Mother’s Day, Day Four

 Mother’s Day, Day 4.

We woke up in Paradise. (Bitter End Yacht Club)

We motored to more Paradise. (Scrub Island)

We snorkeled in Paradise.  (I saw a cuttlefish!) 

We had massages in Paradise. (We were still on Scrub Island.)

We motored some more in Paradise. (Closer to Little Jost Van Dyke and Sandy Spit.) 

We had a fabulous dinner in Paradise. (Chicken and sausage paella on the boat.)

We played Monopoly Deal in Paradise. (Multiple times and I never won.)

We went to bed in Paradise.  (A lovely secluded harbour near Sandy Spit.) 

Best Mother’s Day ever.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Happy Happy Mother's Day!


I am incredibly lucky to be the mommy to these guys.....

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 Bunny and Belle

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Me with my Big Guy.

Yes, my hair was incredibly short.

And incredibly lucky to have this woman as my mommy...

 Me with Jean Mom at the bus station in Mexico City in 1973.

We were headed to San Miguel de Allende. 

Many people tell my I am a very strong woman, whatever that means. Basically I think it means I am very much like my mom.  I look like my dad but I won't take crap from anyone. That comes from my mom. 

She allowed us kids to have a gazillion pets. A baby goat, many snakes (that were always escaping in the house), an opossum, raccoon, mice, rats, guinea pigs, cats, dogs and caimans. But never a horse...I've taken care of that now, though. 

She let me go 1000 miles away to school in Mexico when I was 18. I asked her how she could have allowed me to go so far (pre-cell phones or actually ANY phone availability and pre-Internet access) and she said "O! Well, we figured it was one of the safest places you could go!"   Mexico's reputation has certainly changed in the last 40 years. 

She was a Girl Scout leader for umpteen years, supported me through flunking 5 years of Spanish (I'm pretty fluent now but totally didn't get it in High School), and taught me to sew, paint, create. 

She totally was (and is) my example of how to get a business to do what's right.   My kids used to say I was so embarrassing when I got into the "May I speak to your manager, please?" mode but now I hear them say  "O, Mom, I had to act like you today. That store was trying to take advantage of me."

Thanks, Jean Mom!

So happy Mother's Day Jean Mom and your present is running a little late. Sorry. 

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I'm also fortunate to have been a second mom to so many of the kids' friends. Rachel wins the prize for being the first to wish me a Happy Mother's Day for the last 3 years. And she's not my kid. Love that. Thao used to have me listed as her mother on Facebook. Love that, too. Ford, Parker, Dillon,  Lawrence, Brian, Taylor, Sarah, Danielle, Gabby, Jenny, Lizzy, Hannah, Jessica, Rachel, Thao, Makayla, Mailee, Shelby-I'm proud to have you all as my children. Love all of you. (And sorry if I left a name out....you know moms, they always forget one kid's name when they are trying to rattle off names.)

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And happy happy day to all of my friends that became moms before I did or right along with me. They were and still are my source of so much parenting info. So kids- if I have screwed up, please place some of the blame on Diana, Liddy, Cherrilla, Martha, Megan, Cathy, Nell and probably a few other moms I can't place right now.  It takes a village....

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Also, I promised an update on the garden. Except we have had rain all week and nothing quite got to blooming. We need just a bit of sun. But I am not complaining. Colorado can always use rain. And then today we got...wait for it... snow. And it is still snowing!

The back deck, and it is still coming down. 

Another inch has accumulated in the time it has taken me to write this post. 

So there will be a garden update next week IF I still have a garden. I planted so many things this past week. The tomatoes and basil got covered but all the other plants are having to fend for themselves. Cross your fingers.  

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Also. A VERY happy birthday to Liddy and Nancy, who are both celebrating today.   And happy birthday to Nancy's daughter, Sydney. How special is that? Having a baby on your very own birthday!

* photo credit Christine Meeker Studio

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!


A Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

A super special shout out to MY mom.

Me and my mom. 

Sadly I had to go back to 2008 to find a picture of just the two of us.

But I guess that's okay- we both looked pretty good six years ago.

You've got to give her credit. She had two boys and still had the nerve to have a third kid. (Which makes me the baby. Gotta love me! )

She wins the zookeeper award for allowing more pets in our house than even I have.  

My brothers had snakes. And turtles. An opossum. Fish. I had an alligator.  Small furry animals.We had a goat. In the backyard. In the middle of Houston. A dog. Some cats. 
(But never a horse. I REALLY wanted a horse. Got one now!!)

She sewed.
Doll clothes.
I had the BEST dressed Troll dolls ever.  Nobody else's dolls had a real fur coat.
Me clothes.
My prom dress was conveniently crafted to disguise the hip to toe plaster cast I was sporting at the time.

My prom dress, made by mom.

Back in the 70s, pre-PC, I believe the Robert E. Lee HS 

prom theme that year was "The South Shall Rise Again".

I was a Southern Belle.

My girls would slit their throats before they put on a dress that I had made.

And for the bravest mama prize, she and my dad allowed me to go 1000 miles away, to another country, for art school when I was 18. This was before cell phones and Internet and there wasn't even a land line to keep us connected. It took a minimum of two hours just to get through to an International operator. A letter took two weeks.
None of that bothered me in the slightest but I imagine it was a bit of a challenge for them. 

I look like my dad but I've got a ton of my mom in me.
My kids say they feel sorry for people that cross me....I think I might have gotten that from my mom. Nice as can be, but don't try to screw with us.
And it seemed she could do, make, create anything, something my kids have said about me.
That is, when they aren't telling me that I don't know how to do anything.
Although she can cook.
Me, not so much. Or maybe it's just no one likes any of the stuff I like to make.
Something like that. 

So happy mothers day to my wonderful mom. 

And happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. 

Hugs and kisses. And flowers.



And a special get well/speedy recovery/Happy Mother's Day wish to my mother in law.
Poor baby fell and is now in re-hab recovering from a broken leg and a shattered shoulder.
Ow.