Hallmark, Cupid, Candy and Bad Ideas

Valentines Day is just around the corner and while we won't be sipping expensive cham-pahg-nah by candlelight at our house.  Heck, my plan is to make the kids eat at their play table by tea light while H and I sit at the nearby dining room table and try not to have anyone bite, scratch, pinch or pull hair while we eat.  I'll probably have to bribe them with the sugar cookies we'll make earlier that day just to get a hot bite of food in my pie hole before a ref call is needed.

H and I have spent a lot of Valentines Day's together and he has always done pretty well - he baked a cake for me in college, gave me a ginormous box of chocolates when I was hitting my due date with TD and all I wanted to do was sit my pregnant ass on the couch and literally eat a whole box of chocolates and never tried to give me "sexy" anything. You know what?  I can accept that.  In fact, I love that. 

In fact, I think the worst gift I ever got was from a college boyfriend who bought me roses the day after Valentines Day because, "Did you know that they are so much cheaper the day after?!"  Yeah....

So what was your worst gift on Cupid's all commercialized, red-hearted, velvet-flowered, oh-so-sweet day?

For Mom, for you, for everyone!

I'm teaming up with SanDisk this Mother's Day to offer you one great prize- The Cruzer Gator. This is one sweet flash drive too. The Cruzer Gator is stylish with its mock alligator design and cuts a unique profile in a purse, briefcase or wherever you want to store it. It looks good just sitting on your desk too. It is definitely not your standard corporate flash drive. It's 8GB! So you can upload and store not just documents but a whole slew of photos to share with friends and family for a long time.

So what's the catch?

It's simple really. Just send in your favorite photo of you and your mother (or mother figure) from any time, it doesn't have to be from a Mother's Day past. It can be sweet, touching, wacky or fun. Let us know why you love it too in just a few words. Don't have a photo of you and your mother you want to use? Then send a photo of you and your kids together that you particularly love. The same criteria applies.

There are many chances to win this great Mother's Day prize and I'll be posting up the winning photos on Friday, May 9.


Send all photos to veamason AT gmail DOT com.



Now to get you started is a favorite photo of my own. This is my mother holding a two week old TD for the first time. They kind of look alike don't they?

Oh You Shouldn't Have

My husband likes to say I have bad birthday karma. With that comes bad gift karma. After years of hearing him say it and describe past presents I've received I came to believe it too. The list of bad presents from those who probably mean well has been long. Those "french" plates with pink shoes drawn on them and inscribed with the words, 'Oh la la'? I don't think was meant well at all actually. I don't know what that person was thinking. For the most part I've been told I'm hard to buy for and I've come to believe it now too. Though really? What woman doesn't like a pedicure or a day alone sans kids? Or a shopping spree or good book? I'm always game for those.

The Aunt Myrtle style lipstick case with mirror given to me at age 7?

The ankle length orange winter coat with the $5 price tag still on it?

The huge box of beanie babies when I graduated from college?

What about the surprise party where I didn't get any of my own birthday cake? Oh wait... that wasn't a gift.

The Barbie Dream House? I could go on.

While it might not be the worst there is one gift that stands out as inexplicable. I was turning 18 and it was the time of the Sony Discman. I wanted one but bad. It was all I could think of. So long cassette tapes! Hello shiny disc with superior sound quality! I couldn't wait to unwrap it on my birthday. Except that isn't what happened. Instead, I found myself unwrapping a rather long thin box with a double cassette tape radio thingy inside. Just like the one that was already sitting in my room upstairs. You might be thinking that the gift giver had no idea I owned one. Except they did. This gift was from my parents. I was dumbfounded.

When I asked why I got the same thing I already owned they simply said, "Well, they were all out of Discman's at the store and so..."

I remember thinking, "And so what?! An IOU would have been better! I could have waited a bit for a new shipment! WHY (HUGE INTAKE OF BREATH) BUY (HUGE SIGH)THE SAME THING?! (EXASPERATED SCREAM)

You could say I was ungrateful. If ebay was around maybe I would have hawked it there and gotten a Discman eventually. Instead, I just refused the gift. I was hurt, angry and annoyed. How could they not listen to me? Didn't they know that music to a teen is like air? Stupid double cassette player... I grumbled.

Eventually my Dad decided to return the thing and when we entered the store what did I see? No, not a Discman. The store was still out, but a stereo with a CD player and a double cassette and huge speakers. "Oh Dad..."

I sold that stereo at a yard sale last year for $25. It was 12 years old. It was one of the best gifts ever. My roommates probably still hate me for playing my bagpipes CD (with superior sounod) on early Saturday mornings from that very stereo.



PBN BLOG BLAST! TODAY! TOMORROW! ALL THIS WEEKEND! GetInHerHead is a new site where you can record your sizes, dream gifts, wishes and more so that those who love you can love you right back with that perfect gift be it Mother's Day, your birthday or just because. Post at PBN and hat can you win? A gift certificate to your favorite spa for $250 - you name the spa!