Sunday, February 14, 2010

Bad Mother of the Year Award

. . . . . goes to me, Keri Bowers!!!  That's right. You guys will never believe what I did (or didn't do) this week. I'm so ashamed, I can't believe I'm telling on myself, but if I can't tell my friends, who else can I tell?

Today, as you know, is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. Love and hugs and Cupid and mushy stuff would have been the topics of my post today, IF I had not had a flare up of Alzheimer's this week. So, this is what happened. Hunter came in from school on Friday afternoon. I greeted her as usual and asked her how her day went. She said, "It was okay", in a tone somewhat less exuberant than normal. Then, much to my dismay, she got into her backpack and pulled out her decorated Valentine's sack from school. I was aghast in horror. It was then, right at that very moment, that I realized I had sent my child to school, on the day they were going to be celebrating Valentine's Day, empty handed. That's right, totally WITHOUT Valentines to give out to her classmates!! Inside, my stomach churned, and I felt a little bit nauseated. On the outside, as embarrassed as I was, I put on a big smile and let her go through and show me all the Valentines she had received. All the time, I kept thinking how embarrassed she must have felt to have gone through the day and not had any Valentines to put in her friends' goody sacks.

Well, Hunter, being the sweet child that she is, never said anything. I wanted to say something, but wasn't prepared to talk about it right then. It was Saturday morning, sitting around and chatting with her daddy, before I brought up the Valentine's Day fiasco. As it turned out, we all took some of the blame of not being prepared for the Valentine's Day celebration at her school. I mean, she is 10 years old and in 5th grade, after all, so it's not like she hasn't known for some time that she would need Valentines on Friday. She and her Daddy go to Wal-Mart every weekend, so it's reasonable to assume that she COULD have asked to buy Valentines last Saturday. So, she didn't plan ahead, her daddy and I got busy with life and didn't think about it, and Friday came and went, and Hunter went without on Valentine's Day. That still makes my tummy turn, just thinking about it.

But, alas, life goes on, and in the grand scheme of things, this is really just a minor speed bump in our day-to-day lives. It did provide us with a great opportunity to have a nice family discussion so that hopefully, we'll all be better about not procrastinating and we'll be more willing to speak up and communicate better. Hunter and I are going to put some little Valentine's sacks together this afternoon, so her classmates will get something after the fact. She'll just be spreading the love a little bit longer. :)

Here's a little something I made last night for Hunter while watching the Olympics. Her daddy and I finally broke down and got her a cell phone. According to her, she was the ONLY kid in her school who didn't have a cell phone. Hmphh!  Well, it was time to renew our cell phone contracts anyway, and we got her phone for free, so we just decided it was an okay time.


I started with 2 chains and 6 sc in the 2nd chain from the hook. I then worked continuous rounds, doing my increases up to 24 stitches and changing colors every round until I had a pouch tall enough for the phone. I then went to rows and did 10 sc, chained 1, turned. I did this for 4 rows to cover the top, before working a sc dec on each end. My next row, I put 3 chains in the middle to make my buttonhole, then did 2 more rows. I went around the flap with a border of sc's, then sewed in my ends. I found a cute Valentiney button in my vast collection, and sewed it on. I think she'll like it, don't you? Maybe she'll forgive me for forgetting Valentine's Day.

I do hope all of you have a delightful Valentine's Day, spending time with people you love and doing whatever it is that makes you happy. Give your loved ones an extra hug today.

11 comments:

  1. Very very cute cell phone case.

    Oh, I'm sure you have been beating yourself up over the Valentine "fiasco" but hey, her friends will feel even more special to get something one-on-one. Maybe it should be a new tradition?

    Happy V-day, Keri! Hugs!

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  2. Well that is sad but don't beat yourself up. Life will go on. I mean it's not the end of the world. FAITH!!!!:)

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  3. Awwww! I think that the new cell phone and holder will make up for everything!

    ♥ Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

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  4. Does forgetting to do the tooth fairy thing count as being a horrible mom. Not once, but twice?

    Keri you are and will always be my favorite forever friend. I just love to read your blog. I hope you are feeling better and I am sorry we missed out on hanging out together. Hope we can do what we talked about for Hunter in May. Love you!!!

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  5. Very Cute, Love the button :)

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  6. Hey....life happens! You don't think with 4 kiddos up here in KS, something like this hasn't happened to us?? Try to forgive yourself, we're always so hard ourselves, when everyone has moved on.

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  7. The new cell phone should more than make up for it. I'm sure she'll love getting to do something special all on her own. I'm sure the kids will love the goody bags too. Hugs.

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  8. Yes, life does go one! As long as it is made right again, and the tilted heart gets back to it's normal position!

    By the way, Ms. Keri, I am putting your name in for the Sunshine Award! Pick it up at my site - I know you must have received it before, but in my book you deserve it again! And if you sent out the 12 names already, forget about doing it a second time. Just get the badge and proudly post it...I'm making you extra so you don't have to spread the wealth again!

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  9. I read with intrigue for two reasons:

    1. Forgetting to send v. day cards in the backpack - been there, done that. My boys turned out okay and I forgave myself a long time ago.

    2. My name is also Keri Bowers! And I work as an advocate in autism and other disabilities. Can I borrow your Sunshine Award. Won't even need to change the spelling!

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  10. Thank you soo sooo much for the kirigami i looovveee it i have made soo many things. once i have batteries i will take pics and put them on my blog... thanks again.

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