Mothers Day 2011

I approached Mother's Day this year with slight hesitation...I suppose most women have to weigh the consequences of approaching a holiday like this with just the right amount of expectations.  I was confused at what to do this year because it is the first time in 3 years that Clark has been home for it.  So you can see my dilemma.   I mean, for the last two years the girls single handedly pulled off a stack of homemade gifts and breakfast in bed without so much as a reminder.  This year,  I appropriately reigned in my emotions and went with what came my way.  I told Clark that mainly, I just didn't want to have any part in the Saturday morning job/gripe fest.  So after he got home from his run and I ate a leisurely breakfast, enjoying the whining that was commencing about chores (knowing that I didn't have to deal with any of it) I swept myself off to Mount Vernon (George Washington's home/plantation/estate/paradise.) It almost ties in beauty and serenity with Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.  No, I take that back.  I think I prefer Mount Vernon.  But it's a close race.

I really wanted to go somewhere interesting that I have really wanted to see and at a time that I would be able to listen to everything being said and read every sign possible.  It was gorgeous.  I ambled about wherever I pleased, sat when I wanted to sit, walked when I wanted to walk and ate when I wanted to eat.  The universe even wished me well with the closest parking spot possible.  It was pretty sweet and totally worth mentioning.  However, the universe was not kind to me when I got in line to tour the Washington's mansion and was stuck behind the most obnoxious group of out of state teenagers ever conceived and birthed onto this earth.  I tried my best to remember the things I wanted to ask and know about George and Martha in between the snide remarks, the dumb picture taking and general foul language.  The man behind me, who was also going through the house alone commiserated with me about the choice group we got stuck with.  I may or may  not have asked him to "shoot me now" somewhere between the grand parlor and main dining hall.  I don't really care for teenagers all that much (except you, Sadie.  You would never tauntingly call everyone "Martha" and then badger the historians.) I believe one of the historians even gave up on their rude questions and remarked "well aren't you an obnoxious little group."  I smirked like an old adult fuddy duddy.

I'm pretty sure it was dorky when I asked to hold a prop while posing with Martha and her granddaughter.

I could have sat there on that back porch overlooking the Potomac and chatting with them all day.  Then her granddaughter complimented my hair and asked me to tell her how I did it...I was flattered until I realized I was talking to a young adult who enjoys dressing up in costume and speaking in a fake British accent.  Then I wasn't sure.
It was a thoroughly pleasant afternoon.

This is the old tomb where Washington was originally laid to rest until the completion of the newer tomb he designed before he died.  Everything there is just quiet and lush and calm.

I have also decided that someday I would like a house with a weather vein.  I haven't decided what kind yet.

Then Sunday morning was bacon breakfast in bed.  I did have to get up and shower before but Clark was able to pull together my yummy meal in between the 100 other things he had to do that morning.  When I came out of the shower I opened the door to all four girls in my bed, shoving each other and whining.  I promptly kicked them out and instructed their little behinds to the hallway where they would come in with my food and singing lovingly to their mother.  Which they did.  (Mother's Day this year came with a lot of instructing.  Sometimes that's just the way it goes.)

Clark gave a lovely talk in church and the girls were sweet and happy for most of the day, which really and truly honestly is what I wanted most.  I may not have gotten the full 4 hour nap but I enjoyed standing in the kitchen and walking Clark through recipes.  It was fun to have him do it and really fun to walk away from the mess that I helped him make.  I wish I had gotten the picture before all the girls changed.  They wore their real Easter dresses that didn't make it in time for Easter.  And they looked lovely.

 

I got to talk with my Mo and Dad too.  We had a skype group with Spencer and Sho so I could tell them to bring an extra big salad for dinner.  And then we mainly just played with the hilarity of a duel screen/group chat.  Go to her blog to see more.   Very Brady Bunch-esque...except with more choking.

This is the best nursery take-home, ever.  I may just leave it on my door forever and always.

HAPPY BELATED MOTHER'S DAY out there to all you hard working females, mothers or not.  I love you and I am amazed and inspired by you daily!

Because of you ladies out there in blog land I have had a recent obsessive desire to make something cute, or rather to re-purpose something cute.  Call it an innate desire to take something less attractive and make it lovely.

So last week I ventured into a nearby, enormous (and kind of scary) thrift store to find something to store our piano books in.  Something to liven up the front room and make it fun.

Before:

 After:

And because an impulse buy of $6.00 feels so good,

Before:

 After:

(Do I need to clarify that I did not receive that card for Mother's Day? I would have laughed if I had.)
And that is all.