The Aftermath of a Great Day: It’s a Good Thing!

I hope everybody out there had a lovely Mother’s Day! I had a fine day; thanks for asking.

As is customary, I got four cards: one from Jim, one from each of the kids (they picked out those musical Hallmark cards: SO CUTE!), and one from Roxie. I may have to scan the card that Roxie “picked out” and post it tomorrow; Jim is hilarious.

Although I had to teach my religious school class in the morning—meaning no leisurely breakfast in bed—the rest of the day was fabulously low-key, which is just what I needed. We went to see “Baby Mama”, which is a cute movie but not riproaringly hilarious from start to finish as I expected (we still enjoyed it).

After ingesting mass quantities of movie popcorn (Only me: not the guys. My name is Melisa and I am a Movie Popcornoholic. Extra Butter, please!), we came home for a couple of hours before going back out to dinner, at a place called “Moe’s Southwest Grill”. Moe’s is a new eatery right near our house; it’s not fast food per se…it’s about a step-and-a-half above fast food. (You order what you want and they make it while you stand there and watch (a’la Subway), and then you take your food to the table.

Jim was horrified when I requested Mother’s Day dinner there, because he was thinking we’d go to a nicer, sit-down place like Maggiano’s or Keywester’s, but we went to Moe’s about a month ago and I really liked it, and who says you have to spend a ton of money and have table service on Mother’s Day, right? He said that he and the boys almost hijacked my dinner plan and took me to another place, but in the end the boys overruled the decision and pointed out that the day was called MOTHER’S Day and I should eat what I want. (Yay!)

Presents? Two. Simple. Loved them. It was soooo nice to get one present that I had asked for (when Jim needed an idea) and one present that I didn’t know I really wanted.

First, the one I asked for: a Body Bar.
bar
It’s an 18-pound bar that I can use in my home workouts. I am gradually building up a little collection of home gym equipment, and that makes me enormously happy! I used the Body Bar today and it was a nice change from free weights.

The other gift? Yay me!

web+book

I have been talking about building a web site, because as a writer I really need to have something bigger than a blog. I want to have one place where both of my blogs can be found as well as a place to post PDF files of the magazine articles I’ve published, and other such “nonsense”. I have taught myself almost everything I know how to do on the computer, excluding the ins and outs of blogging and html coding. When I needed help getting my blogs started, my sister was fabulous in teaching me the ropes, giving me some html coding tips, and doing the header for the Remembering Ruby blog. When I was freaking out about going from a two column layout here to a three column layout (in order to fit BlogHer on the proper spot), Melissa talked me off the cliff. When I needed help renovating my Cre8buzz page, my buddy from the Great White North (Huckdoll) threw me some major help on that, and now it’s gorgeous. I am a fast learner and am excited about the challenge of creating my own website. I’m going to be sending an e-mail out to a couple of you who have successfully done so, so look out, Joeprah and Soapbox Mom!

Anyhoo, back to Mother’s Day. At Moe’s, we had a family meeting to satisfy one of the requirements for the “Family Life” Boy Scout badge, which the 15-year-old is working on. We had to talk about substance abuse and such. It was a good conversation, and very nice to get all of that “on the table” again, so to speak. We waited until we got home to finish the conversation because we had to talk about sex, too. It was great to have these conversations in a family format, because the thirteen-year-old gets very, very squirmy if we are talking only with him.

After we finished that “business”, we watched some tv (not the History Channel), and one of my best surprises came when the fifteen-year-old headed up for bed: an unsolicited hug! Can I get a What-what???

13 Comments

  • JaniceNW

    My 19yo son was awesome. Even his gf gave me a card. My 17yo pretended I was invisible. My DH had the guts to say “You’re not MY mother” to me.(who sent his mother flowers? me.) I’m still angry at him. I may be angry all the way to Father’s day.

  • Mom24

    What a great day. I’m so glad. You definitely deserve a terrific Mother’s day.

    I did get breakfast in bed…at 8:00 so we could still make Sunday School…it was early, but delicious!

  • Dea

    Your guys are so awesome! Happy Mother’s Day! I’ll post our adventure on my spot, seeing as I’d take up WAY too much of your space with it DOH! 😀

  • Taj

    Sounds like you had a fabulous day! Happy Belated Mother’s Day!

    And where was I when you needed 3 column blog help? Could’ve had you set in 2 minutes. Was I MIA again?

    I’m always MIA…lol

  • Michelle

    Very cool Mother’s Day. You’ve got to love spending time together as a family (not spending a ton of money — I’m with you). Keywester is a good restaurant though.

    So sweet to get the hug! I can only hope that my relationship with the wee ones is half as good and open as yours is now.

    Happy Mother’s Day (again)

  • Huckdoll

    Sounded like a fabulous day for you guys! Those For Dummies books are the best. If you have any further questions about the site, let me know. Baby Daddy did my blog and he’s a pro, so I can ask him if you have and questions.

  • Kat

    Happy Mother’s Day. Sounded like you had a great time and you even got to eat at the place YOU wanted.

    I am so curious as to what card Roxy “picked” for you. Do tell us 🙂

  • Melisa

    Melissa: Yes! SO nice. I really enjoyed it…

    Joozie: Tanks, Bub!

    Mags: Thank you too! 🙂

    Janice: You even got a card from the gf? She might be a keeper…

    Stacey: Our Sunday M.O. is too rushed to plan for a breakfast that early…LOL I have to leave by 8:00. (Maybe next year…)

    Dea: Hopefully I can make it over there for some reading enjoyment sometime this year!!! (I’m off work today and don’t have alot going on, so I just might lurk around!)

    Taj: Ha! I think you WERE MIA, but I knew that Melissa had just recently changed her own template, so that was that. But I will definitely put you on my “willing to help” list! Thank you! 🙂 Happy belated M-Day to you, too!

    Andie: ROFL! You must have a Moe’s near you, huh? That’s one of my favorite parts. “Welcome to Moe’s!!!!”

    Michelle: It was a thrill, believe me! 🙂

    Huckster: (ha ha) Don’t even think that I WON’T ask you for help…I totally will. And then I’ll totally send you another Hoops and YoYo card, to thank you! 🙂

    Kat: That’s one of my main goals for today…to post the cards! Stay tuned…xoxo

  • soapboxmom

    Sounds like the kind of day that makes you feel happy to be you.

    Very nice!

    Happy to help with whatever you might need help with (if I can!). I’ll look for that e-mail!