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Flowers arrangements make great gifts for Mother’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries. Never the wrong size, never the wrong style, and guaranteed to brighten any room. They are also the perfect choice for someone who “doesn’t need anything,” because after they’ve been enjoyed for a few days or a week, they’re gone.

If you are ordering flowers for someone via the internet or telephone, choose a company that offers a refund if you are not satisfied. If you don’t have the opportunity to see the flowers personally once they’ve been delivered, ask the recipient what the arrangement looks like. Does it sound like the one you ordered? Are the flowers fresh? Did it arrive on the right day? If the arrangement was already wilting when it arrived, or didn’t match your expectations, contact the company and let them know. To ensure timely delivery of the flowers, don’t wait until the last minute to place your order – this is especially important for busy holidays like Mother’s Day.

Some cut flowers last longer than others – but any arrangement you buy should look good for at least several days. There are some easy things you or your loved one can do to prolong the life of the flowers:

• If the flowers arrived with a packet of floral preservative, make sure to use it, following the directions on the packet. These packets contain ingredients that feed the flowers and help discourage the growth of bacteria.
• If you are preparing a new bouquet for a vase or refreshing a floral arrangement, trim the flowers’ stems. Most experts recommend cutting the stems on the diagonal with a sharp, non-serrated knife. Some suggest cutting the stems under running water, which can help prevent the formation of air bubbles that can effectively “seal” the stems. It is also important to trim off any leaves that fall below the water line.
• Change the water in the vase every couple of days, adding new preservative with each change. Most flowers prefer water that is room temperature or almost lukewarm - but bulb flowers, such as tulips and daffodils, like being in very cold water.
• Place the vase in a cool place, away from sunny windows or vents. Fresh flowers will not last as long if they are in direct sunlight or heat.
• If the arrangement contains a variety of flowers, some may wilt earlier than others. Once a flower wilts, remove it from the arrangement – one decaying flower can contaminate the whole bunch.

Crafty people know that a gift of flowers doesn’t have to be discarded when the arrangement wilts. After blooms have peaked, they can be pressed and used on homemade stationary or decorative items; and dried petals can be used for potpourri or sachets – making your gift of flowers a very lasting pleasure.

Contributed By Laura Weaver

Mothers have changed a lot in the last fifty years, and so has the way we honor them on Mother’s Day. In 1960, the year I was born, more than seventy percent of American households included a stay-at-home mother. By 2000, two thirds of American mothers were in the work force – and many of those were raising children on their own.

Jane Wyatt won an Emmy in 1960 for her role as Margaret Anderson in the television show Father Knows Best, a role that characterized what mothers were like – or thought they should be like - at the time. It’s hard to imagine Margaret Anderson tossing her kids cereal bars for breakfast or foraging through the laundry to find something for them to wear to school as she barks out orders and scurries around getting herself ready for work.

I can’t envision her pumping iron to stay fit or hitting the town for a much needed girl’s night out. But things change. Even Jane Wyatt changed…by 1967, she was playing mother to the half-Vulcan Mr. Spock on Star Trek.

In 1960, mothers might have been treated to breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day and received tasteful gifts like perfume, a pretty pin, or a corsage to wear when they went out for a celebratory dinner. But changes in our society have opened up all kinds of Mother’s Day gift-giving possibilities.

The mothers and grandmothers of today are completely different than they were fifty years ago. Forget rocking chairs and aprons. The women of today – even the senior women of today – tend to do whatever they darned well please. Sure, perfume is still popular, but now we can consider giving our mothers running shoes, samba lessons, or a PDA.

My own 72-year-old mother surprised me recently with the news that she has signed up for a Pilates class. This seems like a bold step indeed for someone whose only exercise for the past thirty years has been walking a dog…but she’s cleared it with her doctor and once I got past the mental image I had of her rolled onto her back like a pill bug with her legs flailing around in the air, it sounded like a great idea.

If she enjoys it, and sticks with it, the class will help her stay fit and strong and maintain her balance. Not only that, but it could spawn a lot of Mother’s Day gift ideas…resistance bands, Pilates balls, and perhaps most appreciated, a gift basket full of bubble bath and massage oils to use after those killer workouts.

Contributed By Laura Weaver

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It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and that means that hundreds of thousands of people (okay, mostly men) will be frantically trying to come up with Valentine’s Day gifts that make their partners happy.

Remember how simple Valentine’s Day was when you were a kid? You’d hand your mother a homemade card and set off to school with a bag of cartoon- themed grocery store valentines (one for every person in your class, because that was the rule). In class, you’d exchange cards with your classmates while you ate the heart-shaped cookies that the room mother baked. If you were really lucky,

Read the whole article: Gifts for Valentine's Day

I have always loved wine but consider myself a novice when it comes to the ability to recognize and distinguish a wine’s characteristics. In fact, only recently I realized that when people spoke of wine tasting they were speaking of something much more complicated than just sipping the wine to determine if they liked it or not. I decided that it was time that I uncover some of the mystic of wine tasting.

See the full article: Wine