A special Mother’s Day story

This past Thursday afternoon, I received a strange email message that got my attention immediately. It came from my Every Day I See A Cow blog, mentioning a post I wrote last Thanksgiving where I featured cow hand puppets from IKEA. But it wasn’t about a cow.

The email sender was a mom located in Nova Scotia, Canada, almost 4000 miles away from San Diego, where I live. As I read her message, I quickly realized it was a cry for help. Earlier during the day, her two-year old daughter lost her lovey. Her ONLY lovey. Yep, no backup. Gasp!

So this desperate mom browsed the web for hours looking for a new lovey, which happens to be a lamb hand puppet from IKEA, just like the ones featured next to the cow on my Thanksgiving cow blog post. Of course, luck would have it that IKEA recently stopped selling these hand puppets. Apparently they’re not a hot item on the resale market either. At least, not on the day this lamb puppet disappeared.

As you can imagine, this tragic and sudden loss didn’t go well for her daughter, who kept crying and asking for her lamby. As she couldn’t find another one to buy anywhere, this poor mom became frustrated until she saw my blog post and emailed me, asking me if by any chance I would have an IKEA lamb hand puppet. Hmm, I replied, attaching the photo below, like… this one?

IKEA lamb hand puppet

I actually bought several hand puppets at IKEA a few years ago. I think they were only $1.99 each at the time and very entertaining for the kids. I think I have a frog, a chicken, a zebra, and of course, a lamb. My kids still like to play with these puppets once in a while but I figured they could manage with one less.

So I got this mom’s address and on Friday morning I went to the post office to send our lamb to greener pastures. I’m pretty sure Nova Scotia has much greener pastures to offer than San Diego. And the best thing about all this is, in about a week a little girl will be happily reunited with “her” lamb lovey. Someone should tell her it just went on a vacation for a week or so…

This experience tells me that as moms, we need to stick together. Maybe one day another mom will be the one helping me out when I need it. But if there’s one single piece of advice I can offer new moms, it’s to get several copies of your baby’s lovey. That’s what I did with my two kids and even though we haven’t lost any so far, I don’t regret the additional purchases. 

By the way, if your child ever lost his or her lovey, I’d love to hear your story. How far did you go to replace it?

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Funny video: how do you round up your cows?

I usually don’t repost on this motherhood blog what I share on my Every Day I See a Cow blog, but I think I should make one exception with these two videos. I see people have been sharing it on Facebook and other social media sites and I don’t want you to miss out. Also, we could all use a good laugh once in a while, so I thought you’d enjoy watching them.

First, meet the cows vs. the remote control car:

I believe this video was shot in Australia. I just want to guess they are teenage boys wanting to test the cattle’s reaction to having a remote control car on their turf. Well, were they in for a surprise and you’ll be too! Enjoy the show and let me know what you think. Feel free to share!

And what do you think cows enjoy after exercising? How about a little jazz music? Yes, cows seem to enjoy listening to good music and it makes for quite an interesting video. Enjoy!

My “Every day I see a cow” blog is being showcased on WordPress!

In early January 2011, I took the WordPress challenge to post every day of 2011 on my “Every day I see a cow” blog (I would never attempt such a challenge for this blog!). I figured it would be a great motivator, especially since my goal is to report my personal daily sightings of cow.

Today I almost fell off my chair when I saw on the WordPress daily update that my “Every day I see a cow” blog was featured in the “10 WordPress theme blogs that rock“! All I can say is, HOLY COW! (no pun intended).

I’m glad to see that other people think that cows rock and it’s nice to have visitors stop by and learn about my daily cow sighting experiment. As a parent, I feel we have so many responsibilities resting on our shoulders every single day of our busy lives. It’s nice to find a way to do something out of our range of daily chores and activities. My kids have been having a lot of fun pointing out “Mama’s cow of the day” since I’ve started this challenge. It’s been a daily family fun activity for several weeks, and now they have even come up with “Papa’s pig of the day”, since their dad is convinced we see pigs every day. I actually think he’s got something going with this…

Oh, if you think you don’t see a cow every day, here’s one for you, just to remove any doubt you may have!

Every day you see a cow

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Check out the new “Every day I see a cow” blog and Facebook page

Skating cow Christmas ornament - December 2010

Hi everyone,

Check out my new Christmas ornament for 2010 (I buy a new tree ornament every year). Yes, it’s a skating cow! Cute, huh? Who knew cows were such a part of our daily life that they made it into the Christmas tradition?

The brand new “Every day I see a cow” blog is up and running, just in time to document my daily cow sightings in 2011! 2011 may be the year of the rabbit, but on that blog, it will be the year of the cow! Take a look and let me know what you think. You’ll find another cow Christmas theme there, if you think the skating cow on the right is an isolated occurrence.

“Every day I see a cow” is also on Facebook, so feel free to visit the page, like it, and share your own cow sightings with everyone. The more, the merrier!

As I said in a recent post sharing my thoughts on 2010, this new blog will be completely useless but a lot of fun!

Happy new year and best wishes to you and your family for 2011!

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What happened to 2010?

Countdown to 2011!

Wow, I have to admit it, the past couple of months have gone by in a blur. Actually I’m not really sure what happened to 2010… Now that only 17 days are left in the year, it’s time to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly that 2010 brought to me and my family.  I blogged about some of those events, and still need to do so for others. So here we go, in no particular order:

● My four-year-old son got his tonsils and adenoids out, and gained over an inch, several pounds and tons of energy within a couple of months. Love it!

● He also started a new preschool this summer and I couldn’t be happier about the new school, where he learns a lot every day while having fun. Score!

● My youngest broke his front tooth, requiring a crown. Six months later, he broke that crown and needed another one. Bummer!

● This same little guy could barely put a few words together at the start of 2010, just before he turned two. Today, he speaks in long sentences, sometimes garnished with his favorite swear words (e.g. “Where did you put my f#$%ing triceratops?”). I’m almost proud!

● We took our first family trip overseas to Europe. Exhausting, but full of memories!

● I turned 40 and survived it!

● I got my first crown. Dental crown, I mean. I didn’t become royalty, not even of the b-i-t-c-h club. That happened several years ago.

● I started the year with an injured back that got better after several months, only to injure it again a few weeks ago. Hate it!

● I took a new job in January that promised more money, great responsibilities and a good career path. It turned out to be nothing like the job I was sold. I mean, told. I got a way out in September. Lucky!

● I’m now spending two weekdays a week with my youngest and will add my oldest to those days starting in January 2011. I didn’t know how much I missed being with my kids until recently. Precious!

● I started my own freelance marketing copywriting business, something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Happy!

● I just launched a new website I’m very passionate about, BuyProductsFromFrance.com, to fill a gap on the internet by helping French expatriates and French enthusiasts find French products online. Very excited!

● I’ve decided to create a new blog for 2011 to capture my daily sightings of cows (check out Every day I see a cow and Did you know they have cows at SeaWorld? for the daily cow sighting theory). I want to test this theory once and for all, and I think it will be fun. Stay tuned for the new blog announcement! Completely useless, but adventurous and fun!

● After seven and a half years together, my partner and I are tying the knot in January, mostly for tax purposes, since I’m probably going to be poor for a while… Smart!

I’m glad the end of 2010 is near but I wouldn’t take away anything bad that happened this year (well, except for the back pain and the dental issues!). Each challenge gives us the opportunity to think about where we want to take our lives next. For me, these 2010 events have forced me to reconsider the right balance between work and life at home. Work now means doing something I really enjoy and am passionate about, rather than solely focus on career and status. Life at home means spending quality time with my kids and taking a few minutes every day to smell the roses. Hmm, I’d forgotten how wonderful they smelled…

DECEMBER 31, 2010 UPDATE - The brand new “Every day I see a cow” blog is up and running, just in time to document daily cow sightings in 2011! Take a look and let me know what you think. “Every day I see a cow” is also on Facebook, so feel free to visit the page, like it, and share your own cow sightings with everyone. The more, the merrier!

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