tHiS iS wHaT i LiKe (post 233)

http://www.preventbullying.org/

• Nine out of ten elementary students report being bullied by their peers.
• Nearly one in three students ages 12 to 18 reports being bullied at school.
• An estimated 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. (source:http://www.preventbullying.org/problem.html)

Good Monday morning all and I know this isn't a product, but a campaign and absolutely "what I like".

I know firsthand exactly what being bullied feels like. I was tormented all the way through Elementary School and on and off through the rest of my school years for no reason other than being different. I have successfully blocked out many things that happened throughout my adolescence, but one very vivid memory has stayed with me all these years.
In the fifth grade I had 3 or 4 girls in my class that had taken turns harassing me over the years. I had one really good friend in my class, but she had started hanging out with another really good friend of mine and I found myself left out frequently. I took to hiding out in the library and reading during lunch recess. Eventually the librarian figured out that I was in there every day and made me stay outside. I knew these girls were making fun of me. They'd point and whisper to each other at me and all conversation stopped when I got close.
There was nothing wrong with me. I didn't dress badly. I wasn't particularly funny looking. I was a bit socially awkward and sensitive and never wanted anything, but to be everybody's friend.
To my surprise a couple of the girls who tormented me started talking to me and seemed like they wanted to be my friends. They started hanging out with me and wanting to play together at recess. I was thrilled (if not a bit perplexed)! Little did I know what they were plotting...
Shawn Coffee was my neighbor. Shawn was at least 6 inches taller than everyone else, was scrawny, with a long neck and huge glasses. Shawn was a huge nerd (and everybody knew it) he also had a huge crush on one (if not all) of the girls who tormented me. My tormentors started telling me that Shawn "liked" me and we should "go out" (keep in mind this was the 80's folks and going out meant nothing but hanging out together). I was a little weirded out, but agreed when Shawn asked me to "go out" with him.
To this day I don't know how these girls talked Shawn into this, but I was about to be completely humiliated.
After I agreed to "go out" with Shawn at lunch recess, we went back to class. The classroom had desks formed into groups and as luck would have it, Shawn was seated in front of me. We watched a filmstrip later in the afternoon and after it was over, our teacher (we got stuck with a substitute for half the year, while our teacher was out having a baby) had talked about whatever we had just watched. She had just sat back down at her desk when I looked up at Shawn who was leaning over his desk toward me, lips puckered coming in for a kiss!? The look of horror in my face must have been priceless as he slipped and fell face first on my desk. At this very moment my class erupted in laughter! They knew it was coming...they all somehow knew!? I curled up with my face in my lap and cried. I sat mortified listening as the entire 5th grade (3 classrooms in all) jeered and clapped and stomped for what seemed like forever. Not only had my tormentors talked Shawn into helping humiliate me, they had spread word to the entire 5th grade.  
They planned the whole thing...all for no purpose, other than to make me cry.
Did you know that each and every one of these girls are my friends on Facebook? I seriously doubt any of them remember any of this either. Somehow growing up and having kids of our own, makes it okay? No, you're right it doesn't. Did you know that I was teased and tormented so much as a child, that I still have a hard time believing that I am a good person? I was beat-up twice later on in this same 5th grade year as well. I never knew I was pretty, or that I was good, or talented, or smart. I only knew that being myself wasn't good enough. It affects me still to this day. My eternal dialogue is all messed up and even though I was able to develop a very thick skin over the years, I struggle with it still. I ended up in an abusive marriage, he was extremely controlling and hearing that I was worthless and believing it came naturally. I didn't know anything else.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. [Matthew 7:12]

Think about this, all of this when you sit down with your kids tonight at the dinner table. Tell your kids that it is never okay to make fun of anyone, for any reason. Tell your kids that the world is made up of different people and they may not all think the same way, or look the same way, but everyone deserves the right to be treated with respect.
Oh and to my tormentors? Long since forgiven, I promise.

I'm just being myself...

Sorry that the image is a bit on the blurry side, I swiped it from Amazon. It was so cute, I just couldn't resist! If anyone knows me, they know for a fact that I am a Peanuts nut, Snoopy in particular. How can anybody be grumpy when faced with a happy go lucky beagle? I know I sure can't and I imagine this is the basis for his mass appeal. I am a grown-up though and my house isn't covered with Snoopy based items, but there are two large shelves to house my collection of Snoopy things I've amassed over the years. I have Snoopy on my car, I had a Snoopy flag in my yard (until the mean ol' wind snapped my pole in two) and even when my ex-husband came over to pick up the kids last year (oh yes, he visits that often...) he was able to immediately pick out our house because of Snoopy. "Let me guess, it's the one with the Snoopy flag...", he said to his Mom.
I laugh that I feel the need to point out that I'm an adult because you see I have this Snoopy blanket, this blanket goes with me everywhere I travel. It sits on my bed for snuggling or on the couch as well. It took all I had in me when friends of ours came over last weekend, not to go steal it back after I had forgotten it on the couch and my friend curled up under it. I still had to wash it immediately after she left though...hmmm. I accidentally left it at home last time I traveled and pouted so miserably, my Mom took pity on me and bought me another blanket to substitute. It wasn't the same though! Poor Snoopy blanket, it has seen better days and try as I might, I have never been able to find another. I sat and scoured pages and pages of Snoopy items over the weekend on the web in attempts to find a suitable replacement. After and hour or two I was done and was getting ready to get up when I spied an ad at the bottom of the page I was looking at for a Snoopy twin sized blanket (the size I have now) and for a great price! Score! I motioned to my man and pointed out exactly what I saw and he shooed me from the room. How much you want to bet I'll be getting a new Snoopy blanket for Christmas?! ;0)
I know it's silly to have such a juvenile fetish and seeing as though I'm a 30-something year old Mom of three, you would think I would be beyond such things. I just can't help it though! I'm just being myself and no one can tell me I'm doing it wrong! ;0)

Thanks.

Hard to believe Thanksgiving is just over a week away! I almost fell over when I came to that realization yesterday! That means cooking turkey, making stuffing, hosting guests, cleaning the house, putting up with the kids being out of school for 5 days straight...ugh, it's enough to make you want to pull your hair out! But hey now, let's take a deep breath and remember the reason for the holiday...yes, that would be thanks.

A. Lamb 2010

*The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts.  No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.  ~H.U. Westermayer*

D. Lamb 2010

Now, that's something to think about. No matter your situation in life, no matter the rush you are in, no matter the impossible perfection you are trying to achieve, someone has it worse than you, period. A quick thought to just that and whatever daunting task or situation that lies ahead of me instantly becomes minuscule. I'm going to take everyday up to Thanksgiving to be thankful and share it here with you and I would love to hear what you are thankful for too! 

S. Lamb 2010

 #1 I'm thankful for my kids, I would not be who I am today without them and couldn't imagine my life if they weren't mine. ;0) They all drew turkey pictures for me today and anyone who knows my kids can guess who drew the blown up one....uh, yeah. ;0)

TiP fOr TuEsDaY (post 138)

 
                                                 The past is behind you for a reason.
This tip for Tuesday post is going along with my quote I shared on my fan page today:

‎"The past is never there when you try to go back. It exists, but only in memory. To pretend otherwise invites a mess." ~ Chris Cobbs

 

I swear that blogger's "improved" publishing tools are going to be the death of me as well, but besides that, I was trying to figure out how old I was when this picture was taken. My guess is about 15. Freckled face, very large eyebrows, giant t-shirt and pre-giant framed glasses I started sporting at 16. I'm sparing myself from the pic of those, not necessarily the rest of you...just a FYI! 

Recently there has been sort of a buzz on Twitter, not that I follow the trends on Twitter (yes, I'm stealing this from the blog of someone else, don't judge me!) this is the reason I know about it! (Ha, and you thought that following 40 blogs was a waste of time!) Anyway, I'm done talking to myself here (don't hold your breath on that!) and I'm getting to the point....finally! The Twitter buzz is letters to your 16 year-old self...you know, giving yourself advice and what not. As I mentioned before, I am unwilling to torture myself with the image of my 16 year-old self but, this does not mean I can't remember that age with vivid detail. I am certainly not without loads of advice I could have used as well...so here goes.

Eyebrows. Yep, girl they make two of them for a reason...perhaps you should take a few minutes to separate them for good...and to think I didn't break them up for good until after high school. Why...why...why?

Glasses. For reasons I cannot explain when I got my braces off the year before, it didn't occur to me that I should not get the most giant pair of frames possible and commit beauty suicide. I mean for Pete's sake, when they suggested a smaller frame size why didn't you say yes? I looked like an owl with those giant frames dwarfing my petite features...

Hair. I chopped it short at 14, and that was pretty cute...ringlets and all. I chopped again at 15 and 16 too. I have it short now as well, but I actually fix it fashionably. That and I wear make-up daily and no longer raid my Dad's clothes for flannels and worn out jeans for cut-offs...tsk, tsk. I looked ridiculous constantly until my senior year!

Date someone else too. I dated the same guy from 16 on and now that we are grown and his wife is fat and hates me and I no longer get to be his friend, I wish I had broadened my horizons. It's a shame. 

Okay, so this whole post is making me very glad that the past is behind me! Of course I will always wish that I had done some things differently, but I really am glad the past is passed. Yes, chopped short hair, giant glasses, giant eyebrows and all!  The past IS behind you for a reason, me at 16 could have stayed there too! Here's your tip for Tuesday!

The ghosts of Halloweens gone past (in picture form)

Ahh, the costumes from 80's gone past...ugly clowns, pink jelly shoes and all...

You would think Tinkerbell would at least agree to have her hair fixed appropriately or not...

I never had more fun scaring away all the kids than this year, until Mom made me go inside..poo.

The most adorable Cookie Monster ever!

Don't tell my son he was dressed as a girl...he loved "Blue Clues" though!

This would be the continuance of the Mario bros. years, we had Mario, Luigi and the princess a couple of years before as well..

Mario, Luigi and at least a ballerina this year...

Dominoes Pizza Delivery Boy, a princess, and a pirate...at least it wasn't Mario Bros., right?

and don't forget this buzzing little furball, he has to get into the action too! ;0)