Friday, May 17, 2013

May Secret Subject Swap - Take Two! ~Memories...

Welcome to Take Two of May’s Secret Subject Swap. This week, 11 brave bloggers picked  a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. 

My Secret Subject is:  "What is your favorite Mother's Day gift you've gotten so far?"  It was submitted by The Momisodes.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you need to.  She's pretty frickin awesome.

I'm going to pull a classic mom move and talk about a gift from the heart that I received.  I honestly enjoy getting hand made cards and paper towel tube craft projects.  Anything that shows some effort.  I tell my kids that it really is the thought that counts.  That just because you didn't pay money for something, or don't have a gift to wrap up in a box, doesn't mean it's not special and thoughtful and appreciated. I try on a yearly basis to convince them that cleaning the kitchen or going a whole day without fighting would be an awesome gift for me.  Still waiting for either of those. 

(Side note:  if we're being honest here, I did get an awesome material gift a couple years ago from the hubs, a Keurig coffee maker.  Pretty sure I did a spastic happy dance for a couple straight hours over that one.)

One of my most memorable gifts was a Mother's Day breakfast in bed.  I don't remember exactly how old everyone was, but it was back in the days of my being a single mom, so I'm thinking the six of them ranged from about 3 to 13. 

Each of them had a job to do for the breakfast;  my middle son, probably about 6, was sent out to the yard to pick flowers to put in a little vase on my tray.  Now that I think about it, that may have been the year there was a pink ladyslipper in my vase.  Which, in our state anyway, are illegal to pick,  lol. 

 
 
 
My middle daughter (9 or 10 at the time) was in charge of making my coffee.  My pre-Keurig coffee.  Like, brewing a pot with grounds and water and everything.  Apparently it came out pretty........disgusting.  Because they sent my oldest son (11ish) down to the little store at the bottom of the hill to buy me a cup of coffee. 
 
For some reason, this was really touching to me.  They knew that coffee was my favorite part of breakfast,  and they worked hard to make some.  But it didn't meet their standards so they scrapped it, scrounged up enough change to buy a cup of coffee, and my son was willing and happy to walk to the store, then walk back with a hot cup in his hand. 
 
I remember lying in bed as they were preparing things and noticing that there was no fighting going on.  No yelling,  no "I'm telling Mom!"  Either they did a marvelous job of getting along, or they did a marvelous job of keeping the bickering quiet.  This is in and of itself a gift!  Moms of more than one kid, can I get an Amen?!
 
This year, my ex husband gave the 4 kiddos still living at home some money to buy me a little something for Mother's Day.  And no, Hell hasn't frozen over, I checked!  He must be working on his resume for Heaven or something.  Anyway, I drove them to the mall and they all walked around together, helping each other choose a gift and count money.  Again, a gift right there; anytime my kids pull together and do something as a team makes me smile.  It was really cool to see how excited they got over having something to wrap up and give me.  And I loved seeing how well they knew me by giving me stuff that I actually liked!  (Bath & Body lotion, a phone case, sunglasses, and a Mother/Daughter necklace set.)  The actual presenst weren't what warmed my heart, although they were great.  It was the fact that they put thought into what would make me happy, made the effort of picking out something, and helped each other like siblings should. 
 
So yeah, to me it really IS the thought that counts.  Whether it's the thought of 'which gift would mom like', or 'how burnt can this toast be and mom will still eat it?'
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Go check out these other amazing bloggers and see what Secret Subject they got!
 
http://www.BakingInATornado.com Baking In A Tornado
http://hypnoticbard.blogspot.com/ The Insomniac’s Dream
http://dinoheromommy.com/ Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
http://momrantsandcomfypants.wordpress.com Mom Rants and Comfy Pants
 

 



Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Eyewear Review!

I was happy to be asked by Firmoo to review a pair of their eyeglasses.  They are a global online optical store and sell glasses for men and women as well as prescription sunglasses.  I was pretty psyched to go online and pick out a pair, that's the fun part!  These are the ones I chose:





The ordering process is easy; First you choose your frames; there's tons of styles to choose from and each one gives you detailed measurements to help you know exactly how they will fit your face. You can also upload a photo of yourself and virtually "try them on".  There are lots of pictures of each pair of frames from every angle. Customer reviews are posted at the bottom which I always look for when buying something new.  People have also sent in photos of them wearing their glasses so you can see how they look on a regular person, not just the fashion models that look perfect in anything.

Next you enter in your prescription information (or choose no prescription if you'd like to buy a pair with zero power lenses just for fashion.  It's the 'hipster' thing thing to do).  There's tips on what to do if you don't have your prescription or if you need help reading and entering it.  Once you've filled in all of the options, it gives you a total price, which can vary based on things like lens thickness and optional add-ons like UV Coating.

Click Add To Cart and you're on your way to getting a new pair of glasses without having to leave your house!

Thanks Firmoo ! 
www.firmoo.com

Thursday, May 2, 2013

I Didn't Do It!

Funny how some things start out so innocently. I left this comment on Karen of Baking in a Tornado's blog the last time she wrote about getting a blogging award:  "You should also get an I Didn't Kill My Teen-ager award as well".  Karen has 2 teen-agers and I have 5, so we know what we're talking about!
 
What we both didn't know was where that sentence would lead.  Because, let's face it, we parents do deserve awards for handling most of what we deal with on any given day.  Yet there is no such award, no trophy.  Why is that?
 
Well, there is one now.  And here it is:
 
 
 
 
The Triumph Trophy.  And we're not only accepting these trophies, but we're passing them on.  If you're a recipient, consider playing along!  Here are the rules:
 
1.  Display the Trophy in your post.
2.  Write a short piece that starts with:  I Didn't Kill  _________ Today.  It doesn't have to be a person, it can be an appliance, a business, or anything else you choose. 
3.  Nominate a few people and let them know it's their turn to vent.
 
So here's my Triumph:  I didn't kill my husband today. 
 
I  kinda wanted to, he really aggravated me.  We were getting ready to leave baseball and he said he would go to the grocery store and grab some stuff to cook on the grill. I asked him to also grab me a bottle of wine. 
Husband: <sigh>  <slumping shoulders>
Me:  What?
Husband: Well now I have to make 2 stops, 1 at the grocery store and 1 at the liquor store.  I hate doing that.
Me:  There's 1 grocery store that carries alcohol in it.
Husband:  Yeah but I wasn't going there. That one is all the way on the other side of town.  I was just going down the street  <whine>
Me:  Ok, that's fine, I can stop and grab a bottle while you're getting the food. No big deal, just say 'No'.
Husband:  I didn't want to tell you No (he never tells me No ;)  )
Me:  Well it's fine to tell me No sometimes.  No big deal.  Go get the food, I'll grab the wine.
 
He leaves, I leave and grab a bottle of pinot noir on my way home.  I take the baby for a walk around the block while we're waiting for Hubs to get back with dinner.  After some time, I get a text message from him:  "I'm at that other grocery store, what kind of wine did you want?"
 
............. seriously?!?!
 
But I didn't kill him.  I deserve a trophy. 
 
If you want to play, I nominate:
 
 
 
 
And a new blogger I found and adore:  Mommy's Going Crazy
 
Stop by Baking in a Tornado and see who or what didn't get killed by Karen.  And of course who she nominated.