Thankful

From now until Easter I have decided to write things I am thankful for. I am done complaining about others and their actions. I am going to focus on the positive things in my life.

I was reminded when reading Texan Mama how much I have to be thankful for my husband. He really is a great guy. He is a huge redneck, and a big male chauvinist neither of which is charming on its own, but his personality more than makes up for those other traits. He is awesome in so many ways. This week he is researching a SLR Camera for me, just because I mentioned I want one and to take a photo class. That is one of the thoughtful things he will do just because.

We have been married for 21 years in June. It has been an up and down ride, but finally we have smoothed out to an even flow. Looking back on all those years, it is nice to be in such a great place now. Nice to see that we grew up together, we still share the same hopes and dreams (some of us more elaborate than others!). The best part is being able to say I still love him and I still like him most of the time.

One of the most important thing I have learned over these years of wedded bliss and not so bliss is this:

You cannot live with people 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year and like them all the time. At least I myself cannot. Just because you don't like them does not mean you do not love them. And yes it really can be days, weeks, months (shhh, maybe even a year).

I am so happy to be able to say I love my husband!! And to know that he still feels the same way about me.

No Manners!

OK, I have expressed this before, but I am kind of socially awkward in some situations. I have found that I can fool allot of people into thinking I am super outgoing, I am not! That is my other siblings, I am the observer, sit on the side and not collect allot of attention. I grew up in a huuuuge extended Catholic family so I have learned to put myself outside of my comfort level in many different situations. I also am a super sensitive person. I totally recognize this about myself and try to always put things into somewhat more normal proportions. My sounding board to do this with is usually my sister Kim who is not on the over sensitive side. She will be the most honest and tell me to just let go of it. I love that about her!!




So being overly sensitive, and socially awkward I am not one to join a bunch of school groups (PTA) and so forth. Or I should say I join but do not participate in the meeting portions of the group . I do volunteer and will do any project that they need help on, but I just cannot force myself to go sit in a meeting with a Cliquey bunch of women. It makes me feel like a child again, sitting on the outside and never quite in there. The funny part is that I know a lot of these women and speak to them on a regular basis at school, but that Clique factor is still there no matter how many times they publish a letter saying THEY are not like that! HMMMMM


So it all comes down to making me uncomfortable enough that I am going to write this post. I am like an ostrich and would rather bury my head in the sand than deal with uncomfortable situations. I will actually let people make me feel bad rather than confront them, but only for so long. I see now where Colton gets his temper while playing soccer. You can push him a couple times, but just know when he has had enough, you are going to be the one who is on the ground when he is done. I am a little the same way, I will take things for quite awhile, but after so long I will not take it anymore.


Here is the issue. Apparently our school has a group of moms that meet for coffee on a regular basis. A lot of them are the PTA moms, it seems. I volunteer with two of the moms Monday through Wednesday for about a half hour each day. One of the moms brought up inviting me to the group while we were all working together (talk about uncomfortable, insert here!!) the other mom just did not reply at all (the exact conversations was "( So and so tell Tami about our coffee group!" and then dead silence, no acknowledgment at all) . Okay, if that isn't a crunchy feeling! The subject was quickly changed to something else.


If they knew me, they would know I don't really like to do those social things anyways, and I would not have taken them up on the offer. Just in case you think I am a total loser, I do have a large social group that I am friends with, so I am not totally socially incompetent, wink, wink!

So after that uncomfortable encounter about not being invited to the COFFEE GROUP, I let it go, no big deal. Then in three more situations, with the same ladies and another mom, the Coffee Group is brought up and discussed in front of me among these 2 or 3 ladies and just me, no one else is there. They talk about how much fun it is, are you going, lets meet up.........and yada yada yada, all while we are standing together. Now I am to the point I just think it is downright FLIPPING RUDE! (Notice Mom I did not use that word you hate, but I might be thinking it :)

Isn't one of the first things you learn as a kid that if you are not going to include someone in something than DON'T TALK ABOUT IT IN FRONT OF THEM! It is certainly one of the things I have taught MY children. Maybe some adults need to revisit this lesson... just saying!

The funny/not so funny part about this whole thing is, that our membership for PTA is dropping like a rock, at a school that used to have a very large membership. So at the beginning of the year the PTA president (who may or may not be one of these women) wrote a letter saying how they encourage others to join and participate in the PTA, and they are not a Clique. I think this is one of those exact moments if you could take a picture and send it to back to that group so they could see their REAL PICTURE, they might be surprised how they look to us on the outside looking in.

I know everybody has things they are good at, and things that they are not so great at. I totally embrace these things about myself, hence telling everyone in the world that I am socially awkward. BUT if you are in charge of a group, or really, even a member of the group, even if you also feel socially inadequate, it is YOUR DUTY!! to help others feel invited and comfortable when joining your group (especially if you are begging for people to be involved in said GROUP)!!

Sigh, I am brushing it off again. The dumb part about all of this is, that I let it hurt my feelings EVEN THOUGH I really (and I am honestly not just saying this) really don't want to, and never would go to this type of thing. I would just like people to have some common MANNERS!

How about THIS people, you EXERCISE your right to not say anything at all.

Okay, I feel much better now that I have gotten this off my chest. I can avoid being a Bitch to these ladies. I can chalk it up to either they are RUDE, INCONSIDERATE, or just plain..... so many things I could say, just insert your own thought here. In which case none of the above is a reflection on me.

Mexican Cruise 2009!!!!

We finally made it on our cruise! I can now face writing about it without feeling the desire to sell all my belongings and cruise around the world, sigh. It was really such a great experience. Amazing to go with 46 family and friends on such a trip. My sister Kim is AWESOME!! She is the one who put this together. She contacted the travel agent and motivated us all to book our trip.

This is a trip that my children will remember for a lifetime. Our first visit to Mexico and they get to experience it with their Granparents, Aunts, Uncles, sibilings and cousins. I know I will not ever forget it. We are thinking that in 4+ years or so we are going to try and do it again.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

In Puerta Vallarta Mariah and I got in the water and swam with the dolphins. WOW! about sums up how that felt. Weird and cool, the dolphin was amazing. So intense to be in the water and interact with this amazing creature. Mariah was so extremely happy about getting to do this. She was in heaven.

The boys and Melaina with about 20 others from our group did a zipline tour. They took a bus for about an hour ride out into the country side and had a blast. The video we got is amazing! On their way home they got to do a tour of a Tequila factory. All you ever wanted to know. Actually it sounded pretty interesting the facts they could tell us when they got back. You can tell I was not on the tour because someone (DAD!) let Colton try a shot of tequila. The good news is he was disgusted by it and sadly (not really sad at all!) he puked it back up. Hopefully that will deter him from trying alcohol until he is at least 30 (wink!). (Here is the zipline group.)

Mazatlan was fun, Darrel, Colton and Mariah decided to stay on the boat, they were having a good time! So Anthony, Melaina and I went shopping with a bunch of our group. It was interesting. I was really disturbed by the way the poor were just lined down their sidewalks by the market. It was so hard not to give everyone of them my money. Our driver was amazing and took us all over the city. I mentioned in an earlier post about seeing the poorer districts, and how it made me appreciate all that I have. Of course it would not be a George family vacation without somebody being injured and a hospital trip at least discussed! This time it was Steve, he stepped on something on the beach and sliced the callus off the front ball of his foot. It was just disgusting! On top of that there was talk of cutting the bleeding flap of skin off. GROSS, and STOP!!!! Luckily we didn't have to body tackle anyone and they all stepped back and decided to leave it and let it heal itself. The trip to the hospital in a foreign country was avoided. THANK YOU GOD!!!

Our last stop was Cabo and I am in loooooove with it!! It was beautiful the small amount of time we got to spend there. Kim, Jessica, Mrs Cho, Jackson, Mariah and I did a glass bottom boat tour. It was very cool. The beaches are gorgeous. I want to go back here!

The boat was amazing. The food outrageous! The formal dinner was very cool. The kids tried all kinds of foods they would never really get a chance at. They all tried the escargot. Colton actually liked it allot. Mariah, Darrel and Anthony not so much. The kids each got to have lobster for dinner and Mariah tried the veal (neither of us enjoyed it, but Aaron thought it was great! Our waiters were awesome! Here is Colton and Mariah dancing with them, so cute!!!

I have added my pictures to my digital picture frame in my office so I can look at them everyday. I loved the cruise, but a little disappointed not to spend more time in each city. I can't wait for 4 years to go by so we can all do it again!!!!!!!

Memorial to Uncle Steve

Today my parents, siblings and I are having a small memorial service to place my Uncle into my Grandma's grave. He passed away over a year ago, but my parents had to pay to have the grave opened so it has taken awhile to place him with his mother. My hubby is working, and I decided not to take the kids out of school. The two younger ones don't ever remember meeting him, and my oldest only met him twice as a young child.

Kids are so funny, when I told them about the service (just in case they really!!! wanted to come), Mariah surprised me and said "I want to go!!" I asked her really, it is going to be outside and Father Rengilli is just going to say a few prayers and we will put him in the grave. She said "Well I have never seen a dead body before, I really want to see the dead body!" Sorry to disappoint you on this one child, but he has been cremated, no dead body only ashes. You see those every time you go to Grandma's in the box on the piano. She was severely disappointed about that.

My Uncle Steve was extremely smart (his IQ was very high), and a brilliantly talented artist that was from the Hippie age. He rolled his own cigarettes (not just tobacco ones either ;) drank Near Beer, and did all the drugs you could think of. The reason I know about the drugs is that we discovered allot of his paraphernalia when he moved one time. Also when I was a teenager he dropped Acid and then read the Book of Revelations. Wow! Let me just say from my second hand experience that this is NEVER!!! a good plan, just in case you were considering it! He spent a week or two in the Psych ward after that episode. Sadly as life went on he drowned himself in alcohol and never could recover from it.

Sad when someone that is so talented spirals out of control and can never be brought back. He swore to us later in life that he had lead poisoning from the soldering of the stained glass, which might be partially true. The rest was the alcohol that poisoned him.

He amazed me in his artistic talent. His stained glass work was beautiful as you can see by the picture I have enclosed of my lamp he made me. It is one of my most beloved possessions. It is sad to say goodbye to anyone. Easier for some than others. I am sorry to say that we did not get a chance to spend a lot of time with Uncle Steve, but the time spent left a deep impression on me and the things I love in life.

I have a deep love of anything glass related in the art world. I did glass painting for a while and am saving up and getting ready to take some stained glass classes in memory of Uncle Steve. I tend to gravitate towards beautiful colored glass in all shapes and believe this is from his influence on me. Being the oldest of us all, I am the one that probably remembers him most. He gave me many art books and taught me the value of the different colors of glass. Red in stained glass is super expensive. Blue glass is highly desirable by artist. I am thankful for the love that he passed on to me of glass art.

Goodbye Uncle Steve, I will hold on and pass down to my children the love of art. I will also teach the value of knowing what addiction is and that it truly runs in our family. Rest in peace with my beloved Grandma Louise. She will be happy to have her baby with her. We love you Uncle Steve!

GREEBLEPIX ENTRY - INSPIRED

This month greeblepix contest is Inspired. I love this picture. This is from Mazatlan on our trip. Our driver Francisco took us on a tour of the city. We asked that he show the kids some of true Mexico. He took us to the poor area and showed us the places that many people live, with 10 or more people to a room with no power or running water. It was a learning experience for us all. Especially to see the children in this area. It made our children really look at their lives and apprectiate the things they had. It inspired many different questions and concerns from the kids.

Adventures Begin

We leave for our cruise to Mexico tomorrow. We are so excited at our house that sleep has been hard to come by. Our total group will be 46 friends and family. This will be the first time out of the country (besides Canada) for our kids, wonderful husband and myself.

We are so excited for some sunshine and a trip of a lifetime. I am so happy that Anthony and his girlfriend Melaina are going with us so we can experience it all together. Hopefully sleep will come easier tonight! Off to new adventures!!

Socially Awkward

Having children makes you reflect on your own childhood sometimes. Mine was fine as they go, nothing extremely bad happened, if you don't count the stop sign glasses I wore for the first 5 years of school life, and the bad haircuts, and big gap teeth (yes I do know why kids teased me but it was still mean)! I have come face to face with the fact that I am socially awkward. Weird to put it in writing and to face it head on (and no surprise after my above description I am sure). I always knew that I was lacking in the social graces somehow, but never had tried to put actual words to it. I had a couple friends which is all that is required but was always on the outside of the large social groups.



It was a revelation on Monday night. Skating party night for our school. I am uncomfortable in social situations! Especially when I have to go and make small talk with people I hardly know. I always get stuck talking to the weird people (I am weird also I am sure, just different weird than the ones I get stuck with). Monday night I did not feel good, Colton had youth group (and apparently 6th grade is WAY to cool for school skating parties anyways), and Mariah really wanted to go. Wonderful husband was (convieniently) working late, so guess who is stuck with the chore. So (being a bad mom) using my mom charms (aka bribery) I offered Mariah a choice, we can go to the skating party, or......we can spend the money for a new Webkinz animal. (OH Mean mommy!) Such a hard choice to have to make. Of course the chance at a new Webkinz was much more intriguing than the skating party, so we now have added Henry the Hippo to our collection. For those of you who don't know what Webkinz are (lucky you!) they are like beanie babies but have a whole web world set up to interact with them.



I feel like I let Mariah down, but it was just one of those days I could not face going and having to come up with small talk. I know a lot of the parents in a casual "Hi how are you" way, but I seem to freeze in social situations and be extremely awkward. I am so happy that so far I have not passed this down to the boys. They are both so outgoing and happy go lucky, every one likes them. I am working hard at not passing this onto Mariah. She is outgoing also, her teacher tells me she is loved by everyone in the class, but she tends to be a worrier. It comes with that perfectionist attitude she has. I am working with her on not worring about what others think of her (one of my biggest issues, from being teased horribly as a kid and my personallity apparently) and being happy with who she is. In todays society it is so hard to be happy with who you are. There is always someone prettier, skinnier, smarter, this is what I tell my kids, BUT there is nobody else that is you! I work on telling myself this each day also, I am hoping by the time I hit 80 I won't care either!