Call Your Mom

Just a simple thought today as we look towards May. Call your mom. You'll feel great and mom will feel even better. She is probably still the one who knows you best. She is still the one who probably has the smartest advice. In the cycle of life there will come a time when you want to call her and cannot. So look around--where's the phone? Go ahead, call your mom.

While you're at it you might want to hint around for some gift ideas for her for Mother's Day. Gathered From The Garden can help you treat yourself and your mom with luxurious goodies. We can help you feel oh so indulged! gatheredfromthegardenllc.4t.com

Just like Jerry Seinfeld
Some times you just have to do what Jerry Seinfeld did...talk about nothing. So here I am basically blogging about nothing! Anyway, read on. I think these facts are fun.

1. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S.Treasury.
2. Men can read smaller print than women can.
3. Women can hear better than men.
4. Coca-Cola was originally green.
5. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
6. The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour : 61,000
7. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 (1-9 forward and backward)
8. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
9. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
10. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
11. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
12. Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women.
13. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.
14. Father’s Day has more collect calls than any other day of the year.
15. “Good Night and Sleep Tight” - In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by Ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the Bed firmer to sleep on.
16. “Honeymoon” - It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a Month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law With all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their Calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as 'the honeymoon'.
17. “GOLF” – Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden. Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden'...and thus the word GOLF entered Into the English language.

FINALLY~~ At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

Any silly or fun facts to add to our list? Send us a comment with yours...

You're Never Too Young

This past weekend my two granddaughters ran in their first 1 K race. The older one was very excited to be running. The younger one was too until they got to the race and saw some costumed characters. She was afraid of them and absolutely did not want to be part of the race anymore.

We let her watch the older runners take off. When her age group came up, her mother picked her up and convinced her to just walk behind her older sister and cheer the runners on. That was fine as long as mom held her. So they walked and cheered and about half way through the race, Karalyn turned to her mother and said, "I'm doing it!!" She managed to get to the finish line (although mom had to carry her the WHOLE way--poor mom!) where she received her medal.

This got me to thinking about how many opportunities we pass up because we are afraid. We can be afraid of risk, of failure, of embarrassment etc. But if we would just dive in we might be surprised like Karalyn to find that "we are doing it". I know there are a couple of things I would like to try but fear has held me back. I am going to try to do one of them this week. Hopefully I'll be smiling and saying "I'm doing it!". There's the old saying, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

In case you are out running in races and marathons this Spring, Gathered has some great "Sore Muscle Relief" Lotion to help with those aches and pains. Check out our website: gatheredfromthegardenllc.4t.com

On another note, I apologize for not having indented paragraphs. If anyone has some advice for me on how to do this in my posts--please comment!!

The Big Give

Have you been watching Oprah's "Big Give" tv show? Each week a group of contestants has a mission--give big to someone. There are rules and twists to what they have to accomplish each week and those that don't, get eliminated. It's been interesting watching partly because of their creativity and partly because they do get to work with big amounts of money.

Watching the show got me to thinking about how us ordinary people can give big. We don't have tons of money to spend. We don't have a fancy new vehicle to drive around while we figure it out like those on Ophrah's show. But I think we all have the opportunity to give everyday if we just look around. Here are ways to give right now--they aren't big in terms of money but they could make a big impact on someone' life.

1. Hold the door for someone.

2. Donate blood.

3. Give a compliment.

4. Help a fellow traveler with her luggage.

5. Raise money for a cause you believe in.

6. When you see trash, pick it up.

7. Pass on good news.

8. Tell someone you love them.

9. Give up your seat.

10. Send a thank-you card to someone who has shown you a kindness.

11. Smile at a stranger

12.Say a prayer for someone who's hurting.

13. Teach your children about giving.

14. Praise someone who has done well.

15. Kick bad habits, like smoking, that can harm others.

16. Pamper someone with a gift from Gathered FromThe Garden .gatheredfromthegardenllc.4t.com

What would you add to this list? Let us know so we can keep the giving-going!

Quick Sticky Buns
I found this great little recipe in an old issue of RealSimple magazine(Nov.2007) It's for Quick Sticky Buns. It uses only 5 ingredients to make a straight-from-the -oven pastry: butter, a banana, pecans, brown sugar and a tube of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits. There's nothing better than quick AND tasty!! Go to realsimple.com/myfakeitrecipe. I'm thinking it would be a fun one to try with my little granddaughers.
For another quick trick, try Gathered From The Garden's Petite Perfumes! They are sweet little roll-ons of great fragrances. You can tuck them into your purse or pocket. Go to gatheredfromthegardenllc.4t.com to check these out.