Mother's Day and Memorial Day.... the two big springtime celebrations. 

Got to thinking about past ones I have celebrated.  Times have changed a bit.  Both holidays were big deals when I was growing up.  I would save my pennies for months on end to have enough to go buy a Mother's Day gift.  It varied from year to year on how big the budget was ... maybe a buck... one year I saved $7. 

A friend and I had a ritual.  On the Saturday afternoon before Mother's Day we would walk to town to go shopping for gifts. There were two 5 and dime stores to shop at.  Remember them?  Now those were cool stores... better than the big box stores today and the "buck" stores.  They had personalities of their own, and the selection was huge.  Ten cent gold fish and 25-cent fish bowls.  You could buy a little yellow bird for 2 bucks.  Oh, yeah, we were shopping for mom. We'll get to that.

I liked the one dime store in the middle of town because it had wood floors and huge ceiling fans. The floors creaker when you walked on them. The fans kept the store cool.  They did not have air conditioning and the fans were just enough.  When you walked into the store there were wonderful smells from the candy section... chocolate.  Not too far away from the candy was the soda fountain.  You sat on tall bar stools at a black marbel counter. You could have a chocolate soda with a huge scoop of French vanilla ice cream for only 25 cents. And just a soda was five cents.  You did not need a large budget to live like a queen.

My friend and I spent hours shopping at the dime store.  We had to look at every possible gift idea carefully and think about the options.  Our budget consideration including having enough money left over for a chocolate soda.  Let's see there were boxes of lace handies, packages of nylons, flowerly spray mists, wallets and purses, earings and necklaces, and on and on.  If we couldn't get excited over selecting something special from that collection then there was kitchen things to pick from like pot holders, measuring spoons and a cut glass plate for cookies. 

Generally, my friend and I had to agree on getting the same gift for our moms.  If we decided that lace hankies were the perfect gift then we would find the same design and color.  Of course it took hours looking through two dozen boxes of hankies. There were some that were white with simple lace, some were imprinted with soft pink and blue flowers, and there were some in solid colors with wide lace trims.  It was a tough task picking out just the right one.  After all it was for mom! We weighed our choices carefully... we had to consider that one mom might not like too much lace and the other mom might not like colored hankies. After long debate and some serious thinking about the options we finally got down to picking the white lace hankies... just like the ones we bought the year before.  Pleased with our decision we paid for our gifts and with change to spare we headed for the soda fountain with the black marble counter to order a chocolate soda.  A treat well earned.  Mother's Day shopping can be tough.

If you are looking for a gift for mom, a shower gift, graduation or birthday and selecting a gift with old fashion quality is what you are seeking... then googel twin mountain collections.  The home gift selections are all hand crafted from all natural wood.  One gift mom, the bride-to-be or the graduate would appreciate getting is a hair care caddy.  There are six styles to pick from to store hair blowers, curling irons to holding combs and brushes. The wood unit mounts to the wall keeping her favorite hair tools handy and yet off the counter.  These caddies are the inspiration of ladies from across the country.  They have written to the woodmeister asking for special designs... much more original than the handies we gave mom for gifts.  The result is six very special designs.  

It's spring .. it's spring... I think?  I don't know where you live but I am in the part of the country were Old Man Winter refuses... I say "refuses to give up".  This morning I rolled out of bed at 6:30,  wrapped the quilt around me and looked out the window.  FROST.  Where is Old Man Winter? I think he is hiding under the frost.  Mr. Winter... I want word with you....  actuallly two words...."Go Away." 

People around the office are all saying they are "so ready for spring".  It has been unusally cold here this spring, and you might think our state was moved one night to Canada or the North Pole.  Ok, maybe not that far north... but pretty darn close to it for sure.  So close, in fact, we had snow yesterday.  Snow in April! Can you believe that???  

The local weather man said just last night that the last time it snowed here in April was 1888.  Now that was some time ago, but does Old Man Winter have to try for a second top record?  I mean... once is enough to get in the book of records.  In my opinion... mind you this is my opinion... once you are in the book - you are in the book.  Certainly you do not have to agree with me. 

Now I do not want to seem like I am complaining.  There are folks in the New England states that are still trying to dig out their front door to get the mailbox.  Boy, are they going to be suprised when they check the mailbox.  It is bound to be stuffed to top with letters and bills.  In fact, some folk might find over due bills because they have had way too much snow for spring.  Just impossible to get to the mail box.

Then there are folks in the middle part of the country who are scrapping off mud because everything is flooded. They can post signs outside their homes... "Mud is Us".  Muddy muck is terrible to clean up and it never seems to go away once you have some.  Almost like those old 50 movies were the slim keeps coming back and back. Yuck...truely scary.  Anyway, those poor folks are going to be dealing with that this spring.

Awe Spring. Time for tulips and apple blossoms.  The delightful time when.... well you fill in the blank here... we'll make this interactive, you know.  Well, if you are spring cleaning then Google Twin Mountain Collections to see what is new on eBay.  There are some great organizes beautifully built. Perfect for those spring projects.  All these wood items are handcrafted and high quality.  It is worth checking out... next to smelling the tulips that is.