THIS AND THAT and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Are your kids like this? Wanting to do something nice for mom but each having a different vision of what nice is? Certainly nice to your siblings isn't in the picture.

And my daughter-in-law has started a blog. She is one funny girl.

And DeAnn mentioned me on her blog. That's not why I recommend you go there. I recommend it because anything DeAnn says is note worthy and because she has a brand spanking new step-mom and she already loves her. I am so relieved. I was worried.

And yes, I am happy that DeAnn has blogged. She is going through a major stress and is working through it. As so many of us are. She talks about her mom hating Mother's Day. I did for years, for exactly the same reason DeAnn's mother did. I focused on my inadequacies. I think any woman who raises kids will feel inadequate. We forget that each child learns in a different way. Some by listening to wisdom, some by ignoring wisdom and stepping in front of the bus. But, they all learn and who are we to say, "'Do it my way."

So, for today, for tomorrow, which is Mother's Day, I am saying thank you to my own mom for letting me step in front of the bus and being there in case I happened to ask for a Band-Aid, which I didn't, but should have. Things turn out all right.

My own mom was not perfect but she was the perfect mom for me. She did lots of things you do or your mom did or maybe neither one of you did. She didn't do things she maybe should have and she did things that were good, too. SHE DID THE BEST SHE KNEW HOW. We all do. And for that I think God is standing in the wings, clapping and saying, "You go, girl."

So, I hope every mother has a good Mother's Day, whether they think they are living up to their standards or anyone else's. I'm having company over and guess what? The kitchen floor is sticky. There's some dehydrated spinach there that is going to take some major scrubbing to get off--I'm not going to do it, not today, anyway. The bathroom is not spotless, in fact the garbage isn't even dumped. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to cook some food, make a salad, butter some bread, slice some strawberries and pour yogurt over the top and call it good. Mostly I'm going to love everyone who comes and that's what's important, I think. That's what mother's do.

FAMILY HOME EVENING

Yikes, it's almost midnight and I have just logged on for the day.

My friend, DeAnn, has just started a blog. Hop on over and give her some encouragement. She is doing it because I am such a nag. She will love it, and she will write some interesting things. Thank you, DeAnn.

I love it when people get tired of my nagging and do what I want.

DeAnn is one of the most talented writers I have ever met. She has a future in publishing if she can just carve out some hours every day to write. She wrote a piece about her mother that left the members of her Writer's Critique group without words. All I could say was, "Wow, DeAnn." Not worthy of her essay but that's all the words I could come up with. Maybe she will publish it on her blog someday.

Anyway, I will take her lead tonight to write a about our own Family Home Evening. Phil wanted to read together. As much as I like to do that I wanted something exciting.

Too late for a movie. I can hear you, That's excitement? Yes, our boring lives are pathetic. Other people jet off to Europe. I sit on the lawn swings--obviously not now, in the snow--but, if they were still out there I probably would bundle up and do it. Anyway, I sit in the lawn swings and watch the drama of the mountain and am content. I go to the movies--which I adore--but not R rated ones, and am happy.

So, I stood at the closet door and read off the list of games. Sorry, Clue--my favorite.

"I'm not fond of Clue," he said.

What's the matter with him? Clue is a great game but maybe because I win he does not have fond memories. Who wants to remember a wife who says, "Yes!" and slaps her hand on the table?

I read off the other possibilities. Scrabble being one. Don't let him choose Scrabble, I thought. I am not great at Scrabble unless miss-spelling and made up words count--with wonderfully believable definitions, occasionally I've even gotten away with them. If those count then I'm one fantastic Scrabble player.

So, we watched a Hallmark movie I had recorded in December. So much for making memories, for learning about the gospel or for excitement.

It's like those fireworks that I had to watch from the shed in Annabella, 5 1/2 miles away from Richfield, where the firework display was. The fireworks went "poink" (with a small "p") instead of "Whoosh! Bang!" Remind me to tell you that story someday. Right after the wooden leg one and the learning to drive one.

Family Home Evening tonight: "Poink." But luckily, I'm content.