Real moms......

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Shelly tagged Jelly, who in turn tagged me

with the task of finishing the above sentence.

A photo is required to go with the sentence.


Please take a couple of minutes and have a look at what those two witty young moms/mums have written (click their names). I guarantee you’ll have a chuckle.

Here’s what I came up with:

Real moms are drill sergeants who read bedtime stories!

This photo was taken on Halloween in 1978

Andrew is the clown and Kylie is the fairy. I am dressed in my hubby's Marine Corps uniform. When I told him what I planned to write he suggested this photo :)

Thinking of the daily struggles moms face as they set limits and endeavor to steer their kids in the right direction brought to mind a funny little incident from my child-rearing years (funny in retrospect, that is.....athough I must admit my hubby and I had a good laugh about it at the time).

It happened during Andrew's less-than-angelic middle school years, when more often than I care to admit, I thought of him as a child only a mother could love...and sometimes this mother's feelings were not altogether loving.

Andrew, if you're reading this, I say those words with great affection :)

His class was studying Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry and this is approximately what he wrote:

My mother nags me

constantly, out of habit

She can't help herself

(I couldn't find the original paper, although I know I stored it in a safe place, not too long ago, for future reference!)

Now imagine how I felt knowing Andrew had handed this in to his teacher for marking?

But young mothers take heart! Early in his sophomore year (year 10), he actually became a pretty nice teenager :)

*Please note that we are "moms" here in the USA, while in Australia where I was born, we are "mums". Jelly thought I might be a bit confused, but I answer to both :) Just don't call me "The Old Nag" (please)!

Now it's my turn to tag 3 other moms.

I'm tagging Sandy, Horizon and Tuffenuf.

I hope they'll take up the challenge because I'm sure they'll come up with something creative!

Take your time ladies. I know all 3 of you are busy. If you don't have time or just don't want to do it, that's fine. No pressure whatsoever.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Spring Has Caught Cold! (Or something worse!)

And the "Thinking Blogger Award"

I'll tell you about that in a minute, but first I wanted to show you what we've been looking at outside for most of the week.

Our snowy front yard

There's a war going on here and Old Man Winter seems to be winning! I wish Spring would stop being a wimp and stand up and fight back!

While the snow hasn't been sticking around for long, we've woken up to a light covering most mornings this week. Yesterday we had heavy wet snow that stayed until early afternoon. These pictures were taken yesterday morning.

I'm feeling sorry for the school kids who've been on spring break all week. I hope they rugged up and got a little fresh air in spite of the cold temperatures and frigid winds. Our forecast is for another week of this same weather pattern. By the end of next week we'll probably be tearing out our hair!

I suppose because the cold weather didn't really begin until mid-January that "Old Man Winter" is determined to give us the full dose!

Old Man Winter go away!

A sad state of affairs - poor crocus!

Where's the sun?

These are the same purple and yellow crocus flowers I showed in the previous post. Sad to say, they're now looking a little worse for wear.

********************************

Two of my very dear blog friends have nominated me for a “Thinking Blogger Award”.

Horizon of Message in a Bottle, and Cris of Country Patch are two young mothers who are indeed great thinkers. I love to visit their blogs to read their thoughts and see the wonderful pictures they post of their pretty corners of the world.
Horizon and Cris, I greatly appreciate your kind words and the nomination. Thank you! I learn so much from both of you, and I’m grateful to know you both through this wonderful world of blogging.

Edit: I received a comment this morning from Inland Empire Girl in Washington state and she informed me that she'd also nominated me for the award in her April 10th post. I wanted to say thanks for the honor, and for her lovely comments. We've only recently discovered each other's blogs and I'm enjoying glimpses of her beautiful state, her daily life, and the lovely poetry and recipes she shares.

I now have the difficult task of choosing 5 others to pass the award along to.

I consider each and every one of my blog friends to be excellent thinkers, but many of you have already been given the award, so I’ll try to choose friends who haven’t already been nominated.
I’ve purposely avoided nominating friends who I know are too busy to do this meme at the moment, with the exception of "Jelly". I know she’s very busy but I’m nominating her anyway! She may very well choose to ignore it for this very reason, and that’s perfectly fine. I just wanted her to know that I consider her among the most excellent of thinkers.

Claire, of “Claire’s Garden” in Scotland.
Claire has a wonderful appreciation of nature and inspires me with her beautiful photos of flowers, her cats, the horses she trains and the lovely Scottish countryside. She raises some unusual plants in her small greenhouse, and grows delicious fresh vegetables in raised beds alongside her flower gardens. In the warmer months she loves to go kayaking with friends. Claire writes with that wry Scottish humor that I find so appealing.

Jellyhead, of “Jellyhead Rambles” in sunny Australia.
Jelly is the doctor that everyone would love to have! In fact, if she were my doctor I’d probably make up illnesses just so that I could go and visit with her :) She’s also a busy young wife and the mother of two sweet children.
Jelly is compassionately wise, jotting down her thoughts with great charm, and just the right mix of seriousness and a cheeky sense of humor. I imagine her thinking never stops, even while she’s sleeping!

Stuart of “Gardening Tips and Ideas” in Western Australia.
I remember Stuart saying, “I’ve started another blog because I found I was getting way too much sleep”. Yes, he has a great sense of humor :) Stuart constantly and tirelessly strives to bring interesting information to his fellow gardeners, and has a keen desire to draw garden bloggers together. He has created a world map of garden bloggers, and is working on other innovative ideas to unveil in the future. You’ll find the link to his map in the top right corner of this blog.

Linda of "Dew on the Roses" in sunny Florida.
Linda finds beauty in everything around her, and shares her thoughts in a quiet and contemplative way. She has great affection for all God’s creatures, as well as a wonderful appreciation of flowers and plants. Linda is a sweet grandma who loves her family, and remembers fondly the house and barn in Maine that she and her husband spent many happy years in when their children were young. Visiting Linda always leaves me with a feeling of peacefulness.

Giddy of "The Giddy Garden Gnome" in Maine.
Giddy lives across the water from scenic Acadia National Park, which in my opinion is very close to Paradise. She posts breathtaking photos of some of the most glorious sunsets I’ve ever seen, and shares hiking trips in the park. She’s also a doting grandma and passionate gardener. She’s very creative and has just spent time this past winter learning to knit. I love her enthusiasm for life. Giddy always leaves me smiling :)

The procedure now is to copy the Award button to your post and side bar, link to the original source of the meme (the "Thinking Blogger Award" title is a link), and then pick 5 bloggers who you consider to be great thinkers (and whose blogs make you think) to pass the award along to.

Please know that I would pass the award to all my sidebar links if the rules allowed. Each and every one of you enrich my life in your own unique way, and I thank you for that.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, and those of you in warm places, please start huffing and puffing, and blow some of that warm air our way!!!

Five Things

Five Things You May Not Know About Me

Claire of Claire’s Garden tagged me to do this meme back in December and I’m just now getting around to it. I’m not good at thinking of answers for memes!
So finally……here are 5 things you may not know about me (plus a few pictures!!).

Monday morning, looking out our back door

1. Growing up in sunny Australia, I didn’t see snow until I was 18 years old! That was in the southern part of NSW, on a skiing holiday at Perisher Valley.
Living here in NY since the age of 23, I’ve seen enough snow to last me a good long time. It was late arriving this winter, but it seems to be here to stay for a while now. The big chill has set in for a while.

Pete walked with me in the snow yesterday morning.


2. During my growing up years, when I wasn’t reading or sewing, I was drawing. It’s still something I love to do, but I very rarely take the time to do it these days.

A Pink and gray galah was one of my favorite pets during the pet shop years. It talked!

3. My parents owned a pet shop while I was growing up, and consequently I had all kinds of pets….cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, fish…..nothing big like horses or cows though. I added cows to the list when I married my husband and moved here to the farm in NY :)

Jasmine came with me to the mail box...January 18th

4. My mind wanders easily, making me not a very good listener sometimes, but I do try hard to stay focused! I really am interested in what you’re telling me….honest! :)

1980 in Australia

5. I consider raising our 3 children to be the most interesting, enjoyable and rewarding job I’ve ever had, with never a dull moment. That’s not to say it’s always been a piece of cake, but the joy has far outweighed the few rough spots, and I’m forever thankful for the continued blessings they bring me.

Our 3 kids at our son's wedding

And as a reward we now have grandchildren!!! (The ultimate joy!) I highly recommend them!

(picture taken last year by my DIL or son)

I’m not going to tag anyone specifically, but please feel free to do this if you want to. Let me know if you do, because I’d love to read your answers.

Playing Tag

I've been tagged by both Connie and Alice with the same meme, so I must comply.....

What were three things you wanted to be when you grew up?

1. An interior decorator
Ross was highly amused at this revelation. I think my style would be Country Clutter.

2. A Teacher
My mother said I didn’t have the patience. After raising 3 children (and a husband) I have learned patience!

3. A Nurse…..hey, there are some cute doctors out there!

You can relive one day from your childhood. Which one will it be?

The first day of a family vacation at Sussex Inlet, NSW, Australia.......As soon as we arrived, my father, brother and I went fishing in the small outboard motor boat that came with the rented cottage. I caught two decent sized fish and they caught none :) That night Mum cooked the best fish dinner I’ve ever tasted! I was about 10 years old.

You have two minutes (and a mover with you if you need heavy lifting help!) to grab 5 things from your home before it morphs into a polka dotted hobgoblin and hops away. What will you take? (Food/drink/family/friends excluded).

1. All 14 of the barn cats

2. Photographs

3. A toothbrush

4. My new camera

5. My Steinway piano……… a gift from my dear hubby. It was a steal and we’ll never find another deal like that again. And no, I can’t play it very well. Wish I could!

Can’t I just add one more so I can take my computer???

You have to paint one quote on your kitchen wall. What is it going to be?

"Housework makes you ugly"
I don’t really believe this….I just think it’s funny

What is the one thing you want to have accomplished by the end of the year?

To sort out and throw some unnecessary things away, and have a nice tidy house. Maybe I could have a garage sale! Tanya, you could come!

You are moving to the moon for one year and can only bring one flower with you. What kind will you bring?

An ivy geranium in a hanging basket. They just keep on blooming!

You just received word that aside from one flower you can also bring five books with you. Which ones will you bring?

1. The Bible

2. The Color Dictionary of Flowers and Plants for Home and Garden
(just in case they have plants up there that I need to identify)
3. Perfect Digital Photos in a Snap (have to learn how to use that camera properly).
4. Like Alice and ShellyC I’ll just have to take a large journal and a pen to record all those outerspace events.
5. And for pure entertainment value, the latest in the alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton (she’d better have a new one out in time).

This is a totally unfair number because I’ll finally have time to read all those unread books on our shelves, and in the local library, and all those kids’ books in the library at school, and all those magazines, and………

Tagging 3 lucky people:

Kylie…..of course.

She got me started blogging and now it’s payback time! I really used to clean my house. Honest!

Jellyhead

Sharon K