"Not Spoiled...Just Blessed"

Blessed, indeed!

And, OK, may just a teensy bit spoiled, too...

This morning I had been working in my office, shipping orders, answering emails, placing new inventory orders, returning phone calls, etc., when I decided to run home to get something (home being a few steps away -- see, I really AM blessed!) and on the porch at the front door was this fabulous, long bright green box...The kind of box whose shape/size kinda gives away what's inside, but who cares!! :)

Was it a thank you from someone? No...haven't done anything extraordinary lately (unfortunately). Not my anniversary yet. Birthday's still a few months away...

Mother's Day!! I got flowers for Mother's Day! And what a beautiful bunch they are! I love that they are tulips! I just had to hurry and get them in water and take these pictures to show them off! Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?

And not only that! (Yes, the "BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE" again!) Also tucked inside the fabulous green box was a little box of chocolates!!! DIVINE!!!!!!! Yep. They're already gone...what a great lunch!! Doug & Olivia (hubby & daughter) if you're reading this -- please forgive me for not saving any for you...but, are you really surprised?? :)

Just wanted to publicly thank my sweet husband and daughter for such an incredible, beautiful, yummy surprise. And what a surprise it was! It was THE LAST thing I would have expected on this busy Thursday afternoon.

You see, prior to all I'd been doing at my office, I'd already made lunches, coffee for us all, fed the dog & cats, took my daughter to school, came home, did laundry, folded laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, swept and cleaned our wrap-around porch -- then I headed to the office. So, a luxurious shipment like I was suprised with today was a real treat!!

I do feel appreciated here at home as a wife & mother. I hope you do, too.

I don't know how many times during the week my husband offers to either bring something home for supper or to take us out to eat -- so I don't have to "fool with dinner." Now, after so many offers, one might get a little worried that he's actually just trying to dodge my cooking...but I know him well enough to know that he's just being sweet. That's all. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. :)

Being a "mom" did not come easily to me. OK. Let me explain that. Being a mother comes very easily -- I would have had 8 kids like my parents did, if I could have.

What I should have said is having a child did not come easily to me. We endured the loss of three before finally, thankfully having Olivia; and we almost lost her. So, again, I am blessed. And truly, every single day, I'm so very grateful.

So, thank you to my husband, Doug, and my sweet, sweet, beautiful Olivia -- whose external beauty is what first grabs your eye, but whose inside beauty (who she really is) grabs your heart...

And by the way, in case you're wondering where those cool "X O X O" vintage letters came from -- they are from my new favorite web-girl, Joy! I not only have the XOXO's but I also have letters spelling out VINTAGE, PARIS (duh!), COOK, WISH, 100%, and the numbers 1234567. LOVE them all!

I put the words 100% VINTAGE up over my front door on the porch -- totally perfect, since my house was built in 1891!

No doubt many of you already know of her fun blog, The Joy Of and her FABULOUS website, The Hope Jar, but for those of you who don't -- you simply MUST go now and check both sites out! And, when you're on her website, just know that pretty much anything marked "SOLD" is already on its way to MY house! :)

Don't know where she unearths all the incredible things she sells, but I sure wish I could find such neat things around here! But, that's what we have Joy for, right?

May I wish each of you wonderful ladies a very Happy Mother's Day....whether you are a mother biologically or not. We women have an ability to "mother" even when we may not have birthed a child. Trust me, you have a sphere of influence -- and you may not even recognize it. So to you all -- Happy Mother's Day.