Holly’s Happenings

Well hello there! If you don’t mind, I need to pick your brain for a minute and get your thoughts about whether or not you think something would be appropriate. I’ll try to keep this short, but no promises, OK?

Here’s the deal. My niece just had a baby on Thursday, and I’m now a Great Aunt for the second time. I had every intention of making the near 2 hour drive last night to go visit her and the new baby at the hospital, but I ended up coming down with a KILLER headache that was on the verge of a migraine. But anyway, this post isn’t about me, it’s about her, sorry for getting off track there.

So this is my niece’s second child with her first being just 2 1/2 years old. She’s currently a work from home mom, or at least she will be when she goes back from her maternity leave. I’d love to get her a plant or something special to commemorate the birth of her 2nd child. I’m a mom of two who also happen to be 2 1/2 years apart age wise, so I know and remember how rough things were when my daughter first came home.

So when thinking about getting my niece a nice plant or some beautiful flowers, I can’t help but think about the fact that live plants and flowers do take time and care if you want them to stay green…LOL! I was wondering if it would be appropriate to get her a beautiful flower arrangement made with silk flowers instead? That way she has pretty flowers that don’t require daily watering or ones that will die. But I’m just not sure if doing something like that would come across the way that I see it or not. So what are your thoughts, how would you feel if a family member gave you a beautiful silk flower arrangement for your special event? Me personally, I prefer them over real flowers or plants, but that’s because I have a VERY brown thumb…LOL!

We’re almost two weeks away from Mothers Day, which is May 11th, and I thought I’d make a list of gift ideas and then ask you all to give me any ideas that you had, if you don’t mind. I know what I’m getting for Mothers Day, because it’s always the same thing and has been for many years! I get my flowers to plant in my flower beds. But if I don’t get busy getting them cleaned out soon, I may end up having to spend Mothers Day cleaning them out rather than planting flowers to make them look pretty…LOL!

Anyway, here are some of the gift ideas that I had for my own mother, tell me what you think:

1. Pictures of the kids, complete with frames
2. A gift card to her favorite store or restaurant
3. Coupons for her local car wash, my mom is a fanatic about keeping her car clean…LOL
4. A 14 karat gold medical id bracelet, some of the newer styles are GORGEOUS!
5. A coupon to take over one day of work for her, my mom has ran her own cleaning business for almost 30 years now, I think she needs a day off!
6. A gift card or prepayment to the salon she goes to when she has her hair and nails done

That’s about all that I can think of right now, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more as Mothers Day gets closer. What kinds of gift ideas do you have?

I just looked at my calendar and realized that Mothers Day is a little more than three weeks away. It wasn’t until I became a mother myself that I honestly realized how special Mothers Day really was! Over the years I’ve given my mother many wonderful gifts and cards to let her know how much she means to me, but this year, I’d like to do something really special for her!

A few years before my father passed away, he had purchased a ring for mom that had birthstones of all three of us kids on it. You could tell from her reaction that it wasn’t the ring that she would have chosen, but she wore that ring religiously for many years.

Mom is a little older now and the years have caused her knuckles to get larger because of arthritis. She doesn’t wear the ring my father gave her anymore because of this. So I was thinking that a new mother’s ring that could fit her finger would make an excellent Mothers Day gift this year, especially one like this:

I think she would really love the modern style of the ring and I really like the fact that the style allows for the name of each child to be engraved by their birthstone!

Whatever I end up doing for my mom this year for Mothers Day, I know that in her eyes it’s more about the thought put behind it than anything else. I have no doubt my mother knows how much I love her and how much she means to me and that I’m proud that I call her mom! And as a mother myself, I can only hope that my children grow up feeling as loved as I did by my mother! Even though I was not her biological child, there has never been a single moment of my life where she has made me think that I was anything but her own daughter!

Mom, if you read this, I LOVE YOU! Thank you for being a wonderful mother!

OK guys, listen up! And yes honey, I’m talking to you too! We ladies love the lives that we have with you, but you kind of seem to be lacking in some things. Namely, gift giving. They holiday season is behind us and I’ve heard from many of my friends that their men gave them Christmas gifts consisting of things like vacuum cleaners, dish washers, DVD’s, washers, dryers and many other gifts that although are nice, simply aren’t what we’d like to recieve as a gift for a holiday or other special occasion.

So guys, here’s what I’m going to do for you. I’m going to give you a list of items that ladies would LOVE to recieve from you. In other words, these are sure fired ways to make us ladies happy. And if you know us you know that if we’re happy, YOU are happy too….LOL!

1. Jewelry - The old saying is true, diamonds are a girls best friend!
2. Lingerie - Thinks like teddys, corsets, and other romantic gifts.
3. Date nights - Yes, we still love to go out on a date with you (even after 17 years sometimes…LOL)
4. Day spas - These are quickly becoming the new girls best friend!
5. Flowers and chocolate - Yes guys, these are not just meant for Valentines Day. We love chocolate, you should know that by now! And flowers, do I really have to say anything else?

There’s a few to get you started, you should be able to get more ideas from those! But PLEASE no more of the household appliance type gifts unless we SPECIFICALLY ask for them! Use some creativity and I’m sure you’ll come up with something WONDERFUL!

It’s the day after Christmas, and all through the house, the kids are still happy and so is my spouse…LOL! No, it wasn’t the Christmas to beat all Christmases, but it was a pretty nice one, even considering that the hubby and I both spent the day coughing and sniffling!

The biggest “hits” with the kids were an MP3 player and headphones for my son and this monkey speaker thing that my daughter can plug her MP3 player into that has lights that flash to the beat of the song that is playing. In my opinion, it’s the equivalent of a noisy toddler toy….LOL! But she’s been really good about using it in her room so that I don’t have to hear her music.

I think the hubby was a bit disappointed at not finding some new Ingersoll Rand air tools under the tree, but he’ll get those when/if we get the garage built so that he has a better place to store them! I’m thrilled with my new mixer! It’s TONS better than the one I’ve been using for a couple of years, and one step closer to the one I really want and WILL eventually have!

Now all we have to do is get the next 6 days over and we can say that we successfully survived another holiday season!

And yes, he said he’d check it twice…LOL! But will it show that I’ve been naughty, or nice? I have a difficult time telling people what I’d like for a gift, I have had for a very long time. Mostly because I just don’t like people buying things for me. I’m a very picky person and it’s not easy for me to pretend I like something when I really don’t. I tried to tell him that anything would be just fine as long as it wasn’t exercise equipment. I had a bad experience on one of the ellipticals at a gym I used to go to, so I have this phobia about exercise equipment now…LOL!

I like putting fun things in my kids stockings, you know, the things that they never think about putting on their wish lists? This year is going to be no exception! Since the kids are older I have to get more creative since they’ve out grown many of the different types of stocking stuffers I’ve used in the past!

Since the kids are into electronics and they both recently got new cell phones, I’m thinking I’ll get them some fun cell phone accessories for their new phones! My son would love an awesome case for his phone and I heard him asking his dad about Bluetooth headsets, so since the price has really dropped on those lately, that would be a great stocking stuffer!

My daughter is into this “all things cute and pink” stage, which is weird for me because she’s always been a major tomboy! So I’m going to grab a cute pink cell phone case as well as some cute charms for her cell phone!

My sister and I “strategically” planned the births of our children so that they are each a year apart. We actually didn’t plan it that way, it’s just how it worked out…LOL. My niece, who is right between my kids age wise, decided to take up golf this past year since her school has a girls golf team. When I was talking to my sister about what to get her girls for Christmas she said that my niece wants anything and everything that is golf related. After looking around online I think I’ve found a couple of really neat Nike golf items that I think she’d really like that are within the price range that I planned on spending!

With the holidays quickly approaching, I’m sure you and I have both started thinking about gifts for friends and family members. Often we are stuck in a situation where we just can’t find a gift that we think is special. Because, honestly, everyone wants to give a gift that turns into a treasured item that the gift receiver treasures for many years to come. And how great would it be if the treasured gift you gave served a double purpose that would also ensure quality care for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease?

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America has an eStore that would allow you to give a very special holiday gift that the receiver is sure to treasure for many years to come. And all proceeds from the items that you purchased from their eStore benefit The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, thus giving your special gift even more meaning.

Finding the cure for Alzheimer’s Disease is very important, but it is just as important to assure that the care for those who have Alzheimer’s is not overlooked. Sometimes, in the bigger picture of a serious disease like Alzheimer’s, more focus is put on finding the cure. But we also need to make sure that we take the time to make sure that those who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease get not only the proper treatment, but quality treatment as well! Without quality care, those who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease will not have the chance for the quality of life that should be given. That’s why it is so important to give to foundations like The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. They spend their time making sure that Alzheimer’s patients, as well as their families, are given the highest quality of treatment until a cure for this disease is found!

So why not make sure that the special gifts you are giving to your friends or loved ones also gives to an foundation that shows care and concern for a disease that has dedicated it’s time and resources to improving the quality of life for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s!

OK ladies, we’re only a few weeks away from Sweetest Day, so it’s time to get busy! It’s time to start dropping those hints so that our guys don’t end up giving us something like a new vacuum cleaner or a lovely blender. We need to start dropping hints so that our guys will come home with chocolates, flowers and jewelry instead! I mean, come on, what would you rather tell your friends, “My guy got me a new mixer for Sweetest Day”, or “My guy got me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings”?

With today’s technology there is a wonderful way of showing off photographs that are special to you! For instance, my parents just got back from a 2 week vacation in Mrytle Beach a few weeks ago and mom took a TON of pictures with her digital camera. I showed her how to upload the photos to her computer then put only the ones that she really liked back onto her memory stick. I then told her that she could purchase a digital photo frame that she could put her memory stick into that would display the pictures from her vacation that meant the most to her.

Digital frames make a great gift and are a wonderful way of displaying photos from your special occasion. If you have been invited to a wedding recently, imagine how surprised the bride and groom would be to receive a digital picture frame with photos from their special day. It would also be a wonderful gift for the proud parents of a new baby. They could treasure pictures of their new baby’s first moments of life and share them with friends, family and new grandparents.

No matter what your special occasion is, a digital picture frame is a great way to help remember your special day!

Although we got them a new string trimmer for their new house, I still want to get my sister and her husband a neat housewarming gift to take up for when we move them this coming weekend. I was looking online and found some really neat looking Mailboxes, and thought that would be something awesome that they honestly wouldn’t think to replace. Since they’ll be out in the country now, one thing they have to keep in mind is the kids that like to come along and smash mailboxes; which would be solved by one that I found that was built into a brick looking pillar. And I had no idea that they actually made locking mailboxes, did you? HMMMMM….I wonder how quick I could get one of these delivered!