Fresh is Best! A Mother's Day Hint. #FYBF

*This is a sponsored post.*

For those of you that are mothers you might be really looking forward to Mother's Day next month.  Or for those of you that have mothers (or a mother-in-law) you are either planning the perfect gift or tearing your hair out because you're afraid of getting it very, very wrong.

I think there's way too much pressure on gift giving. Some people go to a lot of trouble and think that the more lavish the gift, the more the giftee thinks you love them.  But guess what? Mothers are different (well most mothers anyway).  They'll most probably just be glad you remembered them.

When my kids were little I loved that they went to the trouble of making a card and picking some flowers from the garden. As they got older I would give them $5 to buy something from the Mother's Day stall at school, which would invariably be some lavender hand cream, a coin purse or a glass figurine you have to hide in a cupboard for about 40 years.

I often used to get a version of this home made treasure:

(from here)

Now that they're older and, I assume, a lot more capable of taking themselves up the shops and spending their own pocket money on a very heartfelt gift they would spend weeks thinking of .... ,  in reality they mostly leave it to their Dad to buy a present on their behalf. Sometimes I let them know what I would like but I secretly wish they could magically know and present me with the perfect gift. 

So I have become that Mother. I've become bored with being a matyr and now demand their love be demonstrated by a gift chosen (and sometimes purchased) by me.

As I do quite a bit of online shopping for gifts for family and friends (OK mostly for myself), I've started to subtly email links of my wish list to my husband and kids when it gets close to special occasions, like Mother's Day!

But it would be wonderful if they were to plan a bit more than a day before that special Sunday and actively go to a website and buy something beautiful delivered in time that they could present to me while I languish queen-like in my bed eating smoked salmon omelette and champagne (or in reality, burnt toast and cold tea).

Which brings me to FreshFlowers - this is a total hint, family! - absolutely beautiful bunches of blooms (and chocolates!) that can be chosen from the privacy of their room, delivered same day or next day, hidden in their closet and sprung upon their wonderful Mum first thing on Mother's Day.

Also it is the perfect solution for that mother-in-law that is impossible to buy for - you can even leave it for the last possible moment!

FreshFlowers also offer a great Reminder Service where you can sign up to receive an email for all those birthdays and anniversaries that get forgotten until the last minute. You'll look like a star! Personally, I think I"ll sign the hubby up to receive the reminders, that way he'll never forget the 101 anniversaries we have (first met, first went out, first started living together, wedding - you've got to celebrate!).

Hint, hint!

Aside from offering Mother's Day flowers, another big plus for me is that they support Daffodil Day and Heart Research Australia. Love it when a company gives back.

On top of all that they have great prices. I know with previous experience in sending flowers through work that many companies charge an arm and a leg for flowers which are pretty ordinary, but FreshFlowers are not only very reasonable every day, they have regular specials like:

Find out here!

Lastly, FreshFlowers know the joy that a surprise bunch of flowers can give someone and after reading 'Flowers and Faith in Humanity', I think I'll be sending a bit of that joy more often.

Or if you'd rather, send yourself a thank you for just being you, signed 'Anonymous Admirer' - think of the attention you'll receive from your partner after receiving that!

**Joining With Some Grace for #FYBF**

Things I should have asked my Mum

Not to start on a downer, but today is the second Mother's Day without my Mum.  In the last few years she really wasn't aware what day it was any day of the year, so actually for the last 14 years Mother's Day has been all about me.  Don't get me wrong, I used to buy her a gift and wished her a happy day, but it would more than likely confuse her more.

Today I started thinking about what I would have liked to ask her when she was alive and aware. She was a fairly secretive woman and would occasionally come out with a little snippet of her past or some saying or advice which wouldn't be accompanied by an explanation. For example,

• "Don't volunteer for anything"
• "Bloody Harpers" (some mysterious family history there that I didn't find out till years later)
• "You get on my wick!"
• "Don't hang around like a wet week"
• "When you get your period you will finally be able to swim" (apparently tampons have magical powers in the pool)
• And the inexplicable "Don't put anything in your whatsie that you wouldn't put in your mouth first"(???)! 
• Whenever a car would honk their horn outside she would say dryly "Can't come out tonight, the old man is home".  
• "Weeee!" whenever a champagne/Spumante cork popped (which was more often than you would think!).
• "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" (I say this all the time!)

So to commemorate Mother's Day, here is a list of some questions I would have liked to have asked my Mum:

• What advice and stories did your Mum and Dad tell you?
• What was your favourite toy as a child?
• What was your favourite book?
• Did your Mum read you stories?
• Did you jump in your parents bed in the morning, like we did and like our kids do?
• What was your first job?
• Who was your first love?
• How did you cope when your first child passed away?

These are questions I will never get to ask her (and some others that are too private to put here).  Why didn't I ask her when she was alive. Probably because I knew she would give me a flippant answer and brush me off because she had a "sick headache". Not one to get deep and meaningful, our Mum. And she was a bit scary in her heyday!

So the lesson here is make sure you talk to your Mum while she's still around.  Even if you don't get on, what's there to lose? Don't leave it till it's too late, she can't talk to you from the other side (though my brother begs to differ!).  But if she CAN hear - if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Happy Mother's Day Mum!  Cheers!

*Joining up With Some Grace for Facebook Lovin' Sunday*

Is Ageing Mind Over Matter?

Time moves too damn quick.  What brought it home to me is that today my 14 year old Chicken worked her first shift at McDonald's.

The reason this is so momentous to me is that I feel that once a person starts working for a wage, they have started to move away from their childhood and are almost a full-on adult.  Scary stuff when it's your daughter taking orders and being responsible when YOU still feel about 16 most of the time.  Does this mean I'm all grown up now?  Nah!  I'll act the part when I need to but most of the time I feel exactly the same as I did when I was a teenager.  Except for the times I look in a mirror, see a photograph of myself or try to do anything physical of course.

There is a little method in my madness - if I feel young in my head, maybe my body (or mind for that matter) won't get old.  And isn't it more fun to act like a 16 year old than a 47 year old?

I would have loved to have known what age my mother was feeling as she neared the end of her life, but unfortunately her dementia prevented that.  Did she still feel like a teenager in her head while sitting in a nursing home looking at those elderly people around her?  She certainly had a young attitude when she was well, in fact so much of a party girl that the start of her downfall was breaking her hip at age 65 on the dance floor at the local club's Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute!

So did she just want to escape the bed and go out dancing again or did she feel like the woman in the news this week that thought she'd had enough and it was time to depart with a bit of dignity. I think if she was anything like me there would be no way that she wanted to go out without fighting tooth and nail to the end and throwing a big party with lots of dancing.  Just don't play the Time Warp.

Joining up with the rhythmic Essentially Jess for IBOT!

Cheers to the Melbourne Cup! But nothing to wear!!!

pic from here

Every year when the Melbourne Cup comes around, I remember the Ladies' Lunches put on at my Mum's local RSL and how she would love to frock up just that little bit more than a normal Tuesday at the club. Can't remember if she actually went the whole hog and popped a fascinator on though.

When I left school and started working, most years the first Tuesday in November was just another day where occasionally the radio was put on at 3pm and everybody in the office would stop for a moment to listen, sometimes a couple of bets would be put on or a sweep would be arranged.

I did have one year where I took a day off and joined Mum at the club for a Chicken Kiev and some Aussie bubbly.  But most years it was just another day.  Even when I was home with babies there wasn't an opportunity to take them to a boozy lunch on Melbourne Cup Day.

A couple of years ago I did take a day's leave and joined my sisters and my sister-in-law to the races at Randwick to watch the cup.  It wasn't quite as glamorous as being in Melbourne, I guess, but we did get a chance to frock up, drink champagne and yell for our horses to win at the rails.

Yes, that is a fascinator on my head, not a tarantula

But this year, it's going to be different.  For one, it will be the first time I will be spending it with my husband and two, we'll be at a big fancy schmancy lunch thanks to the WatervieW in Bicentennial Park’s, Melbourne Cup Lunch for Special Olympics Australia Competition.  

Waterview

I didn't win the main prize of the Table for 10 but as a consolation prize I'm pretty pleased, as it was a ticket for the lunch for two worth $260!!!

So next Tuesday I'll be doing my usual panic fashion attack and realising I don't fit in that little black and white number anymore (bloody middle age spread!) and have nothing to wear.  I think if I stick to black and red ('cause everyone know red is the fastest), I can't go wrong.

Not sure about that fascinator thing though.....

Joining Jess for IBOT! [Don't forget to follow Jess to her new home via Facebook!]