What did you learn on the first day of school?

Interview in hand
Questions put upon the page
Answers from the heart .

Famous for one day?
Teen stars dressed beyond their years
Happy to be me

It is Haiku Friday at A Mommy Story


Wednesday was the first day of school for my kids. My bookworm who is always ready to roll wasted no time getting started on her homework in the car.

She was asked to fill out an interview, so the teacher could get to know her better. She read the interview questions out loud and would announce her answers as she wrote them down on her paper. The questions consisted of the usual; favorite color, favorite past times, and favorite foods. No surprises there, until she reached question number eight.

Question #8 - "If you could be a famous person who would you like to be?"

Her initial answer - "I just want to be myself."

I almost swerved off the road, could it be that my daughter is that content with herself?

I blurted out, "Write that down."

My daughter protested, "No Mom that is not answering the question."

I pleaded, "Please write that down, it is the best answer in the world."

"No I can't, it doesn't answer the question. How about if I write..

Shawn Johnson, but I really just want to be myself."

I replied, "Great, that is the perfect answer. Write that down."

I just loved it. I couldn't wipe the smile of my face. In the time of Botox, dolled up teen stars and the media it's an uphill battle for girls to feel good about themselves. I am so thankful that my daughter is content to be herself. A great discovery for me on the first day of school.

Bottling Day

We arrived at the winery in Northern California last Saturday and could feel the excitement that had been building up during the drive. The air was thick with the now familiar smells of oak and wine and we were quickly greeted by the very friendly staff. Only a few weeks ago our winemaker had let us know the wine was finally ready for the last leg of its journey from barrel to bottles!

We poured a barrel sample and enjoyed the first delectable taste of our finished wine. The deep garnet-hued liquid quickly made its way from the stainless tank to the bottling machine, filling up bottle after bottle as they wound their way through the equipment. Somehow, it never got old watching the bottles get filled, corked, capped, labeled, and finally cased. Another step on our journey, and a great day for our vineyard and our family - one for the books!

Healthy Snacks

I was serving the bookworm and her buddy some healthy snacks at our friend's pool. They ate most of the veggies, but found a different use for the cucumbers.





I am not big on spa treatments, don't know where she picked this one up.

Mutual of Omaha Comes Home - Yikes!

I was downloading things off my camera and found this video. It was obviously shot by my love with voice work by the artist and self proclaimed wildlife expert. It is very fun to listen to his vocal impersonation. The only problem is I don't share the love of reptiles, with the rest of my tribe. I can't believe where Mr. Snake slithered off to at the end of the video, under my bedroom!

As the old adage goes, "Be careful what you wish for..". I wanted to live in the country.

She is a Brave One

My girl, the bookworm is like me in many ways.

To list a few ...

*She looks like I did when I was young and we still share a striking resemblance. It is not uncommon for people to approach me in stores and say; " Are you the mom of ....?"

*We have the same reaction to shopping for clothes, quickly getting "out of the mood to buy anything" - saves my love lots of $$.

* We share a similar temperament and attitude about life.

Now this picture demonstrates one BIG way we are different.

Her love of animals includes big scary reptiles and she is brave. She used her "special money" at the fair for the chance to pet this alligator and gladly gave up ice cream and the climbing wall. She loved every minute of it.

As far as I am concerned, you could not pay me enough "special money" to pet the alligator...no thank you. See ya later alligator.

Worth The Wait - Update

For Tackle it Tuesday, I am showing the after pictures of our front yard project. With all the projects on our property, our little front yard had been largely ignored over the years. This summer the kids, my love and I finally gave the front yard some TLC.

One Sunday afternoon In July, the kids and I rolled up our sleeves and helped my love construct a dry creek bed, complete with stones, boulders and weed fabric underneath. The kids and I have finished the job little by little in the mornings. I am so glad to have the memories of the kids and I accomplishing this task together.

It needs some more plants, but it is finally 90% done. Around here 90% is pretty darn good!

To see what other mom's are tackling check out 5 minutes for mom.

Up Up and Away

The Artist is now interested in drawing Jets. He tells me this is a F16 fighting falcon.

Two for the Surf

For more wordless Wednesday photos go to 5minutesformom

Coffee for Two

I am playing Wordless Wednesday Sunday Edition .

The Unexpected

Weekend highlights and surprises...

* Helping hands when we needed a seat.

We realized we have been friends for 27 years!

Beautiful Desert Blooms.

Six pillows on each bed!

Realistic swimsuit models ... no Sports Illustrated.
(This photo was hanging in our room.)




A double desk, plenty of room for us and our two laptops.

Happening live music at the lounge and pool and maybe the most surprising of all was....


The tattoo convention at our hotel during our weekend.

So here we are two fortysomething moms on a weekend getaway trying to blend in with the hundreds of attendees for this convention. I love the unexpected it often provides the spice in life, that little something that makes the experience so memorable.

"Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me."

Carl Sandburg (American Historian, Poet and Novelist.)

A Bloggy Weekend Away

A good friend and I have escaped to a desert location without children!

Time to work on our blogs, relax, take in a little sun and enjoy reconnecting.

I met this girl in high school and although we live far away from each other we are still close.

We have started this blogging hobby together and we are having so much fun.