My day began with Zadya sleeping on my face and, when I didn’t pet her fast enough to suit her, poking her claws at my hands to demand pettings. Luckily I was saved from her affectionate mauling by the ringing of the phone — it was my eldest, who called to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day. By the time I got downstairs, my youngest was happily bouncing toward me with her gifts:

I utterly love the handmade card! She definitely put some time & effort into it — and the bows on the presents were handmade, too! I don’t know where she gets her creative gene, but possibly it’s from my dad’s mom, who is an accomplished painter (years ago, she gave me portraits of the girls when they were little).

The gifts were perfect, too! A pair of coffee mugs, each with an old-fashioned photo of a matronly woman (probably from the 50’s). One says, “I’m so happy I could just SCREAM,” and the other says, “Yeah, according to all the magazines, I could stand to lose a few pounds. Or I could just eat all the fat & carbs I want and tell the media to kiss my full figured ass.” That is sooooo my attitude!

Yesterday we went shopping for the few things Anxiety needs for her trip to Catalina (which, thankfully, did not entirely burn) that she didn’t already have. The toughest thing to find was, of course, a swimsuit. Fred Meyer didn’t have any that she liked (and they were all bikinis, to boot, which she doesn’t much care for). Target, however, had a huge selection! After trying on a couple suits from the Juniors department, Anxiety was still less than thrilled. I meandered over to the Womens department, and found a black tankini that I thought she might not hate.

She liked it enough to decide to get it, but when she saw the rest of the selection in the Womens department, she changed her mind about the top. The suits are sold as individual pieces, which is great if you have different sizes above & below the waist — I’ve always been a size smaller in the hips, which has meant wearing a lot of one-piece suits with either sagging butts or too-tight bosoms. (Like my youngest, I’m not a fan of bikinis, either.)

She liked the green floral print one, and so did Lyse — and when I mentioned that I’d thought it was cute, but didn’t think either of them would like it, Anxiety insisted we all get one so we could match! (Thank heavens I’m only one size bigger than her!) Lyse joked around a lot that Anxiety should get a burqini instead…having seen the website of the item in question (a swimsuit for Muslim women that covers everything except face, hands, & feet), my emotional side is horrified at the concept, but my practical side wonders if it might help to prevent skin cancer. (Every adult on my mom’s side of the family — except me — has had skin cancer. I’m a bit obsessed with not getting it myself.)

Lyse and I just bought the green tankini tops, to wear as halter tops, and Anxiety got the same top with a black swimsuit bottom. At some point this summer when it’s warm enough, I’ll have to get a picture of the three of us in our matching green tops!