I’ve been going around all day thinking it was Wednesday. I can’t believe it. I also can’t imagine why I would think it was Wednesday. Strange. I almost sent out the issue of the APPP Ezine that is due out tomorrow!

Over the past several days I’ve happily been adding some great designs to the HBP Gift Shoppe there is a new section for “Graduation 2005″ gifts which include hats, shirts, bumper stickers, and more. I’ve also added some really neat shirt designs for the WAHM section too! There have also been additions made to the Nana, Granny, Grandma section as well.

All in all, I’m pleased with the look of the designs. I’m also impressed with the quality of the items.

I am also planning a complete makeover of Home-Based-Parents.Com - it seems like everytime I do this there is a definite improvement. I’m looking forward to completing the makeover soon.

Just added some new designs for the Class of 2005 at the HBP Gift Shoppe.
Great ways to celebrate graduation or reward your graduate. I’ve added some very cool stickers, hats, etc. All with unique and original designs by me.

I’m actually pretty surprised at what things have been selling verses what I thought would sell. What I was most surprised about is the popularity of the “Normal People Worry Me” oval shaped stickers for cars. I absolutely love that sentiment, but I thought it was more my style of humor and not many people would get it… boy, was I wrong. LOL

Had a great Mother’s Day… as well as can be expected anyway. It’s funny because the more kids you have and the older they are the less impressed you become with ‘Mother’s Day.’ It’s not that I don’t enjoy an entire day devoted to mothers and the appreciation thereof, but truly, moms are overworked, underappreciated, and definitely underpaid. One day a year is hardly sufficient to show the true appreciation we have more than earned and definitely deserve.

My mom and I have decided that next year we will leave the children with their fathers and just disappear for a day of spa treatments or shopping at the beach or something without children. I am fifteen years older than my younger brother and he is just six months older than my son. Both are 13 and attend the same school. At times, my mom and I are truly kindred spirits in ways beyond that of just being mom and daughter. From my point of view I can now fully appreciate what my mother went through, not only to bring us into the world, but to raise us and endure all of the heartache and bliss that having children brings.

This is another truth of Mother’s Day that you don’t realize until you have children, it changes the relationship between you and your mother. No longer are you a daughter, you are a fellow parenting soldier, you share the unique view of the motherhood trenches and as such can finally express freely sentiments that only mothers can share and understand.

Only a mother can understand the love you have for your children while having a distinct and overpowering desire to disappear out of their grasp for just a day or two. Only another mother can understand the ability to love and adore a child even while suppressing the desire to drop-kick said child into the parking lot after the delightful little imp has bitten you for the second time while you are shopping. And, only another mother can appreciate the love and affection a mom has for her children while truly appreciating and rejoicing in vasectomies and the appropriate use of birth control.

To say that motherhood is challenging is like saying that it’s rather breezy when in fact there is a tremendous hurricane blowing outside. It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy being a mother, I happen to love it, it’s truly the roller coaster that I could never have missed riding. That’s not to say that it doesn’t make me incredibly queasy at times and at others make me feel as if my heart is pounding in my throat.

While searching for quotes to add to the cards I made for Mother’s Day I found one that I think is the absolute epitome of motherhood, “Making the decision to have a child - it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body” - Elizabeth Stone. That’s it exactly, motherhood in a nutshell. A sentiment so vast that to choose just one day a year to pause and appreciate it is really too small a gesture.

You may have read my article, “Second Hand Pets” where I explain how we ended up with a rooster as a pet. We don’t live in a rural area, we live in the middle of a busy area of town. So, it was quite a shock that we ended up with a rooster as a pet. He quickly became part of the family and even the family dog was quite taken with him. We had him for over three years and we enjoyed nearly every minute of it.

Last Friday, Nero passed away. We were never quite sure how old he was when we got him, but this time of year he usually came down with a cold (or the closest thing to one that a rooster could have) and it seems that this year he just couldn’t get over it. We found him in one of his favorite spots in the yard. He didn’t appear to have suffered, just sort of sat down and passed on.

It’s been awfully quiet around here and I’m certain our dog is a little depressed. He was so used to patrolling the yard and keeping Nero safe. They were buddies and got along very well. Which I thought was amazing.

Nero was a great bird. He came whenever you called his name and would run as fast as he could if you asked him if he wanted a treat. Occasionally, I would feed him a twinkie and he would prance around the back patio with the cream filling in a glob on his beak. Most of the time he loved to be fed cheerios by hand. Don’t get me wrong, we kept him on a steady diet of good quality chicken feed, but he was a pet and deserved the occasional treat.

We’ll all miss him a bunch, we already are.

Second-Hand Pets
By Amy Doran

Our house has always been a magnet for the unloved, unwanted,
abandoned, and endangered.

Picture a hot, hazy, summer afternoon. The smell of a charcoal
grill was in the air. The sky was blue and the neighborhood
smelled of freshly mowed lawns. The kids were running around the
front yards and a few dads and grandpas admired each other’s
yards and trees (each secretly believing his own to be the best)
in between sips of freshly opened cans.

Nope, it wasn’t the 50’s or even the 60’s. It was a weekend
afternoon in Bakersfield, California 2002. Proving that even
when most of us lead busy, anonymous lives there are still
pockets of a lifestyle that slows down long enough to reflect
and even smell the roses.

My husband, Mike, had been chatting with two neighbors while our
kids waited for him to finish up and hang out with them.
It was about that time they heard a commotion coming from
the end of the block. And, there it was, the strangest sight
they had ever seen.

A rooster came running down the road with a big cat hot
on its’ tail… er… feathers. The poor rooster was limping
along with a mangled foot already missing a spur and two claws.
The cat, as most cats do, was having the time of his life. There
was no doubt in his mind that he was about to partake in a heavy
rooster dinner. In fact, this last bit of chase was just the
kind of game to get his appetite really rolling.

Acting on instinct the Doran gang leapt into action, shooing off
the cat while opening up the back gate for the rooster to run
in for cover.

Two years later, Nero, is now part of the family. We call
him our grumpy turkey. He loves Twinkies and honey-nut cheerios.
If you ask him if he wants a treat he comes running at you at
top speed. The first year was rough. Cats kept creeping into the
backyard looking for a midnight snack. What they found was,
Alexander Hamilton, not the ghost or a corpse, but our dog.

Zander had arrived on our doorstep a year before Nero. My mother
had found him abandoned at a park where our kids were playing
baseball. He had been abused and was timid but friendly. Our son
loved him from the moment he laid eyes on him.

Zander and Nero get along famously. Zander has risked limb and
tail for his little feathered friend. Including an early morning
fight with one of the biggest cats we’d ever seen. That morning
I heard Zander make noises he’d never made before and hasn’t
since. It sounded like a battle scene from a war movie. But,
Zander came out on top and we’ve haven’t seen hide nor hair of
that cat or any other since.

A dog and a rooster. And, it doesn’t end there. A year ago, Mike
decided to create a fountain out of aged wine barrels. It turned
out beautifully. But, that wasn’t good enough for Mike. He
decided that we needed fish. He ran down to the local pet store
and decided to buy several 12 and 24 cent feeder goldfish. When
the girl working the fish section found out that Mike wanted the
fish as pets she spent the next 30 minutes fishing out her
favorites to rescue from the jaws of whatever reptilian creatures
they might have been fed to.

Even our cat, Lexie, was a “throw away.” Late one stormy night
Mike trooped out to the backyard to find this spunky and
adorable little kitten with a tail that literally looked as if
it had been busted right off in half. She was our very first
“unwanted” pet, I’m sorry to say that we lost her after 3 years
just a few months after Zander came to live with us. I still
miss seeing her perched up on top of the television watching me
vacuum.

We’ve created some great memories with our “unwanted” pets. We
seem to attract the abandoned and unwanted. Even as
children, years before we’d ever met, my husband and I could be
relied on to bring home these “thrown away” treasures, much to
the exasperation of our moms. I’d like to think we’re setting a
good example for our kids. Mike and I tend to think with our
hearts first and follow their lead when it comes to these
creatures and I believe that is one of the best examples you can
set for a child.