Birthday Woes. . .

Celebrating another year this week.  My hubby is out of town and my boys are oblivious.  Ughhhh
This is one and probably the only time I wish I had a girl.  I think girls are more in tuned with celebrating things like a Mom's birthday.  That sort of thing is completely lost on boys or at least on my boys.   They are too tied up with their sports and video games to care that Mom has a birthday.   I think my husband texted Sprat to remind him it was my Birthday.  My very sweet hubby did send me flowers though and he has not done that in a long time. Maybe boys realize the effect of birthdays on women once they get older.  I guess there is still hope for my two scoundrels.  We went out to eat last night;  the boys, my niece, and myself to celebrate, that was very nice and I did enjoy it.
Big T asked me how old I was going to be and then he began trying to guess.  He said, 30 years old?  I said nope, I am 21 years old.  This brought up a very funny memory of my Mom.  I always believed what ever my Mom told me, why would my Mom tell me anything that was not true.  I asked very innocently how old my Mom was and she told me she was 21, actually it may have been Dad that said she was 21.  This was when I was in the third grade and obviously she was older than 21 since she was in fact in her 30's when I was born.  That next week I went to school and something was said about my Mom and I told them she was 21 years old.  My teachers all laughed and said that my Mom had done a lot in her 21 years.  They all knew she was older than 21 but they did not say anything to me about it.  They did, however, corner my Mom at the next PTA meeting and they all had a big laugh at silly me.
My hubby comes home today and I cannot wait to see him.  This is one part of his work I did not miss when he got laid off.   He does not travel much but you can count on at least 2 trips a year for national conferences.   He usually misses a Birthday or an Anniversary here and there.  

A Little Giggle to Start the Day. .

If you read my blog or know me personally,  then you know I have goofy moments.  Here is one of my latest goofs.   I use to work in a doctors office and sometimes they saw infants and we all know the drama of changing that odorous diaper in public.  The doctor's office is no different.  This particular office had this great spray called Ozium and it had a very faint orange smell.  You could spray this after a stinky diaper episode and you would not even know a baby had been in there.  It was not strong and over powering either.  I found this spray at a local drug store and bought some for my house.  You know I have two very stinky boys.  Every time I saw this spray I would buy it.  You never know when ya might need it.  I started carrying one in my purse, they are small bottles so they fit perfectly.  The one I had picked up most recently was still in my purse, I had not used it yet.  I went in my laundry room the other day and was over taken by gym socks and stinky gym clothes.   I went to my brand new bottle of Ozium still in my purse and sprayed it in the laundry room.  I closed the door to let it do the magic.  I went back in the laundry room and it had a weird smell.  It was not the faint smell of orange it was strange and I could not put my finger on it.  I went to my purse to read the bottle, and I was shocked again.  The flavor on the bottle read, new car smell.  Yes, now my laundry room had that wonderful new car smell every woman dreams of for her laundry room.  Who knew they had more than one scent in this fabulous doctor's office spray? Who would have dreamed they would make it in new car smell?   

I have again made the point you should always read your labels, you never know what odorous spray you might come home with.  

I Can do that, I've Seen Mom do it. . .

I can do that, I have seen my Mom do it a hundred times.  This is the the thought that bounces around in my head right before something goes horribly wrong in the kitchen or anywhere really.  Case and point, I grew up watching my Mom make gravy for Sunday lunch and here come those awful words...  I can do that, I have seen Mom do it a thousand times.   Those were the words that I uttered right before my first attempt at making gravy after my sweet hubby and I were married.   Just because you have seen it done does not mean you can do it.   My first attempt at gravy was very sad and bless my dear hubby for trying to eat what I had made.  We could have spackled the walls with that concoction, it was very sad.  I just knew I could make gravy, like I said, I had seen Mom do it a thousand times at least over the years.  There is an art to making gravy though, I am proud to say that after twenty three years of marriage I have perfected that art.  My first successful gravy was, chip beef and gravy, and it was very good and it was many months after that disastrous attempt.
At my first job after the hubbs and I were married, I was always the first person at the office in the mornings.  My boss asked me, since I was the first one in, if I would start the coffee.  My reply was, sure I can, I have seen my Mom do it plenty of times.  I did not drink coffee at this point and I do not drink it often even now, so I really did not know how to make coffee.   I would not dare tell my boss no, that I could not make coffee.  That first morning for my new task was disastrous as par for the course.  They never asked me to make coffee again.
I told you all that to share another coffee catastrophe at work yesterday.   A new co-worker was asked to make coffee, actually he volunteered to make coffee.  I saw him struggling with the pot so I approached to help out.  I still do not drink much coffee and I do not make coffee at all so I really did not know how to help my co-worker.   There was water coming from everywhere and pouring out on to the counter and we could not get it to stop.  It was the blind leading the blind, but I could not just stand there and let him drown in hot water.  (no pun intended)  After almost half of the water had gushed out he realized he had not put the part that had the coffee grounds back where it belonged.  Once he did that every thing was fine.  We both laughed and he admitted that at home his wife made the coffee and I admitted I did not make coffee at all.
I guess today is a tribute to my Mom and all the things I thought I could do because I had watched her do it a million times.  This should make for some very interesting conversation over Thanksgiving.
What does your Mom do well that you thought you could do just because you watched her do it so many times?

Happy Mother's Day...

To all the Mom's, I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your families.  To all the Dad's being Mom too, I hope you have a wonderful weekend also.
Being a Mom is a very difficult job; there are no vacation days, no sick days, no pay raises, and most days no pats on the back for a job well done.  There are days when your kiddos will give you a kiss on the cheek and a whisper, "I love you."    I consider those as my pay raise. 
I think being a Mom to boys is the hardest.  They go from loving you and wanting you around all the time to being embarrassed to be seen with you.   When my kids get on that trip, I give them fair warning, that they have not even begun to be embarrassed.   Yes, I am that Mom. 
I love my boys to the moon and back, and I would do anything for them within reason.   They do push me to my end sometimes.  
You want your kids to do better than you, you do not want them to make the same mistakes you made.  I am here to tell you, you can only tell them so much.  Some things they have to learn from experience.  My hubby calls this "earning" knowledge.   I want to protect them from some of those "earning" experiences.  
Again to all the Mom's out there making memories, living in the little moments, and trying to make a difference for their children.  Prayers for us all.

This is a picture of my Mom and the boys on one of our outings a year ago.  

My niece, Mom, and Me at Biltmore last Summer. Photo by Big T.

Happy Mother's Day