Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I had a really excellent Mother’s Day. Probably a much better one than I deserved.

I woke up Sunday morning to a rustling sound in my bedroom. I thought it was the cat, which would have meant a very, very bad start to the holiday. The cat has been banished to sleep outdoors ever since a very unfortunate recent incident in which she used my bed as a litter box. It was very horrible, made even worse by the fact that the twins were sleeping in the bed at the time. I won’t go into graphic detail here, but trust me, it was a nightmare, if your nightmares involve cleaning cat poop off two nine year old girls at three in the morning, changing all bedding involved, airing out the room, running for the heavy-duty air-freshener when the open window doesn’t help, yelling at the cat and throwing her out the door and then making up beds for three people somewhere else because the gross-out quotient is too much for you in the end.

So, you can understand that the idea of the cat in my room woke me right up out of a sound sleep. But happily, it was Valentine. She was bringing something into my room. She told me that no one else was up yet, so I went right back to sleep and didn’t wake up until later when Mallory peeked into my room. She stage whispered “She’s awake.” to the other three waiting in the hallway. I sat up and saw what Valentine had been up to. She had installed a small table in the center of the room and piled it with flowers, cards and gifts.
I was treated to a song written by Valentine and performed by all four kids. I knew she was a writer, but a songwriter? It was really good!
The cards and gifts were wonderful, too, in that Mother’s Day gift kind of way. I got no less than two teddy bears, a jewel box and a big bunch of white silk flowers.
They even made me a coupon book offering various services, such as dish washing and table setting. One coupon even says I can redeem it for a pedicure from Severin, which is beyond sweet, if a bit strange. I’d bet that most 11 year old boys don’t even know what a pedicure is, let alone offer to do one. I think that’s one coupon I’ll have to keep and frame, rather than use.

4 comments:

Momma Bee said...

The lovely thing about coupons from your children is that you can use them AND frame them. I want to see photos of your (unquestionably adorable) toes after Severin has gotten creative with them.

Molly (19) also provided me with a Mother's Day coupon, but she's become very pragmatic, or honest, at least. This one says "Two Girls + One Credit Card = SHOPPING! Name the day!"

sabrina said...

Hi Beth
Today I bought the Bradt travel guide book of Burkina Faso. So I read about "Papiers du Sahel"! Suddenly I checked your homepage. Congratulation to this great project. I love your products. I also used to do my own handmade paper. I designed belts and hats. Can't wait to be back to Ouaga soon and meet you and the women of Papiers du Sahel.
See you soon!
Sabrina from Switzerland (ISO)

Ali Ambrosio said...

I relate to the cat problem. Our 2 cats in Maupto used our bed - repeatedly - as a litter box for the better part of 3 months. And they are not allowed outside, so we started closing our bedroom door. Until the black cat learned how to OPEN DOORKNOBS!

Thankfully getting them neutered resolved the problem...

Happy belated mother's day!

Beth said...

Sabrina-Thanks for the encouragement. I look forward to meeting you and showing you the project!

Ali- Our cat that did the deed is already spayed. If she starts turning doorknobs, we are doomed.