MOMISM

No, that is not a new religion. Someone wrote a book recently about sayings from her mother which she called "momisms". Contemplating Mother's Day as a now motherless person, I fondly remember some of my mom's great advice and sayings.

"Don't learn to clean fish". This has been wonderful advice that I heeded. I think my mom said that while cleaning fish. Many times people would give us fish and she would prepare them for dinner if they were cleaned. Otherwise, they would be buried in the garden producing some amazing tomatoes later.

Nothing was wasted. "Use it up", "Eat it up", or best yet, "Kill it" which meant eat it up. I now struggle with a weigh problem so maybe not such good advice. It was Green living and good for the planet however.

"Use the rubber spatula!" This advice was given to me when I was a young housewife. She could not abide wasting food by leaving batter or whatever in the bowl. At my house, mom would be aghast looking for my one rubber spatula which might be in the dishwasher. One of her last gifts to me was a pack of new rubber scrapers. I am now in the habit of using them and look crossways at my husband if he doesn't. The apple does not fall far from the tree. One habit I still have is licking the beaters from the electric mixer when I make a cake. My lawyer reminded me to add, "Do not attempt this at home unless the mixer is unplugged!" Don't you love obvious disclaimers?

"Don't learn to change a tire". Strange advice from a divorced working mom in the fifties. She was very sefl-sufficieint and not one to shrink back from helping herself. (Maybe when she said that she hoped I would have it easier. ) I took this advice as well. I actually have been shown how to change a tire, but don't know if I would attempt to do it myself or just look helpless until someone else does it. So far, I have only had one flat tire and one husband who answered my call for assistance. It is less necessary to be so self-sufficient with the advent of AAA and cell phones.

Her best advice and something she practiced; "Pray for a good husband". Good men are not that easy to come by. Mom prayed and was rewarded with both daughters marrying good guys. I have also seen our daughter and oldest son marry people well suited to them that we love. Our youngest has been dating a nice young lady whom we like and who is a nursing student which gains points with me.

Thanks mom for passing along your wisdom. It might be a good thing that I may not know what my kids will remember me saying.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. (I meant that in a nice way.)

PS: Happily still exercising and -40. My delight this week was seeing our youngest son for the first time since early January and having him tell me I looked different. He was amused that I was working out and using Whey supplements.

Where the Heart Is

Hats off to Laura Bush who not only had her mother-in-law for dinner the other night but also the Queen of England. I fussed a bit last week contemplating a dinner party for fourteen. Her task was much more important, but she probably had a little help.

Last year Laura Bush teased the President a little as a Press Club "Roast". He is an early to bed, early to rise guy. The Bushes have not had many state dinners because President Bush likes to retire by 9 PM. You have to love the guy. Laura razzed him saying, "George, if you want to save the world, you will have to stay up past nine!" I'll bet he was up past nine the other evening. Critics caught him winking at the Queen. That is a protocol no-no. They have to factor in the warmth of a Texan's hospitality to understand him. If you saw the movie "The Queen" you might agree with me she could use a little "loosening up".http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=politicalhumor&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D-1921276117304287501

Good news from my sister after her surgery. I talked to her this morning after she had finished her PT and was sitting up. Her recovery is at or above the benchmark and she sounded wonderful.

Son, Andy, is home. He repeatedly said how nice it was to be back in America. He enjoyed his living abroad experience and travel in eastern Europe, but was delighted to be home. That brings to mind the line from the poem, Patriotism: "Breathes there the man with soul so dead, who never to himself has said, this is my own, my native land..."

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1691.html

I am sure my sister, Carolyn, will be delighted to go home to the ranch when she is ready. Perhaps even Queen Elizabeth will be glad to return to England after her travels.

Hip Hip Hoorah !

Today my sister is having hip replacement surgery. We have been communicating online about her surgery. I have tried to reassure her all will go well. Yesterday she told me she had a unique experience. She does a follow-up call welcoming new people to her church. The three people she talked to this week were were: the Hospital Chaplain, an anesthetist and a night nurse at her local hospital where she will have her surgery today. She saw God's hand in this reassuring her He had everything under control.

As I was writing this, her husband Mike called saying she was out of surgery and all had gone smoothly. PTL. We do not walk alone unless we want to. Picture: My sister with the great legs.

Cool video that reminded me "I" am not the center of the universe, but His eye is on the sparrow.... http://www.greatdanepro.com/somewhere%20in%20time/index.htm

Jane

Andy and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Our "baby" is coming home today. Andy is the traveler I have been blogging about. He returns home today from London. We are praying for safe travel and plan to meet him at the airport about 8:30pm. Yesterday's email related "being halfway through a 40 hour return trip."

After spending five days in Lake Belaton, Hungary the boys had a peek at the essential sites in Vienna and Prague. Both are beautiful cities, but he described Prague as totally overrun with tourists. I think the less traveled places held more appeal for him. They got back to Goldbach, Germany (Kai's home) late Saturday night and he left from Frankfurt Hahn airport the next day.

Arriving in London he found out it was a "bank holiday" and rooms were scarce. He paid more than he would have liked for a B & B near Piccadilly Square but was glad to find something. Today he should have left around noon London time for the final push home.

I titled this "Dreamcoat" thinking about what I said to daughter Mary a few weeks back. "It is a wonder you and your brothers didn't throw Andy in a hole and sell him into slavery in Egypt". This is in reference to the Bible story of Joseph the youngest of Jacob's 12 who was jealously regarded by his brother's as the patriarch's favorite. He is not our favorite. He is just our youngest. When he was born his older siblings were 13, 15, and 17. He is our baby, but it is so clear he is now a young adult able to handle himself living and traveling abroad.

We'll have a quick few hours to catch up on his news before he heads back to college to see the young lady he cares for. I guess he really is growing up.

Cape of Good Hope

A few years ago United Hospitals in St. Paul, MN opened a new heart hospital named the John Nasseff Heart Center. It is named for a multimillionaire St. Paul philanthropist who was it's major contributor.
Today's paper has a feature story on the man. Born of Lebanese immigrants, he worked his way up in the world ending up with $175 million selling his stock in the West Publishing Co. He is now giving back to the city where he lived all his life and is extremely generous in his charitable donations. He lives in a downtown St. Paul condo and enjoys walking the neighborhood streets and prefers a cape to a coat. You heard me. This super man wears a cape and helps people. I am beginning to rethink my opinion of capes.
Yesterday's email from Joan told her childhood memory of career days at school. She and friends were much impressed by the nurse who wore a uniform and navy blue wool red-lined cape. With the shortage of nurses we currently have, maybe old fashioned recruiting techniques could be resurrected. A movie with Scarlett Johannsen in this attire might also go a long way to catch the next generation.

George of the Jungle and Museum

I have not been to the "new" Children's Museum in St. Paul. I think it has been open 7 or 8 years. Our youngest is 21 now, so that partially explains why. I do feel like a bad grandma, but the kids have gone with their parents.

I am going to see that museum soon. A traveling exhibit of Curious George is opening. I love Curious George. When our kids were growing up we read all the books. I also told many original bedtime stories adding Curious George to the story about them. Andy may remember "Curious George and the Little Chocolate Lake". It featured Andy and George on a boat trip with mom and dad. When Andy was little we frequently launched our boat in a state park on the St. Croix river. The water on the St. Croix is tea colored from the Tamarack trees that line the banks. The boats launch was on a back water pond that looked brown. Andy dubbed it "chocolate".

Daughter Mary is a collector of Curious George mementos. She has traveled and acquired CG books in foreign language. She has CG pictures, plaques, stuffed animals etc. He is just that cuddly. Does anyone not identify with his antics? Who couldn't love a friendly monkey.

Last week I heard our new son-in-law refer to their future son as Romie. (Nope, not pregnant yet. Mary calls this 'Mike's fantasy family") That is my deceased father -in-law's name and I hope they get to use the name someday. Maybe they will consider George as a middle name. Hopefully, that won't dictate impish behaviour from a future grandson but with a name like Roman George I am sure he would have winning ways.

Dreammobile

I just read my daughter's blog and she tells of test-driving the new vehicle her Michael wants to buy. I am a little concerned. It is called a Magnum. I googled Magnum and this is the picture I got.

Can Mary handle that on a curve? Will they need a ladder to get in the cab? Will it fit in the garage? How about the gas mileage?

I am the mother-in-law however, and I think I will just say, "Nice wheels". Maybe it comes in red.

http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&q=magnum%20trucks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi