Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Mom's birthday. She would have been 62 years old today. I do have to say that so far the day has been difficult, but not as difficult as I had feared. Mom has been in my thoughts constantly and it is making me smile to think of her. I loved how she would make her birthday lists for us so we could get her something she wanted or needed. Remember how she used to always ask for a short sleeved sweater? Up until recently you could NEVER find them anywhere! Now, of course they're everwhere. And any pants you got her, had to be petite, since she was so short. And even then, 1/2 the time she would have to hem them anyway. I remember one year, I think it was for Mother's Day(?), all she wanted was for us to have flowers delivered to her work.

I always enjoyed shopping for mom. It was such a joy for me to try and find as much as I could to give to her for birthdays, christmas or mother's day. I always wanted to give her as much as I could because she did so much for us!

I remember he telling me a story one time about when she was born. She said that her dad, Grandpa John was so worried that she was going to be born during the World Series, and he didn't want that, because he didn't want to miss anything!

Birthdays....she always made them so special for us, even when most of the time there wasn't much to give. Growing up we always went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for our birthday dinner, where we got whatever we wanted for our dinner and we had homemade cake. I've always loved the homemade cake and frosting.

This morning while I was exercising, I put on music that Mom liked, like the BeeGees, Billy Joel and The Guess Who.

Tonight we are having mom's tacos, frying the tortillas in oil. I could never get enough of those when she made them! In fact, I asked her to make those for my birthday dinner last year, and to cut up the cheese into little cubes, because that's how we used to have our cheese. She was so surprised that I would ask for that, but I think it was a very pleasant surprise for her as she had a smile when I asked for that. I know she had it hard when we were growing up and sometimes all we would have would be soup and corn muffins for dinner, because that's all she could afford, but we LOVED those meals! That and peaches and cottage cheese. I think that when we talked about that with her, telling her that we used to love those meals, that it made her happy to hear that. She did the best she could with what she had and it made us happy and I know that's all she wanted for us.

After dinner we are planting a Gardenia plant in memory of her for her birthday. In a way, it's sort of a birthday present for her. It has been really hard not going out and buying her something for her birthday. I always looked forward to doing that. She taught us well..........

Mom, I love you so much and I miss you so much!!!! I know you are watching over us and making sure we are okay. We're doing the best we can on our own. It's been very hard, but we are getting through it together, and you are the reason we are able to do that. You raised us to be strong, because we had you as a role model.

I love you mom.....Happy Birthday......

Maple Bars.....

We went to Yum Yum Donuts this morning to grab donuts for Cheyenne's Student of the Month/Honor Roll assembly, and we were driving to school and I remembered Mom's Maple Bars. Any time anyone got donuts, we had to make sure to get mom a couple of maple bars. Remember that? She loved those! I remember trying those a couple of times and "Yuck!" But we always had to make sure there was at least one in there for her.

It's so weird, thinking about that! I mean I've gone to donut places since mom died (a LOT less nowadays though! ) and I never thought about it. It was just today when we picked up our donuts that I remembered mom and her maple bars.

Mom To The Rescue!....

Okay, I was reading a blog from a friend of mine and had responded to one of her posts. Well, her mom responded back to me, and that just so brought me back to living on Landis Street and having 9 houses separate me and Stacie.

One time my friend came down and was freaking out a bit because her mom was not in a good mood, after having a fight with her husband. So Stacie and I begged mom to come down to the house to talk with her to make sure she was going to be alright. Well, mom finally relented and walked down the street with us, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other . So mom went up to the house, and talked with my friend's mom, while Stacie and I stood outside and hoping mom could talk to her and help her. Gosh, us girls were so silly! But hey, at least we cared, you know? :D

So everything was alright and we thanked mom for coming down anyway.

I also remember one time when I was watching Stacie's house for them while they were on vacation. It was around Thanksgiving, I think. When I opened up the house, I could hear their dog, and I thought, "Hey, that's odd, why can I hear the dog barking?" So I went to check it out, and realized Stacie's slider to the backyard was open. At first I thought I had left it open, but I knew I hadn't. That's when I saw the TV in Stacie room on the floor by the door. I looked back in the living room and noticed the VCR was gone. I freaked out and called the police. While I was waiting for them, I called mom and begged her to come down and wait with me. So, of course, she did, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other, and we waited for the police.

Thanksgiving....that was never a good holiday for me and Stacie and Vicki. The first time we had a run in with disaster, was when we were driving with some boys who were speeding and got pulled over. The police made us sit on the curb while half of Burbank High drove by! Then they took us to the station where our parents had to come and pick us up! Vicki's parents were furious! I think Stacie's parents were either out of town or said it was okay for mom to get her. So mom strolls in the police station (no cigarette or beer then, wouldn't have been a good idea...) and totally makes a joke out of it! She tells the police officers, yes, in all the time she's lived in Burbank, she's never been to the police station. The very first time she has to, was to get me. We so thought we were busted (and I think maybe Stacie did get in a little trouble? not sure...) but I do not even remember getting in trouble with mom. She knew it wasn't a big deal and we weren't in trouble, the police just didn't want us getting back in the car with the boys.

Ahhhh, then when I froze the engine of the car the night before Thanksgiving. Yea, let's not go there. That was a dumb thing on my part. I can't even remember who picked us up then. Maybe Janis' dad? Can't recall.

Then, the third Thanksgiving, we came out in the morning and we had a flat tire. I know I went out that night, so I must have driven over something. I think mom was about ready to give up on Thanksgiving by that point. LOL!! Gosh, she was so wonderful with us!!!

IHOP....

It was such a treat when mom was able to take us to IHOP for breakfast! We loved it there so much! To this day I still get French Toast when I go there.

I took my girls there this morning for breakfast, and I had to tell her about the times mom used to take us there.

Remember when the bus boys would walk by and we always said, "Mom, there's your boyfriend!" LOL!! She would always say, "Oh, it is not!" or "Oh, hush!", and we'd keep on about it and making her smile.

Mom knew so many people in Burbank! It seemed wherever we went, she would know someone. It sure helped out when I got married, or something needed to be done around the house. She would just talk to a customer at the bank, or even someone she worked with and we'd get a good price on things. Even when we went to IHOP she'd get a discount there too! Or Granada too.

Remember getting to go to Big Burger? Man, I LOVED those onion rings! And their hot dogs were so huge! And the slushees too, those were good.

Mom's Hugs

I was watching the Parent Trap today and the part when Hallie went up and hugged her mom just got to me. I just so wanted to have one last hug and kiss from mom.

Hugs and Kisses, we always got them from mom, you know? I always make sure I give my girls plenty of hugs and kisses and tell them how much I love them. And she always let us sleep with her whenever we wanted to. I always had to do that especially after watching a scary movie. She would comment sometimes in the mornings how we would toss and turn in the middle of the night at times, but she would never tell us that we couldn't sleep with her anymore.

Today Chip was talking about when we get a new kitchen sink, how he wanted one that had one side where it was really deep. Remember that sink we had in the kitchen? How it was deep on that one side.

I always loved mom's knicknacks around the house. Her spice rack/cabinet that was above the stove, her LOVE sign that was in the living room, her plants, especially the one on the back of the toilet.....

Ahhhh, the house on Landis. It was so small, but even though we knew it was so small, and I'm sure we complained how small our house was, I have so many fond memories of that place. It was ours (even though we did rent...) and it was our home to grow up in, and I never felt like it was too crowded there, even when we did babysit Kaila and Janelle too. I'm sure mom did, and that was probably part of the reason she wanted me to move out. I was pissed, but I did eventually understand.

You know, I think mom's greatest achievements were us. (okay, I'm copying that phrase from My Girl 2, but I think it's true) All on her own, raising us, we turned out to be well behaved, nice people. Manners, that was important to her and grandma and grandpa. I still find it important to this day and teach that to my girls.

Damn, I miss her..............................

Thinking of Mom.....

I was in the grocery store today getting some things and this woman passed by me and she had a head tremor. I immediately thought of mom. We were always so worried about her when those started, weren't we? It made me very sad. I probably could have started bawling right there in the maket if I wanted to.

Catch phrases......didn't you just love the ones she had? Honeybabe was one of my favorites. I find myself saying that more and more. Remember how the couch wasn't called a couch, but a davenport? I think grandma came up with that one first.

I remember when we were all little and Saturdays were cleaning day at our house. Of course mom did most of it, bless her heart. She always did everything for us, you know? She always had her beer with her on Saturdays while she cleaned too. :) Remember the stereo cabinet out in the living room? It played records and I think at one point it played 8 tracks too. She was so happy when she got that for herself.

Did you know that she didn't always sleep on the hide-a-bed? Before she got that, we had those green sofas, and there was a twin bed in the living room that she slept on. I think that when we moved from the apartment to Landis, she originally had the double or queen bed that used to be in our bedroom (Kari, you and I slept in it when it was on Landis), and I probably had the twin bed at the apartment. But of course mom always put us first, and so she took the twin and Kari and I slept in the double bed. I know that she did get the sofa sleeper before Heidi was born, as there is pictures of me sleeping on it around that time. That summer that you were born, Heidi, was when we got the trundle bed for me and Kari. Of course you needed a crib. :D

The other day Cheyenne and I were talking and she was saying how sometimes she felt like we were poor sometimes. I reminded her of all the things that she does have and the things that she does get to do, and I compare it to what we all had and didn't have growing up. You know, I wouldn't say that we were poor at all though. We may have had a lot less than our friends, but mom never had to go on food stamps or welfare (she did for a short time when Kari was born, but she couldn't survive on that, she had to go to work), and she provided us with what we could and we all knew it. I'm sure we complained growing up (I think all kids do that), but she did what she could and I know that grandma and grandpa were there to help too. I remember wanting designer jeans SOOOO bad in junior high and I knew that we couldn't afford it. That Christmas I think everyone got me a pair because mom knew I wanted them. :D

Ahhh........I'm going to sign off for now........see you soon!

Sunday, Father's Day.....

Wow, it's been six months since mom passed away. Sometimes it seems like so long ago, and then it also seems like it just happened.

Today is Father's Day. Another "first without mom" day to get through. I always used to call mom up and wish her a Happy Father's Day. I know when we were little we would make presents and give them to Grandpa, since he was really the only father-type figure we had growing up, but I still would always wish mom too. She was our mom and dad in our lives.

Growing up just about all of my friends had their mom and dad there in their lives. Sometimes I wished we had a dad around, but most of the time I truly loved it being just us girls. I never really wanted a man in mom's life and have him take time away from us. I know that sounds selfish, but I just felt that way.

Our house was so small, but mom made it our home. She made everything fit, you know?

I still so wish she was here with us. Like you, Heidi, I miss her little quirks too, that used to irritate me. I miss her laugh too. One of my most favorite memories of her laughing was the year I gave her the Odie slippers for Christmas. I remember her opening up that present and just laughing for probably five minutes straight!

I could almost always make her laugh. I loved being able to do that, especially on the phone.