Our Favorite Thing (today)
I was visiting my friend, Linda's blog just now and she posted about one of her favorite things in response to a request from Cindy at My Romantic Home. When I read her post I immediately thought of something that I had just been using a few minutes ago that is one of my favorite things in the house.

It's my green depression glass juicer that belonged to my grandmother. She had a collection of them and when she passed away (at almost 90 years old) my aunts were kind enough to give each of the kids and grandkids one of her juicers and a few of her Christmas ornaments. To give some perspective on how many that is, my grandmother had 11 children that lived to be adults. They all had children of their own, anywhere from 1 to 7 or 8 kids per family...do the math and you'll see that it was quite a brood that she had.

My Grandma Perkins was one of the few people in my extended family that I consistently spent much time with. In the summers I used to go to her huge fruit and vegetable farm for several weeks at a time to get a change of scenery and hang out with a couple of cousins that were close to my age. It was a wonderful time. Not having to share time and space with my five brothers and sisters in our little home, an amazing farm to roam around on and the chance to see my smart, capable, enterprising, wise and loving grandma take care of the farm and make a living selling produce at her roadside stand each and every day (7 days a week).

Now she was less than 5 feet tall and what you might call "plump" (because she was a great cook and enjoyed good food), but she never sat still for more than a few minutes. Once I heard her say that she got up by 4 am to pick the freshest produce for the day and didn't usually get to bed until around 11 pm. What dedication! I really don't know how she did it.

She was an amazing woman and this little green juicer reminds me of her whenever I see it.

An Extra Special Week for a Mom :

It's been a great week! Last weekend I went on a trip with my mom (in blue in the center), and Terry's mom on the right. I picked up my mom in Glendale, drove to Prescott to pick up Carole, then we drove to Jerome for some window shopping and lunch, then on to Sedona for the night. This was the first time in our 30 years of marriage that the two moms have spent an extended amount of time together and it went very well. Of course, both ladies are very easy going and get along well with pretty much anyone so I'm not surprised.

This Saturday in celebration of Mother's Day, a few of us took my mom to see Forever Plaid at the Hale Theater in Gilbert, then to lunch. It's a fun musical with lots of 50's men's quartet songs. The cast did a great job. My mom loved it!

Saturday night we watched the Suns game and celebrated Terry's birthday with lots of dessert and dear friends.

Sunday morning Terry treated me with a steak and eggs breakfast (his Mother's day tradition) gorgeous hydrangeas (one of my very favorite flowers) and dark chocolate (also one of my favorite treats). Am I spoiled or what?


A little later, Amy & Andrew came over and gave me this beautifully framed photo (framed by Andrew) that was taken the morning before Amy's wedding on her last day as a single woman. I LOVE it! This year it was also Terry's birthday on Mother's Day, so we let him open his birthday presents too.

We drove up to Prescott and spent the day with Terry's mom. We went out to lunch at an Irish restaurant in town called the Celtic Crossing Pub. We were greeted by a nice man all decked out in this formal kilt. Then as we were sitting there eating, two other men came in with their kilts. One guy was really tall, had long crazy hair and looked like something out of Brave Heart and the other one reminded me of Martin Sheen...very Irish looking. Amy had Bangers & Mash, Andrew had Guinness Stew. Terry thought about ordering Neeps & Tatties, but was afraid to ask what they were. Turns out it's potatoes and rutagas. We had a great time. When we came home we enjoyed a rousing game of Apples to Apples.



Later in the day, Kevin called to wish me a happy Mother's Day and today I had a delivery at work of a really cool edible arrangement of fruit from him. Fresh fruit is another one of my favorite treats. Wow! None of these things are necessary, but all of them made me feel so exra special and thoroughly loved. I think the only thing that would have made it more perfect was if Kevin was able to be with us for the day. I miss having his off-the-wall humor and joking around. His name came up several times throughout the day. We all miss having him here.

I'm a blessed woman. God is so good to me!