Box Card

Hello everyone

Hope to find you all doing well and enjoying the lovely

spring weather. I have been doing some yard work. I also

have been working on our taxes which is the reason I have

not been around. I was having trouble finding all the receipts

from our move. I know that I had placed them all in one

envelope but couldn't find it. I had a disaster in the living

room for a few days. Didn't get much sleep these last few

days because it was driving me crazy. I finally found what I

needed and got my taxes done. Glad that it's done.

In my header picture is a box card that I made using the

Ladies Diary stack from Graphic 45.

I used two 12 x 12 sheets of cardstock to make this box card.

 I also did a lot of fussy cutting. Hope you like my card. Until

my next post Have A Splendid Day!!!!!!!!!

 

Kraft mini

Good Morning everyone.

Hope to find you all doing well. The sun is shining here and

flowers are in bloom. I'm enjoying myself being outdoors a

little more with the nice weather. My husband and I went out

to the woods yesterday to see if it was true that people are

finding Morel mushrooms. We found about four real small

ones. They will be ready soon and everyone will be out on the

hunt for them. I can't wait to get some Morels... Yummmm

In my header picture is a mini album that I finished. It's

done using one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.

A couple of pictures of the pages of the mini.

Last night we also got together with a friend and had dinner.

We had a blast talking about some of the crazy and dumb

things that we have done in the past. Lots of laughing going

on. Got home and finally downloaded some of my pictures

and that is why I have a post about what I have been working

on.

Below the back cover to the mini.

Hope you all like this mini. I'm off to get some things done

around the yard. Enjoy your Sunday.

Until my next post Have A Splendid Day!!!!1

Final installment

Hello everyone.

Hope you are all doing well and have found something fun

to do this weekend. As for me I hope I can get some projects

finished and photographed. The pictures in todays post are some

having to do with my heritage and some of the types of work that

my family and I have done.

Yesterday I left off with my children. We were lucky enough

to have the means to send them to a private school. In the private

school they didn't have any problems with racism. When they were

entering middle school they went into public school. There were a

few incidents with racism. We got through that. High school was

another story for one of my boys and it all had to do with a sports

coach. I took action just like my mom did for me. I am thankful

that coach Singler was able to get my son through a very devastating

experience.

I decided to go back to school in my thirties and I thought that

things were changing and that racism wasn't as bad for those of us

of Mexican descent boy was I wrong. I was harassed in college and

it was a racial sexual harassment. I am thankful that the college took

legal action and a restraining order was placed on that student. I

changed my major and got out of there as quick as I could. It was

stressful. My guard was up again and I was always looking over my

shoulder. One good thing that did come out of the situation is that I

made some really good friends that made sure that I was never alone

at any time while on campus.

There are times when my husband an I are out and about town

when we get an occasional remark about our inter-racial relationship.

Sometimes it's just glares and it comes at us from both sides. It has

happened at places of work and play. I find myself on guard a lot.

 

When my daughter said she wanted to do a project about this it really

showed me how I hide from so much and that I'm not really sure where

I belong. I have a facebook page but hardly ever say much on it. I have

this blog and it's the same never say to much. That might make me seem

a little snooty but it's not that. I'm just hiding so as not have anyone say

anything racist to me. I hope that this gives my daughter enough insight

for her project and that it does well. Thank you for sticking around to hear

what I have to say. The things I wrote about are just a few of the obstacles

that have been through in my life. This was just the short version.

Thank you everyone.

Until my next post Have A Splendid Day!!!!!!!

My life

Hello everyone!!!!

Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to spring.

Well I hope you have your cup of tea/ coffee or whatever it may

be that you drink because today I pick up from where I stopped

yesterday. First off some of the pictures in this post depict some

of the work that my family and I have done throughout the years.

 

Some of the things that I dealt with in school were kids not

wanting to swing on a swing that mexicans had touched, not wanting

to sit next to you. Things got a little better in middle school. In

high school things were bad again there were teachers that were

prejudice. Teachers that tried to fail you in their classes even though

all your work was turned in with an average of a B grade. Can you

believe that my Junior year I failed art well according to the teacher.

She said that I hadn't done a lot of the work which was produced to

her with the grades that she had given me written on the work. Luckily

my mother took action. Sorry to say that teacher moved on the next

year. It was action taken to late that my Senior year I became

very guarded and decided not to take another art class. My Junior

year was the worst. There were a couple of upper classmen that

were very cruel. Mind you that there was a group of us that were

really good friends. The group mainly consisted of kids that were

American of Mexican decent with the exception of a couple of

girls that were caucasian. I was so glad to be done with school.

 

Don't think that I was a perfect kid I was far from it. I did some real

dumb things while growing up. I just wasn't dealing with things that

were happening at school. I had an aunt that was always telling my

dad lies about me which I was always in trouble.

I got married to man that loved me for me and never saw my

skin of color but his dad was different. My husband is caucasian.

My father-in-law always had some Mexican joke to tell and would

let me know how he hated Mexicans. I also had a cousin that hated

that I didn't marry anyone of my race especially because she was

always trying to set me up with guys of my race.

Three children came along and my father-in-law showed favoritism

to the child that looked more like his dad. The other two kids could

see it. Not an easy thing to deal with so very hard to protect my

children from racism when it is happening in your own family. Again

my guard up.

I have been lucky to have some friends that I have made along

the way in my life that see me as a human and not see my skin

color. I have also had one person from the past that has apologized

for how they treated me back when we were in high school. That must

of been real hard for her. At the time she apologized it really threw me

off and I didn't know what to say. She is a bigger and better person than

I could ever be because that took some guts. I truly appreciate that she

she felt she had to do that.

Well it's been another long one so I will stop here and pick up

again tomorrow.

Until my next post Have A Splendid Day!!!!!!!

 

The Family Tree

 

Hello everyone.

Hope to find everyone doing well. Grab your coffee/tea and

a little something to eat because I am looking at the leaves of my

family tree.

My mothers family lived and worked in Texas. They

did a lot of farm work there. My mother would tell me stories of

her picking cotton when she was young and that with her family

being somewhat large all the kids had to work and didn't attend

school often. My mother had an eight grade education. When she

turned twenty she was allowed to go live with one of her brothers

in Washington State after he had left the service and decided to

stay in Washington. This is where my mother met my dad.

My dad and his family were migrant workers. They would migrate

throughout the United States following the harvest season of many

different crops. From the stories I have heard they have worked in

Texas, Minnesota, the Dakotas. and Washington. My dad has relatives

that are Aztec and Maya Indians. From what I know my dad has a fifth

grade education. When my dads mom started to have health issues

they decided to buy a restaurant in Sunnyside Washington. Then for

some reason they sold it and moved to Warden WA. There he worked on

farms. He met my mom they married and had me. When I was about

three my dad and his brothers started a trucking business. I can remember

riding in the truck with my dad while my mother worked in the fields

or sheds where they stored produce.

Some of my dads siblings would still follow the harvest season of some

crops in WA. To make it easier for my parents to not have to pay baby

sitters I would go with my aunt and uncles. I have spent some time in

the strawberry fields, apple orchards, asparagus fields just to name a

few.

When I was old enough to go to school I started my education in Warden.

There were times that I still went with my aunt and uncles to other cities

in WA. while they harvested crops. This is when the trouble began as

to who am I really. We were somewhere in the outskirts of the Seattle

area picking strawberries. Us kids were suppose to get on the bus that came

to the migrant workers camp and go to school. My cousins and I would

hide from the bus and not go. Not because we hated school but because

the kids were not nice to us kids of migrant workers. They would call us

names, spit on us, throw things at us, tell us we were dirty and that we

weren't wanted there. Since we would not go to school we were then

expected to work in the fields and work as hard as the adults. Our elders

thought that if they made us work hard we would change our mind about

not going to school. It didn't work. They stopped following the harvest

season during the school year and only followed the harvest in the summer

when there was no school. Some of my cousins got lucky because by the

time they came along my family had steady year around work and they

never set foot in a field and never learned what hard work is.  The

school kids were still the same no matter what school we went to they

didn't like us because of our skin color.

I know this is long so I will stop here for today.

Until my next post Have A Splendid Day!!!!!!! 

Do you know me?

Hello my friends and followers.

So much time has gone by since I last did a post. So much is

 happening in my life that I don't really know where and how to

begin.

I have been keeping up with the bloggers that I follow and in the

last couple of days I have read a few blogs that all have to do

how we are perceived. So get something to drink and snack on

because this is going to be somewhat long....LOL...

I want to know do you know me?  Or do you see me as the person

in my header picture? Well I am an American yes I am of Mexican

decent but I was born in America as well as my ancestors. My parents

were born in Texas and my grandparents in Mexico before this country

was settled by immigrants from other countries. I know many will not

see it this way it's ok. I am doing this for me and my daughter. For many

years I have been as others see me.

To many I am the food, the music and whatever they think

stereotypical Hispanic is. When someone sees me to them I am Hispanic

because of the color of my skin. To the Mexicans I am trying to be

white because my Spanish isn't fabulous and the so many other things

I should be doing because I am Mexican I do not fit in with them. I

find myself not knowing who I am and where I belong in this world.

 I know that I am a wife, a mother, a medical assistant, a crafter, woman etc.

etc.

I hope to help my daughter shine some light on this project that she is

trying to get off the ground. For the next month or so. I will address some

of the obstacles that I have had to drag myself over. Please leave a comment

as to when we very first met who you believed me to be. It would be greatly

appreciated.

Until my next post Have A Splendid Day/ Afternoon!!!!!!!