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     We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  But, remember, Easter came a little late this year.  Don't get caught by surprise because Mother's Day falls on May 8th this year!  That seems very early, but the 8th is the second Sunday of May. 

      I'm always on the lookout for good Mother's Day gifts because my 99 year old mother is the best mother of them all.  Unfortunately, it  is becoming more and more difficult to find her the perfect gift.  What does a 99 year old need or want that she doesn't A-buy for herself or B-not know that she even wants it.  Plus, she lives at my sister's house and her room is already pretty full of stuff! 
      I don't know if I have found the perfect gift for her yet, but in my search, I have found some amazing gifts that I would definitely love to receive! (hint, hint)  Ha ha!  Anyway, I thought I would share them with you in the hopes that if you are on the lookout for good Mother's Day Gifts, this list may help you out. 

     This puzzle table would be perfect for my mom because she loves doing jigsaw puzzles!  Unfortunately, she already has one.  I think it is the coolest thing for puzzle lovers.  You can use the little drawers to sort the colors or pieces that you are pretty sure go together.  You can store it under the couch when you aren't working on it.  It comes with a cove to protect the work you have already done from the dust bunnies! 

      If your mom is a gardener, I love the idea of this harvest apron.  Yesterday I was picking peas and holding up the bottom of my shirt to collect them in.  Sometimes they fall out the side, plus that gives me only one hand to work with since I have to hold up the bottom of my shirt.  The great thing is that this particular apron comes as a 2 pack, so you could keep one or give away 2 to your favorite moms.  My mom doesn't do much gardening now, but I know plenty of moms and grandmas who do.  You could sew up this apron pretty easily as well if you would rather make it yourself! 

      Along the same lines as the harvest apron, there is this adorable apron for gathering eggs!  More and more people are becoming micro farmers and chickens are in people's backyards even in the city.  If this describes your mom, this apron would be a cute and unexpected gift! 

     I have actually been considering a nice water bottle for my mother.  Older people can easily forget to drink and become dehydrated.  I like the encouraging goal setting theme of this water bottle and the easy flip up top.  

      If you do go with the water bottle idea, here is an adorable sticker to decorate it with!  (Obviously on the opposite side from the measuring lines.)   StickerBStudio on Etsy makes amazing waterproof stickers for water bottles and phones! I've never outgrown my love of stickers.  They are a great way to personalize a gift! Bronwyn's stickers are made in the USA by her in Round Rock, TX! The prices are perfect.  If you are on a limited budget, one of these stickers slipped into a card would be a sweet gesture as well! 

      This is the perfect sweatshirt for a young, awesome mom.  DiamondTeeDesign has a ton of great choices of Tee Shirts and Sweat Shirts that would work for your mom or grandma! You'll want to check them all out.  A tee for my mom might not be a bad idea. 

      This sign would be a touching gift for a mom or a grandma!  You can get it made with up to 27 names! I am currently counting on my fingers and toes to figure out how many grandkids my mom has, but the 27 might work for her.  This beautiful plaque is made by Haunt&Home, an Etsy shop. 

      This necklace from Lymgifts is just so beautiful.  It doesn't hold enough names for my mom, but it does for me!  You can get it with 2, 3, 4 or 5 rings intertwined.  I love it!

      So, those are my favorites so far.  Do you have any suggestions for my 99 year old mom?  If so, please let me know pronto!   Thanks! 

     ​Here are some past posts that may also give you some idea!

Mother's Day Gifts from Etsy
A Sweet and Simple Mother's Day Gift Idea for Kids
15 of the Best Mother's Day Books and Read-A-Louds

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     Back in January, I put in my 2022 garden here in Phoenix.  I have a grow box, a few things in the ground out of the grow box, and some containers.  It seemed like I waited forever for the seeds to germinate, but they finally did.  The beets I planted were the first things to come up.  

      Did I say beets?  I told you in this post about how I don't really love to eat beets, but I found ways to include them in my diet because they are so good for you!  The great thing about beets is that you can eat the entire plant!  Even before you can harvest the beet root, you can cut off some of the leaves to include in your salads or other dishes where you would use healthy greens.  I even used some beet leaves as the lettuce in BLTs already this year!  (Check the aforementioned post for some recipes!)

      Well, today, I was out watering the garden and checking it over when I saw the first shoulders of some beets pushing above the soil!  I was so excited!  I also noticed that there were 2 of them that were kind of close together crowding each other out.  I made the decision to harvest them.  They are a beautiful variety of golden/orange beet and I was over the moon about bringing them in and using them in our dinner salad today! 

     I certainly wasn't going to let any of these beauties go to waste.  I decided to make a salad with the beet greens, baby spinach from my garden, green onions that I grow on my window sill, the beets, cut into shoestrings and marinated, and a chopped tomato, the only thing that wasn't from my garden. (But, my tomatoes are flowering as I speak!)

      To prepare the beets, I simply removed the greens about 1/2 an inch above the root and boiled the beet roots until they were fairly soft, in salted water.  The time to do this will vary depending on the size of your beets.  
       After the beets come out of the water, the outer skin will slip right off.  
       Next, I sliced them into shoestring slices and marinated them in Italian dressing, spiked with a little red wine vinegar.  
      

      Just wash the beet tops as you would spinach.  I removed the stems and tore the tops into bite size pieces and put them in my salad bowl.  
       Next, I went out and harvested as much baby spinach as I thought I would need to mix with the beet tops and washed them and added them to the bowl.
         I decided that the green onions would be a nice addition, so I snipped a few stems from those and washed them.  Then, I chopped them up into the salad.

     When the greens were all in the bowl, I gave them a toss.  See how great they look! I am a proud grower of this salad! 

       Now to add color, I diced up a tomato.  I tossed it into the salad and then finally I added the beets.  I didn't pour the marinade over the salad.  That may have been good, but I decided to allow my family to choose their own dressing instead.  I'm really glad I marinated the beets though, they tasted so good, not pickled, but sweet and flavorful and not like dirt! 

     This salad was the perfect accompaniment to our broiled salmon at dinner tonight.  I was in heaven!  My linger covid tastebuds barely bothered me at all!  

     How are your gardens doing this year?  I am having so much fun with mine!  If you don't live in Phoenix, you may just be thinking about putting yours in.  I hope you will give beets a try! 
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    Don't show this post to my grandchildren!  I am sending them these bunnies in their Easter packages this year!  Because I had most of the needed supplies already, except the number of socks that I needed, these were a very economical gift to make.  Plus, they whip up really quickly!

     These bunnies have been all over Pinterest, except with one difference.  All of the ones I have seen have been filled with rice.  I decided rice in a no sew bunny, at least for my grandchildren,  is probably a bad idea because of 2 reasons:

1. Children always take ribbons off of their stuffed animals eventually.  Ribbon off, string gets broken equals rice spilling everywhere.  Am I wrong?  
2. Weevils.  Rice will attract them and I don't want my grandchildren playing with rice bunnies that begin to crawl with weevils.  I know that there are reheatable rice bags and so forth, but the thought came to my mind and I can't shake it.  

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   Because of those two reasons, I decided to make these with fluffy polyester stuffing.  Yes, I know, they won't really stand up by themselves, but I am willing to live with that. 

     These bunnies would be perfect for using up socks that have lost their mates.  But, I needed to make 10 of them, so I purchased a package of 10 pairs of socks from Walmart.  With 10 pairs, you could make 20 bunnies! You can use any size sock that you want, depending on how big you want your bunny to be.  It is important not to use no show socks, but use something with a cuff that will work as the rabbit's ears. 
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     Here are the supplies you will need:

• Socks (one per bunny) preferably crew socks or longer.  (Long bunny ears could be cute.)
• Polyester Stuffing
• Baker's Twine or other string
• Glue, regular school glue or a hot glue gun.
• ribbon,  1/8th to 1/4 " works well
• pom pom for tail
• Sharpie Marker
• Pins to hold things while glue is drying
• scissors
• White paint if you use black socks.

I tried using a chalk marker on the black socks, but the eyes and mouths seemed a little faded, so I used white acrylic paint.  

I created a little video to show you how easy it is to make these little rabbits!

       Each bunny tends to have a different personality, depending on how much you stuff it, how the ears fall and the color of the sock and ribbon.  I just did the basic eyes and mouth suggested by others, but you can give them eyelashes or a smile, whatever you would like.  
      I also had socks that were white with colored heels and toes.  They also come out cute, so you don't have to limit yourself to solid colored socks.  

     I will couple these bunnies with some candy and I'm sure my grandkids will love these little treats this Easter.  (Including the teenagers, as long as there is candy!)   Maybe I will make some of these chocolates this year!   (Wow! That is an old post!)

​*  Scrappy Snakes
* Cute Owl Purse
* Jeans Pocket Purse
* Reversible Apron