I'm cheating a bit. I posted this last year on Mothers Day. As I was thinking about what to write I looked back at least years post and couldn't say it any better now.

I'll be spending my day getting some serious windshield time starting at 4 am Mothers Day morning. We're off to Alabama to pick up a motorcycle, then on to Tennessee for a few days for some R&R Miller-style; lots and lots of driving but away from the day-to-day pressures just the same.
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From May 2008...

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so overwhelmed and happy all at a the same time.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

For those of you who are moms - thank you for all you do.

For those of you whose moms are living - enjoy every minute spent and conversation spoke for you never know when the last one has just happened.

For those of you whose mom's have passed on - I feel for you especially today.
I know too well the pain it can bring when you can't make that phone call to wish a happy mothers day, ask for advice or just chat. Thankfully though a Mom's legacy and memory lives on long after they are gone. I see it in my sisters, children, grandchildren but mostly when I look in the mirror. There are times I walk by a plate glass storefront window, get a side-vision glimpse and see my mother in the glass. The older I get, the more I see her in me. There could defnitely be worse things. If I have to be like somebody, I couldn't think of anyone better to take after than my mom. She was a good lady with a great sense of humor.
I love you and miss you Mom.
Harriet Anna Gesin
October 29, 1929 -- November 4, 1983


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Back to crafting

I was finally able to get back to doing some "crafty stuff." It feels like an eternity since I've turned on my sewing machine.
I needed a couple of gifts and have been wanting to try my hand at purses. I'm pleased with how they turned out and how easy these were to make. I love this black and fabric. And as much as I'm not a "pink person", I really like the look of the pink with the black and white.

Spring must be here

Spring must be here. Our first "real" thunderstorm banked up and blew through tonight. For all of the thundering and as long as it took to materialize, it really didn't amount to much. Lots of talk and not much action.


As a side note, the picture above with the three silos is where I grew up as a child. It's only a mile across the field from where we live now.

Michele sent this to me and I just had to share it. If you have sons or brothers, I think you'll especially enjoy it.

This was so our boys.

Birthday Cake

Owen's 1st birthday party Friday night had a Construction theme.

My daughter-in-law, Heidi made the cutest invitations. They had dump trucks on and said "Dump everything - Owen's 1st birthday is under construction."
Then they strung yellow construction caution tape around the house as well as yellow balloons with dump trucks on them. It was very creative and really fun.

Grandpa and I made this "cake" for him at Mama's request for scotcheroos. I made the Rice Krispies, Scotcheroos and placed everything else but Grandpa Dan got his creative juices flowing and crafted a little cement mixer for the chocolate mortar. Isn't that just too cute? We had a great time putting this together for Owen.



No worries, Owen also had a regular birthday cake. And of course, we had to take the traditional first birthday messy face picture.

Do you think he liked it?

Morning sky

Today is our grandson's 1st birthday.

The year sure flew by fast for us granny-parents but I'm betting it went a whole lot faster for Mom & Dad. When our boys were little, people would say to me about how fast that time would go, but as a young Mom with three boys under three, I pretty much thought they were crazy. Boy, was I wrong! Who would have thought that in what seemed to be a blink of an eye, one of those boys who is now 25 would have a son of his own celebrating being ONE! Happy Birthday Owen!

Owen's birthday dawned with this beautiful semi-foggy sky this morning. Isn't it gorgeous? And the best part is, I could go outside and take this picture at 5:20am in my jammies and not be cold! There is hope for our extra long, cold winter to be loosening it's grip yet.

They just don't make 'em like they used to

Son Joe's shop specializes in restoration of old street rods and muscle cars. It's always fun to see what he's working on.
They just don't make cars like they used to. Everything now is very sleek and aerodynamic which is great but there's just something about the design details on these old cars.

They rebuild alot of cars from the frame up but this BelAir was just a partial restoration. Even as a partial restoration, it took the better part of 4 months.

Some customers choose to restore their cars to only what would have been original for that car and others add new bells and whistles. For instance, instead of the gas cap distracting from the side profile of the car....to put fuel in, you push a button and the taillight moves out of the way using a small motor, revealing the fuel cap behind it.

As you can see, the hood had yet to be painted when we were there.
But just look at those design lines.


The dash on this car was autographed by Paul LeMat who played John Milner in American Graffiti. They were able to clear coat over it and preserve the signature at the customers request. How fun is that?

Do you have a favorite old car, street rod or muscle car? I'd love to hear what it might be.

Only 10 days late...

Let's take a step back in time to Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. Maybe not so long ago, but it's been awhile since I've blogged.


Early in the morning we were invited to Jon & Heidi's house for breakfast. We were so blessed to be part of their morning and watch the excitement as the kids looked for their Easter eggs.


Spotting another one.


Getting up close and personal with a big, hairy Easter Bunny.

After breakfast we headed off to the northern burbs of Chicago for Easter dinner at Joe & Kristin's. Joe grilled some great bbq chicken and burgers. After moaning, groaning and laying around because we ate too much, before we left for home, we went to Joe's shop to take a peek at what he's been working on lately which I'll share in the next day or so.

It was not only a great day celebrating Easter but we were also celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary. Wow, 29 years and they said it couldn't be done! HA!

Utter random-ness

I warned you in a previous post that I had all of these thoughts running through my head but couldn't organize them and get it on the screen. I thought I'd share some of those bits and pieces with you anyway.


Spring is finally starting to show up around here. These lilies are on the south side of the house so they always come up first. You can disregard the corn burner exhaust pipe sticking out of the house. It's not quite springtime warm enough to remove it yet.


There is nothing sweeter than the giggles of a 2 year old and a pair of dollar store play high heels!


I am so excited about my new toy. This past October, I had been at my workplace for 10 years. For the ten year service award, they let you pick your own gift. I so much prefer that than getting a Highland whatever. For my five year, I got a Highland pocket knife. It was that or a necklace with the logo. I gladly took the pocket knife. Anyway, this time around I chose an Amazon.com gift certificate. I wanted to get something that would remind me of the years of employment but that I probably wouldn't just go buy for myself.
My new MP3 player and docking station came the other day. I love it! We already had one player which we use on the motorcycle but it has mostly music that hubs likes to listen to on it. To say that our taste in music differs would be quite the understatement. Now I can listen to my own "stuff" whenever and wherever I want. This is so cool!



We attended a housewarming party for my nephew Sunday afternoon. Is this not the most fun thing you've ever seen? How clever is that? A fruit monkey-man!

Hope y'all are having a great week!

Nothin' to say

Do you ever feel like you've got nothing to say? For me, that's pretty huge, as talking isn't typically a problem. However, I've had writers block lately. I don't know if it's coming down from the hectic pace of last fall and early winter or if it's the fact that it still seems very much like winter here. So, maybe it's just the winter doldrums yet.

I've got all these thoughts rolling around in the space where my brain is supposed to be ;( but I haven't been able to organize them to put them down on screen. Look out when they actually break loose!

Do any of you ever suffer from a "block"?