Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

November is here, the harvest is almost done, and it's time to begin thinking about our Thanksgiving celebration.
Before you begin planning the menu and cleaning the house, make some time to think about all the things you have to be thankful for: It Is A Good Thing To Give Thanks.

I'm Tired Just Thinking About It . . .

Even though summer is supposed to be a more relaxed season, for moms some things in her job description are constant.
Job description, you ask? Yes -- check out all the things a mom needs to know and be here, in my column Help Wanted: The Job Interview for Moms on the Hearts at Home website.

My Heart's at Home

I love Hearts at Home!
As a younger mom I often felt isolated. Most of the women I knew had jobs they got dressed up for, and my job often involved spit-up and other stains. The first time I went to a conference I felt as if someone else understood.
I remember being impressed with the chocolate, the hand lotion in the restrooms, and the overall attitude that my decision to be home with my family was a valid one.
So when I got a chance to volunteer with Hearts at Home, I jumped at it. For 12 years I wrote a monthly column in our local newspaper, but that season has passed. (A wonderful writer, Patty Maier, will be writing that column now, joining the excellent writing team of Julie Kaiser, Jill Savage, and Mary Steinke. You can read their work on the newspaper website.) Patty's first column will run this coming Sunday.)
I'm still writing for Hearts in their magazine occasionally, and on their website's blog. In fact, if you'd like to know The Trouble with Dogs, you can read it here.
While you're on the website, I invite you to look around. Check out conference information, indulge in the blog and articles, and investigate the other encouraging things Hearts at Home offers moms.
After all these years, I still believe home is a good place for my heart!

Magnificent . . . Hats

I was at a Hearts at Home organizational meeting this morning, where we were previewing the theme for this year's conferences: Ooh La La: Moms are Magnificent.

The room was decorated so we would have a taste of the conference decorations, including small models of pretty, big-brimmed hats. I was reminded of my grandmother, who loved hats.

One of my favorite memories of my grandma is the day she took me uptown to Livingston's Department Store. I knew we would be stopping by the dime store lunch counter later, but a pink hat in Livingston's window caught my eye – and grandma's. We went inside, where the salesladies knew her by name. She asked if we might see the pretty pink hat, and I tried it on.

“Perfect,” she said to me, and “We'll take it” to the saleslady.

I wore that hat to church for several years, always with pleasure, until finally I outgrew it. By that time women were giving up their hats and gloves, except for grandma and her friends.

Later this afternoon I was at our local mall, and walked by a hat store – only this time the hats were all ball caps, for boys and men - no women's hats in sight.

I wonder what grandma would have thought of that!

Fashion changes. Most women don't wear hats and gloves much anymore, but who knows? Maybe hats will come back into fashion again . . .