Years ago, when my kids were small, I used a consignment store in Alexandria to unload some gently used children’s clothes. That’s where I picked up a publication, called Mother’s Resource Guide. It gave advice and suggested resources to new mothers (mind you, this was before blogging and the Internet was very young). The publication is no longer around, but one thing that I purchased through the magazine is.

That’s it, in the picture, my “All in a Day’s Work” mug. It illustrates a stay-at-home mother’s day from waking up through falling, exhausted, into bed. I liked that the kids looked like mine and they seemed about the same age difference as my two. Most of the activities depicted on the mug were ones I carried out in a day — all but the bill paying which I left to my husband.

Several years ago I found Priscilla Burris, the artist of the mug, online and sent her an email. Today we became “friends’ on facebook and exchanged a few words.

What’s cool is that I look at this mug every day. I used to drink coffee from it in the morning, but when the handle fell off, I found another use for it — as a pencil holder. It’s fun to look at the mug and remember when the kids were small, especially now that one will be going off to college in 10 months and the youngest is learning how to drive. It reminds me of a different time in my life — a simpler one perhaps.

Anyway — I’d like to publicly thank Ms Burris for her artwork on my mug/pencil holder/icon of memories.