New Year Resolution

At what point do we stop putting up with inconsiderate people? Well I’ve reached mine. During a routine grocery trip I had an epiphany moment after I circled around four times trying to find a parking spot and did not park at the only open spot close by that was reserved for expecting mothers. However could not say the same for the rude women who sped up going the wrong direction while on her cell phone to park at the reserved spot. She was not pregnant by any means nor was she handicap. She was a perfectly healthy female around my age and what seemed like a phone permanently attached to her ear.

Perhaps it was the holiday season and the crowds just getting to me, with my window down I looked at her right in the eye and said “Are you kidding me?” With the look of shock, (more like how dare you bitch look) as if that spot had her name on it, she at least had a moment of shame. Any without any hesitation she never put down her phone and strolled into the store. So at the moment I realized, though I didn’t accomplish anything she at least was aware someone said something and perhaps next time will at least stop for a moment and not be so inconsiderate (I know, good luck huh).

So my thought is, do inconsiderate people continue to do things because good people say nothing and what will happen if more people speak up? Of course there is no way of taking an actual survey, but what if we just try it. With my new camera phone at hand I’m really considering capturing inconsiderate actions and posting it on a website. Titled “How not to be a complete ASS” or “You’re an ASS if you do the following”.

Today was the worst one yet, a complete capital ASS! It took place at my son’s school carpool lane. My husband can tell you how much I hate the schools carpool lane, not the system it self but the retarded parents. Who are oblivious to the backed up streets refusing to pull forward and yapping away on their cell phones. This is so annoying, that’s why I go extra early to pick up Kohl. Today I got side tracked and ran late. There was a parent in his big Chevy Yukon on the phone, leaving a four car space in between his car and the car in front of him. Since the back of my car was hanging out slightly in the street, I asked him nicely if he would mind moving forwards. With a very rude responds he said NO with a dickish smirk and rolled up the window. In no way am I exaggerating, so I got in my car and moved in front of him. Without any hesitation I took a picture of him on his cell phone at a school zone. I’m contemplating sending it to the Plano ISD, since there is a fine for being on the phone in a school zone. Oh, I should mention, when I took his picture I said welcome to the jerk club. I know I shouldn’t but I couldn’t help it, I’m sure my husband will object.

Long story short, my New Year resolution is to be a warrior of consideration and accountability.

The love of my life

At times my husband is not the most romantic person but he sent me the sweetest letter that had me wondering, what happened to my husband. Anyway he is going to kill me for posting this but later on in life I'd like something to remind me that he does indeed have a sensitive bone and is romantic.

Below is the letter... yes I'll be reading it at least five times a day and especially on the days I trip over his shoes or the days I'm having to pick up his dirty cloths which are on the floor next to the dirty laundry basket.

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I love you! I try to not just say that every day, but also let you know it in other unspoken ways, or at least I think I do, too. I know that I am not the perfect romantic husband that you want, but I want you to know that I would give my life to spare yours and that everything I do in life is aimed at making "our" life better. It makes me sad to think about life without you. Just tonight when we were at "Jason Statham's house", people watching together, I had yet another eureka moment. It happened when you had gone to the bar to pay for our drinks and I was left at the couch watching each of the people walk by.

As you know there were ugly women and beautiful women. I looked upon each of them as an olympic judge would look upon a gymnast, and when I saw you out of the corner of my eye, coming down the same path as all of the other people, I did an uncontrolable double take. My mind saw a smoking hot woman walking by, and I had instantaneous thoughts about her, but wait -double take- that is my wife! I felt a rush of adrenaline, my heart skipped a beat. Could I really be so lucky? My answer is yes, it was like the first time we met. I am that lucky and regardless of any problem that we may be having, not a day goes by that I do not give thanks that you are in my life. Even when we are at what seems to be a point where we will never get along, I always know that you are special and that we are somehow meant to be together. Even when one of us acts like a jerk to prove some insignificant point.

I know in my heart that you are the most perfect person for me, even though we have fights and we are both sometimes wrong, you are still perfect in every way in my eyes! You are beautiful beyond my wildest dreams, whether you think so not; you make me happy every day in one way or another, you are a good mother to our children, and although I know sometimes you feel like you are stuck in a rut and are obligated to take care of all of the things on the home front, the truth is that you really run the show. Our lives would not be as good as they are without you taking care of all the things necessary to keep the world turning. I am proud of you every day for the great job that you do.

I went to log onto my hotmail tonight and I saw one of the MSN headlines that said something about marriage and sex, so of course being me I had to click on it and read further. I thought most of it was hilarious, reading about these 20 somethings and the insignificant "crisis" that is going on in their love life. I thought you would find it funny too. It gives a different perspective on our lives that I thought was worth sharing with the one I love. WARNING most of the links below mention sex.

This is not a cheap ploy to seduce. Actually I think some of the things mentioned have some merit. I look forward to many wonderful years together, and spending as much time as possible getting to know everything about each other and having the best life imaginable with my best friend. Oh yeah, so that I can keep my immature idiotic cover going: poop, doodle, boobie, shit, fart, crank, diddle, did I say boobies? ;) Love you, read links below.

Holiday memories we'd like to forget but lingers..

My first Thanksgiving was really nice, however for a good laugh I'll tell you about our first Christmas instead. This is for all the ladies with in-law issues... I've got you all beat hands down!!

When my husband and I first met, his dad came up to Houston for a business transaction and decided to live with us. Of course we were still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship and everything was good. His dad was wonderful from afar.

After a while I started to notice little odd things my father in law would do. I merely passed it off as his crazy odd habits after all everyone has odd habits.... I'll save his odd habits for a later story. The remote controller picture is an example of his handy work and boy are there plenty of those.

Anyway, we manage to survive Christmas which was wonderful and it came time to take down the Christmas tree. My husband miss calculated the ceiling height and the tree could house a pack of squirrels and some. It was like the Grizzwald’s Christmas tree on steroids. As a nice gesture my father in law wanted to take down the tree, I told him thank you but no. I wanted to keep the tree up just a bit longer.

As we approach our house from doing errands. I notice this big thing on our yard which looked burnt. And I’m thinking to myself, please lord don’t let that be my house. Keep in mind we had just moved in and I wanted to at least have a good impression to our new neighbors. Well, my crazy father in law took out the tree without taking off the ornaments, lights, etc… and dragged it out from the living room to the front yard. So all you saw from the living room to the front yard was broken lights, precious ornaments my mother had given me and all keep sake stuff every where. I mean every where!!!, it was as though wild dogs had gone through our house.

At that moment I never wanted to choke someone before but boy I wanted to just scream and kill my father in law, however all I could manage was just tears,.. no words just tears…. To top things off my crazy father in law went out and bought a car cover for his truck. True to form he bought the opposite of what he actually needed. So next to the broken Grizzwald Christmas tree was this ridiculous truck which had a car cover for a Miata and only covered the hood of his truck…!!!! We moved the following year.

A New Day

Congratulations senator Obama. The election is over and I took my moment of discomfort but quickly gave way to the feeling of happiness and peace of mind, because this is a great moment for history but most of all I’m proud of the American people who turned out to vote and got passionate about politics.

While at the voting both, I must admit the choice was not hard. I simply asked myself who would I trust to baby sit my kids for the next four year? Would he or she pass my security/safety test and if for some reason I gave them a pass. Would their friends and associations be welcome? Most of all I am proud to have honored Dr. Martin Luther Kings legacy to judge a man based on character not skin color. My vote was not for Obama. You could only window dress for so long, eventually the foundations will reveal it self. I'd much rather be the odd man out any day than to have made history for the sake of making history.

Now that we know anything is possible and perhaps took one of the biggest steps on getting over the “race issue” or the “white man’s guilt” where a black man or a woman can achieve anything in America we can now get to the real issues without sneaking in the race card when valid points are brought up. This is now an even playing field (though it has always been there) with possibilities for anyone no matter what color, background, and gender you are if you work hard anything is possible. So no more excuses not to get off your ass and work hard for something you want.

I claim no party but my own family and the greatness of what America is and can still become. Though the Republican Party lost its ground, they should put things in perspective first, given all the money, media, Hollywood and Opera hype Obama did not get a land slide victory or a double digit lead in the popular vote, as everyone was predicting. McCain ran a horrible (putting it lightly) campaign, lets not forget it was the media who got him as their nominee. His biggest problem was that he said being bipartisan is the hardest thing to do and reached out too many times to the other side. No Mr. McCain being bipartisan is the easiest thing to do because agreeing and going along with someone else’s idea you could do in your sleep. Standing alone on your own feet and morals, while others are attacking and throwing insults at you is what a leader does and the truly hard thing to do.

So Republicans take this moment as an opportunity to clean house, too long have you strayed away from your core beliefs of lower taxes, less government, expanding the private sector and the party of Abraham Lincoln who stood to abolish slavery when majority of the people wanted him to be bipartisan and reach across the other side.

Again I am so proud of America, like always I will trust but verify our leaders and to give Obama more than what majority of people gave Bush is respect and refuse to give into hate when opinions differ. May the best days be ahead of us.

Reposting Meaning of Thanksgiving

A friend of mine asked me to repost this. I know it's been a while since I blogged something new, not that I don't have much to add but little time.

Here you go Chrissy,

With a blank stare in the mirror while brushing my teeth, I was thinking about one of my son's homework regarding Thanksgiving. Not sure why I was thinking about it now, perhaps it is the constant bombardment of the doom and gloom stories that is always on the news or perhaps this time of the year great American traditions such as; Thanksgiving, Christmas, football games, God etc… comes under attack. Anyway, his assignment was to write about Thanksgiving and what you like most about it. So, my husband and I said it is a time of giving thanks and told him the history of thanksgiving. Of course blue berry pie was his favorite….

And it made me think of what do I give thanks the most to? The first thing that jumped to mind was how lucky and fortunate my family and I are to live in this great country. Though it is flawed and not perfect, this is one of few countries that allow its own citizen to make changes and speak their mind. I started to reflect on my history of coming to America. From the death of my birthmother, to the struggles of fleeing a communist country and finally assimilating to the American way of life. There were many times I could have gone down the road of self pittty or hopelessness but luckily I was given a second family with a wonderful mother. Though she is not my biological mother, she is much my blood as I am hers. She taught me that tough is defined by the amount of effort you put into something.

Since America is not my first home country, as a child I would always feel guilty of not truly being a citizen and would cross my fingers when saying the pledge of allegiances. Not sure why I did it, perhaps it was the fear of communism, and in my adolescent mind I did not want to get into trouble just incase I was taken away. So growing up the concept of what a citizen is grew heavily on my mind. Is it a piece of paper or something more? It was not until my first son was born I truly understood the concept of what a citizen is. It's not just a documentation giving you certain privileges but what it means in your heart and way of life. It is the deep respect of our history and the diversity of many cultures that is blended into one melting pot. For me that one melting pot is our language, our faith in God (which ever God you believe in) and willingness to fight for freedom. However there are a lot of people out there for some reason or another is bent on destroying the unity of that melting pot by trying to take out the word God or make everything bilingual.

I am not a deeply religious person nor do I go to church every Sunday but what is so wrong of having respect for the guy upstairs. Some can argue that religion is the cause of many battle and wars… but really, is it? Or the interpretations of man. As humans we could use any excuse to go to war but truly I believe that God brought more good than evil. Basically for me the word God is part of America's history and that the founding fathers of this country went to great lengths to keep the word God into our life. Please don't let their struggles die in vain. Make peace with the word "God" and move on.

So now the election is approaching and I find myself asking who I would support. I do not define myself as a republican, democrat or libertarian. First of all, hands off for those who want to run for office in today's world. But if you're going to run, be prepared for every part of your life turned up side down and under a microscope. I'm not phased by all these polls, nor do I care for them.. It's simply a talking point for the media and understand it. Like any job applicant the citizens are the employers and who ever seeking the job of the next president man or female better come with a darn good resume.

What I would like to see on his/hers resume is their voting records, what bill they actually passed not just talked about, people skills (the art of persuasion ), have a moral compass, clear examples of their leadership under times of pressure, actually ran a successful business and basically the ability to answer a straight question not make good sounds bites for the evening news. My biggest pet peeve is straight answers. For example if you were to ask a candidate what color is the sky? What do you think he or she would say… everything aside I would support someone who would just simply give a straight answer… blue! and nothing more.

Family Fun Filled Visit

Over the weekend Van's family came to visit and stayed with us for a three days. In those three days we did things that could easily take two weeks to do. We went to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, swimming, had a BBQ by the pool, took the train to the zoo, medieval times and sight seeing around Dallas. Whew! so after they left yesterday we took a long nap.


This photo was actually from our cousin Jason's wedding in Jackson TN. Look at Patrick's face, he is funny at making silly faces.

The kids feeding sting rays. I actually fed one and it was kind of slimmy but fun.



This is one of a few pictures where Patrick looks so sweet, but don't let it fool you. However this is how I think of him inside my heart...


Here are the boys showing some moves at Medieval Times. It was amazing!! I highly recommend doing this, if you're ever in Dallas.





My inner geek came out and the knights at the show was like eye candy.. ha ha

The princess crazy face. Isabella makes this crazy face that is so funny her whole body shakes while she does it. It's really funny in person.

Patrick 1: Mom 0

Score a point for Patrick as he is the first to truly beat me down... in the test of will power.

I should have realized yesterday was not going to be my day when Isabella decided to color her bed with... pooh... yes pooh. It was all over the crib, sheets, pillow case and of course on her. So I rushed both her and Patrick in the tub. Scrub the crib down with bleach and washed all the bedding (before nearly hurling)!!!

Van had to work late to prepare for court... So I was on my own for Patrick's first T-Ball practice with all three kids. Knowing Patrick's track record on cooperating, I was prepared for a melt down. But this was the melt down to end all melt down. First he started crying immediately, I began my usual round of questions ranging from being scared, hurting, potty break.. After letting Patrick relieve himself behind the telephone pole (there were no bathrooms around, I was not going to torture myself longer than need be). Still he was crying, and some how bit himself on the lip and bled all over his shirt... With every bat there were tears, with every step there was screaming, with every hit there were more tears. It took every ounce of me not to break down.

After many bad glares from the other parents I could have easily ended everyone's misery and taken him home. But I was determined not to give up, because if I did he would start down this path of giving up. I really didn't care what other parents think and told my son he had won the crying battle.... for a moment he stopped crying and just looked at me with shock and continued playing with tears. After practice was over, in the car he turns to me with the cutest look and said he wanted to come back again... I nearly hit a tree!!! Oh in between the chaos of all the crying and screaming... Isabella was running up and down the field.

At the end of the day all you could do is laugh and thank god your kids’ still want do sometime they thought was horrible and ended up liking it because you didn't give up on them.....