Mother's Day- Musings

My mom doesn't' read this blog, or any blog, or anything Internet! She is a true 50's mom. She has never driven. Never worked outside the home. She was always there for her girls. She also HATED having her picture taken. My dad was a photographer, and all the pictures of my mom had a newspaper or towel in front of her face. My mother kept house and cooked and cleaned and taught my sister and I to sew. She forced us to take piano lessions and nagged us to death to practice (thank you), She supported us in all of our activities and because she didn't drive, found us classes and rides everywhere. She took us to church and taught us to have faith and serve the Lord. She tried to pass down her excellent spelling, but that didn't take! My mother was a little on the shy side. My Dad, Louisa and I were the performers and my mother made all our costumes. I didn't have ONE store bought dress till I was 12! (my grandmother, her mother, also made all of my coats).

But her best calling in life is to be Grandmother. Grandmother to 5 (Lauren, JJ, Kieri, Jessica and Alex) and second best is to be the card lady to EVERYONE SHE HAS EVER MET!! believe you me when I say that she keeps Hallmark in business I mean it. Honestly, she will go without food (or only eat yogurt and Slim-Fast (at 82yrs of age for goodness sake)) so she can buy cards.
I'm so glad that I goaded her into selling her home of 50 years (oh and have I mentioned that she HATES change) and move two states away. But that's what families do. My dad died 20 years ago and she has held to her faith and been a trooper and tried her best to be self sufficient.

The not having her old friends nearby has been hard on her, but she is trying (bless her heart) to make new friends. She is just the cutest little old lady now (she has shrunk and would not be happy that I am calling her a little old lady) It is a little hard for me to see her as old. She has always been a blessing in my life taking care of me. Never missing any of my performances. Sitting by my bedside when I was sick. Lending me money, even though she said she didn't have any. Teaching me to sew. Teaching me to love the Lord and trust in him. Taking such good care of my girls. Following me across the country. I'm blessed with a kind, supportive, loving, spiritual mother.

And lets not forget my sweet daughters that MADE ME A MOTHER. After trying for a baby for 7 LONG years, I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl on Mothers day. The BEST mother's day ever. Then 2yrs later, Another! yipeee, Girls! who have both turned out to be beautiful Women making their way thru the world on their own. Who love their mother.

Mother's Day Gift for Neighbors

First of all the "thing" I was making for my neighbors... just... wasn't turning out right... so I had to find something else, FAST.
I turned to something I had seen on Tip Junkie a couple of weeks ago, ( I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tip Junkie) It was a "corsage". Flowers made of fabric:

ok, I can make that, only when I was looking at the directions... there was this way cute pin-cushion in the background.

Pincushion - boring - I know, but kinda cute... so I stopped making the flowers and...started making pin-cushions.. and I think they are kinda funky, kinda cute.
Here are the one's I've made and then wrapped up and now I'm all ready to be the sneaky mothers day (woman's day) fairy early tomorrow morning.

The End.

Food Fun Friday-Carrot Cake Cookies

We are having a BBQ tomorrow - the Twins are coming over from Seattle - so thought we'd celebrate Mr. P's birthday early. Last year I made carrot cake, but WAY too much left over... so this year I'm making:... . . . . .
Carrot Cake Cookies

FOR THE FILLING:
2 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
FOR THE COOKIES:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed, finely grated, peeled carrots
1/3 cup dried currants
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Make filling: With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat until combined. Cover; chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir until combined. Mix in oats, carrots, and currants.
3. Drop dough by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Bake until edges are crisp, rotating baking sheets halfway through, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
4. Turn half the cookies over, bottom side up; dollop each with about 1 teaspoon chilled cream-cheese filling. Top with remaining cookies, pressing gently to spread filling to edges. Serve immediately



I found them over here at Our Best Bites

WINNER

Ok, we have a winner folks! Totally random selection. And it’s Square Peg!!! From CO.
Yea Peggy! Thanks so much for stopping by every once in a while and checking my life out! I’ll email you the address I have for you.. just to make sure it is the current one!

Thank you everyone for stopping by and leaving comments. … I don’t leave comments as much as I should but I do appreciate all of yours.. make me want to thank you and others and comment more often!
This was fun, maybe I’ll make it a monthly freebie thing of what I’ve been making

Wednesday Wisdom

Sooner or later, we are all asked to compromise ourselves and the things we care about. We define ourselves by our actions. With each decision, we tell ourselves and the world who we are. Think about what you want out of this life, and recognize that there are many kinds of success.

Bill Watterson

DON'T FORGET TO MAKE A COMMENT ON THE LAST POST FOR MY MOTHERS/WOMANHOOD DAY GIVEAWAY.

My First Give Away

Next Sunday is Mother’s Day! YEA Mom’s
But I think that it is actually celebrating Womanhood.
In my neighborhood there are mostly retired ladies… some who had children, some didn’t. As I think about it (and have thought about this for about 30 years) Some people don’t give birth to children. But that doesn’t make them any less of a woman. We (women) all have special gifts, talents and emotions. Women are divine individuals of a loving Heavenly Father. We are uniquely made. The characteristics are such that all women have caring natures with emotions and thoughts that represent our love for human life and the growth thereof. All women are teachers. Moms, Aunts, Sisters, Daughters, Cousins, Grandmothers "teach" without even knowing it. Teachers are greatly appreciated… whether or not they have given birth to a child. (Teachers are THE most underrated members of society.)

So in my neighborhood I like to give out presents celebrating WOMANHOOD Day, better known in the real world as Mother’s Day.
This year I am giving: cute little Chinese Food Containers with a surprise spread inside, complete with little knife.

And I’ll give it to one of my blog readers too? ……(hmmm well it says I have 7 followers…)
So followers and lurkers alike…………sign up below in the comment section, between now and Wednesday May 6th at 10pm PST, and I will mail this cute little goodie/box out to you first thing Thursday morning May 7th (or bring it over to you if you live in town). I’ll also add -10- extra Gift Tags for you to use when giving gifts to others.

I have been working on these Gift-Tags (I bought a LARGE box from where I work, (thought maybe there would be 100 in it…) well more like 3,000. So for about a week in the evening as I watch TV, I’ve been making gift tags. Some good, some bad. (no its not you, the picture I took is fuzzy)

MY FIRST GIVE-AWAY!!!!!

- - - - - -Are you feelin’ lucky?

Sunday Morning PICTURES

THE ELK- big bull in the middle looking at me!!

So as I have told you I have a new camera. And I finally got up enough nerve (and time) to use it on our Sunday Morning drive. It is a beautiful Sunday Morning! We saw lots of nature and water, and of course trees and an eagle and THE ELK.... Here is the tour:

Sequim Bay

My men: Mr. P and L-Dog

EAGLE overhead, quick take the shot--

Quaint Farm- but smelly- Dairy Farm

Our first spotting of the Elk... notice they are all asleep except one (standing... )

and by the time I was finished taking 20 shots...... The big bull (the one in the middle with the horns .....looking at me said)

"We Are OUT-OF-HERE-- can't get any privacy from these looky-loos "
He was actually quite indignant and I thought he was going to rush me!

I do not have a telephoto lens, just the little one the camera came with, so to tell you the truth, we were VERY close! (I could hear his thoughts)