If You Are Going Green Do So...

Well I am happy to say that the top layer of the beds are finally done now I only have to more layers to get done and the flower beds will be ready to face the summer...

Carl worked all day getting the top soil from the garden and getting the second tilling in... maybe there will be fresh veggies at our place this fall which will be a nice change since there has not been any for a few years...

This morning there was a great debate on with myself if I was going out grocery shopping or staying home and working in the yard... the sun was shining and I was not as sore as I thought I was going to be this morning.. but the lack of fresh veggies and fruit in the house made me go out to do the shopping...

I went to my usual store which on Earth Day started to charge for plastic bags...all fine and good... as I walked into the store with my own green bags and went to the produce department I took a look around for the second time and wondered that same thing... ok if this is a green store why is there so many rolls of plastic bags so customers can put their one apple, two oranges, grapes that are already in a plastic wrap etc in these plastic bags... my thoughts a long time ago was why use these bags any way... it is not like you are going to go home and put all this in the fridge in the bags... okay that was one thing... the second was when they started to come out with green bags they were .99 and just before Earth Day they went up to 1.29 hmmm so who is getting to made a few more cents for themselves??? So after picking up what I needed I went to the check outs since it takes forever to get someone to change the scales on self scan when you are using the green bags... I put the bags which were mostly not from that store on the cash and I had to laugh the cashier when digging through my bag of bags to find their store bags... she asked if I wanted to buy more bags... of course me being me came back with no thank you... I went to the other stores and got these bags because they didn't up the price .30... what could she say.. it was true...I think the next time I go do groceries I will take in all the other bags from the other stores to put what I got in and see what happens... what can I say ... I am not a nice person... lol

Well there is still an hour or so of day light left so I think I am going to see if I can get another layer of bed done before I call it a night...

Have a wonderful all.... Joanne

A Mother's Day Review....

Monday morning and being up way too early for my liking since it was close to 3 am before this backside got to bed... I am going to blame it on the great company I had last night and the movies we watched.... a great way to end a wonderful day...

But Mother's Day started on Wednesday when we went down to celebrate Yvette's birthday... she not only had the lobster surprise for us but some other surprises for the woman of the family....

After the cake, and gifts Yvette showed up with a nice bag for mom and explained that she was going to be away on Mother's Day so she was giving her, her Mother's Day gift now...

And if any one knows mom ... she loves getting gifts....

Of course there had to be chocolate in the package... making sure that mom never runs out of the stuff.... he he

And a beautiful spring coat....

Little red riding hood she looks like...

And thank you to the givers....

But mom was not the only one that got gifts that day... Pat did as well...

Just a little something to mark the day....

ohhh it smells so good....

A spoon or tea bag holder.... very cute....

Ohhh yes something else... for me... how so very lucky....

Now this is a mug I like to have when I am trying to face the morning... everyone knows how much of a morning person I really am not..... LOL and by the way it holds more then a xl Tim's... I checked... LOL...

Mother's Day.... Itself

Our visit was quiet... sitting around chatting until I realized I didn't even take pictures...

so snapped a few of the women just sitting around relaxing....

While the men were in the kitchen hard at work...

making dinner for them... way to go men of the house he he

Then off to Carl's parents place to be greeted with these delicious looking pies...

Susan's work of art... as usual....

And the guest of honor.... I am sure they really didn't want to be.... he he

When I got to the house they had some nice little plates on the table but I took along the plates that would fit the occasion .... doesn't make a great looking table...

So what do you buy a woman that has everything... well... a nice size lobster to enjoy....

Table doesn't look all that bad after the plates are filled....

And boy did Oma enjoy herself....

It was not his day but Opa enjoyed it as well....

And when all was done.. the women once again sat relaxing as the men of the house cleaned up... and got things back to order.....

Oma was amazed to see Carl wiping dishes... she had never seen that before LOL... I did inform her that he has been doing it for a while around home....

And a few things that I was surprised with... Susan had these on the table for Oma and I... and informed me that when she comes to visit it better be alive and doing well... she doesn't know me very well does she???? I may be able to grow all those flowers outside but I really suck when they come in the house....

A replacement of a rabbit that was broken a year or so ago... I was told... actually it is cuter then the one I had before....

I hope that all the Mother's in my family had as wonderful a day as I did...

Have a wonderful Monday... Joanne

A Mother's Greeting For My Family

Erma Bombeck has been one of my favorite authors... actually the first book I ever recieved was called "Motherhood; The Second Oldest Profession" and it was given to me by Annie (I still have it)... In the book there are many little stories and several of them became my favorites... and today Mother's Day I present the mothers of my family with this story called "When The Lord Created Mothers."

_________________________

When the good Lord was creating mothers,

He was into His sixth day of "overtime"

when the angel appeared and said,

"You're doing a lot of fiddling around

on this one."

And the Lord said,

"Have you read the specs on this order? --

She has to be completely washable,

but not plastic; Have 180 moveable parts . . .

all replaceable; Run on black coffee and leftovers;

Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;

A kiss that can cure anything from

a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;





And six pairs of hands...

The angel shook her head slowly and said,

"Six pairs of hands . . . no way."

"It's not the hands that are

causing me problems," said the Lord.



"It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers

have to have."

"That's on the standard model?"

asked the angel.


The Lord nodded.

"One pair that sees through

closed doors when she asks,

'What are you kids doing in there?'

when she already knows.



Another here in the back of her head

that sees what she shouldn't

but what she has to know,

and of course the ones here in front

that can look at a child when

he goofs up and say,

'I understand and I love you'

without so much as uttering a word."




"Lord," said the angel, touching

His sleeve gently,

"Come to bed. Tomorrow . . ."




"I can't," said the Lord,

"I'm so close to creating something

so close to myself.



Already I have one who heals

herself when she is sick . . .

can feed a family of six on

one pound of hamburger . . .

and can get a nine year-old

to stand under a shower."




The angel circled the model of

a mother very slowly.

"It's too soft," she sighed.

"But tough!" said The Lord excitedly.



"You cannot imagine what

this mother can do or endure."

The angel asked, "Can it think?"



"Not only think, but it can reason

and compromise," said The Creator.

Finally, the angel bent over and

ran her finger across the cheek.

"There's a leak," she pronounced.

"I told You You were trying to

put too much into this model."

"It's not a leak," said the Lord,

"It's a tear."

"What's it for?" asked the angel.

"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment,

pain, loneliness and pride,"

The Lord replied.

"You are a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber.

"I didn't put it there," he said.

May you all have a wonderful Mother's Day ... Hugs Joanne....

How Mother's Day Came About

How Mother's Day Came To Be....

Some historians claim that Mother's Day originates from ancient spring festivals dedicated to maternal goddesses. Greeks honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Ancient Romans had a spring festival dedicated to Cybele, also a mother goddess. Called Hilaria, this celebration lasted for three days and included parades, games and masquerades.

A more modern version of Mother's Day began in the 1600s in England. Mothering Sunday was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Small gifts were given, and a special dessert called a simnel cake was served.
In the United States, Mother's Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (famous for writing the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"). But it was a woman who was never a mother herself who led the campaign for national recognition of Mother's Day.

Anna Jarvis held a ceremony in 1907 in Grafton, West Virginia, to honor her mother, who had died two years earlier. Jarvis' mother had tried to establish Mother's Friendship Days as a way of dealing with the aftermath of the Civil War. Anna Jarvis began a campaign to create a national holiday honoring mothers. She and her supporters wrote to ministers, businessmen and politicians, and they were successful in their efforts.

In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize the new holiday, and the nation followed in 1914 when President Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. Jarvis used white carnations as a symbol for mothers, because carnations represented sweetness, purity and the endurance of mother love. (Today, white carnations represent a mother who has died, while red carnations represent a living mother.)

Unfortunately, Jarvis became bitter over the commercialization of the holiday. She filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day event and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a mother's convention where white carnations were being sold. Jarvis never married and never had children. She died in 1948.

Mother's Day continues to be a very commercial holiday in the United States. Flowers, candy and cards are typical gifts, and phone traffic is especially high on the second Sunday in May.

Friday Truth Day

Friday ... Truth Day for me... well it is everyday but today is 3 months blood test and I know I have not been very good... since March.. there has been seven birthdays, Easter, Lobster season.... the kids being here ... those are all the excuses and I am sticking to them... but in truth I am a weak individual with no will power to either walk away or just say no thank you maybe some other time...
I am sitting at the computer this morning while I was waiting for my 2 hours to go by and I was shocked to realize how many time my hand went to pick up a cup of tea that was not there...which is always there every moment of the day...
Mom's candy dish is a curse in itself... since there is always pieces of chocolate in it... I walk pass it when I first come in and give myself a little tap on the back but if I am there for any length of time and go by it several times I leave with at least 1 piece.... I am weak and have no self control...
Normally except for Coke which is being weaned out of the house as we speak... meaning that I get one can a day for the next few weeks... because like anything else I am ugly when I don't have it... there is no sweets in the house... we don't bake anything knowing that it wouldn't last the day in this house... there is no chips or chocolate in the house... because we would eat it until it is gone... if we want a chip a small bag is bought and shared that goes for chocolate a bar is bought it shared until Matthew came home and comes in with bags of chips and dip and you know darn well I am not going to pass up dipping my hand in there several times before the bag is gone...
I have no will power and will always be a junk food junkie for the rest of my life... every time I go do groceries it is a fight on my hands not to walk out of the store with all those great things... like cookies, junk food, ice cream... pancake mix... corn syrup.... a wonderful sugar pie which I have not had in years but the thought has been there...
The truth is if I don't get my act into gear I never going to get my blood sugar count down which means that I am heading to big trouble...
And how bad was it this morning after two hours waiting... as I went out of the house I had a Tim's cup filled with my red tea so when the test was done it will be there ready for me when I get in the car.... boy that is bad... worst if it was a coke... at least it was tea...

Joanne