Flower Gifts for Mom on Mother’s Day

Mother's Day Gift Guide, Flower Edition

When is Mother’s Day? This year, Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 9. Looking for something special besides

flowers for Mom? This gift guide will help you find the perfect present. Whether you get gorgeous gold earrings

or a beautiful spring blouse, you can still give her flowers! Save I love you and gift your mom with these unique,

floral gift ideas for Mother’s Day.  (This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience.)

Giving flowers on Mother’s Day is a tradition. But cut flowers fade and are a waste of money. If a bouquet of roses

on Mother's Day is a family tradition, you can still give your mom flowers this mother’s day! Gift your mom flowers

with these adorable, beautiful gold earrings with a cascade of flowers on the earring backing.

Gold jewelry gift ideas

Love this daisy print shirt, a variety of floral shirts are available on Amazon. If you've been procrastinating, Amazon is a great place to order online. With Prime, many gifts will arrive the next day. Some cities even have 2 hour delivery services. If this particular pattern doesn't match your Mom's style, you can see the variety of floral blouse patterns by clicking here.

For another flower gift that keeps on giving, give Mom this Cut Flower Garden book. If she loves to garden or has just been thinking of starting a flower garden, this book serves as a guide to

achieve the best seasonal blooms year round.

If you always give your mom roses for Mother’s Day, kick it up a notch with a gold tipped rose fromIHateStevenSinger.com They come in a variety of colors including: red, lavender, pink, and white.

Another flower gift option, is Kenzo flower perfume spray. The scent is a mix of orange flowers and sweet spice that apparently smells like sweet dessert. The bottle is pretty cool too. It makes an elegant gift.

For flowers that will last, this flower box garden kit is perfect for the crafty mom in your life. She can grow her
own flowers year after year. If you have children, they can decorate the flower box together. Whatever

you choose, be sure to tailor it to your mom's personality and interests. The more thoughtful the gift the

more meaningful it will be to your mother.

So, go out and make this the best mother's day ever. For more gift ideas for Mother's Day, check out

our recommended reading list.

Recommended Reading:

Mother's Day Sayings for Homemade Cards

Mama Ain't Happy Quote

6 Reasons You Should You Retrain as A Nurse

 6 Reasons You Should You Retrain as A Nurse

Whether you've homeschooled or attended public school, the field of nursing is a great profession to learn. In the past, not that long ago – once you had a job and were on a career path, you stuck with it. Essentially, jobs were for life, and changing wasn’t something that a lot of people did. If you worked in a store, you stayed a store worker. If you were a laborer, you remained a laborer. However, if you've ever thought about changing careers, now might just be the time to become a nurse!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Today, things have changed. We’re not even expected to think of our jobs as being for life, and evolving midway through our careers is something that more and more people are willing to do. After all, why be unhappy in your job when you could retrain as something else and start a career that makes you glad to be working and makes you feel as though you are truly contributing to society? 

Technology plays a big part in allowing us to do this. Not only does it mean we can research different careers and apply for new jobs, but if we need to learn how to do something, or we need additional qualifications, we can do that online too, often while we work at something else in the meantime. 

Nursing is one of the careers that people tend to want to go into later in their lives. Whether they have experienced being in a hospital and were impressed with their nursing care, or they liked the way nurses helped a friend or family member, or even if nursing was something that had always wanted to do. Still, their life circumstances meant they couldn’t do it at the time and have to try, later on, nursing is something that is always going to be there for you. 

Get a Guide to Becoming a Certified Nurses Assistant

Nursing is a rewarding career to go into, and if you're thinking of changing your career, this is a great career choice to move to; here are some of the reasons why. 

You Can Be A Nurse 

We need to be honest; although nursing is a fantastic career with many different prospects and areas to progress into, and much job satisfaction, it isn’t something that is going to work for everyone. There is shift work to consider, the job is hard, and you need to be a caring, compassionate person who wants to take care of other people. Not everyone can do this; it’s just not in their nature, and many people might feel uncomfortable and unhappy if they were to become a nurse. 

Learn How to Succeed in Nursing School

However, if you do have the kind of personality and skills that make for a good nurse, and you feel this is what you are meant to do with your life, then there aren’t many barriers to entry. This is a skilled role, but one that offers the chance to everyone who wants to take it to learn exactly what to do and how to do it. You do need to realize that it might take some time to gain the qualifications needed, especially if you're still working full time at your current job, but the fact you can study online means the choice is yours, and the career is open to everyone with the right mindset. 

The personality traits that will make for a good nurse include:

• Patience

• A willingness to learn

• Being able to listen

• Compassion

• Organizational skills

• Dedicated to the job

• Able to cope with shift work 

• Being good with people

• Being physically fit 

So Much Choice 

The term ‘nurse’ is an overarching one that describes the profession as a whole but might not accurately describe exactly what it is you want to do as a career. This is because there are many different types of nurses and so much choice within this seemingly simple career. 

For example, if you love children, you can be a children’s nurse. The same is true if you want to work with senior citizens. There are trauma nurses and OR nurses. There are also different levels of nursing within each sector too. Each type of nurse must have a thick skin, be compassionate, and in a good state of mental health. Nursing can get depressing.

You might ask why become a nurse practitioner or look into other branches of nursing. This is something you can do, even if you're already working as a nurse or if you're changing your career. In either case, you can gain the additional qualifications needed and move across to a different area. In all, there are potentially dozens of different routes you can take when you have your nursing qualifications. 

It’s A Calling 

For some, even the thought of questioning the idea of whether nursing is the right thing to do or not wouldn’t cross their minds; it is simply something they know they have to do, and they'll fight hard to be able to do it. That’s because nursing is sometimes seen as ‘a calling.’ Essentially, this means that those people who feel like this know there is no other career they would be as good at or love as much, and even if it means earning less money or going back to school or rearranging their lives entirely, they'll do whatever it takes to become a nurse. 

However, what shouldn’t be allowed to happen – if we want to be as happy as possible, of course – is to pass up the opportunity to retrain as a nurse later in life when our circumstances change. At this point, your calling can finally be met, and the fact that you can train online and learn as much as possible in your spare time before you qualify is a wonderful idea that means you can now do anything you want, and it will never be too late to try. 

You’ll Have Plenty of Support 

If you're retraining at a later stage in life to become a nurse, you might feel worried or unsure about whether you're making the right choice or not. It can be scary to make such a big change, especially if you haven’t been working, or if your career has been something that doesn’t relate to nursing and caring for people at all. In this case, you might want to start out as a CNA, just to learn the ropes.

There will always be people around to support you. Ideally, some of this support will come from the people you already know, your family, and your friends. Still, if they are, for whatever reason, unsupportive there will be many others outside of your current circle who will look out for you and help you when you need assistance. These will likely be other people training at the same time as you, course leaders, and those who are keen to see you succeed in life. Those you train with and work with as nurses, will become lifelong friends.

With this kind of help and encouragement, you'll feel much more positive about making the changes you have to in life, and retraining to become the nurse; you always wanted to be. 

Every Day Is Different 

One of the things that can start to get people down when it comes to their current jobs is that every day is the same. Even down to the time they wake up in the morning, to the route, they take to work, to the tasks they carry out when they get there. Everything is the same, day in and day out. It's like the movie, Groundhog Day.

This can be comforting, and for some, it is the ideal situation, but this is not the best thing for everyone. For those who don’t enjoy routine work, it can make every day extremely boring, causing them to ultimately be miserable and unfulfilled in their work and their lives. 

If this is the case for you, it will make sense to retrain as a nurse instead. Every day as a nurse is going to be completely different from the next, and you'll never feel bored. The truth is, whether you are working in a hospital, a clinic, a doctor’s office, or you go out into the community to see people in their homes, you just never know what you will get from one patient to the next. It is a stimulating, interesting, fascinating job that allows your body and mind to work. Add to this the immense feeling of job satisfaction that you'll get, and the idea of retraining to become a nurse will seem even better than ever. 

You, Will, Make A Difference

Perhaps the biggest reason that people choose to become nurses either through retraining or from the start of their working lives is how much of a difference you will make to people. If you think back to any time you have ever been in the hospital, it will have been a nurse who gave you the most comfort and help, and a nurse who was able to make a difference to your life and your health, whether you had something seriously wrong with you, or it was a minor ailment. 

It feels amazing to make a difference in someone’s life, in whatever way, big or small. You might also consider a career as an Activities Assistant in a long-term care facility. Some of these positions require you to hold a CNA license, but you get the added enjoyment of entertaining seniors in their last years of life. You can honestly make lives so much better; why wouldn’t you want to retrain as a nurse knowing that? 

Recommended:

Is there a Doctor in the House? Medical Costumes for Halloween

What is Sepsis?

Healthy Family Advice

Can't We All Just Get Along?

The last few articles have been on the subject of mental health and the breakup of the family unit. As the family situation changes, so do the matters of family concern. Of course, how you deal with these changes affect the future mental health of your children, but don’t forget to take care of yourself. As mentioned in a previous article, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” My advice is this, self-care is a key element to a happy, healthy family, but be careful, don't over do it.

                                                  This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links.

If you’ve come off a long-term, unhealthy relationship, chances are you’ve been neglecting self-care. Self-care is key to your happiness. Newly separated or divorced individuals might choose to jump out into the dating scene. At first, it's exciting and new. If you've been in a bad situation, going out on dates and having fun can feel like self-care, but you need to be careful that all that good time fun having doesn’t lead to an even more unhealthy rebound relationship. Just like our children, we need to make healthy choices.

Practice being alone. I can’t emphasize this enough. Spend time alone. As much time as it takes for you to get over the pain. And as much time as you need to grow as a person. Learn from your mistakes and take care of yourself.  As I age, I see intelligent women jumping into relationships. Perhaps, they’ve been a stay-at-home mom. Maybe they’ve never held a full-time job. Some never had the chance to go to college. They’ve never managed their own finances. Often, they feel like they just can’t handle the responsibilities of taking care of themselves and their children. So, they go out on a man hunt. The goal is to find a better man than the last one. Some are looking for a man to meet their financial expectations, others are looking for companionship, and some are looking for a father figure for their children. Whatever the reason, they jump into a relationship too soon. Been there done that. 

Healthy Family

I got married while still in college. It was okay. Just okay. I wanted to be happy, but we were young and a lot was missing in the relationship. At that point in my life, the idea of a wedding was more important than the idea of a marriage. We were friends and companions struggling to find common ground, but something was always missing. Both of us had placed our focus on gaining knowledge and prepping for a career and little attention was given to intimacy. As starving college students, there was no money for fun things and then we jumped into buying a house, and then another house, and then it all just got way too overwhelming. There was simply no fun to be had.

Eventually, we talked to friends, family, and clergy. We attended counseling. It all pointed to the same thing, we just didn’t have the same goals or the same outlook on life. We ended the relationship in an amicable fashion. And that’s when my real troubles started. I briefly dated, but playing the field has never been my thing. Dating in your late 20’s is an experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Ugh. It’s a brave new world. With my thirtieth birthday looming over my head, I really wanted to settle down and start a family before it was too late. I had some great men to choose from, two were truly amazing with interesting careers. One was neither amazing, nor did he have a great career. He was lucky to hold down a job. But he had what I wanted. A little girl. My family doctor and the counselor both advised against any serious relationship or even dating after the first year of a breakup, but my biological clock was ticking. Tick tock. Having been told I likely could never have children, I jumped at the chance. 

However, that wasn’t the only thing. He was fun. Oh so fun! He loved to dance, hike, bike, play sports, cook, and clean. One day, he called me one of the “cools.” I had been feeling lost. I was never cool. I wanted to do all those things I felt I’d missed out on in high school and college. Except I didn’t. I was still that goody two shoes inside. His risky lifestyle stressed me out. We fought. Among other things, he drank. He was verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive. It was like a dark movie from one of those cable tv channels for women. That was my first rebound.

After that, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pick myself up again. I had a lot of counseling. I saw a psychiatrist. I took various medications. Was I suicidal? Not really, but it seemed like life had gotten the best of me. I felt like a failure in every way imaginable. No kids, no career to speak of, and no real chance to recover from all the despair because, in my head, I was old. Oh, so old. I turned to online dating. It was uplifting to have so many men interested in dating me. It was also terrifying. That was the start of rebound number two. Not only did I not wait a year to date, in only a few short months I had moved in with a man and was pregnant. At the time, it seemed like he had everything I wanted. A good job, two kids, pets, a nice home. He was a widower and that (like the alcoholism before him) fulfilled my need for codependency. I had something to do, people to take care of, and dreams to fulfill. Except, we were less compatible than the previous rebound relationship. Shortly after my son was born, I became pregnant again.

Things weren’t ideal, but I always questioned myself. Why not? Maybe I was the problem. I should’ve been content. I was determined to make it work. I mean, after all, he wasn’t abusing me. He yelled a lot. It triggered old feelings from the previous relationship. I cried a lot. It made him mad. I cried more. It was an endless cycle. We barely knew each other. We met online. We were both lonely. As it came to be that he was my only friend for many years, we were really never friends. We both tried. The harder I tried, the more difficult it got. And now, there were kids involved. I didn’t want to break up the family unit. I didn’t want my kids to come from a broken home. Ugh, the damage I did to all of us by trying to stick this one out. We were the absolute opposite of compatible. I will spare you the gory details.

I had so many health issues. I spent months in bed, with nothing more to do than reflect on my past. I knew it had to end. But I was scared. Could I do it alone? Was I strong enough? I started stepping up my game, working harder from home, seeing various specialists and improving my health, and building credit. Once I knew what had to be done, I still wasn’t ready to do it. Things finally worked out in a way that made ending the relationship the most logical decision. It was difficult, but I didn’t need to seek counseling. I threw myself into my work, my writing, and the remodeling of my new house.

After years of thinking about it, deep down, I knew if I were ever to have another relationship again, I’d have to be strong. I’d have to take care of myself first, I’d need a break. I wrote down the pros and cons of dating. Months passed. I thought about what I wanted. What I needed, who I wanted and why. I realized I didn’t need a man to be happy. But I wanted that companionship that had eluded me for most of my life.

Why it's okay to Need a Man

It was always the same set of traits that had always led me to the same conclusion. But, I didn’t want to make the wrong choice with the right choice. So, naively, I  attempted to play the field again, but I didn’t date. I just talked. I talked to several old friends and acquaintances. This time no online dating, no strangers. I weaned them all out. I settled on one for an attempt at dating. We talked for weeks before meeting in person. I knew him from high school. He seemed to fit the criteria. But low and behold, it was a mistake. A big mistake, but one I wanted to cling to because I was sad and lonely. I had basically given up. I was about to turn fifty. There was no more time for mistakes. If I thought dating in my late twenties was hard - whoa. In your fifties, it’s a whole new frontier. Casual dating wasn’t an option for me. 

I took a few weeks to get myself together. I pulled out my list again, and this time, I realized what I always needed had always been there. Sometimes, you just need a friend.

Recommended:

What is Sepsis?

Affordable Counseling Online

Sensory Processing Issues

4 Suggestions for Smooth Living with Blended Families

Advice for Blending Families

Blending two families together as one can prove to be challenging, especially when different personalities and needs come into play. With children entering the equation on both sides and different parenting styles suddenly merging, it's important to make sure everyone's feelings, needs and wants are taken into consideration before moving in together. 

Read about one of our contributor’s experiences with Blending Families.

Preparing to live together as a family means discussing finances, making sure everyone has their own space, and/or preparing children for the big change in one way or another. Here are some suggestions for making the transition of becoming a blended family as smooth as possible.

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links.

1. Hash Out Child-Rearing Approaches

Different attitudes on child rearing can make or break a home. Not everyone has the same parenting style. While some parents are considered "pushovers," allowing their children to get and do whatever they want (with no ability to say "no,") other parents are a bit more disciplined. When two people with different child-rearing approaches come together as one blended family, it can be difficult when an incident occurs with their children.

To keep everyone on the same page, it's important to discuss child-rearing techniques and approaches before you move in together. Indeed, it makes for a much more peaceful home. Remember, children need consistency, so try to address this important issue as soon as possible. You don’t want to have to learn your new partner's child rearing stance the hard way. 

Follow our Parenting Tips board on Pinterest.

2. Ensure Everyone Has Their Own Space

Blending décor is one of the many challenges facing soon-to-be blended families, but it's completely doable. If it's within your budget, consider letting each child have their own room, which can go a long way in helping smooth out living situations and making sure everyone gets along with each other. It can also help to let your children decorate their own space and put their own stamp on it. This can help them feel a sense of belonging. 

When it comes to designing and outfitting a child's bedroom, consider any number of bedroom sets that show off your children's style and personality. Whether you decide to shop online or head to one of their stores, you'll be able to find all that you need to truly make your new house feel like home for everyone. Be sure to include the child in the process. It’s a fun family experience and can help a new parent bond with their step children.

3. Discuss Your Finances

Before you become a blended family, discuss how you'll manage your finances. Will you keep separate bank accounts and split the bills down the middle? Or, will you have a joint bank account to which you'll each contribute? Think about how you'll handle spending, especially if one partner makes more than the other. It’s always a good idea to keep some finances separate, particularly if you both have full-time careers and are used to spending your money your way. It’s always good to create a joint account for mutual household expenses.

Will one partner need to consult the other before making a large purchase? If so, what amount constitutes a large purchase? Will you have to discuss purchases when it comes to your children or will you have the freedom to decide how you spend your money on them? To avoid arguments in the future, these are some things you should think about before you blend your families together. 

4. Prepare Your Children for the Move

If you want things to go smoothly once the big day arrives, making sure your children are prepared for the move is essential. Let them know ahead of time when and what will happen, so they'll be better equipped to handle the changes ahead. Sit down with your children and discuss the move so they can express their feelings about it.

While you're not exactly asking their permission, it's important to let them know that their feelings and concerns are valid and that you'll help them sort through them if they feel overwhelmed or anxious about their new living situation. Talk about the new routine and let them know you won't love them any less with new children coming into the picture. Be sure to remind them they'll still have a space to call their own- and make sure they do, even if it is a little nook in your dining room!

You might also want to prepare your pets for a life change.

Preparing to Blend Families

Blending families is rarely easy, if ever, but taking the above steps into consideration can help make the transition a bit easier for everyone involved. It also helps keep the peace and ensure everyone is on the same page so that you can work together to create a smooth living situation for the entire family.

Recommend:

Kids Room Ideas

Family Relationships

Kids Room Decor Ideas for Girls

If Mama Ain't Happy Ain't Nobody Happy: The Family Relationship

Family Relationship Challenges

What’s the biggest relationship challenge in your family? How do you keep everything together, day in and day out, day after day? Time commitments, financial responsibilities, and emotional needs of each family member can take a toll on your happiness. Those people pleasers who need to take care of everyone often forget to take care of themselves. In my situation, I never wanted to spend money on personal needs (including health care) if it would take away from things my kids needed or wanted.

For years, we didn’t have health insurance, so any health setback caused major financial problems. I also didn’t take care of myself in other ways. I cut my own hair, never had a manicure until I was fifty years old, wore the same old clothes year after year, never went out to lunch with friends, never even saw my friends, and never indulged in frivolous things that I might want for the house. I considered any of that selfish.

This sponsored post contains Amazon affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

It’s important to take care of yourself. You’ve probably heard the quote, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain't nobody happy.” I’m sure there’s some truth to this. You can put on a happy face, but if your needs aren’t being met and you have nothing to look forward to, your relationship is going to suffer- even if you're not the one causing the majority of the turmoil. I know it’s difficult. I used to see other women spending too much time on themselves, ignoring the needs of their children. They’d go shopping for themselves several times a month while their children wore clothes they’d outgrown. I never wanted to be like that, but I took it too far the other way. You’ve been there. We don’t have to be martyrs to be mothers. Taking care of yourself, puts you in a better place. You’ll be better equipped to tackle those relationship issues with your partner. Communication is a key factor in the downward spiral of relationships. When communication is poor, everything else becomes difficult.

Eventually, lack of communication breaks the partnership. In my relationship, the more I tried to communicate with my partner, the more difficult the relationship became. There are things couples need to discuss. Things that can’t be swept under the rug. Plans for the future, health of your children, plans to make about family events to attend, even how each of you are feeling about the status of your relationship. When you have a partner who won’t talk to you about any of it, you’ve got a problem that needs fixed. Parents need to keep a united front for their children. They need to work together as a team for the greater good of the family, even if it means sacrificing the personal desires.

For me, self-care felt like a selfish, personal desire because my partner took up all that empty space for himself. He worked all the time or found extra things to do to help others, just to avoid coming home and facing real life problems. These problems ranged from my serious illness where I was bedridden for months, to house repairs, financial responsibilities, and even mental health problems the kids were facing. I couldn’t run off for a haircut or even a doctor’s appointment because there was no safety net. He couldn’t seem to  find an hour to give me a break and if he did, he’d use that hour to sleep - not to watch the kids. So, everywhere I went, I took the kids. Everywhere. 

Check out this old post about a family excursion, see any red flags?

Let me tell you, this is not only unhealthy for you, it’s also unhealthy for your kids. We all need time apart from each other. The kids feel it too. They need options. They need time away from the family.  Sure, we attended homeschool groups, summer camps, special events, 4-H and any other free or low cost activity I could find, but none of it made the pitfalls in our broken family any better. It just kept our mind’s busy enough to make it through another day- or so I thought.

Mama needs time to feel good about herself. Sure, you may think you don’t want to jog or join a walking club. You may think you can cut your own hair to save money for the greater good, you may think a vice here and there, maybe a pint of ice cream or bar of chocolate, are good survival mechanisms, but in the long run, if your always the one making sacrifices life’s not going to turn out like you hoped.

Remember when you started your relationship with your partner? You took care of yourself, you took showers- maybe even relaxing baths, you did your makeup, and bought yourself a flattering outfit. You went out to lunch with your friends. You had dinner dates with your partner and even did activities that you both enjoyed together. You probably even talked about your hopes and dreams for the future. Don’t let yourself get lost in the shuffle.  If it's not too late, fix it. If it is too late, do yourself a favor and try to fix it before throwing in the towel.

Don’t try to wait it out and hope it will get better. There’s no need to feel guilty about taking time for yourself.. If you can’t possibly spare the money or feel like spending money on relationship counseling would set you back financially, there are many affordable online counseling services out there. ReGain is a great place to start. There are  plenty of self-help articles and videos that can kick start your decision making process and help you decide what’s best for your family. 

Going back to school and investing in one's self is also a huge deal for self-confidence and mental stimulation/relaxation. Healthcare-related fields offer great satisfaction and challenge.  Looking at community colleges or schools for certification or insurance coding can be a great first step.

Life balance is important. Don’t suffer in silence. Don’t decide that you must've done something to deserve your current situation. Sometimes, you can’t fix it on your own, sometimes the answer is right in front of you, but the outcome will have unavoidable consequences. On the flip side, sometimes, if you make small changes in your personal life, if you start taking care of yourself and taking pride in your own achievements, everything else will fall into place. Your children won’t suffer from a parent who takes care of themselves, when Mama is happy, there’s a far better chance that everyone else is happy too. Don’t wait until it’s too late. 

Your happy ending is waiting for you.

Recommended:

Pamper Yourself

Ice Cream Recipes and More from Adventures of Kids Creative Chaos.

Mommy, you look beautiful.

More QUOTE memes