Ok, so you've had your head in the clouds, in work, in your friends.. and like every year you fail to see Mother's Day coming until you get asked that dreadful question. What did you get your Mom for Mother's Day? And you are sitting here online, reading my article with your mouth hung low, saying, come on Sacreeta, what you got for me?
Lucky you, I got some really neat, easy, painless, and affordable ways to save the day, but you better get a move on, or you'll never pull it off.
First of all, if you are late, you missed out on any hope of the traditional reservations at her favourite restaurant, unless you know the owner or the chef, we better get you ready for plan B.
Cook for her.
Show up with groceries, an apron for special affects, and tell her not to worry about a THING, I'll take care of ALL the details. It can be first thing in the morning with breakfast, lunch, or supper hour.. but don't wait until supper hour to show up, the days over.
Go to Martha Stuart.com and get some easy to do recipes, and plan to drop by and bring mom lunch. If you are catching this wave by atleast Friday, you have time to hit the grocery store, or even early Saturday morning. You can cook her up something delish, as Martha has all the perfect recipes, and some quick and easy ones, just make sure it's stuff mom likes. Bring it to her, already hot, and ready to eat, bring her some wine, and flowers if you can find any.
Not a cook, and don't want to go there? That's ok, we have some other things we can do.
Clean her Car.
Mom would be impressed if you planned to clean her car, and fill her gas tank, and change her oil. Moms love it when they get attention, and are taken care of in ways that she hates doing for herself. Her car care is usually one of them. Make sure you do a good job, bring lotions, window cleaner, take it out and vacuum it, and spray some pretty smells. If you have time, burn her a cd of her favourite music and put it in her car, and don't tell her, let her figure it out when she goes for a drive.
Show up in your overalls, a mop bucket, a mop, cleaners, and get to work on her garage. Paint the deck for her, and do any odd chores that need doing around the house. Moms' always have a list, especially the outside stuff for the sons, and cleaning out the freezer and fridge and cupboards for the daughters, so get to work and make mom proud.
Take moms dog out and give it a bath.
Car washes now have dog cleaning units, that usually have a dryer to finish the job. Offer to take her dog out for a bath, a walk, and a de-fleaing, if you can find a pet store open, and can get the stuff, or maybe mom has some. If you want to surprise her, you could take her dog out, especially if she's a girl dog and white or light colored and get her ears, tail and ankles dyed pink. Put a pretty bow on her dog, get a good photo taken, and surprise mom with a brand new cute doggy when you get back.
Show up with a rake.
Rake the yard, and clean up the debris. Clean up mom's yard from the winter blues, and spend the day with her. If there are any garden centres open on Saturday, or you get lucky and find one on Sunday, fill the trunk with blooming perennials and ask her where she'd like them planted. Hanging baskets of bleeding hearts is a great Mother's Day Gift.
If everyone lives far away.
Surprise mom with an online teleconference, bring your eyepod, along with your computer, if mom's not setup, set it up on your computer, and have a online family gathering so mom can see and talk to everyone on her special day.
Novels
If you are an advid reader, or know someone who is, you could put some novels, tied with a pretty bow in a deck just for her. If you can't find any, there is a chance you could stop by a flea market or garage sale, and pick up mom some good reads. The books are second hand, but when it's a good book, no one really cares. Some corner stores also sell novels.
Garage Sale
If you do happen to find an open garage sale, or flea market, take a look around and see if they are any antiques about that mom might like.
Magazines
Moms love magazines to cuddle up with and read. If you are lucky enough to find an open grocery store, or small corner store, stop in and see if you can find some magazines. They may even have Mother's Day Cards to. You can tell her that you are planning on getting her a subscription but we're sure which one she'd like. You made the promise so now you have to buy the subscription. Make it atleast a year. Soap Opera Magazines are good if she likes soaps, Vogue is great, Women's Day, Style Mags, and Oprah might be some of her top picks. Some moms like craft magazines, and Home and Gardens. (You could also pick up her favourite chocolate, a movie, and some munchies to, so you can watch a movie together.)
Antique shopping in the Country
Offer to take her out for a drive in the country. If she is alone, and no one else is about. You could take her antiquing in the country, garage sale'n, flea marketing.. or just get her out of the house. Never know, you might find a nice Inn, or Bed and Breakfast where you could stop for lunch.
Send her a text message
Send her a warm fuzzy text message to say hello, and I love you, on Mother's Day. If you live far away, get online and send her an e-card from Hallmark.
Call her.
If you can't go home, call her. Don't talk about yourself, let her talk about her day, her friends, and what she's excited about in her life.
Set up a Net Account.
If you have a Blockbuster Account, or a music membership with a company that you know is easy to use, and mom has a computer, the internet, and is confident, then set her up her own account so she can download movies, or music safely online. She'll love being able to do that on her own, and you can show up at her house and show her how it all works.
Photos.
You can easily print off some photos that you have stored, with mom, you, or family members and quickly and easily create her a presentation, and pop it on a dvd just for her. You'll be in a hurry so it won't be as nice as if you did it in a week, but she won't care. It's something she will cherish forever.
Photos printed
You can also quickly and easily print her some photos for a scrap book, depending on what you have, and how much time you have. You could even give her your digital photo frame, fill it, and get yourself another one later.
Well that's all the quickie ideas I could think of.
Be good to your mom, and don't show up empty handed, even if you have to go to the corner store, buy some flowers if they have any, a magazine, a card, some chocolate, and a lottery ticket, atleast you've got something. And know that mom doesn't care if you bring anything or not, what mom's want most if your attention, and your time on her special day.
Don't leave mom alone on Mother's Day, just because you forgot a gift.
When you move out, mom misses you, she doesn't see you, or get the scoop on the gossip as much. Spend time with her, joke with her, make her laugh, give her your attention.. That's all she really wants in the first place.
Don't forget Grandma
Maybe mom and Grandma both would enjoy a day trip out in the country, or a visit from each other. Be mom's chauffeur, and take her to visit whomever she wants, and let her stay as long as she wants.
Hope you and Mom enjoy Mother's Day!
Good luck, and be well.
by: Sacreeta
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