Yo' Mama!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! Are you having a great day? I am and it's all because of my sons. Clearly, I wouldn't be a mommy without my little boys, "O" and "T". Yesterday I had one of those moments where I realized that I really am a mom. I mean, who else but a mom hangs out at a park for hours at a time because their kid's have sporting events?

My baby "O" (on the left with the popsicle-blue lips) is on a baseball team and he had team pictures yesterday from 11-12:30 and a game at 2. Of course, after the game, the boys wanted to play on the jungle gyms so I set up shop on the grass. I was supposed to be reading my book, Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road", but I ended up spending a lot of time watching my sons play and thinking about how good and sweet they are.

They were making me laugh so hard because every so often, they'd run over and say, "You know we're going to Disneyland tomorrow for Mother's Day, right?"

I think they were hoping they could break me down to the point that I'd cave in and say, "That's a great idea! Let's go see Mickey!" But nope, instead I got up this morning, ended my TV abstinence by watching Meet the Press and then did a Jillian Michaels workout DVD. The DVD is called "30 Day Shred". Apparently, if I do it every day for the next 30 days, I'm gonna look shredded! I'm inclined to believe it, especially since I'm now having a hard time even typing because I'm so sore.

Hands down, the funniest moment of the morning came right after I'd finished working out and was putting my free weights back under the couch. There was a loud knock on my front door and even though I was a hot sweaty mess, I had to answer it because my husband had stepped out for a minute to go buy some milk. So, I answer and there's this hot guy standing there with something wrapped in some brown paper.

He says, "These flowers are for you," and holds them out to me.

I'm sooo stupid that I thought this guy was giving me flowers from him!

I actually said, "Are these from you?" -- to which he confusedly replied, "No, I'm just giving them to you."

It took a second for me to realize that he worked for a florist and was merely delivering the flowers. In my defense, I had just done a workout that promised to make me shredded so I think my brain partially shut off because of the pain vibrating through my quadriceps.

While this guy is standing there holding this bunch of flowers out to my dumb self, here comes my husband bounding up the steps with yet another bouquet of flowers and a huge balloon that says, "Queen for a Day!" on it. Uh huh, going to go get a carton of milk, yeah, right. He comes and stands next to the delivery guy too and is all, "These are for you," while looking at the man like, "Who the hell are you and why are you here?'

Never in my life have I been presented with two bunches of flowers at once! Wowzer! So, I took the package from the delivery guy, unwrapped the brown paper and saw that it was a huge bunch of ranunculus! Ranunculus are my absolute favorite flower in the whole world and these ones, as you can see from the picture above, are absolutely GORGEOUS!

My husband looked a little deflated as he stood there with his bunch of yellow, purple and white daisies. "Who are those from?"

I should've replied, "From my other baby daddy," but instead I opened the card to reveal that they're from my awesome sister! Love her! And, now I'm feeling like I'm "all that" because I got two bunches of flowers in one day!

I know there are those who hate Mother's Day. They say, "It's just a commercial holiday. People should honor their mother's every day." There's no denying that is true. But still, it's nice to see my little boys shyly presenting me with the pictures and poems they made at school and I got two bunches of flowers!

Sooo, if you haven't already connected with your mother today, the clock is ticking! Even if you all don't get along and you're still in therapy from your traumatic childhood, give your mom a ring. As a friend told me, one day your mom won't be there and you'll wish you could tell her you love her just once more. Separate the behavior from the person and just reach out because hey, she did carry you for 10 months and that is no small commitment.

Anyway, my eldest just asked me, "Aren't you going to go get your nails done or something?" Yes I am, and some waxing too! See ya!

Ranunculus Surprise

Today my weekly trip to Trader Joe's ended with a surprise.

I certainly noticed all the bunches of ranunculus in their black water buckets when I first got to the store. But I'd been too eager to get to the last available shopping cart before anyone else, so I hadn't even stopped to smell the lovely blooms. Even though ranunculus are my absolute favorite flower in the world, they were forgotten in my efficient pursuit of apple-cranberry bran muffins and lentil soup.

The store was packed, not unusual for a Sunday at noon. But, I tuned the crowds out and zoomed through the store. In less than 30 minutes, I found myself chatting with the cashier about Lena Horne and whether the Laker's would win against the Suns. I said goodbye, told him I'd see him next week (I always go to the same cashier every week) and began to push my cart toward the exit.

I saw another Trader Joe's cashier walking toward me, a lovely bunch of rose-colored ranunculus in his hand. But, instead of passing me, he stopped, held the ranunculus out to me, and said, "These flowers are for you, courtesy of another customer."

What???

I was absolutely stunned by this. Someone I didn't know was giving me my favorite flowers? And in my favorite color of ranunculus as well? I stammered in disbelief for a few seconds but finally managed to blurt out, "Somebody gave you flowers to give to me?"

The cashier thrust the flowers into my arms as he explained how some guy had purchased the flowers, had described me and had asked for me to be given the flowers before I left the store.

"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Totally serious," said the cashier
"How long ago did this guy buy these?" I asked.
"Oh, about 20 minutes ago."
"What he look like?"
The cashier wasn't particularly descriptive. "A white guy. Dark hair. Tallish."

I hadn't noticed anybody that fit that description at all. Hmm. But, I couldn't grill the poor cashier forever, so I thanked him for his help and made my way home with my lovely bunch of rose-colored ranunculus.

I'm thrilled to get such a pretty bunch of flowers, but I have to confess, it's a little creepy to me too. I have an overactive imagination so I start wondering, what if these flowers are courtesy of some weird stalker out there in the world? If this happened to you, would you be a little weirded out by it too? Or is it just me?

Hey Sugar Lips! You Rock!

Do you despise Valentine's Day? It seems more and more people hate it these days.

Me, I'm not a Valentine's Day hater. Not a lover of the day, but not a hater either. I just try not to take it too seriously.

And really, how can I take it seriously with a pile of conversation hearts sitting on my desk?

As I chomped on the "Sugar Lips" heart, I tried to remember my first real experiences with Valentine's Day. By real, I mean that I wasn't taking a Valentine with a cartoon character on it to school.

It was taking me forever to remember my formative Valentine years so I decided to have another conversation heart. While biting into the "You Rock" heart, one of my colleagues got a bouquet of flowers delivered to her. Ah-ha! The memories suddenly came rushing back. You see, the last and only time I got a really gigantic bunch of roses on Valentine's Day was in high school.

In my sophomore year of high school, my friend Tanisha's brother liked me and I liked him too. It could have been a happy ending...except for the fact that I wasn't allowed to go out on dates or have a boyfriend. He was an "unofficial" boyfriend, if you know what I mean. He was the boy I only saw when I went to my friend's house. To top it off, he was an "older man". If I remember correctly, he was a sophomore in college at the time.

Valentine's Day rolled around and he showed up at my high school with at least two dozen red roses. Everybody around me oohed and aahed over this. But I was not so happy. In fact, I was mentally freaking out. Not because this guy gave me flowers. No, I was freaking out because I knew I was going to have to get rid of those flowers before I got on the school bus at the end of the day. There was absolutely no way I could go home to the most strict parents on the planet and say, "Hey, look who gave me roses today!"

I couldn't give the roses away at school because I knew my friend would tell her brother. So, I remember hastily stuffing them in my locker and then, I threw the flowers in the trash right before I jumped on the bus. He called me and asked me how I liked the flowers. I don't remember what I told him but I know that was the beginning of the end of whatever little crush he had on me, and vice versa.

It sounds sad, and it is a bit sad, but I still don't hate Valentine's Day. I just have to keep it all very light-hearted and not take it seriously. I mean after all, if there are small, heart-shaped bits of candy that say "You Rock!" on them, how serious can it be?

I hope you take a moment out of your haterade to eat some conversation hearts. If you didn't, come on, you have to seize the moment! Just do it quickly because I think there's an unwritten rule that a candy heart with the phrase " Soul Mate" on it is only cute and romantic on or around February 14th. I have a feeling that if you decide to eat these in July, everyone's going to look at you like you're crazy.