that it was about 9pm and well past the time to clean up and go home.

I came home with a watermelon.

And a smile.

Samia

Newsflash: Real Relationships Happen with People. Not Usernames.

How has my day been?

I don't know... I didn't really wake up until just now.

I worked the opening shift, which really isn't as bad as it sounds. I didn't have to be there until 9am... but I didn't think to use some caffeine until noon or so. I do remember testing gold scraps for about an hour though... my fingers are a tiny bit sore now. :-P

Brb, gotta check the hot dogs.

Have you ever heard of White Hots? No? oo that's a big shocker, no not really. Nobody's heard of White Hots. Except the people who eat them and those people live mainly in Rochester. Rochester has a lot of good things- White Hots, the Yankees' minor league team, Highland Park (Lilacs!), history, the Erie Canal, the old Kodak buildings... *sigh*

I've only been back for just over a week and I'm ... vacation-sick? I was gunna say home-sick, but I live here...

I'm going to write a children's book. "Pickles in a Jelly Jar". What do you think?

It occurred to me that I have a ton of funny stories from when I was a kid. My parents bought a house and enlisted my brothers and I to help them fix it up (you can imagine the incidents I'm sure) and then we all packed up and drove all the way across the United States (with no air conditioning) and we've lived out of our car and in a tent and all five of us kids in one room (with the dog of course)... my life would make a pretty funny children's book... :-)

White Hots are done!

Samia

Discovering Myself

I came across this pretty neat website today, and even though the 100 Days is up I think you should still check it out. Miss Elaini-ous. God bless the children in India.

Whilst browsing through the blog of above mentioned site, I discovered another website that instantly caught my fancy. Empowered Traditionalist. What really caught my eye was the description of an E.T. and this post, because it's so not me. I've been thinking about what God expects me to be (seeing that I'm a woman) a lot lately and coming to a lot of convicting conclusions. For instance; in 1 Timothy 2 Paul talks about how women should behave themselves, from how they dress to how they sit quietly in church. He says "... likewise also that the women adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness- with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet."

Titus 2 also talks about womanhood, "Older woman, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands that the word of God may not be reviled."

This verse really caught my attention last week and has made femininity precious to me, "Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." That's 1 Peter 3:4. A gentle and quiet spirit is beautiful to Him... I've been granted another piece of the puzzle that is who I want to be.

So, as I write this post, I'm wearing a T-shirt and jeans, but my hair is brushed and my posture is (attempting) respectful, but most importantly, my heart is longing for the courage to tell myself that it's okay (in fact, it's good) to be a lady and that gentleness is not a sign of weakness, but of strength. My heart is longing for something deeper than my usual wild party and loud joking, something deeper than dressing to impress a certain gender and painting my face and turning myself into someone that is no where near beautiful in God's sight. Because God's sight is the only sight that I should be worried about.

*sigh*

I can do this...

Samia

Haircuts are oh so frightening.

It's been a long week. It's only half over. I've been getting up early to spend some time reading and I've been cleaning out. I think I could have a garage sale all by myself, I've got so much stuff.
I'm waiting for a live webcast to start. It's taking a while. I didn't know about it until this morning. I was cleaning out my inbox and discovered an invitation to a live webcast with Brandon Heath. Cool, huh? Oo. They just put up a message to let us know that it'll be starting in about 30 minutes! I'm a little bit excited about it. :-)
I gave my kid brother a haircut today and taught him how to wash it properly. Hopefully that info will sink in. :-/
The baby has learned a new word. "Dodger". Mom and Dad are kinda big fans. Speaking of which. I got invited to a Dodger game the other day. My response, "You have to understand what I think of the Dodgers. Asking me to go to a Dodger game is like asking me if I want to roll in the mud with the pigs." Thankfully he felt the same way about them, so he wasn't offended. They suck pretty bad. :-P
Well, only a few more minutes now, so I'm off to get a snack before the Webcast starts. :-)
Samia

There were some serious crazies at the Radisson last night...

I'min Chicago.
Figure that one out.
God is giving me a comfort in confusing situations.
Our flight from Rochester to Cleveland was delayed, so we were going to miss our connecting flight in Cleveland to Los Angeles, so Continental Airways was kind enough to transfer us to another flight going to Chicago and then to Los Angeles.
Wait. It get's better.
So we made it to Chicago. But there were technical difficulties, so we had to wait an extra 25 minutes in the terminal.
And then they tell us.
Our flight's been cancelled.
Joy.
So we have to go to another terminal so that we can be put on the standby list for another flight to Los Angeles. By the way, the list was 38 people long. So we waited for about 45 minutes more just so that they could announce that the flight was full and they didn't have any other flights to LA that night.
So we stood in line again.
This time it was so that we could rebook and get United paid vouchers for a hotel and $30 worth of food at either the Radisson or the Airport.
So I slept on a Sleep Number bed last night.
And today, we opted out of flying home at 6am (after having been standing around the airport until near midnight last night) and we don't fly home until 5:45pm.
So we get to walk around Chicago.
I've never been to Chicago before. At least, I've never been out of the airport in Chicago before.
This is gunna be fun I think.
I'll be sure to take some pictures.
:-)
Samia

The word "Goodbye" always makes me think of Alfalfa...

I'm totally the kind of person that only reads blogs if there's lots of pictures and not very many words... sorry. :-)
This is the last day. The plane leaves at 6:55pm tonight. Sadness.
I've hardly told any of what I've done in the last three weeks. Three weeks! I've been here three weeks! It feels like I arrived only yesterday, but I've gotten so much done since I've been here anyway.
The basement still looks cluttered, but it's much improved since we've come here. The attic is a tad neater and tidier and the garage has been organized a bit and a few loads of old things have been taken to the second hand store in the village.
Mom and I did some cleaning out and then held a garage sale. Or, well, she held a garage sale. I went for a walk. The Farmer's market is a dangerous place when you have a $20 in your pocket. That mennonite banana bread was really yummy. :-) I took lots of picture with Grampa's SLR and hopefully I'll be able to get them onto the computer when I get home. I have to find a place where they'll develop and scan the negs onto a disk or something for me though. I don't trust anyone to do my prints for me.
That Saturday night, Mom and I went camping. Putting up a borrowed tent in the dark is quite the experience. :-) But we did it! and then we stoked a fire and had hot dogs and hot cocoa and then went to bed. I think I'm getting old. And I don't think that just because people keep exclaiming, "Agh! you're so old!" (people that haven't seen me in ten years, that is). No, I think I'm getting old because sleeping on the ground is not so comfortable anymore. We camped Saturday night and then crashed on the floor at a friend's house on Sunday and Monday nights and by Tuesday afternoon I was quite tuckered out.
Oh and it didn't help that air mattress' lose all their hot air when I'm around...
;-)
Monday. :-) Monday was full of adventure. I can't wait to post some pictures. :-)
We went to Wellesley Island, NY. <--You should click on this link. :-) We walked around the village on the island and saw all of the island houses. <---You should click on that link too. :-) (these sites kinda suck but it was the best I could find, it's not exactly a technologically advanced neighborhood and I don't blame them. I wouldn't be on the internet if this was out my front door either!) We saw the Wellesley Island Hotel and almost fell asleep on the porch. And then we found our way over the the Boldt Yacht House only to discover that it's no $31 to see the Castle on Hart Island, but only $9! Hoorah! So we quickly paid our dues and hopped aboard the ferry to go see the Boldt Castle! (you'll have to google that one... I'm done searching links for now.) I hope to be able to put up the pictures that I took. It was pretty darn cool. :-)
On the way back to Gramma and Grampa's Mom and I stopped and had Friendly's for dinner. If you don't know what Friendly's is... get a life, dude. :-P (I know, that last link was Wikipedia, which is not reliable at all, but it has the story) We actually didn't get ice cream, but the loaded fries were so good that ice cream wasn't needed :-) Speaking of ice cream... I could use some right now. I think ice cream is my new favorite hobby... I'll have to walk over to Lickety-Split later, before we leave for LA.
*sigh*
So this is it... I think I've rambled enough and finally come to the last blog post of this trip... Should I buy that $25 bottle of perfume? It smells just like lilacs...
Samia

"Well she's a pleasant perky person!"

So my time is almost up. Sadness. :'-(
But it's ok. I'll come back. :-)
It's raining right now. I love the sound and the smell and the feel and the breeze and the shiny wet pavement. It sounds like music.
I mowed the lawn yesterday. I haven't mowed a lawn in like six years or something. It was kinda nice. Say Im' crazy... but I kinda like mowing the lawn. I worked up a bit of a sweat and the cut grass smelled so good and I deepened my flip flop tan just a little. And yes, it is a flip flop tan, it's not dirt. In fact, as of yesterday where I wasn't tan I was green because of the fresh cut grass!
I went to two differnt family gatherings this past weekend. My Mom's Dad's Family Reunion (they have one every year) and the next day we went to my Great Aunt's Cottage on the lake (that is my Dad's Mom's Sister's Cottage on the lake). So I got to see a whole bunch of cousins and cousins once removed on Saturday and a whole bunch of cousins once removed and second cousins once removed on Sunday! Figure that one out. I did. I managed (along with some help from my cousins) to figure out who all of the people at the family reunion was and how they were realted to me and I even learned some new things about some people that weren't there. I have cousins in Seatle and some in Florida and some in Ohio... I don't know their names though... but they are all kids of kids or just kids of my Grandad's siblings. Does that make any sense at all?
Sigh. I have a LOT of cousins. My Grandad comes from a family with eight kids and most of them had three or more children. His sister had like eight herself and he had five and each of them have two or more children, my Aunt has four and my Mom has five... and that's just my mother's side of the family! Sheesh!
Well, enough rambling, I have a walk to tak to the mailbox around the corner in the rain and then some more cellar cleaning to do. Fun times, right?
Samia

It would have been easier with the lights on...

So... I've been a very busy girl these last few days or so!
Camping, road trips, ice cream, bugs, baseball, cat pee, painting, Wii, movies, garage sales, antiques that I wish I could fit in my suitcase... you name it!
But I don't think I"m going to write about my week just yet. Dinner's almost on the table and my mind is elsewhere anyway.
Life has taken some interesting turns lately. I've spent a lot of time thinking things through up in the attic... that room is going to hold some odd memories from now on...
"I almost had my heart broke
I almost lost my faith
I saw that I was fearful and I stared it in the face
I found out that I really hope that Jesus comes back soon
I discovered that I don't know anything in that room"
Samia