Me and my mama
OK no one panic… American Mother’s Day is May 8th so you still have time to not be a terrible child. I’m getting a little ahead of the game this year because my guide is almost 100% handmade and I wanted to give plenty of lead time for the featured sellers to make & send your items should you make the wise decision to shop from my guide. Not only am I offering up a sweet giveaway for you AND your mom this year, but I also secured exclusive discounts on lots of my picks so you have no excuse for buying the moms in your life Precious Moments figures this year. (No, not even if that’s what she wants. NO EXCUSE.)
If you want even more ideas check out my gift guides of yesteryear here.
First up, after all the baby showers I’ve been baking for lately I wanted to find some cute things for the mom-to-be. The Small Object not only offers items everyone can use – like mustaches on a stick – but they also have extremely cute (unofficial) birth certificates to hang in the nursery. Not a pastel monkey in sight. For mama herself check out Mutha Crafter’s “I’m so crafty I make people” shirts and accessories. While you’re there you can save 10% off your purchases when you enter BAKE10.
Next up, a little something for the DIY mama – a toaster pastry press (aka Pop Tart maker) from Williams-Sonoma. It’s under $10 so it’s perfect if you’re on a budget. For just a few bucks more you could include a jar or two of fancy fruit fillings. (I like Rare Bird Preserves, so if you’re in the Midwest, look for ’em!)
If you think she’d like a Pop Tart maker then I can promise she’ll love handmade caramel, nougat and marshmallows from Have It Sweet Confections. My dad and I threw down on a bag of their spiced caramels – my mom didn’t even get any! Go check out their shop, you will seriously lick your screen. Don’t fill up on screen-licking, though, because Have It Sweet is going to send the winner of my giveaway a 1/2 lb of the caramel of his or her choosing. Here’s the deal – you have to at least share it with your mom and they’ll ship it at the end of this month because they’re crazy busy with Easter orders.
This is soap. For real.
Cool story alert: I went 30 years having never eaten a deviled egg. I find them physically repulsive and frankly, eggs weird me out. For the past 4 years I’ve baked cupcakes for my friend Hillary’s son Bishop’s birthday and my favorite part of the party every year is scoping out Hillary’s mom’s deviled egg carrying case. For years now I have been aware that hers are, apparently, the best deviled eggs in the world – mainly because I’ve seen Hillary’s husband Tim eat about 50 of them over the years. But last year I let it slip that not only had I not tried her deviled eggs, I had not tried any deviled egg ever. After a moment of disbelief, I was handed an egg and given the “try it, it won’t kill you” speech by Mrs. Hillary. Terrified, I shoved the entire thing in my mouth thinking I could just maybe swallow it without tasting it. As I am not a python, this wasn’t possible, but I was relieved to find that deviled eggs are not nearly as repulsive as I originally thought. They’re kind of like squishier potato salad. So, in honor of Hillary’s mom and my first-and-last-ever deviled egg, I bring you deviled egg soap by AJ Sweet Soap. Not only did I find soap that looks EXACTLY like a deviled egg, but I also sweet-talked a 10% discount on the whole shop for my readers when they enter FORMOM. Cool story!
OK, so maybe your mom doesn’t bake and she won’t wash her ass with a deviled egg. That’s OK, baby. I got you. Let’s assume she sews. In that case, you should probably get her this Cath Kidston house-shaped sewing basket because well, it’s kinda awesome. I got a sewing machine for my birthday in December. I haven’t used it yet, but I look at it pretty often, so I wouldn’t mind one of these myself.
Shoe clips = new shoes every day!
Fine, fine. Your mom doesn’t rub eggs on her naked body, won’t make you a Pop Tart and she doesn’t sew. Well does she wear shoes? Because if she wears shoes you should give her the gift of versatility with these handmade shoe clips from Cookoorikoo. You’ll also find lots of quirky jewelry any mom would like. I’m a mom and I wear my yo-yo necklace all the time. There you have it: proof. Enter BAKEANDDESTROY and you’ll get a whopping 20% off your order!
Your mom might tell you that you were the best Mother’s Day gift of all. She is sweet, but she’s also lying. Meet her halfway and give her a photo of you and your siblings in a hand-painted picture frame from Whirley Girl Designs. Enter my giveaway and you might win mom the frame of her (or your ) choice!
So what am I getting my mom this year? Well, like me, she’s a big fan of romantic drunkard Charles Bukowski, so for her birthday I bought her this Bluebird in My Heart necklace from Recycled Rings here in Chicago. It even came with a copy of the poem. So if your mom is the literate type, check out that shop an enter MOMSDAY for 15% off your purchase. My mom also happens to be a world champion scrapbooker. I don’t know if there’s an official belt,
Your mom wants to hug this guy!
but if there is she owns it. So I thought of her when I came upon these scarapbook kits from Lili Bee Studio. Perfect for the pro-scrapbooker mom and the newbie alike. You can take 15% off kits and project kits (classes not included) when you mention the code BAKEANDDESTROY15.
If there was one thing my dad always gave my mom crap for it was her love of putting pillows all over everything. There are approximately 37 pillows on every couch and chair and I don’t know how many on the bed. What? She likes to be comfortable. So I thought of her when I saw these pretty pillows from Anna Joyce Designs. I also think her couch would look cute buried under a Hug a Cloud plush pillow-type-guy from Goodbye Blue Monday. If you agree, only about your mom’s couch, you can enter BAKEANDDESTROY for 10% off your order.
I got three things from my mom: cheekbones, a wicked stink eye and a sick coffee addiction. My mom’s a badass, so she takes hers black, but she keeps cream and sugar around for her non-cowboy friends. I think she would like to keep said cream and sugar in these pretty handmade containers from Whitney Smith. Did you know Miss Whitney is also a blogger? Well, she is… and she’s also offering 15% off to my readers when they enter DESTROY.
My mom is hella organized. She has a label on her label maker if you know what I mean. So I can totally see her sticking this vinyl wall calendar up over her desk. Actually, I would not mind one of those myself. Hint, hint.
The mug of the beast! (For ultra cool moms only.)
Speaking of hints, there are a few things on my personal wish list this and every Mother’s Day. Gift certificates to Bake It Pretty are always welcome, as are wrestling-and-cake themed prints from Betty Turbo and cute hair thingies from Lucky Cupcake Hairclips. Lucky Cupcake has lots of bows that support great causes and a brand-new hemp tote for eco-concious moms. Enter BAKEANDDESTROY and take 10% off your Lucky Cupcake purchase!
The Giveaway
OK, so if you were paying attention you would know that there’s a 1/2 lb of delicious, chewy caramel from Have It Sweet Confections and a hand-painted picture frame from Whirley Girl Designs up for grabs – I’d say that’s a pretty nice Mother’s Day gift for you to give your mama. But what’s in it for you? How about a $25 gift certificate to Threadless and a super flippin’ cool Bake and Destroy coffee mug? Yep. One of you will get ALL that stuff because I am the best friend ever. All YOU have to do is leave a comment on this post thanking your mom (or mom-type person… I’m not trying to pour salt in anyone’s wounds!) for something. Did she teach you to bake? Show you how to throw a punch? Contribute some DNA to your awesome good looks? Thank her in the comments and I’ll pick a random winner at the end of this week – April 15th to win the whole shebang.
Good luck! (Love you, mom!)
P.S. Here is a picture of my mom and me at WWE Monday Night Raw. You’re welcome.
The contest is over – congrats to Audrey!
These all look AMAZING.
And I would like to thank my awesome Mom for not only teaching me how to cook, but also for explaining to me that it is never a good idea to fall asleep with bubble gum in your mouth. She was patient enough to spend the necessary hours getting it all out of my hair when I was eight, and I love her for it. 🙂
I would like to thank my Mom for accepting the little black sheep of the family that I am. She may not approve of all my antics and interests but she’s always been supportive. From tireless nights spent with a colicky lil babe after working a 12 hour shift to driving hours and hundreds of miles just to see me graduate, she’s always been there when I needed her. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I couldn’t ask for a better Mom and my kids couldn’t ask for a better Nana.
I’d like to thank my mom for taking part in the making of my beauty. Haha!! Also, I really want that Charles Bukowski necklace for myself!!!!
My mom passed away 9 years ago, March. Having kids of my own now finally made me realize how much she sacrificed and gave up for my sister and I. All the little things she did – like playing along with my imaginary friends – I do for my kids and it makes me miss her, but appreciate her all the more. Thanks mom for secretly showing me through all the little things you did how to be a good mom to my own kids who you never even got to meet.
I can’t even begin to figure out how much I need to thank my mom for. We had a bit of a scary year and weren’t sure what lay ahead for her – and while we always have appreciated her, nothing meant more than the few months I spent after coming back home to be with her during the tough times. Her life hasn’t been an easy one – my father passed away ten years ago from a chronic disease and she was an incredible caregiver to him while also being an incredible mom to us. Her support and love and encouragement – man…how can one really thank someone for that! Not to mention her instilling in me my love for all things crafty 🙂
Love the picture of you and your mum at Raw. I was trying to spot you in the crowd hehe 😀
I like to thank my Mom for putting out and creating the me that I am today! I would also like to thank her for not killing me in my youth for the curious wildchild that I was! My Mother is a saint for spawning over 9 times and NOT eating her young! I love that when I call her (tues,thurs,sat & sunday) I still have to give her my rank in my linage, I am number 9 “the caboose”! My Mother is 78 yrs old and has her own Facebook account! All of us are grown up and have kids of our own, and words of wisdom from my Mother “just wait until you have you own kids, payback is so sweet!” And YES Ma, I’m wearing socks!
thanks, mom, for not shaking your head when i came home with a dagger tattooed on my forearm, or when i said that i was quit my job to open up a tattoo parlor with my baby-daddy.
also, thanks for babysitting and taking your grandson to the monster truck rally! <3
Thanks Mom for teaching me the importance of the power of complaining.
Mom , thank you for sending me the most bitchin zombie Jesus day basket , even though I’m far away thanks to military life .your grandson misses you too, and loves his new squshy brain toy . Can’t wait to see what you come up with for Halloween you silly lady ! . Damn , I miss my mommy .
My mom is amazing!
Thanks mom for teaching me how to cook! Thanks for giving me everything I could ever need to be the person I am today. Thanks for accepting my choices no matter what! Thanks for supporting me in everything I do!
Mom, you once told me you will never know the power of unconditional love until u have your own children. Dam u were right thanks for sharing ur secret…. its amazing
Thanks mom for teaching me how to be a strong and independent woman. You taught me how to cook, sew, hike in the woods, and much much more. Thank you for being a wonderful grandma to my kids and for being the rock of our family. Love you!
My mom got my love of baking started! Now it’s a huge passion of mine and I can’t wait to share it with my children when I have them 🙂
Thanks mom, for letting me figure out who i wanted to be and not kicking me out of the house. I came home with a new tattoo and piercing all the time. She didn’t like it, but she never said i couldn’t get anywhere in life. Thanks for supporting me.
My mom is the best mom IN THE WORLD. I’ve always been kooky, and she’s always accepted me just as I am. I’d have to thank her for teaching me to cook, (and accepting my phone calls at 11 pm so that I can ask her about ridiculous recipes, and why my cupcakes aren’t working) for cheering me on with my veganism, and for letting me march to the beat of my own drum since birth (and sometimes giving me new drums to march with!)
These are awesome, awesome mom gift ideas. I love your blog!
My mom is awesome because not only is she always there for my two sisters and I but she is always there for my two boys too whenever needed.
I will definitely be picking up some of that cute soap for my mom. She’s pretty much the best. She has taught me how to be the most loving person I can be, which makes my life so happy.
I’d like to thank my mom for being the very cool and eccentric lady she is, for teaching me to speak my mind and expand my mind, for passing on her creative talents to me, for being a most awesome Mom/Gramma/MIL, and for always playing Motown records when I was little.
i wanna thank my mamma for always being my friend . <3
My mom did teach me how to bake and cook and appreciate food – for that I thank her. Now I am teaching the same thing to my son even though he’s only 18 months and can’t really understand why I keep using loud machines to make egg whites frothy.
My mom taught me how to forgive. That life’s too short to hold grudges, Enjoy what you can when you can and love life~~
I want to thank my mom for giving birth to me after already having 5 kids and 2 miscarriages. I certainly would of had the doctor tie my tubes after my older sister was born, but alas she held out for me.
I would like to thank my mom for baking with me, sewing with me, letting me turn the pantry shelves into a barbie apartment complex, giving in to my demands for a baby sister, and for patiently putting up with my teenage years which dragged on until I was almost 30.
Many thanks to my mom and grandma for teaching me how to bake! They were great caketress role models, and instilled a love of desserts in me.
Wow – what an awesome giftlist! I found quite a few things that I need to look at for my Mom! Thanks go out to my Mom for everything! She taught me to bake, tried to teach me to cook, taught me to sew, raised me to be generous and caring and most of all, is my very best friend that I talk to everyday and turn to with every little life question!
Thanks mom, for being, well, my mom. And for letting me steal your irish potatoes even though they are your favorite!
And I also am loving that bluebird necklace!
My Mom is my biggest supporter in everything I do. She’s my best friend. She got me into baking because of our family mania with birthday cakes. Every year has to be bigger and better then the last one! We have fun doing them together. Thanks for everything Mom!
My mom helped shaped me to become who I am today. She taught me how to cook. I always begged to help her. “Can I stir the pot? Can I cut something?” And she would tell me that I would first have to learn how to wash dishes. I was young and I totally fell for it. So much thanks for everything Mom, especially for being strong after Dad passed away.
My mom is responsible for my sense of humor. I am forever in her debt.
My mom passed away two years ago. I’d like to thank her for accepting me for who I am; my eccentricities, stubbornness, flaming liberalism and all. She was really creative, crafty and handy and not afraid to get $hit done herself.
Mom, thanks for putting up with my indecisiveness and naiveté. Wish you didn’t live so far away cause I miss putting up with you too.
thanks mom, for always being on my side, even when i’m wrong in the worst of ways… thats love. kristinmik at gmail
First, let me say, all these gifts are amazing! As for thanking my mom, the list is endless. Thank you mom for not killing me when I was a teenager that only thought of myself & caused way too much drama. Thanks mom for giving me the thin gene so I can bake & eat tons without gaining too much weight. Thank you mom for not saying “I told you so” after having kids of my own & feeling like I can never do it all. My mom is the best, it only took me being a parent to realize it.
Te quero mucho mama!
My mom not only taught me how to bake, (and to make the best pies ever!), but she also taught me how to love and how to forgive and to believe in myself. I miss being able to talk to her everyday. Being 1400 miles away is so hard sometimes.
My mama (aka Sherri!) is the greatest. I love the woman to death for an infinite amount of reasons! Aside from the fact that she passed down her perverted sense of humour, she also taught me that I shouldn’t give a fuck what people think. She taught me how to love myself, and be proud of who I am today (all while having a good laugh in the process)! Here’s to mama’s everywhere!
I thank my mom for just being my mom! She taught me how to be a great mother to my own kids and how to love baking and cooking!!
Thanks Mom, for giving me life, and wicked awesome DNA!!
Thanks for taking me to my first concert, letting my dye my hair hot pink in 7th grade, and then picking me up from school hours later when the principal sent me home, then spending your hard earned money to have my hair turned back to “normal”. Thanks for supporting me in everything I do, even if you don’t agree. Most of all, THANK YOU for teaching me how to bake!
My Mom is much more bad-ass than I could ever be, she has more tats than most people I know, and she parties harder than anyone I know. She’s my best friend!
I love you Mom, you rock!
I would thank my Mom for everything but theres too much to write here. My Mother worked her whole life to support all of us kids and the whole time she had horrible health problems. It was hard to see her live life in pain or visit her in hospitals. As a small girl I never noticed that other peoples moms werent sick like my mom.
Even as a young mom myself she helped me raise my sons when there Dad wasnt there. Now as a big thank you I sit with her 3 days a week at her dialasis. I try not to look at people there because its sooooo sad to watch people suffer. I have tried and tried to donate her my kidney but havent been able to get the testing.
I really reallly love my mom and I wish I could show her or give her a break from the horrible things she has to do. I would give her all the goodies if I win!
My mom taught me everything she knew about baking. I remember often as a child being in the kitchen with my mom and discovering that we had everything but one ingredient for a recipe. And she would just improvise, with almost always perfect results. I now run a vegan bakery, and with a little tweaking, and the confidence my mom taught me, I’ve been able to replicate (vegan-style) the awesome baked goods of my childhood. My mom is a remarkable woman, whose excellent baking skills stem from her ceaseless confidence. I can only hope, on my best days, to emulate that myself. Thanks mom!
I’ve realized just how cool my mom is after all of these years and perhaps that is because my son now reminds me how cool I’m not which I just can’t understand because I think I’m fabulous!! Borrowing from your “she won’t wash her ass with a deviled egg!” The coolest thing about my mom is… she would and she’d giggle herself into a frenzy doing it!! Happy Mommies day to all of you wonderful women out there!!
My mom taught me to know what I’m worth and never settle for less. She also has an eternal youthfulness that is really beautiful, she never let the ugliness of the world corrupt her perspective. She rarely bakes from scratch except chocolate chip cookies, which everyone agrees are completely magical. I totally regret fighting with her as a teenager; she has given me more than I can imagine giving someone! Maybe I should say these things to her…
I would like to thank my mom for putting up with the horrible antics of my little brother! Not, me though, I’m perfect 🙂 But had she sent him to live with the gypsies, like I wanted, I wouldn’t have the adorable little nephew that my brothers wife just had last week 🙂
I have to thank my mom for my twisted sense of humor. She’s easily one of the funniest people I know.
All these ideas are great, by the way! I love all the dishware by Whitney Smith!
Janna
Thank you mom for always being my number one fan no matter what I do!
I’d like to thank my mom for the fact that I never have to watch what I eat and I just turned 30 but still look barely legal to drink. Thanks for the awesome genes, Mom!
My mom taught me that I should always be able to take care of myself. While she’s not much of a baker, I am a pretty wicked eater of sweets. So growing up with that kind of ethos is the reason I can bake to my little heart’s delight. And the reason she’s the recipient of my baked goodies so often. Thanks, ma!
My mom always makes normal food more fun. Let’s take meatloaf for example: the regular loaf form just won’t do, so she makes meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato icing and cheese shred sprinkles. For reals. She sneaks up on my dad while he sleeps and runs a butter knife over his leg, you know, to keep him in check. She always had my back when I’d break curfew and show up at 2am, trying to sneak in and she’s sitting calmly on the couch reading the paper. She cooked EVERYTHING for my wedding six years ago, and is a general badass. Yay Peggy!!
my mother was (still is, really) an alcoholic, the more non-functioning kind. i didn’t quite understand as a kid why my mom didn’t work or get out of bed or do things that other mothers do. i got older and eventually resented her for not being there for my karate competitions or coming to the mother daughter bake off with me (which my dad deftly talked his way into participating in with me, by the way) it wasn’t until becoming an adult and having children of my own that i learned the pain behind my mother’s crutch and after taking a long hard look at my childhood, realized that she may not have taught me how to put on makeup or call a boy, but she taught me more important things. like that peple have faults, and sadness brings everyone down in their own way, but deep down there is good and love in everyone. my mom is my best friend. i talk to her on the phone every single day and i wouldn’t trade her for any other mom. so thank you to her, for teaching me the most important thing i’ve ever learned — to be human.
Dear Mom,
First I’d like to apologize for the teenage years. I can’t even explain what was going on, but I’d like to let you know I’m thankful you stuck through it with me. I am the person I am because of you, you are one of the strongest individuals I know and I hope that I can follow in my footsteps. An often overlooked christmas present from way back when says it s all, you gave me a coffee mug that says “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” Well, thanks to your encouragement I know I can do anything if I want it bad enough.
I’ve heard a THOUSAND times that I have the coolest mom. In high school my house was THE house to stay at because my mom was totally awesome. Now that I’m older she’s not just my mom she’s my best friend. We do everything together and my son even knows how awesome she is because he BEGS to go to her house on a daily bases :). Oh yeah and she gave me good genes and super baking skills! Love you mama!
Thanks Mom, for a healthy appreciation of grammar, humor, and wine.
I’m really very much like her, so this list could be long, but so could the “how dare you pass this characteristic on to me” list. 😉
THANK YOU MOM–for letting me be your official taste tester and giving me the love of cooking. For believing in my dreams when I said I wanted to go to culinary school. And for loving me, no matter what stupid mistakes I made.
Thanks to the moms I’ve met over the past year and a half who have re-taught me how to be a parent and shown me that it’s not too late to parent my 11 year old correctly. <3
I would like to thank my mom for being like a great bra and always supporting me and being close to my heart! She taught me how to be a lady, bake & how to be a great mom to my own children. She is my angel, mom I love you!!
I’m so thankful to my mom for her character! She is an amazing woman all around–full of honesty, integrity, compassion, and just incredibly loving! She has never failed to make me feel unbelievably loved. I love knowing that I can run home to her at the end of every day…just so she can give me a hug or listen to me rant about my day. She is my most trusted friend and knows me inside and out–I can literally tell her anything. I am unbelievably in awe of the woman my mama is and only hope I can continue to grow into a woman half as amazing as she is! My mom is incredibly sacrificial, having spent literally the past 20 years working multiple jobs, just to support my family…and never once taking a vacation for herself. I would love to be chosen, so I can give my mom back a snippet of all the abundant love she has given me! I am so lucky.
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I would love to thank my mom for teaching me the “pull it out of your ass at the last minute”trick.Whenever there was a project due at school or a present at a party needed,those last minute adrenalin charged results were always awesome and so much fun to spend time with you doing! They’ve made me the creative and spontaneous mom I am today.
Thanks Mom for putting up with the tattoos, piercings, crazyloud music and crazyloud friends, stray animals, atheism, activism, veganism…even when we didn’t agree you always supported me 100%.
I would like to thank my very special mom for being her fabulous self even when things aren’t going so well. She has always been there for me and helps me through whatever nonsense I am going through at the time. I love you mom!
Thanks mom for telling me what a shart is!
I want to thank my mom for always being there and sticking up for me when I need it. For quitting smoking after 30 plus years, for getting me to move to Arizona to meet the love my life, for teaching me how to be a woman, to speak up for myself, to live life. Thank you for supporting me in everything I try, for trying everything I make even if it was fruit or nuts in it, for showing me what being in love is and being married to my dad for 33 years. My mom is my best friend, my hero, my role model.
I know it’s really sappy, but I’d like to thank my mom for always believing in me. Especially when I didn’t believe in myself. By merely living the life she lives she’s taught me that I can be anything, do anything I want–all I have to do is get my butt in gear, quit messing around and Do It. She taught me that it’s pointless to whine and useless to blame someone else for my own failures. And with her tiny little moving mountains self, she’s taught me that size doesn’t matter! I love that woman and I’ve ever so grateful that the Powers That Be chose her to raise me!
Id have to thank my mom for always knowing the right words to get me motivated and out of a gloomey day. No one can light a fire under you ass like your mom can.
I want to thank my mom for showing me what it is to be real.
She was a teen mom who raised my disabled brother & I for many years on her own, and though she did make some mistakes along the way, she always learned from them and went on to show us the real meaning of “when you know better, you do better”.
She never claims to have all the answers or to be the perfect mother. She’s the best version of herself that she can possibly be, and really, that’s pretty damn amazing.
She’s an A+ grandma and makes the best chocolate chip cheesecake in the known Universe.
I cannot remember a time I was not in the kitchen helping my mom cook and bake. I learned had to make a mean meatloaf, fabulous cold salads for the summer, pecan balls, black bottoms and much, much more. Many recipes have been passed down from her mother and her mother before her. Mom passed 8 year ago on the 21st and I really miss her. I wish she could have met my son, Evan, who is now 3. I hope to pass on our love of cooking to him, as well as all the family recipes.
Holy schnikes! This is one kickass giveaway!
To Me Mum-
Thank you so much for teaching me how to be fun and not give a crap what others think. I used to love long drives with you because it meant that we would get to belt out every Beatle song that was ever recorded. Just us two. It was “our thing”. Even when people would drive up next to us and stare, we would rock out even harder! You da – you da – best!!!
Dear mom, Thank you for teaching me to stand on my own two feet. It’s pretty handly now that I’m a mama too.
My mom is tremendous. I thank her for supporting me in everything I do and for being an awesome grandmother to my son. She taught me how to laugh at people who take life to seriously and how to read. Which is pretty much all you really need to survive. You know, besides food and air and stuff.
My Mom taught me the value of hard work. She worked a lot of double shifts when I was a kid so I could have the things I wanted. Since she was away so much, I also had to learn how to cook on my own. Now I make my living baking for others. Thanks, Mom!!
Thank you, mum, for not sending me away to the circus. Although that’s where I thought I wanted to be (and what I still daydream about), I’m happy I stuck around and had you for a mother. You’ve shown me strength. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and am glad I grew up with you under the big-top.
I would like to thank my Grandma for being a mom to me when my egg donor didn’t want to be. She was the person that was always there to push and encourage me no matter what it was and NOT only when it benefited her. She was there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on or a good smack on the back of the head for being a dummy. It’s been hard the last 3 years of not having her around because I just don’t seem to know how to function without that support it seems.
My family is not your traditional Asian family and I have my mother to thank for that. She’s a single parent raising two erratic children who still have no full idea where they’re going in life except that one of them is obsessed with baking. I thank my mom for supporting me regardless of the decisions I’ve made. I switched from a psychologist in pursuit to a full time cupcaker and she’s given me her full support. We’ve even picked out business card designs together and imagined interior designs for a storefront in the future. She is really something.
Thanks to my mom for teaching me – literally, I had her for Algebra I – but more generally teaching me that it’s fun to learn things and that math isn’t so hard (even if you’re a girl.) I wouldn’t be who I am today without her support and guidance.
I would like to thank my mother for her unbelievable cooking skill. (It’s unbelievable because she burned the bottom out of a pan a month till I was 6 or 7, which is when I started standing on a chair and cooking dinner for my younger brother and sisters!) Because of my mom, I cooked my first full thanksgiving dinner at 11, and have spent my life with cooking as one of my true loves. Many of my friends had moms who were genuinely good cooks,and they weren’t allowed in mom’s pristine kitchen. My mom – not so much, and I had all the freedom in the world to learn and experiment with food.
I always love your gift guides! I’m sure I’ll end up buying some awesome stuff for myself in addition to something for my mama.
I have about a billion things to thank my mom for, but since I don’t want to take up too much comment space, I’ll say… I thank my mom for teaching me that brains are more important than beauty, being kind is more important than being right, and that having a sense of humor is immeasurably important for getting through life with a good attitude! She also taught me practical things like how to shave my legs, how to balance a checkbook, and how to bake!
My Mom and I have had some ups and downs, and once I got old enough to go to college we fought a lot. Now I’m at the end of my college career and I’ve found that my mother has really truly done a lot for me, as far as protecting me and setting ground rules (no pajamas outside the house, don’t answer the door for people you don’t know/aren’t expecting…etc) and they’ve stuck with me and I’m really really proud of her. She cares about me a lot and it shows now more than ever, that she did a really good job of raising me. I don’t think there would ever be anything I could say or do to thank her enough for being my Mom. So instead, I’ll bring home cake and say thanks for having me 22 years ago this weekend (since it’s my birthday)
Thanks for the gift guide too!! I’m excited to look around for a good present this year.
Thank you Mom for being my best friend when I had a hard time finding a female buddy!
Thanks mom, for putting up with all my drama, insanity, and bull all these years. I owe you my life so, so many times over. Love you mom. I look forwards to returning your love tenfold in these coming years, starting with making dinner on mothers day (ughh! ).
Thanks to my mom for my love of coffee, my sense of humor and not taking shit from anyone. She’s my hero.
Mamma!!! Thanx for teaching me that the world is such a big and interesting place, and supporting then my wish to explore it and get to know the differences in it that make it so special!
There is only one mama who would put pop tarts and washing an ass with a devilled egg in one sentence, props to you Natalie, you are one awesome Mummie I hope you get the sewing kit but the link goes to the ass egg 😉
My mom is a great person, always thinking about others first. She is always in pain, but pushes herself to make blankets for service men and women that could use alittle comfort. She has a beautiful soul and I am very lucky to call her my mom. Thank you mom for always being there for me.
When I was 8 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and was told she had 3 months to live. She would not be defeated and lived another 10 years – she wanted to see me graduate high school and see me on way into college. That was 27 years ago. Thank you mom for your perseverance, courage and love.
I would like to thank my mom for everything she has done for me. Mainly, telling me growing up that I didn’t need a man to take care of me. For teaching me to stand up for myself and not taking anyone’s crap and for renting any kind of horror movie for me without judgement when I was in my teens. (Special thanks to her for renting I Spit on Your Grave when I was 16 because she thought the video box was cool). She has been there for me through everything especially my 6 year old son’s open heart surgery at 11 weeks old and his several surgeries since. She stayed with my husband and I overnight for every sugery. She is not only my mom, but my best friend.
I’d have to thank my mom for teaching me how to cook and bake. I love the memories of rolling, cutting, and decorating sugar cookies every year at Christmas!
I want to thank my “mom” (officially mom-in-law) for loving me when my own mom rejects me, defining the art of snacking, hosting a cupcake party in my honor, wearing black nail polish to my wedding and letting me make babies with her bike messenger son…the best gift ever 😉
My mom not only taught me how to get around a kitchen, she taught me that following a recipe exactly doesn’t always produce the best results. Whenever I would ask her for a recipe it would always be “a little bit of this and some of that, etc, etc.”
You’ve got to go with your gut and do what feels right in the kitchen. You may get a different dish everytime but that’s part of the fun!
Those deviled egg soaps look too realistic. Wow.
I wanna thank my mom for always doing whatever it took to make sure I had what I wanted. We may not have had much money, but I never knew it. <3
Mom, if you were here with me now I’d thank you for annoying me with your sassiness and spitfire because you knew I would embrace those very traits when I got older.
Thank you for teaching me joy and adventure, I promise you I am passing those on to your grandson. Miss you terribly.
Love,
Your sassy spitfire kid
I need to thank my mom for driving 9.5 hours down from Wisconsin just to wash my dishes and keep my kids from killing themselves while I was all drugged up after getting my wisdom teeth pulled this week. She even folded my laundry. Thanks mom, you rock!
Yo mom! Thanks for encouraging me to be a good person of whatever kind I’d like to be, and pushing me to be true to myself first. You’ve always been supportive of me as long as what I was doing was what’s best for me, but if it wasn’t, you let me make and learn from my own mistakes (and never said “I told you so” when it didn’t work out like I planned).
Wow, amazing gifts. I would like to thank my mom for letting me be ME. She always listened and understood that my life path was different then hers and that was okay. She is also the best Grandparent and cooks awesome Sunday Family Suppers 🙂
My mom isn’t my birth mother (since she died when I was little), but she is the closest, if not closer, than a birth mom could be. She has always been supportive of me and has always allowed me to choose my own path in life-with very little judgment and always a loving encouragement or guidance. Now I am a mom of a 3 year old, she is always the first person I go to for advise. I hope that I can raise my son in a home that I was raised in & that he can say the same things about me as I can say about my mom.
I’d like to thank my mom for teaching me to not be a stereotypical “damsel in distress.” She was a Pipefitter in Chicago (Local 597) for about 25 years. My dad got her into it in the 1980s, when it wasn’t common for women to work in construction jobs. She started when I was about 2 years old. I remember her coming home crying sometimes because the men were just awful to her sometimes. She would tell me that she came home crying because she loved her job so much, but no one would keep her from doing a job she loved just because she wasn’t a man. She helped shape Chicago by installing medical gas at the UIC rennovation in the 1990s. In 1994, she and my father volunteered to install a HVAC unit at the home of an elderly woman who was found frozen to her floor after a terrible storm.
When I was in elementary school-aged, I didn’t want my mom to be different. I wanted her to wear makeup, and wear skirts, and bake cupcakes for class parties. It wasn’t until I got my first apartment that I realized how special she was. We were at Menards. I had a leaky pipe that my landlord couldn’t fix for a few weeks. We were in the plumbing department and another customer came up to us trying to help. He asked who was helping us with our plumbing, and where my mom’s husband was. (I also think he was trying to hit on my mom. Eww!) She explained that she was widowed and that we didn’t need help. He asked if her husband was a pipefitter, because of the patch on her jacket. She blew him away when she told him that she was the pipefitter! He was so red in the face, and for the first time in a long time, I was proud of her.
Long story short, she never taught me to put on makeup, or how to accessorize. But when my home’s hot water heater crapped out on us last winter, she talked me through replacing it myself.
My mom adopted me from birth, because she couldn’t have a baby of her own. The technology didn’t exist. Even after is DID and she gave me two little sisters, she’s still MY mom, who CHOSE me. There’s even my big half sister, whom she “adopted” at 10 and raised as her own. The four of us now have matching tattoos, which will always remind the five of us that she is the center of it all, the lock to our keys. Love you mommy.
J
I’d like to thank my Mom for teaching me that even if we screw up, there are always people who will love us unconditionally. And bake us delicious treats to cheer us up. <3
I’d like to thank my Mom for teaching me to bake & cook at such a young age. The kitchen was never off limits, i could bake any time I wanted to!
I love those soaps, some of them look so incredibly real!
I want to thank my mom for teaching me to stand up for myself and for those who can’t stand up for themselves. She is an amazing woman who works tirelessly (at home and work) to help others and rarely stops to think of herself, even when she should.
Plus,she taught me how to make the world’s best meatloaf!
I’D have that my mom for being awesome and putting up with me, she has taught me so much and has had so much patience with me. She made me the amazing person I am today!
I am a mom, and I’m trying to be as great as my mom was. I’m not sure I am doing that, but I’m hoping for the best.
Now, how about that cup? I’d settle for just the cup. Probably all I’ve earned so far as a mom, anyway (my son is only three 🙂
My mom is amazing…she taught me to cook so she wouldn’t have to and taught me to bake with love. The best thing she gave me was my stubborn and independent spirit. She has always worked in a very male-centric environment and refused to be intimidated. I credit her for my strong sense of who I am and what I’m worth. Thanks, Mom…Happy Mother’s Day! And as for my own kids…my parenting is a work in progress…hope they survive!
First things first,
1) Momma, Thank you for being the most supportive open-minded mum I know! Also the mom I get the biggest kick out of, in a loving, affectionate way. Thank you also for inspiring my love of food and the outdoors.
2) I love this blog. Thank YOU.