Why not honor your mom all while toasting all women? On behalf of WomenHeart and Clos du Bois Winery, and in support of the site, www.ToastToWomen.com, Blisstree is offering a fun, heart-healthy giveaway!

Valued at $150, the winner of this giveaway will take home:

• A portable pedometer to keep track of her movement
• A personal yoga mat to keep her flexible
• A durable water bottle to keep her hydrated
• An MP3 player to keep her toes tapping
• A plush gym towel to keep her dry

This giveaway is one of the ways to support www.ToastToWomen.com, a site created by WomenHeart and Clos du Bois Winery to help support women’s heart disease awareness and prevention. This Mother’s Day was the kick-off day to National Women’s Health Week (May 10-16). Part of a year-long campaign, the site will raise $100,000 to benefit women with heart disease, and offers helpful eating tips, festive menu ideas from the WomenHeart’s ALL HEART Family Cookbook and the opportunity to send free, personalized e-cards to the special women in their lives. For every e-card sent, Clos du Bois will donate $1 to WomenHeart.

This giveaway is CLOSED.

Congrats to Sharold F!

Come celebrate Mothers Day with Blisstree! This month we are showing how much we love mom’s by giving away something different each day

Image: BlueMax

Today’s item is a Dawn Simulator. The new model 320 is the brightest BlueMax™ dawn simulator featuring a spectrum rich in 470nm blue light. The integral lamp mimics a natural morning sunrise or evening sunset using long-life LED bulbs. You’ll feel rested each morning with the Dawn Simulator!

For more information, please visit www.bluemaxlighting.com.

This giveaway is CLOSED.

Congrats to Erma H!

You know it wasn’t until these past few years that I really enjoyed Mother’s Day, I mean while sure I was a mom they kids never really got it. This year though, it meant a lot to me, here’s why.

IMG: Sxc.hu

First, I heard from SoccerBoy that they were getting me some Mother’s Day Gifts. Okay, this didn’t mean dad was going out and spending money on me but the kids themselves were and they were also making me things at school. To be honest I thought it would be painted handprints with poems. I was shocked this morning when my oldest two presented me with ceramics they’d made in art class. Wow, this stuff was impressive. (I’ll take a pic in a day or two.) This meant a lot to me, it showed that they took the time to make me something from the heart.

Knowing her siblings were making me stuff, BabyGirl (age 5) did as well but also asked that I give her a few dollars the next time we went to the store. I figured out why and did so. She was so excited when she handed me a stuffed bear today. This will be the one Mother’s Day I never forget.

I’m about to run out to our annual Mother’s Day breakfast, which we usually have at one of our houses. This year, we decided to eat out instead so everyone could really relax. I think it will be fun, but I do enjoy the laid back atmosphere of breakfasts at home. Does anyone else eat out for Mother’s Day?

Anyway, back to the Sunday buffet:

• If you are up early and won’t be seeing her til this afternoon, there is still time to make a lovely little needlebook for Mom.
• Check out the colorful butterflies for Heather Bailey’s butterfly flip book. I think they’d make a marvelous little banner.
• Pam Garrison is sharing her flowers with us.
• Artsy Mama has some of the loveliest garden photos to share.
• Nesting in the 21st Century has the cutest idea for little chocolate cakes in tea cups.

You would like Jane. She tells stories with a smooth-tipped pencil, one that had been used often and is in need of sharpening – or else I think she would had I seen her handwriting. She is my pen pal, or, as modern day would call it, my e-mail pal. She is old enough to be my mother, but we hardly talk that way. 

Jane and I have only known each other six weeks. We speak through typewritten words, sent electronically through cyber space. We talk about mothers and children and the lowcountry of South Carolina. She is my friend.

I think the root of friendship begins with a complimentary soil, a companion to the sun and the rain and the varied elements. We have a commonality – our mothers’ ashes are spread in the same waters in South Carolina. Her mother died after a full life, learning about nutrition and making copper-etched bowls and standing by as her husband and friends passed away before her. My mother’s story is different. She died young, just before she was able to enjoy life on that tiny island. Jane recognizes this irony. She and her husband call that same place home. They could have been my parents’ friends. But instead, she is mine.

And so, for this Mother’s Day, I am wishing my friend Jane – a mother and grandmother - well. I’m hoping the weather is calm on the island of Dataw, and she is able to step out on the dock there by The Bluffs, and listen to the pop-pop-popping of the clam shells and the buzzing of the cicadas. Maybe she’ll see a tree frog clinging to the edge of an old live oak draped in Spanish moss and startle a foraging heron. And if she does, maybe she’ll think about her mom and offer a silent prayer that maybe our mothers are up in heaven together, thankful that we found comfort in each other’s words.

Photo, Flickr, debaird

May this be a Happy Mother’s Day, midst the generations in your family.  This is a time of love and flowers, cards and gifts for the moms in one’s life.  May you create many happy memories and reminisce about those of years past.

Image: sxc.hu

Why Do You Love Your Mom? Now isn’t that a great question to ask kids for Mother’s Day. Guideposts asked a group of kids and they responded. Check out their answers, some are just too cute.
What is it your mom does for you? Why do you love her?

IMG: Sxc.hu

Moms do so much and ask so little in return, but it is moments like this video that makes a mom smile. Hearing the reasons our kids love us and knowing they mean it with all of their hearts. After all what other person would wear a necklace made out of noodles and paint?

To My Mom: Thanks for always being there in the past and present. Today we are more friends than anything. What’s the difference between the mom you had as a kid and the one you have now as an adult?

So, this week, I wanted to take time out to thank moms everywhere for their hard work and their endless love. We may not have to spend our days hauling baskets over our shoulders anymore, but all those loads of laundry, groceries and other items make us feel a bit like this woman on a vintage trading card I have stashed in my ephemera collection!

Image owned by K. Thomas

I hope all these hardworking moms can take an entire weekend off from the heavy lifting and just enjoy cuddling their little (and not so little) bundles of joy. After all, the laundry will still be there next week, but the kids will grow up!

Around the Midwest and Northeast, Mother’s Day is traditionally viewed as the beginning of the summer growing season. In many places in these regions, the last threat of frost has passed and one can safely plant tender annuals and vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, impatiens, begonias, and geraniums.

As you’re planning your summer garden, make sure to plant a little extra to donate to hunger centers in your area. Food pantries are always in need of fresh produce. It doesn’t take a big investment of time or money to make a difference this Mother’s Day and throughout the year. In fact, approximately $50 worth of seeds and organic material can produce about $1,250 worth of groceries otherwise purchased in the average supermarket. A single cucumber plant can yield up to 15 to 20 cucumbers, while a single bell pepper plant can yield six to eight peppers.

(photo credit: Fukada Yasuo/cc license)

If you’ve been putting off Mother’s Day issues until the last minute, you’ve got about 2.5 days to get into the groove. Following are some last minute tips about how to quickly plan a green Mother’s Day…

GREEN MOTHER’S DAY CARDS:

1. Good - send a tree-free card. You’ll have to rush because you’re cutting it close on shipping times. I.E go now and find a tree-free Mother’s Day card.
2. Better - Make your own Mother’s Day cards with recycled materials you find around the house.
3. Best - Send a pretty digital Mother’s Day card.

GREEN MOTHER’S DAY FLOWERS:

Good - Go organic. Organic Boutique has cool items you can mix and match as gifts like the Pink Sorbonne Bouquet and certified organic Love You, Mom Cookies (shown above). California Organic Flowers has some amazing choices as well, such as the Happy Mother’s Day Bouquet.

Better - Get your mama a living plant. One that won’t die, but will instead keep her smiling all year long.

Best - Give your mama the gift of a greener planet with a tree dedication. OR help her to plant on herself in her community.

GREEN MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS:

Good - Give Fair Trade, organic, recycled gifts that don’t cause a negative planet impact. Of course, some places will ship until the last minute but going to a local co-op and creating a cool gift basket works well too.

Better -Give your mama something that lasts longer than a material present; a cool crafts or cooking class, 10 massages, or a membership to a local garden or zoo all make great gifts.

Best - Give the gift of time instead of a material gift. Plan a hike or picnic. Organize her garage. Plant a garden together, and so on.

GIFT GUIDES:

• Mother’s Day Green Gift Guide
• Earth-friendly Mother’s Day gifts
• Eco-friendly Mother’s Day Necklaces
• Green Gift Guide for Mother’s Day
• Top Green Alternatives to Classic Mother’s Day Gifts