The Best Gifts

This morning, a local radio personality posted a photo of an early Mother’s Day gift made by her young son. He made and decorated a cake, just for her. I fell in love with it, because it is so simple and and loving a gift for his mom, and because he thought of doing this just for her.

I remember growing up, we kids didn’t have much in the way of spending money, but we went out of our way to learn how to make Mom’s coffee (thick enough to stand a spoon in it, and strong enough to make the spoon disintegrate), and picked flowers from the field (not from her garden, since she probably would have had a cow), and make her cards in our very questionable artistic abilities. To this day my mother still has some of my sister’s cartoon characters displayed on her refrigerator.

 

I still have my kids’ hand prints, and their hand made cards, and ornaments. I love the thought they put into the items they make, and the sentiments they write. Motherhood is a very bumpy road, but I have never regretted the path taken. I am blessed every day, even when taxed by growing pains of every eventuality, and thank the Good Lord for the blessings He has given me through my children. I look forward to opening my cards this Sunday, and laughing and crying over them, as I always do.

I also look forward to hopefully not cooking, but I’m not holding my breath for that 😉

Back in the Groove

Some of you may be familiar with what I’m typing about. Hubby is deployed for a certain amount of time, and upon return, we need to re-establish our habits once again. Last time he was deployed, I pretty much left him alone for the first few weeks, letting him acclimatize to his surroundings again. It makes for a weird living arrangement, but it seems to work.

This time I figured on doing the same thing. After all, the Sinai is not exactly the most stable region in the area. But I get a vibe that some things have changed in the weirdest ways. Yesterday he told me he was ready to get rid of his old clothes, since “that’s not his wardrobe” any more. And he told me he needed to go shopping for shoes. SHOES!!! Yeah, that tripped me up a bit, until I saw his Timberland boots. They are almost ten years old, pretty torn up and need replacing. I did heave a sigh of relief. So today, WE SHOP!!

But not for long, for obvious reasons. He has Mass Effect 3 waiting 😉

GUESS WHAT????

HUBBY IS HOME!!!!!

I had to keep quiet about because the kids read the blog, and couldn’t spoil the surprise!

Of course, my sister and my Mom were upset that I didn’t tell them, because had my mother known he was coming she would have prepared a feast.

In retrospect, maybe I should have told her. Nah!! My jeans fit now, and I don’t need the temptation of her food to challenge the bounds of denim 😉

Heavy Hearts Again

I’ve been lacking in content around here due to a family get-together that has taken up my week. Sadly, today it comes to a close. My sister and her family travel back to their home today, and my brother is toying with the idea of leaving, as well.

I’m trying to convince them to stay, so I can at least stay up late drinking and carousing enjoying their company without a schoolnight intruding! I have enjoyed having them here so much, and they have helped me with my loneliness and the monotony of my life. Hopefully, we’ll get to visit them once they are settled at their new duty station.

But here is something to cheer y’all up.

G00000000gle map of Parkland High School in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I think it should be renamed Millenium High School, and their mascot should be either the Falcons, or the Wookies 😉

Y’all have a great Friday the 13th!!!

Taking Some Down Time

As y’all may have noticed, I try to post something daily. Ok, maybe some of y’all didn’t notice, but it’s true. Yesterday I took a much needed break from the interwebtubenets. And by “taking a break”, I mean “ran errands for my mom”. Having family around is not conducive to productive posting. It is conducive to plenty of stories, especially when your siblings sit around telling stories from our childhood.

And having your parents laugh at the crazy stuff we did.

And my brother, too!

So today finds me visiting with my nieces and helping my mom cook, and maybe this weekend I’ll be back to my regular groove, posting all the latest gossip from Casa de Aggie.

Who am I kidding?? I’ll probably do that tonight 😉

An April Fool

I usually don’t prank people on April Fools Day. Actually, I never do. I understand that it’s all in fun, but I am too soft-hearted to trick someone like that. That makes me a prime target for pranks and jokes, and that part is fun, too. Trying to out guess the prankster keeps me sharp. That’s not to say they don’t fool me, but at least it helps keep me sharp.

The best prank ever played on me was done by my sister. And it wasn’t even on April 1st. When we were very young, I think she was in Kindergarten and I was in First Grade, we would go to my grandmother’s house after school to wait for our parents to pick us up after work. We liked going, because our grandma would serve us cafe au lait and slices bread with jam for an after school snack, not to mention sometimes there would be fresh cherries from the tree out back. A tree that we were forbidden to go explore, because it was too high up.

Anyway, one day there were no cherries, and my sister, who is younger than I am, suggested we sneak out back to get some while my parents were visiting with grandma. So off we went, and looked around for the cherries. As we went around the house, we spied a small bush with semi-round red berries. She ran to it, and started plucking the berries off, though I hesitated, telling her the berries didn’t look right. The were not as red, and were not as round, and are they not supposed to be on a tree?? But she knew best, and told me they were cherries, and so, like a fool, I partook.

Only to scream as I felt my mouth be set on fire.

We ran back in, screaming and alarming the folks, and since we were unable to speak, they correctly deduced what had occurred: we had eaten ajíes, a common chile found in Puerto Rico. Many glasses of sugared water later (we didn’t know we could use milk for the heat), and sporting beards of my grandma’s Pond’s Cold Cream™, we left for home. My mom was still upset, but my dad laughed the whole time, which didn’t make my mom any happier.

This did happen in Spring, but not on April 1st. Even the Fates are not that unkind. As for my sister, I never got back at her for the pranks (yes, there are more). She is a best friend, just like the others and my brother, and has been there for me always. Besides, she ended up having and raising five kids, and that was enough Karma for me 😉

St. Paddy’s Turned Into Christmas!

A brief prayer to thank the Good Lord that Spring Break is now over.

Over the weekend, I went to visit my folks. I try to post once a day, but posting Sunday was just not going to happen. It was really nice to visit with them, and have the chance to make plans for Easter. And as usual, my mom was working on a puzzle. She really enjoys the challenge, just like Little One does. As we were putting it together, my mom mentioned that I should take some of her silver since she doesn’t use it. As I ran like a mad woman calmly walked around the table to look at the pieces, I noticed she had some stemware, and I offered to clean them. She looked up and said it wasn’t necessary, but that I should take them.

Like I’m going to pass on WATERFORD™!!!

And if that weren’t enough, I came home to find a lovely surprise from The Queen!!

SQUEEEE!!! I got my own Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane glass, and a bag of mix, too!! The instructions say to add 4 oz of reconstituted mix to 4 oz of gold rum, and pour into the 28 oz glass full of crushed ice. I’m thinking more along the lines of less ice, and more booze.

But that will have to wait until Easter 😉

Fierce Fifteen

Today we get to celebrate Son’s fifteenth birthday.

Don’t know the plans yet, because that’s how he rolls!

Hard to believe he is fifteen, and waaaaaay taller than I am. Ok, that second bit isn’t hard to believe. He is a joy, a warm hearted soul, considerate of others, and full of plans for the future, and no parents could be prouder than we are.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! 😀

The March Hare

This is a great title to my post. Why? Because I am going nuts over all the stuff happening this month here at Casa de Aggie. This week brings dental appointments, tax prep, birthday party, and then, just when I thought Spring Break meant just that, I find that two kids have ROTC commitments and then family portraits, and then Son’s birthday, and after that I may be able to go out of town to visit family and deliver last Christmas gifts.

And this is all before the 18th of this month.

And after they go back to school, it’s Spring Concert season. YAY ME!!

This is what I look like, only with a sweatshirt. And clean shaven.

Sadly, the one thing I had to look forward to is no longer on the schedule, but at least the year is winding down, and the countdown goes on.

I’m just grateful to have coffee.

When is Easter?? 😉

Rough Day Ahead

It’s a rough week for me. This week Hubby would have been home from his deployment. Though we don’t do much celebrating for Valentine’s Day, it still hard not having him here.

So I send him a kiss…

And I send him flowers….

And my fervent wish that he comes home soon.

I would send more, but this here is a family friendly blog 😉