Thank you notes

I wanted to share my opinion about the importance of thank you notes. When a person receives a gift, especially by mail, it is always polite and proper to mail a thank you note to the person who sent it. I enjoy sending and giving gifts to other family members, but don't understand why some of them don't think that sending thank you notes is necessary. If a person takes the time to buy a gift, maybe a gift card, and then sends that to a person, the recipient should let the other person know that he or she received the gift and appreciated it. This practice shows maturity and is always the correct thing to do. If a gift is given in person, a thank you note isn't necessarily needed but the recipient could send a note anyway, especially if the gift is large or very special.
Another reason that thank you notes are appropriate is that they help the giver better remember birthdays from year to year. If a person receiving a gift acknowledges and thanks the giver, it always helps the giver to better remember the next year. Even if a thank you note is sent late, but within a reasonable period of time, it lets the giver know that the recipient is grateful.
Because of what I wrote here, I might not be mailing any gifts for the next year. That may motivate family members who don't like to write a simple thank you note. Then, when I start mailing gifts again, I will see if the gift recipients better understand the importance and appropriateness of writing the thank you note.

Happy Mother's Day

I am donating my blog today to my mom. She is doing well and stays busy and very active for a person with a lot of wisdom and real world experience. She told me many years ago tht Mother's Day is a Communist plot. Yet she still enjoys receiving Mother's Day cards. I usually give her one, but this year I'm not. I didn't like any of the cards I saw; then, I saw one in Spanish. Hey, that's great, I thought, I don't read Spanish but it's probably still a good card. Besides, my madre would get the chance to brush up on her Espanole. I bought it in haste and got home and read what it said on the back. I should have paid attention to the cartoon pictures, which showed a couple. Needless to say, the writing wasn't the kind of card I should give to my mom, so I learned a $3.93 mistake: don't buy any more cards in Spanish (the good news is that the price on the back said $4.93 so at least I saved some pesos).
Anyway, I wanted to blog about some experiences I've had with my mom, some which she'll remember, some she won't. They're not all funny or serious, but they popped into my mind this past week. In no particular order, they include:
-the time I wet my pants in second or third grade at the Catholic school I attended and my mom brought some dry clothes to school. I didn't know you could leave Mass if you had to "go" but my mom said it was no big deal, which made me feel better.
-when I set the trash can on fire in our apartment in Germany and the maid had to come to our rescue. I don't remember what punishment I got but I'm sure it was appropriate.
-the time I was home with my mom and we had spaghetti for lunch. I wanted either more sauce or Parmasean cheese (I don't remember which one) but I got the name wrong and my mom kept pouring the other one on my spaghetti and wondered why. I finally got it right and asked for the other one. The lunch had a happy ending.
-the time I jumped off our boat in Texas when we were pulling into the beach. I had my life jacket on and was in no danger of drowning, but I'm sure I got a stern lecture that day about not doing that again
-living in Germany had other memorable events, such as getting into trouble continuously with Mrs. Errb. I remember she sent a note home one Friday and I fretted/procrastinated all weekend about showing it to my mom to get it signed. I finally did so on the nth hour Sunday night and my mom wondered why I waited all weekend to do so. After that, I figured out how to forge my mom's name and did that once or twice on bad notes. The teacher asked me if that waws really my parent's handwriting and I said it was. I hope I got all my bad stuff out in Germany!
It hasn't been easy for my mom being a mother, wife, and head of household all the times my father was deployed, and especially moving so many times. She told us one of the most difficult experiences she had was flying from Texas to Germany with five kids ranging in age from 1 to 10. She worried that if the plane went down, how would she save all of us? In addition to raising five boys, two of my brothers were born with cerebral palsy. I know that alone would be extemely difficult but my mom endeavored very hard to provide the best home environment any son would want.
I sincerely appreciate all the love and support my mom has given me over the years. Even now, she still helps me out. My car had a flat tire one morning and she dropped what she was doing and gave me a ride to work. Only a few years ago, I had an operation on my neck and had to wear a neckbrace for two weeks. My mom provided copious quantities of TLC which I am forever indebted. Thank for all you've done for me and all of the family members. Happy Mother's Day.

Love,
Andrew

Yardwork

If you walk around any neighborhood in the U.S., you will undoubtedly discover the pros and cons of maintaining one's lawn. There is a wide variety. On the most upper scale, you can see the lawns that look like they're the demo for Southern Living: bright green grass, tediously edged driveway and sidewalk, and nary a weed anywhere to be seen. On the flipside, one may see grass high enough to hide snakes, a veritable ecosystem of weeds and weedy flowers galore, and a collection of household items including kids possessions strewn across the lawn. If you look at my yard, you will see a landscape somewhere in the middle. I have the weeds and flowers, no junk on the lawn, and a huge brown patch of mulch in the middle, the remnants of a tree stump ground up last month.
For the most part, I don't like yardwork. I don't understand the necessity of making one's lawn so pristine that the owner is subtly communicating to his neighbors, "I have the best lawn on the block." For me, if a lawn is green and cut periodically, that's all that matters. I will admit that the opulence of my crabgrass is an eyesore, I have never fertilized (until recently to try to get some grass growing on the brown patch), and using my weed whacker is not a high priority. I also think that fertilizer is bad for the environment, such as ruining the waterways and killing crabs. I tried fertilzing but realize I will need additional help to at least get the front lawn looking green again. The back yard has a lot of dirt spots, I will tend to that down the road. I do appreciate the self powered mower that I got a few years ago (thanks Mom) that makes the yard work much easier. I will also admit that I did purchase a battery powered mower before that and tried using it to mow but the yard is too big for the battery to hold up, and I'm not making that up. I also have a push mower. To be truthful, I didn't want a gas powered mower because it contributes to global warming, and that is the honest truth. I realize that the gas mower is a necessity to keeping the grass short. I considered buying an electric mower with cord but that can be dangerous if you're not extra diligent about the mowing pattern.
For now, Susie and Dickie will help me with the fertilizing and I'll toil away mowing the lawn once every 7 days (approximately). As for the neighbors on the block whose lawn puts me to shame, I wanted to add that my propery taxes didn't decrease because my lawn is a semi mess.