One Day A Year
Mother’s day is one of the few days of the year where we reflect and stop to appreciate our mothers. Normally, Mothers are dedicated to everyone and everything around them, leaving them precious little time to themselves. Whether Mom works full-time, part-time or is a stay-at-home mom, her responsibilities are many. Were we to post a help-wanted ad for the position it might read:
Mother Wanted
We need a selfless team player for a challenging, permanent position in a hectic, chaotic environment. Position requires 24/7 shifts with no pay. Must be willing to commit to the position for the rest of your life. Candidate must possess unwavering patience, excellent organizational skills. Must have excellent discernment to be able to determine if the toy lodged in the small nostril will require a doctor’s visit or can be safely removed with tweezers. Psychologist, Nurse, Chef, Counselor, Launderer, Groundskeeper, Tutor, Referee, Coach, Maintenance, Sounding board and Housekeeper are all titles you may wear on a daily basis.
One day a year we stop and appreciate our Mothers for all they do all year long. Sadly, my own mother passed away 8 years ago, but I’ve been tremendously blessed with a mother-in-law who is so incredible, loving and caring, that it’s like having another mother. If money were no object, there’s nothing I wouldn’t love to do for her; sky’s the limit. I imagine taking her with the whole family to Hawaii, finding a way to extend our home with a cottage for her, beautiful jewels she most richly deserves etc. etc. etc. I know most of us feel that way… I also know that for most of us, money is an issue and such largess is not feasible.
Despair not! There are many things we can do that are free or inexpensive, yet so thoughtful they truly convey the extent of our love for mom.
A Poem for Mom
If you have the gift of prose, write a heartfelt poem for mom. Include lots of reminisces and lessons learned. Print it out in a beautiful font like Papyrus and frame it in a beautiful frame, perhaps a mom frame so she can keep it on a dresser or her desk. If you are not poetic by half, here’s a twist on this idea. Take a famous poem, like “A Mother’s Love” by Helen Steiner Rice and do the same. You can then write why that poem embodies your mother from your heart with no concern for cadence or rhyme. If you don’t have the budget for the frame, create a beautiful power point and put some family pictures behind the lines of the poem.
A Mother’s love is something that no one can explain, It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns, And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
Make a Play for Mom
If you have young children, this is a great way to express your love for your mother and their grandmother. Work with your children to put on a play for your mom. Write a short storyline (the younger your children are, the more simple it should be) write “lines” for them and have fun making props and scenery. You can even make it a “musical” by throwing in some simple songs. If your mom isn’t local, you can record the play and put it on YouTube or Facebook, dedicated to mom. Some themes might be: “Searching for the Best Mother (Grandmother) in the Land”, or “My Mother (Grandmother) is Better than Your Mother (Grandmother), where your children are debating who’s Mother is better than the other’s, until they realize at the end they have the same Mother. For example:
Tyler: My mother is the best mother in the world because she brings me my breakfast on a tray every morning.
Jesse: Well my mother is better than your mother because she helps me with my homework.
Janie: You’re both wrong! My mother is better than both your mothers because she reads to me at night.
You get the idea. Your children will love being so involved with the creation of this gift!
 Family Recipe Box
I wish we had done this before mom passed, because her recipes passed with her. Take some of mom’s or grandmother’s best recipes and type them and format them to be printed on card stock. You can include a picture of the dish, the chef or both is better. Print and then laminate them so they will stand the test of time (and all those ingredients!) Find a tin or box to put them in with alphabetical tabs so they can be found easily. You can also get an engraved personalized family recipe box fairly inexpensively. Wrap the box with ribbon and give it to mom. This gift is incredible because you can add to it together long after its initial gifting, by cooking together and including new recipes you find together. This gift can also end up being a family heirloom to be treasured by generations to come. An alternative to this is creating a cookbook of the recipes or a scrapbook of the recipes. While those are beautiful options, I prefer the former because the cards can be washed off, you don’t need to hold the pages open and you can easily make copies of the recipe box to pass down to children and other family members.
Family Tree
Create your family tree for mom. There are some great free ancestry sites out there like Kindo and Gramps. This project will require some sweat equity as the research may take time and effort if your genealogy hasn’t been kept track of. The end result however, is not only an amazing gift for mom; it’s a family heirloom for this generation and those to come. You can gift her with a digital version or print it and frame it for her.
I tried to keep all of these suggestions with a completely free version of each so they would fit every budget. Here are even more thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift Ideas. While these ideas are for the most part free, they all involve effort, thought and time, which shine through the gift. Happy Mother’s Day to all!
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Posted by: Susie in Mother's Day, Random Acts of Kindness, tags: Cheap, Collage, Gifts, Heartfelt, Inexpensive, Mom, Mother's Day, Movie, Photo, Sincere, thoughtful, Unique, Youtube
Mother’s Day is fast approaching so the time to decide on a gift for Mom is now. While it is estimated that the average person will spend $130.00 on Mother’s Day and that nearly 14 Billion dollars will be spent on Mother’s Day in the United States this year, it is not necessary to expend so much to make Mom happy. Remember how much she always loved your homemade cards? Mothers always appreciate sentimental, thoughtful gifts from the heart as much as, or more so than purchased gifts.
Here then follows some terrific gift ideas, which range from free to incredibly inexpensive, that Mom is sure to love!
Mother’s Day Photo Collage
Mother’s love pictures of their children, grandchildren and family. Find some terrific pictures, candid ones are better than portraits, and get a photo collage frame to assemble them in. If you have a scanner, you can scan the photos in and convert them to septi
a for a vintage look or black and white for a striking look when framed in a black and white frame and mat. I find it easiest and cheapest when scanning photos to have them printed at CVS as it is cheaper to print them there than pay for all that inkjet printer ink!
Create A Sing A Gram for Mom
Remember as children how much we loved to sing, dance and perform for Mom? She loved watching as much as we loved doing it! Get your brothers and sisters together or your children and practice a favorite song of here to sing to her or record a video of you all performing it. Some suggestions for songs are:
Whether you sound like virtuosos or if your singing makes your dog cover his ears, Mom will love it all the same. If you are really creative, take a familiar tune and rewrite lyrics particularly for Mom.
Use Photos to Make a Movie For Mom
Make a While this used to be a Herculean task, with today’s technology it is quite simple to make an amazing video with even only basic computer skills. If you work on a Mac, use the Imovie application, if on a PC use theWindows Movie Maker both of which are included on most systems. Start by importing a song you’d like to set your video to. Click Here to see a video on youtube that we made for my Dad’s 90th Birthday and set it to “Time of My Life”. Some great songs to use might be Wind Beneath My Wings or She’s Somebody’s Hero. Using her favorite song is a great idea too. Once you’ve imported the song, simply import the pictures into your new project and put them in the order you desire. Both programs have transition templates to make your project easier. They both allow you to publish directly to YouTube and Facebook as well. The video below only took a couple of hours and cost – Nothing!
 Give Mom Your Favorite Bedtime Story
Get a copy of your favorite bedtime story and write a note to Mom on the inside cover telling her how much you alway enjoyed her reading to you each night. Be descriptive, i.e. “I remember feeling so safe and secure in your arms, Mom. I loved the cadence of your voice, the way you animated the story for me, the pure, unadulterated attention that you showed me while reading to me.” She will love the fond memories and knowing how much you enjoyed the bedtime story!
Whatever You Decide….
Make sure you put your heart into it. Mom’s love us unconditionally, they are there for us whenever we need them. While Mother’s Day has become an unconscionably commercial holiday, it is still possible to joyfully, happily and fondly celebrate Mother’s Day, without expending a dime! More to follow!
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What a profound question! Close your eyes. Take stock of your body, your psyche, your spirit. Forget the birthdays, the years under your belt.  If you had no such constraints, how old would you be? When you are on vacation, far from everyone you know and what you perceive they might think of you, do you kick up your heels and dance like you’re 20? With your eyes closed, no mirrors in sight, in solitude, how old do you feel?
My birthdate says I’m 46. I feel sufficiently wise to be 46, which is good. But some would say 46 is “middle-aged” and frankly, I’m just not middle-aged! I wake up invigorated, I work tirelessly and make time for exercise and health. I spend time with my family, giggle like a school girl and rough house with the kids.
How do you feel? Take a moment to see what preconceived notions you’ve planted in your mind about how “Old” you should be. Do you imagine, that your energy should be depleted with years? Is it? If you are feeling less then energized, I challenge you. Find a song that used to make your heart soar. If you’re from my era, that might be Boston’s, “More Than a Feeling” or Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. Play it, pump up the volume with your eyes closed, are you energized now?
Our perceptions of how we should feel, really dictate how we feel. Start changing the way you think about your age, your physiology and see if your body doesn’t star to follow! Replace your inner dialogue of “I’m so tired”, ”Gosh I’m exhausted”, “I just don’t have the energy I used to” with “I’m so excited!”, ”I feel energized” and “I feel younger every day!”
Get up and MOVE! If this is your first venture into the concept of moving, any moving is better than no moving. Start slowly and just try to introduce your fingers to your toes… you’ll find they have lots in common! Walk, a little at first, and you’ll find that after walking that little, you’ll want to walk more. Put on some great tunes and go! Too hot out, too cold, too rainy? Put on some music, close your bedroom door, tell the whole family to STAY out and Dance! Want to super charge both your health and your love life? Get Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease Exerise Video and work out to that! We are only as old as we feel, start thinking and feeling younger! More to follow, stay tuned!
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Posted by: Susie in love, Thoughtful Gifts, valentines, tags: Boyfriend, Child, gift, Girlfriend, Husband, love, Lover, thoughtful, Valentine, Valentine's Day, Wife
 Valentine Scavenger Hunt If you’ve read my last post, it centered on paying attention to and focusing on the things you love and appreciate about your husband, girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, or child. This idea is inspired by a gift a friend of mine bestowed upon her then-current boyfriend. My friend prepared in advance and printed on little strips of paper, 30 or more things she loved about her boyfriend. Amongst them were “I Love That You Make Me Feel Beautiful”, ” I Love That You Make Me Feel Accomplished”, ” I Love The Way You Always Have My Back”. You get the idea. She hid her slips in assorted places for him to find. Each find unveiled another heartfelt thing she appreciated about him. What a glorious way to proclaim your feelings for your loved one.
To expound upon, and add to her idea… you can hand-write your ideas on paper cut out in the shape of hearts. For children, or for your significant other, you can make a scavenger hunt and give your giftee, clues to find the next note. If you’d like your Valentine’s Day to end on a romantic note, culminate your scavenger hunt at a rose-petal-strewn bed. FYI, 4 red roses will yield a respectable amount of petals towards this end. If your giftee is intrigued by puzzles or loves a challenge, enshroud your clues with mystery!
Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year to embrace and celebrate romance! While diamonds are nice, heartfelt appreciation and romance win hands down, at least with someone worthy of your affections! Create, be playful, enjoy!
Love Susie
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 Valentine’s Day, hearts, chocolates, expensive gifts, all to show our loved ones the extent of our affection. Whether funds are tight this year or not, here is a totally free, amazing gift you can give your husband, wife, child, parent even friend. What you’ll find, is this gift may actually be one of the best gifts you can give, to yourself!
Its so easy to get caught up in things that we find wrong. Pet peeves, little slights, annoying habits. Our children don’t appreciate us, our husband never does the chores, our friend is always late, our parent is always critical. It’s so easy to forget to notice the things we love about the special people in our lives. For every person you want to gift this year, let’s change up that behavior. For the next seven days before Valentine’s Day, refuse to think anything negative about your giftee. Instead every morning, and every night, write down 10 heartfelt things you love about your loved one. Really focus on those things all through out the day. Thank the other person when you find them guilty of committing one of the things you love about them. By Valentine’s Day, your relationship with that person will have grown to an amazing new level.
By way of example, Curtis, my fiance, has very few faults, but here are some of the things I’m focusing on today. He’s slow to anger, and quick to forgive. He’s unswervingly faithful and loyal. He’s supporting and loving. He’s a terrific step-dad and dad. He always has my back. He’s not the slightest bit critical. He’s an amazing chef. He’s a motivated provider. He’s terrific with my dad. He’s easy-going.
To use my children as an example, Tyler is always positive, never demanding, cheerful, responsible to a fault, affectionate, goofy and brilliant. Justin has a heart of gold, he’s talented in art and sports, positive, sticks to his guns, funny, loving and sweet. Jesse is talented in music and art, one of the most likable people I know, a true friend, valiant and honorable, loving and caring.
You get the idea. Focusing on the wonderful things you love about your loved ones, will lead to feeling an incredible gratitude for them. The little annoyances will fade by comparison and will disturb you less. Funnily enough, your loved ones, thanks to your gratitude and appreciation, will start to do more of the things you love, and far fewer of the ones you dislike!
If you are determined to give your loved one a physical gift, toward the end of the week, pick out your favorite things you love and write them or type them to give to your loved one!
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 Toys R Us, Frontgate and Hammacher Schlemmer catalogs are sure to be filling your mailbox already. Nicktoons and Cartoon Network have a litany of commercials for Toys that our children must have this year. Pre-Black Friday and Black Friday advertisements are everywhere. Stress, anxiety, expense!!!! Pause. Stop. Reflect. We love to give to our loved ones, love to see the surprise on their faces, the thrill at the gifts. Maybe there is an even greater gift to give to your loved ones. The thrill of giving.
This year, perhaps at Thanksgiving, you talk to your children, your husband, your friends, your office, about giving to those less fortunate. You could adopt a family through your local paper, perhaps through your church or your children’s school. Involve your whole family and get them excited about the prospect of giving up a few of their gifts to provide an amazing holiday for a family going through rough times. Teach your children that there are folks who are in dire straits that might not have any gifts for the holidays unless you help. Involve them in the planning, the shopping, the wrapping. Sure finding all the things on their list under the tree is exciting, but putting gifts under someone else’s tree is even better.
With love,
Susie
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 Ladies, if you’re like me, I know you love your man. He’s the apple of your eye, he makes your heart go pitter patter, and he’s the reason you wake up with a smile each morning. He no doubt deserves a Rolex for Christmas, I know mine does; but let’s face it, the budget for most of us probably can’t handle that. Guess what? I’m willing to bet he feels exactly the same about you! Let’s take a page from the Gift of the Magi, you know the story where she cuts her hair to get him a watch chain and he sells his watch to get her a comb for her beautiful hair; and forget those material gifts this year. Trust me, he’d much rather NOT have you stress over finances and expensive gifts.
Instead, spend some time and create a youtube video professing your love. If you are talented with rhyming, make a song or a rap featuring your honey. If you’re not, flatter someone else and borrow their love song. Be ardent! Be outrageous! Be persuasive! Whatever you do, don’t be shy! You only go around once, so put it all out there. He may be the only person who will ever see it, which is fine, but then again, you may be so terrific that your video goes viral and millions of people around the world will be inspired by it. Love is not for the faint of heart so go for it!
If you don’t have the guts to go for the glory, and/or you feel that recording and posting a Youtube video of yourself might require a prescription for Xanax or Valium, you can still go this route without the meds. Take some time, write a poem and/or love note and post that somewhere for the world to see… Facebook, Myspace anywhere, just not on a bathroom stall door ok?
I’ll be checking back tomorrow, if anyone is brave enough, I’d love to see your work! Who’s game?
Love Susie
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 You don’t have to wait till Christmas or the Holidays to give. The holidays can be stressful to some, lack-o-cash, lack-o-time, or maybe lack-o-plans can make what ought to be a delightful time, a source of unhappiness and distress. Start being thoughtful and give now.
Are you in better financial shape than some of your friends? Maybe some with children? If so, instead of getting your friend a gift for the holidays, give them an early gift of some gift cards they can use to provide an awesome holiday for their children. For younger children, include Walmart or Toys R Us cards, for older children, many shopping malls have mall-wide gift cards. I speak from experience, when times are lean, the worry and stress a mother can feel that she won’t be able to give her children the gifts she’d like to, can overshadow the holiday horridly. Thanksgiving is a great time to do this, give your friend a holiday card and include the gift cards, and just let her know you wanted her to have your gift early as it probably would be more useful before the holiday.
Do you have more time than some of your family members or friends? Make a little coupon book and give it to them before the holidays. Include perhaps, 1 day of gift wrapping, 4 hours of holiday shopping, help cleaning the house before the holidays, watching her children so she can shop, help decorating the house, polishing her nails, and maybe an evening out for a glass of wine to decompress from holiday stress.
Do you have friends or neighbors that might not have anyone to spend the holiday with? If so include them in your plans. Do so with a flourish, don’t just call and invite, instead pen a handwritten invitation so they will know how much you want them to join you. Sharing your celebration with someone else is one of the greatest gifts you can give.
Finally, between now and the end of the year, wear a smile and keep joy, patience and goodwill in your heart. Smiles are contagious! Don’t let the wretched parking at the mall, or the long lines, or your cash crunch, steal the reason for the season! The holidays, regardless of what religion you observe, are about joy and happiness. Spread as much as you can!
With love, happiness and excitement for the upcoming holidays!
Susie
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 Curtis and I are really blessed to have lots of family friends. Each year we wonder how to remember all those friends, and be prepared for unexpected guests who stop by during the holidays, without maxing out our credit cards. We hit upon a great idea a couple of years ago and now it’s become a sort of tradition. The whole process is great fun and makes it possible to gift all of our friends thoughtfully.
First Curtis and I taste test inexpensive wines trying to find an affordable bottle that we like. (If you are not proponents of drinking, never fear, you can do a small variation on this theme with bottled sparkling cider). For us, half the fun is deciding what we are going to use! We buy enough cases to meet our shopping list (case prices are lower than individual bottles, if you need less than 12 bottles, Publix discounts 4 bottles or more at a time by 10%). Next, we find pretty printable adhesive labels. I design the label with our picture, the current year and a holiday message from our family, along with the particulars of the bottle we’ve chosen. If this isn’t your forte, this website, affordably let’s you design your label and they print them and mail them to you: My Own Labels. We print enough labels for our bottles. We soak the labels off the wine bottles (usually while enjoying one of them to ensure that our selection was perfect!) and let them dry thoroughly. Next we carefully apply our labels to the bottles (after drinking the bottle while soaking the labels, getting them straight can be difficult!). A decorative ribbon around the neck of the bottle and “Voila”, instant keepsakes for our friends for the holidays. The best part is our friends can drink the wine, potentially discover an inexpensive bottle they might not have discovered otherwise and they can keep the bottle as a memento of the holiday!
Again, alcohol is not required. You can accomplish the same effect with Welch’s Sparkling Cider!
Check back tomorrow!
Love Susie
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 The holidays are coming, just 52 days till Christmas, 30 till Hanukah, and 50 till Kwanzaa! Sadly, lots of folks are experiencing severe lack-o-funds, which can put a damper on the Holidays. No need to despair though! There are lots of gifts, that with proper preparation and forethought, can convey how much you love and appreciate your loved ones, without breaking the bank. So many times we confuse what’s really important at this time of year.
My oldest son Jesse and I learned this lesson when he was 10. That year, he absolutely had to have a Furby… and I, in order to be a great mom in my estimation, absolutely, had to get him one. I searched everywhere, daily to get my hands on the ever-so-elusive Furby. Finally, I scored one on Ebay for nearly $100. Now to it’s credit, that Furby was fun for a day, maybe two. Then it got strange, not just strange, but downright creepy. It stared at us, and talked its strange random furbish, at the strangest times. We took the batteries out and it still squawked at us. Not two weeks after Christmas we were all terrified of the Furby and had come to the conclusion it was possessed. Needless to say, Jesse did NOT need a Furby and I had NOT needed to nearly sell my soul to procure one.
The key to truly thoughtful giving is time. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be writing everyday about thoughtful, inexpensive or free gifts you can give this holiday season. If you are not already aware, there is a free gift section on the website, where you can print from your printer, free love coupons. The link to those pages is here. I’ll be adding more with holiday themes, so check there often. Additionally, if you can’t wait for the blog to get started on your thoughtful giving, there are literally thousands of thoughtful gift ideas on the main website, for every recipient and every occasion. Click here for the home page to those gift ideas.
Now for today’s idea. This gift is perfect for family friends, your mother/father, grandparents, adult children, aunts/uncles even your boss. Grab your camera or go through pictures you might already have, Find or take great candid shots of the gift recipient, their family, even pets. Include some posed ones as well. Make sure you get some great ones of the recipient, most of us have lots of great pictures of others and few of ourselves. You can either digitally create a collage and print it off your printer on photo paper or create a digital photo album for them. Download the photo album to a DVD or email it to them. If you want to spend a little more, you can buy a collage frame, fairly inexpensively, this one is $14.99 : Merlot Wall Picture Family Photo Collage – Holds 31 pics & can hang Vertical or Horizontal . If you don’t have the pictures, Thanksgiving is a great time to take some. The thoughtful gift of pictures lasts a lifetime, costs little but forethought and really conveys the love and affection you feel for your friends and loved ones.
Check back tomorrow for more….
Love,
Susie
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