We take pride in our staff, and now we get to know them with their “last ten.”

editor’s note: We spent time with Mrs. Ramirez last week. Here’s what we learned about her.

What was the last restaurant that you visited? “Firehouse- in The Valley.”

• Chesterfield? “Si.”

• What do they have there? “Hamburgers and onion rings. It’s pretty good. They have a hamburger they serve with a fried egg on top. It’s weird, but it’s good!”

• Is that what you got? “Si.”

• Is that one of your favorites? “I’ll get that once in a blue moon-I don’t want it to stick to my hips! But yeah it’s good. It’s surprisingly good because it doesn’t seem like it would be, but it is.”

• Who did you go there with? “My family. My two kids and my husband!”

• Does your family like to go out to eat often? “We like to treat ourselves, but I’m really a health nut, so I like to cook- and I love it, so I don’t mind cooking.”

• What kind of things do you cook? “I’m Puerto Rican, so I cook a lot of Puerto Rican foods like pork and rice-and-beans.”

• What’s your favorite thing to cook? “I make a pork roast with a homemade seasoning that my grandma taught me how to make. I always say ‘Cooking is spreading the love’, and I enjoy cooking and I like feeding people, so I like when they enjoy it. And that is something everybody likes. Puerto Rican or not, they love it because it comes out really tender and really seasoned.”

• Was your grandma the one who taught you how to cook? “My grandma and my mom. It’s like a big tradition.”

What was the last T.V. show or movie that you watched? “I don’t watch a lot of TV, I do Netflix. So right now I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy. I’m addicted, so I’ve got to step away from it. I’ve got things to do! So that’s what l like to do. I don’t like commercials or anything so I like that I can just watch it when I want and when I can. So I’ll do that. My husband is also from Puerto Rico but he enjoys Spanish speaking programs I think more than he does English, so we’ll pick a series and watching together and that’s our date. I think it’s cute when we watch it together.”

• Do you have a favorite character from Grey’s Anatomy? “Okay. I like Yang because I like to see the struggle that she has between being strong and putting up that wall. But I think she has a struggle because she is nice, and she’s warm hearted, but she can’t be maybe because of her past. I like to see that struggle, the character vs. character thing. And then I like the plastic surgeon Sloan because he’s just hot! It’s like, ‘I want a plastic surgeon like him!’”

What was the last thing that you ate? “This morning I had Raisin Bran cereal for breakfast. I haven’t had lunch yet.”

• Is that what you usually have? “I’ll have oatmeal or toast with peanut butter and hemp hearts.”

• What are hemp hearts? “Hemp heart seeds. It’s these seeds and they have a lot of protein. So I’ll have gluten free toast with organic peanut butter and the hemp heart seeds. It’s just like eating a fried egg because it’s protein.”

What was the last thing that you did at your former job? “I taught English and Spanish in Jeff City High School.”

• How long did you do that for? “Four years.”

• Did you teach anywhere else before that? “I taught in Puerto Rico at private college prep school, and I thought- Oh my god I’ve taught everything. I’ve taught 5th grade Spanish, English, I was high school principal, I’ve done a lot of things.”

• So when did you move here? “In 2008 I moved to Jeff. City. And then in 2012 we moved to St. Louis.”

• Why did you move to Jeff. City? “My husband works for the Federal Highway Administration, he’s a civil engineer, so it’s his fault.”

Who was the last person that you shared a phone call with? “My mom. I talk to her almost every day. She lives in Puerto Rico.”

• Do you see her very often? “I go down to Puerto Rico every summer and sometimes she’ll come visit us, but I’d rather go down there and go to the beach! But this December we’re going to Miami. I have a brother in Miami- he works for Apple, he’s a techy geek- and so we’re all going to meet there in Miami for Christmas. So I do get to see her. I have to! I miss her. I want her to move over here but she’s not going to.”

• She likes it in Puerto Rico? “Si. She told me, ‘I wanna move to Miami’, I’m like ‘Yeah me too,’ But yeah.”

Who was the last person that you hugged? “Oh my god, I’m a hugger- I hug everybody! Students, my kids, my husband. Probably this morning my son. But yeah I’m a hugger, I like to hug.

• How old are your kids? “My daughter is 14, she’s in 10th grade, and my son is 12.”
• Do they go to school here? “No, they go to Parkway West.”

What was the last store that you went to? “Actually, we went to PetSmart to look at the animals on Saturday.”

• Are you thinking about getting a pet? “A dog. Yeah but we went to late. They had dogs from the shelter but we went to late. They had cats and they were so cute! But I’m allergic to cats. I enjoy shopping, but I try not to shop all of the time. I don’t want to be that person.”

• Do you have any other pets right now? “No. We’ve had dogs. I’ve had a guinea pig Snickers, but he died. And I’ve had hamsters, I love hamsters. And I’ve had fish, but yeah my husband wants a dog. We’ll see. It’s an important decision.”

• Are you a big dog person? “You know, the thing that bothers me about dogs is that they’re so needy all of the time and I’m the mom so I have to take care of everybody so I’m like ‘Dude, I don’t have time right now, like I said hello already’, so I think I’m more of a cat person because of that, but I’m allergic to cats! I like cats because they come in, they say hello and they have their space. And that’s sort of like how I am. And I think that’s because I’m always taking care of everybody. As a teacher I’m nurturing, right, and then my dog is also asking for attention, I can’t stand it! I’m like ‘go play somewhere else!’”

What was the last soda that you drank? “Diet Coke.”

• Is that your favorite? “It’s not like it’s my favorite, I’m not proud of it- It’s not good for you! I just was at a soccer game and I had Diet Coke.”

• So you don’t usually drink soda? “No, I try not to, it’s not good!”

• What’s your favorite drink? “I like coffee, but I only have coffee in the morning. Or a mocha frappuccino, those are good. So I think coffee. But mostly I just drink water. I love coconut water! But I would rather have it organic. Like you go to Puerto Rico and you get a coconut and they slice it up and then you have it and I’m addicted to that stuff, I just love it!”

Where is the last out of state place that you visited? “Puerto Rico, I guess.”

• To see your mom? “Yeah to see family and friends. I still have a house down there, so we go down there.”

Who was the last person you communicated with over social media? “It was on Facebook this morning. But I don’t really talk to anybody. I go on Facebook to see pictures and stuff, I don’t really talk to people over it. Facebook is kind of boring. I just Like or make a comment.”

• Did you used to like it more? “Yeah I think so. But I’m not really a drama person, I’ll put like quotes and stuff. Happy things. We need a happy place where people can share good things! I don’t like to watch news because it’s all so depressing, and even programs and movies can be so depressing, so I want to go to a happy place where people post happy things. Just celebrating good stuff and only good stuff. Good vibes. Heroic things that people do every day- every day heroes- they’re everywhere. But we don’t focus on them, we focus on Ebola and people killing each other. I don’t think it’s like that. I think that there’s more good than bad stuff out there. We just don’t focus there. ”