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    Monday, May 14, 2007

    Mother's Day

    Usually, I don't give cards for Mother's Day. They cost too much, take too much time to pick out, and are simply considered garbage after the words are read, uselessly filling up the landfills. Normally, I give a small gift, a token of love to my own mother and grandmother, and leave it at that. But the other day I was at mal-wart (my mommy forced me to go), bored out of my mind, when I saw the card stand. There were an awfully lot of adorable cards this year, and some really great ideas for homemades that would save me a lot of money, be more thoughtful than any silly trinket, and allow me with just a bit of time, to express my adoration for not only the mommies in my family of birth, but also for the mommies I know and love as close friends.

    We only had 4 colors of construction paper in the magic closet, so I used them, markers, scissors, and a glue stick to the best of my ability in order to make something truly special for everyone on my list.

    My friend Rambleman writes some interesting info on his blog today. "Did you know that Mother's day was originally started as a war protest?

    In the United States, Mother's Day was copied from England by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War with a call to unite women against war. She wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation."
    Wow, thanks for the educational bits Rambleman!

    In more personal news, my Mother's Day(s) was fantastic with just a little bump or three.
    My aunt planned a get-together for all of the moms in the family for Saturday lunch. We had a lovely time visiting, and only hit one tiny snag when the checks were delivered. B told mom that she was paying... Whoops! Now why mom hadn't heard of this bit of plan (nor me or grandmother for that matter), I don't know. One can only guess. Then to make up for that, we had the usual humor of the checks when grandmother absconds with the checks, pays them all, and refuses to take anyone's money, much to the argument and dismay of everyone who had their money ready. *chuckle* Thius time, there was an actual small toss of a wad of cash across the dining table! One of these days I'm going to get that fiasco on film. It is too cute to see my grandmother trying to look fierce. I learned long ago not to argue with her, and instead to hide it in her slippers or somewhere else inconspicuous when she's not looking at some later time. *snicker* Ya gotta be really sneaky to get money into that woman's hands, I tell ya.

    For Sunday, I had planned on taking Flo, Mom, and myself out to eat for the holiday. We had planned on going to a local Italian place, but when I called to verify the deal and check on their business, I was put on hold for 45 minutes. When I called back, I was told that the free dinner for mothers was dependent on having another paying adult with you. To me, this sounded like bias against widows, divorcees, and single moms who might not have another adult to dine with, but I digress. I called a third time to ask for a manager, whereupon I was put on hold without notice, so I called back immediately. The manager answered the phone and proceeded to talk over me, interrupt, and give lame excises as to why their "free" dinner for moms wasn't really free at all, laying the blame squarely on some idiot's idea last year to have kids eat free on Sundays and Moms eat free on Mother's day, which nearly ran the store broke as they tried to honor both of the arrangements simultaneously. Thankfully, nobody I know is that stupid. Geez, have the customer pick one offer only. *rolls eyes* So that was the first bump in my day, and yes, I do plan to call the main headquarters in St. Louis to talk about this to a desk-jockey higher up in the food chain. In the nice time, I'm thinking of not eating at Pasta Pronto/The Pasta House ever again, despite their free (supposedly, I have yet to find out) birthday meal, and their delightful baked ravioli.

    Bump number two occurred after I called Incredible Pizza and asked what the stipulations were for their "free" Mother's Day meal for moms. All you had to do was bring your children. Rock on! Off we went to the restaurant, grabbing up a couple of lovely ground-scores along the way from curbside piles, and bought our meal, when the bump appeared. Seems there was some sort of age requirement for the children (minors maybe?). The cashier said to me that there were three moms, and only two kids, looking puzzled. I set her straight, letting her know that in our group of 5, there were in fact three moms, and 4 children, and that I had called to get all the details before we came and nobody told me about an age limit on the kids attending the meal, just that mommies had to bring their kidlings along. She looked puzzled for a second, then said we could go ahead and go on through. The moms enjoyed the heck out of the meal, the movie, and the game room (my mom went out to her car for a bit after the movie, the game room makes her batty). The kids decided to cash in some tickets they've been saving for over a year (Ladybug got a disco-ball-type thing, Littlebit got a Dora Velcro ball "dart set"), and all was well. After we played, we stopped for dessert in the family room and some folks finishing their party offered us all of their leftovers (cake, trinkets, toys). We declined the cake, but suggested it be offered to the employees (who were joyous to be given cake), and the girls had a blast playing with the leftover toys, which they took home). We more active mommies even took a turn on the DDR machine. *grin* I was surprisingly good at it this time!
    Arriving home, we unloaded the goodies from the roadside, and invited my mom to stay for a bit and relax after all the noise of the restaurant. She agreed to sit for a small while, but ended up hanging out until after midnight laughing and chatting with Flo. So much foe being hot and tired, huh? *chuckle* When we make an outdoor living room, we make it comfy, electric fan and all.

    I spent most of the time playing in the dirt (which was what I wanted to do for mother's day) and aside from a bit of yelling Keeb seemed to need off his chest, and a bit of the Idunwannas from the girls when I asked them to weed the onions (so I can put down the weed-pruf and not have to weed again this season). My gifts were lovely, both girls made me a card and wouldn't stop hugging me. I even got a nice long hot shower!

    I'm really really really tired, but it was, overall, a fantastic day. *grin*

    1 comment:

    lovelife said...

    hi glad you had a fun mom's day.