Aren't Moms the Best?

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting my mom at my house for the very first time! Until six months ago, Mark, myself, and the two cats were crammed in a one bedroom apartment with one bed and a couch of questionable origins. Whenever my mom came down to visit, she usually stayed in a hotel. Or at my aunt Amy's house (because Amy had a grown-up house with an actual guest bedroom). Well, now I too am the proud owner of a grown-up house and it was SO NICE to be able to have my mom stay with us. I had grand plans of cooking dinner for her, etc, etc. But my mom is the quintessential mother, and instead she cooked dinner for Mark and I every night. AND made extra food for us to store in the freezer. AND brought her sewing machine down to make some crafty things for our house. AND entertained the dog and taught him manners for three days straight. She even baked a chicken pie for our neighbors who just had a baby (which, btw Mom, I saw them today and they said it was REALLY good). (Now I need to also bake them something so I'm not totally upstaged by my mother) I hope when I become a mom, I can be just as great as her.

Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in convincing my mom to bring her dog Eli (white poofy standard poodle) down with her. Apparently he isn't a fun travel companion AND my mom didn't have space in her car. The reason she didn't have space in her car - she was bringing down ALLLLL of my things that I apparently left in their basement when I moved to Virginia. Seven big tupperware bins worth of stuff. The best finds:

- New Kids on the Block video cassette (Step By Step, if you were wondering)

- All of my "congrats, you participated" ribbons I won during elementary school field days.

- Scrapbook from all four years of high school x-country, winter, and spring track.

- Journals, from sophomore and junior year of high school. HILARIOUS! I spent a good few hours reading those last weekend. More angst than the Twilight series.

- two lone dishes from college (they must've been the only two that I washed, the rest must've rotted away all dirty in the closet).

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The bins are now living in our guest room, but I think Mark will only allow for a limited-time occupancy, so I'd better start figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of.

I miss you Mom (and so do Miles and Mark)! Come back soon!