A day in the life of older people...

So....today has certainly been....interesting, for lack of a better word.  Remember I posted of my changing schools?  I now attend a big university.  And I love it.  I'm majoring in Journalism with a minor in Legal Studies.  Although, I'm seriously considering changing my minor to French.  Marko and Gabriella are taking French also, and since we study together, my hubby is learning it right along with us!  It's pretty awesome!  We all can actually carry on a conversation, count, write it.  Yeah....amazing!  I am considering changing my minor because  I love it THAT much!
Well, as you can imagine, since I am a non-traditional student, i.e., married, children, Bill (You know the Bill I'm talking about, right?...light BILL, gas BILL cell phone BILL...you get the picture), plus I'm slightly older (: than a "traditional student....right?  Well, today in my journalism class, my professor asked us to get into groups of 4-5 and discuss a few things and brainstorm on "What did you watch or listen to as a kid, and do we still.  If not, why?"  Ok, my group consisted of 3 young girls (of course, I'm not including myself in that equation!), 2 young boys and a man older than moi (:  My group's discussion went something like this:

Older man: "I remember watching Little House on the Prairie!"
Young girl 1: "I don't know what show you're talking about. (Complete with a dumbfounded look on her face!)

AKWARD SILENCE #1...

Older man: "I also watched The Andy Griffith Show.."
I almost mentioned that I used to watch I Love Lucy as a kid.  I decided to just stay quiet.. (:

AKWARD SILENCE #2...(I think the young'ns were trying to remember if they read about that in the history books...

This is I Love Lucy:
My favorite episode was the one where she worked at the candy factory.  Hilarious!

And this would be Little House on the Prairie:

 I grew up watching The Andy Griffith Show.  I loved Opie and Barney Fife.  But I kept my thoughts to myself because I could literally feel the grey hair ooze out of my pores on my head!

Well then the topic changed to music.  Oh my gosh, I wanted someone to put me out of my misery by then!!!
Older man: "I used to listen to the BeeGees"
( I was thinking "I did too, but why don't you quit while you're we're AHEAD??!!")

This is the BeeGees and I love them!...yeah, present tense!  I may or may not have had their posters plastered all over my bedroom because I used to dream that I was going to marry Barry Gibb someday (:   and I may or may not have owned every single 45. (Look that up in the history books...or perhaps the museum!):

And this is Dr. Hook.  Now, I used to listen to this and I still listen to it quite frequently!:

Older man to young people: "What did you watch as a kid?" (I guess God didn't hear me pleading with Him to NOT let older man ask the dreaded question..)

Young people immediately answered almost in unison with this:

I'm not E V E N kidding!!!...I wish I were.. They actually grew up watching Bear in the Big Blue frickin' House, Dora and Blues Clues!! (I know you are LYAO Laura!)
Now, I "used to" watch these too....with my kids!!
The older man and I literally wanted to crawl under a big ass rock right about then..
Oh!  And as if wanting to rub salt in our wounds, the young kids actually had the nerve to ask older man:  Why don't you watch your favorite shows anymore?
Appropriate and only response to that??......Uh....maybe because they are archived already!! Sheesh!

Have a great Thursday!

Planting Mutt & Jeff!

Today was a good day. It was Armando's day off; I had my French class this morning (which is going tres bien, merci. (My professor would not be too happy with me for writing that without the accent over the e in tres, but I don't know how to do that on my laptop...) and then I had a class at noon. I got picked up at school and we raced home because Dell's computer tech was coming over. The generous scholarship I was blessed with also included a laptop (!) and I've only had it about a week and kept having problems with the mouse not working. So the tech came and replaced it.

This evening, Tita helped me plant my avocado trees in potting soil.  Here is the post of the day I started the trees from the pit.  It was definitely time!  The roots were growing like crazy and were really running out of room in the cups they were in.

This is a view of the "small" one from the top.  It has grown so much!

I love my trees!

See how crazy the roots are growing??

I planted the pit with the toothpicks still attached.

Lovin' that rich green color of the leaves!

Tons of roots!

 I planted them so that the pit was about 2 1/2 inches under the soil and then just added more soil to the top and pressed lightly on top of the where the pits were.

And I planted them both in the same pot.  And then I watered them pretty good.  Now, I will only water them about every 4-5 days.  They really grew fast!  I planted them on June 4th and already they are bonafide TREES!!

I will close this post with these pictures of a rainbow we had today.

Ok, Everyone that knows me knows how I always have my camera closeby.  Well, I actually had someone call me today to tell me that we had a magnificent rainbow outside just to the East, and they thought to call me to tell me of the rainbow because they thought i would probably want to take a picture of it!  How sweet is THAT?!

They were right....I grabbed my camera and went outside (:

 I only wish I could have captured the complete rainbow, but it just wasn't there.

Oh, BTW....Where in the world did August go??  Am I the only one shocked that we're a day away from September?!

God bless!

hApPy TuEsDaY!!! (:

Ok, I have to admit that I've been pretty spoiled lately.  I have received beautiful flowers continuously from my wonderful hubby and even my beautiful kiddos for the last month.  Now, don't get me wrong.........I'm not complaining!  Not at all; however, I'm kind of getting used to it.  The "window" between my livingroom/dining room always has something colorful and beautiful and happy going on!  The hubs picked me up from class today and took me to breakfast.  On our way home, he needed to stop at the store, and I waited in the car and studied my French with Peditos....(Yes, I really did!) while the hubs went into the store.  I didn't even see Armando exit the store when suddenly he hands me these through my open window:

Don't they just make you smile because they look so darned hApPy??  I think Yes! (:

Thank you babe!  I think I've seriously gotten used to this......

Hope you all have a wonderful day too!!

Happy Birthday Michael!

You know how I've talked about having grown up in the 80's, right?  And I always talk of music from the 80's.  Well, you could not grow up during those years without being IN LOVE with Michael Jackson and his music!

Well, whether it was coincidence or not, I'll never know, but my husband and I were talking this past Saturday night and I played this youtube video for him:

And I got the goosebumps.  And I actually felt myself choke up!  True story!!  This video was the promo played all over our area to announce THE CONCERT of the year!

The one.  The only...... Michael Jackson!  And he was going to perform at McNichols Arena in Denver on March 24, 1988!

And I got to go!

I really did!!  And it was a huge event in my life.  I imagine going to a Michael Jackson concert would be huge in most anyone's life, especially a fan such as myself.  I had never in my life been to any concert before that and I'll tell you what:  I am so glad that his concert was my first.  If I had to describe that night in one word....I guess the only word I can think of is MAGIC.  I remember I went with my friend Melissa and we could hardly contain our excitement as we drove from a small town in Nebraska to Denver.  We played the Michael Jackson cassette all the way there (: It wouldn't have made much difference if we had played the radio instead, because back then, you couldn't turn a radio on without hearing one of his songs playing.

The second we pulled onto I-25 heading South, we instantly knew that the majority of the traffic was headed to McNichols Arena too.  It was bottle-necked all the way from Cheyenne, Wyoming to the arena!   I was driving, and right after we got to the Del Camino exit on I-25, ALL of the cars before me slammed on their brakes.  I chose to fly onto the grassy median going 70+ MPH rather than crashing into all 5 million cars in front of us.  That was pretty scary!!  But we regained our composure within 5 minutes.  I mean....COME ON!!....We were on our way to Denver with coveted Michael Jackson tickets in our purse!!.....do you really think almost dying was going to dampen our spirits??!!

As we were approaching the arena, we could already see the line of people to get in was literally 4 miles long!  I was shocked at how quickly the line moved along.  Before we knew it, we were at our assigned seats.  We actually had very good seats!  There was a "standing room only" area directly in front of the stage, and then the seats started.  Our seats were right in the middle of the 4th row.  Right in front of the stage!

I'll never, ever forget the way the stage was completely dark as all of the audience was anxiously awaiting Michael to come out on stage.

Suddenly, Michael appeared!!.......Well, sort of.  All you could see were his sequined socks and glove.  And he was dancing on stage!  I could not believe that I was THERE!  It was a surreal moment, that's for sure.

Melissa hugged me when the lights came on because he was right in front of us!!  And then we started crying because well,......it was just so emotional being there!  I really felt bad for the people that were so overcome with emotion at the moment the lights came on that they FAINTED!  That's right!  Paramedics spent the whole night wading through the crowds to rescue people that had fainted at seeing their idol.  Can you imagine??!!  A once-in-a-lifetime moment that literally takes your breath away and you faint!  Unbelievable.  But it happened.

Melissa and I didn't faint.  No way!!  We were in awe the whole night.  Sadly, we weren't allowed to take cameras into the arena, so that is why I have no pictures of that night.  But I have very vivid memories that will last me forever.  I treasured my ticket stub and the T-shirt I bought.

I was 22 years old at the time and I know I've said it many times.....I love the era I grew up in.  I am so lucky!  I really wouldn't trade it for any other era in the world.  We had the best hair styles...well, maybe not.  But at the time, we sure thought so!  (:

Ok...we definitely had the best fashion!  Never mind...   (:

But something we did have was a little boy from Gary, Indiana who later became known as the King of Pop.  Because he was, IS, and most likely, will remain.   His music literally changed the world.

Wanna know something else?  We had Michael Jackson on MTV every day!!  How can you beat that??!!  I'm sure you all remember this classic:  (Ok, all of his music is classic!), but this song will forever be very special to our generation:

Well, as I said at the beginning of this post, I played the promo for my husband on Saturday and thought to myself that I really needed to post of my magical night many years ago.  Today happens to be Michael Jackson's birthday, so I thought it appropriate to post it today.

Michael Jackson

August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

Happy Birthday Michael!  Rest in Peace.

Disclaimer:  Videos and pictures via Google.

Like father, like son..

For those of you that don't know us Silvas personally, we are huge movie buffs.  Seriously.  We have a huge DVD collection that we add to quite regularly.  We have so many that are so dear to our hearts that I honestly cannot pinpoint our absolute, most favorite one of all.  Well, one of those favorite movies for us is definitely Dumb & Dumber.  Nobody in the world but Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels could play the parts of Harry and Lloyd so perfectly.  And we've probably watched that movie at least 200 times over the years.  Not kidding!  One of our favorite scenes in the movie is of course, Harry and Lloyd's rendition of Mockingbird.  Here is the video:


That scene is genius and very much a classic!

Well, yesterday, I was watching TV at my mom's house when Marko comes barreling into the livingroom and plops himself down next to me and excitedly shoves one of the earpieces from his headphones into my ear.  He was just so darned happy as he pushed the play button on my mom's MP3 player.  His eyes were twinkling as he flashed his most beautiful smile and he seriously could not contain his excitement!  He had been laying down, flipping through the songs my mom had downloaded and he came across, what else?  The original Mockingbird song! 
Here is the original James Taylor and Carly Simon:


Marko told me that he hadn't realized that it was an actual song! He thought it was just a recording made for the movie. It was so fun for me to watch him in his "Aha" moment.  He made my day!  I love you silly boy!
Oh, and just for the record:  My hubby apparently thought the same as Marko! Those Silva boys are too funny!!

JibJabbing Friday night!

Ok, I must clarify that I really don't understand this whole Bieber Fever thing our young girls "got" going on.  Ya think maybe it's something similar to the Bee Gees/Andy Gibb/Leif Garrett/David Cassidy craze from my era??..... Probably.  And I'm not going to reveal my age.  I just won't go there.  I'll let you do the math (:

Well, I was surfing the web last night because I was reading the updates on Hurricane Irene and came across a website that allows you to add your pic to one of their videos so you essentially "star" in it.  I had fun looking through the choices and of course chose this video!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

My Tita absolutely has a bad case of BF and I know she will love the video. (:

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Change is pretty darned good sometimes!

I started classes at the university on Monday.  I changed my major to journalism with a minor in legal studies and I was excited for the change because journalism was always where I wanted to be.  My attempts to get the classes I wanted weren't really working out the way I had hoped.  I ended up with two classes I really wanted (and needed), so that was ok.  I wasn't having much luck on the other classes though.  From the very beginning, I really wanted to take a French class.  I can't give you a specific reason for wanted to learn French because I have none, it is just something I have always wanted to do.  But they were all full.  I emailed the instructor to see if there was a chance of getting in, to no avail.  So I picked some other credits that I needed and resigned myself to make the best of my schedule and go to each class with a positive attitute and try my best at every single class.

I got to class first thing in the morning on Monday, signed in and found a seat.  I was excited to see Brittney in my class.  I just met her last week during the retreat I attended for the Stryker Institute, which is from where I was awarded my scholarship!  I really don't think she actually walks on the ground like the rest of us.  She's so darned cute and bubbly and sweet that I think she just kind of floats around in her little bubble of happiness!  I'm not kidding!  So Brittney comes to where I am to say hello and gives me a hug (of course!) and tells me that she'll look for me the next time the class meets so we can sit together.   She reminds me so much of Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials...  Anyway.....  Right after the professor introduced herself, I found out that I needed to change my schedule after all.  Apparently, History of Music doesn't have a prerequisite, but the professor did not recommend taking her class until you took another class... (?)  I know...it didn't make sense to me either, but I was actually glad because my first class choice was definitely NOT History of Music.  I really wasn't feeling it.  At all. Like I said, I only chose it because I needed credits from that category.  So to find out that I probably shouldn't take it did not disappoint me one bit.
I had 2 hours before I needed to be at my next class, so I ended up having time to drop the History of Music class and add a FRENCH class!!  I was super excited!  The only thing with the French class was the fact that I needed to take an additional online French class at the same time.  I immediately decided to go for it.  That decision put me at 14 credits for this semester. (:
Now, I need to clarify something:  I have never ever in my lifetime taken a foreign language class before.  Ever.  Soooo....imagine my surprise when I walked in to my French class today and realized that the ENTIRE class in taught in...what else?.....FRENCH!  Yeah!  I think my professor spoke a total of maybe 8 words of English during the E-N-T-I-R-E class!  Yeah!  And even while writing on the board, it was 100% French!  Oh, and one thing I haven't mentioned?  My class meets every day except Thursday!  I will admit that for approximately the first 15 minutes of the class...I panicked!  My thoughts were "What the HELL did I get myself INTO??!!"
I think I felt so completely lost because not only did I not understand ANYTHING, but since it was my first day, I didn't yet have my book to be able to follow along.  I now have the book, so things are ok.
I'm pretty certain that with having class every day except Thursdays in addition to having to do work online, I will learn enough to be able to carry a conversation or maybe even write a letter by the end of the semester...right?!
One more thing I want to include in this post is that my husband's day off was today.  So what did he do?  He cleaned the entire house by himself!  He decided to help me because he wanted me to relax today because I have been so sick because it is allergy season here and it got me  BAD.  Marko and Tita are both suffering from this stuff too.  And I hate it.  I feel so bad for them and would gladly take their suffering anyday if I could.  So anyway, the hubs wanted me to only focus on school and getting better, so he did all of that.  Oh, and he made dinner last night!  It would have been easy for him to have made sandwiches for dinner, but he made some amazing green chile! Yum!  I so appreciated it!
And as if THAT weren't enough, he washed the car for me and went to fill the car with gas.  Then he comes home with this:

 Arent they beautiful???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Wow!

 There were roses in LOTS of colors!  some were white, others were mauve, there were a few red ones, yellow, and even orange!

I know I have posted lots of pictures of the dozen and a half (!) roses he gave me.  But they meant so much to me.  I LOVE them!  and they really brighten up my house.

 
Very sweet!  I'm a lucky girl!

Merci Babe!  I love you!

Tita you are so special!

Ok, I just had to share what happened to me recently.  I was driving to the gas station with Marko and Tita with the radio turned down low.  Tita tells me that she wants to dedicate a song to me and suddenly yells "Honey! Turn the radio UP!"  So I did. (My kids call me Honey, BTW.  I don't know why, they just did/do.  :)
This song came on and she sang it to me....pretty loudly.  The song is by Bruno Mars and it's called "Just the Way You Are."  And my baby sang it to me.  Her beautiful voice singing me this song was so incredibly special.  Something I will never forget!......And I had tears in my eyes because it meant so much to me.
Here is the video.  I hope you enjoy it. (:


I, of course, thanked her.  As best I could.  But I want need to document this special event in my life because it was definitely an event, and it was the sweetest, most precious gift I had received from my beautiful daughter.  Other than the fact that she decided to be born on MY birthday.  Yeah!  She was actually due on May 17th.  That was the day my C-section was scheduled for, but Gabriella had other plans.  She wanted to give me the most special gift- her arrival, on my birthday!
I love you my beautiful girl!  More than you will ever know.  And thank you for making this momma so proud of you always.
And Tita, YOU are the amazing one.  Just the way YOU are! Muah!

Love,

Honey  (:

Father & son moments (:

A few weeks ago my hubby noticed he had a flat tire after driving home.  It would have been easy for him to just change it.  He's done it many times in his lifetime.  Instead, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have Marko learn to change it. 

So he did! (:

First, he learned to hoist the car up with the jack.

Then his dad explained how to remove the hubcap:

And the tire..

So focused!

 Now he's putting the spare tire on:

 And finally the hubcap

Checking to make sure they are on tight:

 All done!

This is something Marko will always remember sharing with his dad.  I am so proud of Marko!  I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is difficult for me to admit that my children are growing up.  I mean, this is my baby that used to play Peek-a-Boo with me when he was just 1-year-old and make my heart melt when it was his turn and he'd hold the blanket up to his little face and as he'd pull the blanket down, he'd say excitedly "Isha Bee, Isha Bo!"  and then giggle the most beautiful giggle EVER!  Ok, I'm gonna stop now, before I start crying.. Seriously.

I wonder:...............Do all moms do that?

I think Yes.