Momisims!

Why? Because I said so.

I'm counting to ten.

If everyone jumped off of a cliff would you do it too?

You weren't born in a barn? Shut the door!

Do any of these phrases sound familiar? Do you find yourself saying them? If so, it happened. You became your mother!

Scary thought, made even scarier, if like me, you don't have any children and you find your self saying them to the dog!

I have a great mom. She is actually at the top of the list of people I admire. She 's not famous. She didn't invent anything or break any records. She simply raised three daughters and she did it very well. To me, that is a huge accomplishment.

Mother's Day has been celebrated in various ways since Greek and Roman times. In the U.S., Mother's Day became a National holiday in 1914 due o the efforts of many women, including Julie Ward Howe, pacifist, suffragist, and author to the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic and Anna Jarvis.

Anna was inspired by her own mother, an Appalachian homemaker who organized "Mother's Work Day" to raise the awareness of poor health conditions in her community.

So to woman like Julie Ward Howe, Anna Jarvis and my own mom. Happy Mother's Day! And Thanks.

Featured gift basket, A Moment In Time, a perfect gift for Mother's Day or any day.

Love

Marie

Happy Mother's Day

Mothers are very special people. On the second Sunday in May, it will be the 102nd anniversary of Mother's Day. I report I read recently stated that 96% of us in the U.S. celebrate Mother's Day. Mother's Day is the day phone companies log the most long distance calls, it is the busiest day of the year for many restaurants and retailers rank Mother's Day second only to Christmas.
If you are a statistics junkie, like me, here are some more numbers that I found really interesting. In the U.S. there are an estimated 82.8 MILLION mothers, of mothers with infants, 27 million (almost 3/4) work outside of the home. The odds of a woman delivering twins are 1 in 33 and for triplets or other multiple births, 1 in 539. The woman from California who gave birth to octuplets earlier this year should be living in Vegas.
My mom is great. I'm lucky. She lives in the area and I get to see her often. But like the shoemaker whose family goes barefoot, I get so busy at the Laurel Mountain Basket Company studio making gift baskets for other people to send for Mother's Day, I'm usually putting together something for my own Mom at the very last minute.
Remember Sunday, May 10th. Give your mom a call, take her to lunch and if you want to send her a gift especially created with her in mind, we would be happy to design one for you. We also have a great line of gift basket designs that are perfect for Mother's Day . We deliver to cities and towns in the Pioneer Valley section of Western Massachusetts and ship anywhere.

Tea For Two Or Just For You!

I loved coffee. I would drink pots of the rich, delicious liquid every day. A treat for me was a trip to the new Starbucks in town for a Grande. Forget the biscotte or other sweet bakery treats offered as an afternoon boost. Give me a tall, hot cup of coffee!

Not today. Today I'll still enjoy a cup of coffee after a dinner out, or a breakfast meeting, but today my drink of choice is tea. In my Gift Basket shop I carry an assortment of teas as part of my inventory and I like to taste test the product I sell. I especially like to test chocolates and cookies, and I let my husband test the salsas and bar-b-que sauces. My dogs love to test the dog cookies and new toys! Anyway, I started testing the variety of teas I was offering and found that I really enjoyed the green teas and the white teas.

We have a local tea blender, The Tea Guys where I get some really exciting teas. Being from Massachusetts, and featuring many designs themed for Cape Cod, I use a lot of their Cranberry Harvest tea. It really captures the sweet-tangy taste associated with cranberries.

I find drinking a warm mug of tea sooths my spirit so I use teas in many of our bereavement and get well gift baskets. I'll often choose a green tea or fruit tea to compliment a gift basket filled some short breads and butter cookies while I'll use a stronger breakfast tea or Earl Gray with heartier fare such as pancake mix and locally produced maple syrup. No matter what teas I use, we top our cello wrapped gift baskets with beautifully crafted, colorful bows.

So, the next time you are looking for a really great gift idea for the tea drinker in your life, you'll find a great selection at http://www.laurelmtbasket.com/ . We're working on our 2009 line of gift baskets for Mother's Day. Be sure to check them out while your there.

Thanks

Marie