Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Royal Spa Treatment

I have been to a spa today and received the royal spa treatment. The proprietors of this spa are in my immediate family so I got the works for free. The oldest owner (8 years old) decided that mom needed a special day. Off he went in search of his massage tools. After enduring all that I could take of his gentle shoulder massage I begged for a moment to just to savor how relaxed I could be. It's amazing how much more relaxing it was after he stopped.

Not to be out down the other proprietors (ages 4 and 2) decided that I needed to have my hair done. Off they went to find the brush and comb. I was then brushed and combed until my hair was hanging as limp and straight as it could possibly be. I'm sure that my two year old remembered the times that I encountered tangles while brushing her hair so decided to give a little bit of payback.

Sadly I was unable to stay for the manicure and pedicure since it really was getting late, but maybe next time. All I know is that after such a relaxing day provided courtesy of my children I feel the need to make an appointment for a real massage, but I think I'll have to try a more established spa to frequent. I just won't mention it to my children.

Friday, May 25, 2007

I love flowers

I haven't always been into gardening. It just grabbed hold of me in the last few years. Since then I have tried many different flowers. Some I like and others I pulled out and planted something new the next year. But these are some of my favorite perennial flowers and I love the the way their colors can brighten anything up. This is my hydrangea. It only has two blooms so far but this is only it's second year and is still very small.




I also love the bright color my pinks have. They are such a small flower but pack a big punch, I think.




And of course I can't forget to mention by bright yellow day lilies. I must confess that this was one of the first flowers that really got me more into the gardening thing. It's one of the first to bloom every spring and I always look forward to it's arrival.



I have a lot more flowers that I have just planted and once they mature a bit and fill in then I will take some more pictures. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

My request

Today is the last day of school for my son. He is already claiming to miss his teacher and is so sad. So now that he is home for the summer, what can I expect? Lots of requests. My oldest son is full of them from everything to special breakfast requests to the playing with friends and anything else that may catch his eye. He sees something on TV and he wants it, he sees it at the store and wants it, he hears about something and he wants it.

So what is a poor mom to do. I get very tired of saying no all the time. With four kids, when one of them makes a request it is inevitable that the rest will soon follow with their own. So for today, I have a special request to make. I request the creativity needed to keep four children and a mom happy and sane over the summer. Notice I am not requesting patience, just creativity and new ways to deal with things. I am sure that my one single request will be lost among the garble of my children's many requests through out the day. Then again, maybe my one request will be heard by others and I will be granted the creativity that I desire.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

My Shade Garden

I love gardening. It is always welcomed by me every spring. I like to see the old plants that are back for another year and look forward to the new annuals that will brighten up an area. For me it provides instant gratification. It's easy to deal with the sunny locations of the yard but my favorite spot is in the backyard. I have one flower bed in my backyard that gets very little sun. It is on the north side of the house and has a large oak tree protecting it as well. I have found several plants that do very well there and really love it. But without fail, every year I am required to go and replant all my favorites. This is because I have a very large, dumb dog that refuses to learn and is always digging up my flower bed. So today I have once again planted my Hostas, a new fern and some very colorful Caladiums. Once they have grown some, they will look beautiful along with the pinks, Gladiolas and Hydrangea that I have growing there. I am even tempted to replace the Coral Bells since I really love that plant, but it tends to cover up one of my darn dogs favorite spots so maybe I will just give it a break this year. In the meantime I am excited to once again have my shaded area back in order. All I can do now is try to keep that dumb dog out of my beds.

Monday, May 21, 2007

What my children see

I went shopping for a swim suit today and it was quite the adventure. I sorted through all the racks of swimsuits that I thought were cute that I thought might look good on me. After I had approximately eighty swimsuits in hand, we went off in search of the dressing room. I barely missed out on the handicapped stall since a lady with her one child in the stroller zipped in before me and my two kids along with the baby in the stroller could get there. No worries no hard feelings to you and your single child in that enormous dressing room. I will just cram all four of us in the small dressing room and proceed to try on my eighty swim suits with absolutely no room to turn around in. You and your one child enjoy the big dressing room.

You see I came prepared to entertain my kids with a small snack while I changed. Unfortunately they were far more interested in laughing at mom every time they saw my underwear. What in the world made them find this so funny I do not know but they did and they were laughing hysterically at me as I tried on swimsuit after swimsuit. I really was beginning to develop a complex, I mean if my kids are laughing at me in my swimsuit what will the people at the pool think. Once I finally get it narrowed down to about three suits I ask the kids what they think. It's then that I realize what my child sees when they look at me in a swimsuit versus what I see. All that they see is the big bright flowers and colors and none of the rolls and cellulite. To them the more loud the swimsuit the prettier I was. I just wanted to hug them there on the spot, but unfortunately we were still crammed in that small dressing room and I didn't have enough room to do it. So I picked out what was to them the ugliest suit of all since it didn't have enough colors in it and I somehow managed to maneuver back out of the dressing room. I gave them a quick hug and rushed to the closest check out before I could change my mind.

So I kept telling myself that the important thing to remember is that it will be so much fun for the kids to be at the pool this summer and that is what they will remember most. Not what I am wearing. So today all I have for my children is love, since they have shown me so much of that in the dressing room, well except for the laughing at my underwear bit.