Like Mama Always Said - May's Blue Yonder First Monday Contest

Well hey y'all, and happy new week to you!

It's been a busy busy weekend here at Blue Yonder, and I am plumb wore out. I'd sleep for three days if certain little so and sos would let me. But no... There is no rest for the weary.

And that little adage leads me to May's Blue Yonder First Monday Contest.

Since it is May, the month in which we celebrate the mamas in our lives, I thought I'd make this contest about moms and the wisdom that they impart.

All you have to do to enter is finish this sentence, "Just like my Mama (grandmother, great grandmother, great aunt - any older woman who fed you a steady diet of fresh baked cookies and insightful axioms) always said, ..."

Maybe you grew up hearing that "If you lie down with the dogs, you wake up with the fleas" like I did, or how "every Mama crow thinks her baby is the blackest," or that, "anything worth doing is worth doing right" - proverbial wisdom that summed up life in a snappy little well turned phrase.

Or maybe it's more practical words that still ring in your ears ... about planting potatoes on Valentine's day, or how the ring around the moon means it will rain soon, or that a penny saved is a penny earned.

Whatever it is, let's share all that Mama good sense, shall we?

The loosely assembled rules are as follows:

You can enter as many times as you like between now and May 31st, midnight, Central time. The winner will be announced June 1st, right here at Blue Yonder.

To enter, just leave a comment (or 10) on this post that begins, "Just like mama always said..." You can tell me more about it after that, but start with that, please, so I know exactly what it is that came out of mama's mouth.

Each entry must contain a different bit of wisdom. In other words, you can't tell me 20 times that Mama told you that your eyes would stick like that if you didn't knock it off.

There will be 3 winners this month.

1. The sweetest Mama saying will receive a vintage apron and several of my very favorite pie recipes. Sweets for sweet mama! (I haven't photographed the apron yet, but I will today, and I'll post it here then. Sorry - as I said, plumb wore out...)

2. The spunkiest mama saying will win a jar of my very favorite spunky snack food, Miss Ruby's Ya Ya Peppers!

Ms. Ruby herself sent me a BIGGO box full of the peppers after I went in to buy some, and she was out. She took down my address and had SIX jars sent to me, just out of the kindness of her heart. You'll never meet a sweeter soul than that, and you'll never eat a better pepper either! You can stuff 'em into meat with some herbed goat cheese before grilling, or just eat 'em on top of cream cheese and crackers. Truly though, there's no need to stand on ceremony, you can just eat 'em straight out of the jar with a fork. I have never been a pepper eater in all my life until Ms. Ruby made me a believer.

Along with your peppers, you will receive a copy of Haiku Mama, cuz it's spunky, and funny and written by an Austin gal, which makes it even better.

3. The most hilarious entry will receive a bookmark, handmade by me (along the lines of these) and a copy of my latest read, Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees. I've read it before, several times, and it never fails to touch me, make me laugh, and by gosh it is written just. SO. well!

So, all month, when you hear that Mama voice in the back of your mind, telling you that watched pots don't boil and men don't buy the cow when they can get the milk for free, drop in and let us hear from Mama too!

Comments

[katharine]

Just like mama always said... All the women in Montreal wear hats.

When my now husband and I were making plans to spend a week in Montreal about eight years ago my mother, upon hearing the news, informed me that I'd be needing a hat. As she explained, all the women in Montreal wear hats. Clearly this had been told to her once and had made such an impression that the image stuck enough to repeat it to me all those years later.

[Kate]

Ooohhh! I love this!

The first one that comes to mind is this:

Just like mama always said, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose.

[Julie Alvarez]

Just like mama always said...: "Life is today, right now, and the sum of all tiny moments. Don't waste this precious moment fighting each other."
Extremely true: it took me at least twenty years to realize that with my own experience. Thank you mami for repeating it nearly every day.

[Natalie]

Just like mama always said: Don't sacrifice what you want the most for what you think you want right now.

[myrnie_twin]

Just like Mama always said- you're 90% water, so drink something!

Her personal philosophy is that anything can be a healthy snack (even cake or ice cream) if it's accompanied by a tall glass of milk. It must be true, because she weighs about 120 and is in perfect health! She's said this so many times, we've informed her it will be on her tombstone.

[Natalie]

Just like mama always said: The Spirit of the Lord cannot dwell in a house without chocolate.

[Steph]

Just like mama always said...always wear clean undies because you never know when you might get hit by a car and need to go to hospital.

Not sure I'd want to go to a hospital where my undies are their first concern but she was insistant about this one.

[gig harbor flowers]

the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach...

[heather]

Just like Mama always said, "Don't be a turd bird."

[heather]

Just like Mama always said, "Bless your heart and all your parts."

My mom has said this to me more times than I can count, and now it's gotten to where I need to hear her say it when I'm upset, because for some reason it just calms me down. :) She also says it if I call her to say goodnight.

[YayaOrchid]

Mama always said "Don't go looking for trouble or you'll find it!"

[YayaOrchid]

Just like Mama always said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

[YayaOrchid]

Just like Mama always said "You can catch more flies with honey".

[YayaOrchid]

Just like Mama always said "If you can't say anything nice about a person, don't say anything at all."

and

"Lord willing and the creek don't rise"

[YayaOrchid]

Just like Mama always said "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"

Pls, pls, excuse me!! I'm on a roll here, LOL! I figured I'd forget them if I don't add them this minute!

[kelly]

Just like my mama always said the way to a mans heart is through his stomach. -kb

[mountain mama]

Just like mama always said: Keep your pants on!

And she'd say it in her loudest voice in front of all my friends as we headed out the door. I used to get SO red! Now, I can't wait to say it to my girls when they come of age!

[jenni]

Just like mama always said,"If you play with trash, you're gonna get dirty."

[Corey]

Just like mama always said: There's more'en one way to skin a cat.

Which I suppose is true, but it sure confuses a classroom of students when you're just trying to tell them that they can accomplish the same goal through many different means!

[Casey]

Just like my Great-Aunt Wowo always said, "It's there for you to eat!"

She's 96 and doesn't cook anymore, but a typical breakfast at Wowo's included rolls, cold cereal, toast, fruit, eggs (or Egg Beaters for my uncle), sausage, bacon, hot oatmeal if you wanted it, and sometimes sliced ham. Plus coffee, tea, juice and milk. And biscuits, can't forget the biscuits. With honey. Or two kinds of jam. And you do want butter right? Or there's margarine...

[Julie Alvarez]

Just like mama always said...: "Don't do today what you can leave for tomorrow". She laughed at that saying which is the opposite exactly, because she was a bit lazy on sundays...

[Julie Alvarez]

Just like mama always said...: "La hebra de María Moco, cosió tres vestidos y le sobró un poco". It means, literally but only changing the name: The thread of Mary Tickle, she sewed three dresses and then still had a little. She told me that when I thread the needle with a long thread that would jam anytime.

[Sherri Chandra]

Just like Grandma always said, "Birds in their nests agree, but what a sinful sight when two children in one family fall out and chide and fight."
My brother and sister and I heard this so many times in our lives, and now I'm saying it to my kids.

[Lynn]

Just like mama always said, "Get your ducks in a row."

[Lynn]

Just like mama always said, "She used a red hot needle and burning thread."