To All the Mothers

To anyone who has a child, or anyone who has a mother (that should about cover it without leaving anyone out...right?), I hope you have a nice Mother's Day this weekend.

It's not one of my favorite holidays, as it kind of feels like the world rubs it in my face that my own Mother is no longer alive and with me. But, you know, life goes on and there are other things to celebrate. We have Barb, and I also feel very lucky to have my children. I enjoyed being a Mom. I just wish it wasn't such an overly commercial holiday. It starts just after Valentines....the advertisements for diamond necklaces, and so forth and so on. I never really thought of Moms requiring diamonds in compensation for their never-ending duties. I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but still...

Anyway its supposed to be nice weather, and Stephen and Hannia are grilling out for me at their house on Sunday. Yay! A day to not have to cook is always a wonderful thing for me. I just wish Erica could be home. But, she is working on a presentation that she has to give in San Diego in a couple of weeks, so it just can't happen. We are hoping to get up there to visit her and do a river tubing trip sometime in the early part of summer, so I can see her then. That tubing was a blast last year. I have been dying to get a chance to do it again.

And now for something entirely random....Vixen, our black cat, steals things. LOL.
Seriously. I have never known a cat to do that. But she is always on the look out for small items and trinkets that she can pick up in her mouth, and then she carries them off and hides them someplace. Usually under rugs. She LOVES to poke things up underneath a rug. I have no idea why. She takes jewelry (I am going to have to be more careful that she doesn't have access to anything important), and keys, and hair clips. She also loves rubber bands, bread bag ties, and drinking straws. I have no idea what Ana thinks when she is cleaning. Probably that we are crazy people who store jewelry and trash underneath our rugs??? Doesn't everybody do that? She has cats, too, so she probably gets it. I can't even get frustrated with this cat, because its just so darned cute when she does these things. Now if my wedding rings go missing, I might have to rethink that.....

Summer....here it comes

It was HOT this weekend. It felt more like August than the second day of May. I hope this isn't indicative of things to come, because really, I am NOT ready for the eastern NC swelter-fest. I was counting on at least another month of reprieve. Maybe it was just a heat wave that will burn itself out soon...? Please? We had to do some yard work yesterday, so I really got the feel of the temp. Plus, its really dry around here right now. After this long wet winter, I wasn't sure our yard would ever dry out again, but it has....and we need some rain now. I think we have some in the forecast for the next couple of afternoons, so maybe it won't turn into a total drought.

After a morning of cutting grass (yesterday), I took a break and went out to lunch with Stephen and Hannia. We tried this Thai place. And by "we tried", I mean me, because they had been there before. I tried the beef/mango curry on Stephen's advice, and OMG, it was delicious. Hot and spicy, but soooo good. All of their dishes come with a hotness number. Like you can order from a 1 all the way to 20. I am so wimpy that I asked for a 1. Stephen and Hannia asked for 3. And still...mine was really hot to me. I went through a whole lot of iced tea with it, but I enjoyed it. It was cooked in coconut milk, and the sauce was so rich and creamy, and the mango flavor was perfect with it. I can't even begin to imagine what a 20 would be like? I wonder if anybody actually orders that? But I cooled my taste buds down with some of their homemade coconut ice cream for dessert. It was a nice change from yard work for sure.

And now the new work week begins all over again. I hope its a good one for everybody!