MamaBlogger365 - February Slips Away by Veronica Hosking

Here it is, the Monday morning before my scheduled blog post, and I have nothing written. It seems strange to have the February blues in sunny Arizona. Many people are looking forward to spring while my whole winter is spring-like. On February 2nd, do you think, six more weeks of winter? Or are you more optimistic and think, six more weeks 'til spring? This year I was happy to have all the paperwork I was busy filling out in January behind me. For most of this month I sat around reading books, cleaning house and helping with homework. There was little writing accomplished.

February 2nd not only marks Groundhog's day, it is also my mother's birthday. She turned 70 this month. I wrote her a letter and sent off the card at the end of January - no writing on the actual day. I told her Rachael has been accepted to AAEC. We have a very excited daughter, who is waiting on pins and needles for the actual confirmation letter. Then on February 14th, Valentine's Day, Shawn and I had our traditional dinner. We send the girls to their rooms early and have a quiet dinner for two. This year Shawn decided to go Greek. I think even he is feeling winter doldrums or his approaching midlife birthday, because he bought a lot of prepared foods he didn't have to cook.

As we were enjoying our souvlaki, olives, artichokes, cheese and wine, Shawn asked me what happened to his poetry. A few years ago he gave me a blank journal and added some borrowed poetry to it. Throughout the year, I added original pieces of poetry and gave it back to him the next Valentine's Day. This year the journal was in his possession. I asked him where my poetry was? And he pulled up his haiku app and composed a few haiku for me. "There's an app for that" really isn't romantic. How hard is it to count syllables? Hard - since I found out Shawn thought "Shawn" was two syllables.

February slips away. Three days after this blog posts, Shawn will celebrate his 40th birthday. For the past few years, he has been growing his hair. He keeps telling me it will fall out on its own soon enough and he wants to remember what it was like to have hair. Back over winter break, the girls and I went for haircuts. Now the only man in the house has longer hair than all the women. Years ago Shawn grew his hair long ewww... but one day he came to my house with a nice new haircut. I keep waiting for this day a second time. I really thought he would go before he had to get his new license photo, but no. If he is going to be bald, his license will make people do a double take. All is not lost though, I came up with a great dig for his birthday.

Forty is a fickle friend
Only trying to pretend
Ripe with hair
Turning bare
Youth has reached its bitter end

Veronica Hosking
http://hosking.gather.com

The Museum Of Motherhood is the first and only facility of its kind, celebrating the “her”story of mothers around the world. We need your help -- please make your tax-deductible contribution today!Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC - Tues.-Sun., 10:45-6:30.

Photo credit: seemann | MorgueFile

MamaBlogger365 - 2012 Change is in the Air by Veronica Hosking

The girls had two full weeks off for winter break. They returned to school for the second half of the 2011/12 school year on the 9th. At the end of the week, both brought home their second quarter report cards. Gretchen got an A+ in math and B's in the other subjects. Rachael brought home the requirements for 8th graders to move up to 9th, and I told her, "You may have a hard time getting promoted when you keep bringing home straight A's." ;)

This year is full of change for our family. Next month my husband will be celebrating his 40th birthday. Then in May both girls will be promoted. Gretchen will finish 5th grade and be moving up to the middle school. Rachael will finish 8th grade and move up to high school. Mom was feeling a little left out of all these changes, nothing new was on my horizon. Then I found an opportunity to apply for a summer residency in poetry. Since the girls started back up at school, Mom has been busy writing her proposal and polishing her portfolio.

Now with my part of the application process complete, I am left waiting to see if I'll be going down to Tucson sometime over the summer. Of course, I'm not just sitting here twiddling my thumbs. I have a 40th birthday party to plan and then there is the celebration at the end of the school year to work out. As both girls do very well in school and moving up to a new school is exciting, we want to show the girls how proud we are of their hard work.

The beginning of a new year is filled with expectation. 2012 marks memorable life changes for my family. I hope they prove to be positive experiences we will cherish.

Veronica Hosking
http://hosking.gather.com

The Museum Of Motherhood is the first and only facility of its kind, celebrating the “her”story of mothers around the world. We need your help -- please make your tax-deductible contribution today!Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC - Tues.-Sun., 10:45-6:30.

Photo credit: xololounge | MorgueFile

MamaBlogger365 - Surviving Marriage: On the Way to an Old Married Couple by Veronica Hosking

"The Talk" hosted their first bookbuzz chat on The Secret Lives of Wives by Iris Krasnow earlier this month. I was sent a copy of the book to read and participate in the conversation on November 11^th.

As everyone knows if you have been following my blog posts, Shawn and I just celebrated our 15^th wedding anniversary. We are well on our way to this destination of old married couple. I found the stories Ms. Krasnow fleshed out in her book to be quite interesting. I started thinking about the journey my husband and I are on.

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MamaBlogger365 - My Crystal Anniversary by Veronica Hosking

The traditional gift for a 15th wedding anniversary is crystal. In a little more than two weeks, my husband and I will be celebrating our crystal anniversary. We are going to tour North Central New Mexico - Albuquerque, Taos and Santa Fe. Maybe we'll even do some wine tasting out of crystal wine glasses.

As I keep trying to get my husband to write me original poetry, he is very good at borrowing the work of others. I wrote him a limerick for our anniversary last year:

There was a young lad named Shawn Hosking
Who gave a sweet lass a beautiful ring
His love was true
And both said, I do
Now his sweet lass governs the purse string

He realized just how much I watch the purse string as I booked the hotels in New Mexico. He wanted to stay at a nice bed & breakfast in Taos, and we are spending two nights there, including our actual anniversary, October 12th. The nights we are spending in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, I went with more reasonable motels. Shawn said, Hey we're only going to have a 15th wedding anniversary once. My reply: Yes and we still have to pay for gas, food and souvenirs.

At least one anniversary gift will be free. I decided to carry on the limerick tradition. Shawn didn't think the one I wrote last year was very suggestive. I think I did a little better this year:

There once was a woman being a pistol
Who wrapped herself, as a present coital
Fifteenth anniversary
Was becoming a quandary
Since she found no great gift in crystal

Veronica Hosking
http://hosking.gather.com

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our September POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.

Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC!

MamaBlogger365 - Summer is Over by Veronica Hosking

I am aware that according to the calendar there is another month left of summer. The school year started August 8th, drawing our summer to an end early.

Summer Days:


- My Little One posing with Captain Jack at the Phoenix ComiCon

- Rachael showing off her new haircut and summer wardrobe


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Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our September POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.

MamaBlogger365 - Mother as Comfort by Aiya Art

© Aiya Art; all rights reserved

"Unfolded Out of the Folds"
Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

UNFOLDED out of the folds of the woman, man comes unfolded, and is always to
come unfolded;

Unfolded only out of the superbest woman of the earth, is to come the superbest
man of the earth;

Click here to read more and view this week's full online exhibit...

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our September POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.

MamaBlogger365 - Growing up in a Mother's Eye by Veronica Hosking

Motherhood through a poet's eyes -- Mamazina's Veronica Hosking for MamaBlogger365 with Mamapalooza, for the Museum of Motherhood. Click here to read more!

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Photo credit: Girls Eyeball by Mikaela Dunn

MamaBlogger365 - Change, About Me by *Dr Mama* Amber Kinser

There is change about me
flux around me
shifts beneath my feet

Parents get older
daughters move out
sons leave junior high

I busy with details
keep up a momentum of equations
stop myself from stopping to cry
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Photo credit: Which Way? by Mike Coates

MamaBlogger365 - #HAIKU #MOTHER by @elenaskoko

When I use my fingers, the food is warm and tastes like mother.


Smells like freshly made rosetta, tastes like crème brulée. My baby.

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Elena Skoko is a singer, artist and mom. She is the author of “Memoirs of a Singing Birth” and frontwoman of Bluebird & Skoko band. Her tweet poetry project #HAIKU #MOTHER tries to capture the beauty of child’s metamorphosis in time, the subtle mother and child relationship, and many little everyday things that have the power to reach deep inside with piercing greatness. They are like sudden bites of ecstasy that she shares in form of tweets. Follow her @elenaskoko and visit her website www.sugarbabe.org for more information. She will present her memoirs at MAMA EXPO conference.

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