Celebration of Life - Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mother's 75th birthday.  Let me tell you a little about my mom,  She was born in 1936 and the youngest of seven children. She was born in my grandfather's car and weighed a little over 4 lbs.  She was so small, that she couldn't fit in a baby bed and my grandmother made her a bed out of a dresser drawer.  She was married at the age of 19 and had four children on of which passed away at the age of 5.  She divorced a little more than a year after my sister was born.  She has never re-married and she dedicated her life to us.  She raised us in church, Lord I remember going to all kinds of churches when we were younger including tent revials, lol.  She has never waivered in her faith and brought us up the same beliefs.  Now, we may not live the life that she has wanted for us; but we have never strayed too far from the Lord.  I guess I would say that I am the closest to my mother and that is because I live next door to her and see her almost daily.  My sister might disagree, but she is the boss in the family.  She stays on my mom about her health and staying healthy.

 A little more than a year ago, she gave us a scare, she had a stroke.  She initially refused to go to the doctor but I told her that now she was going to listen to me and she was going. That was the first time that she had been to a doctor in 40+ years.  She had lost some of her motor skills on her right side but she agreed to go to physical therapy.  Now almost two years later, you would never know that she has had a stroke.  She still drives, she never stays at home, she is always doing something to her house and she has never lost her faith in God.  My mother has a wonderful sense of humor and a big heart.  She is always thinking about her children and grandchildren.  There is hardly anywhere that she goes that she doesn't bring back something for one of us.  Raising three children on her own was not easy, we struggled, but she never let us know it.  She was creative by making us underwear, slips, belts from bleach bottles, pocketbooks from bleach bottles and a whole lot more.  She would go without to make sure that we had.  She made up recipes to make them last for several days.  One recipe we called comglaum was made with noodles, spaghetti sause, cheese and meat.  I still make that one to this day.  Another one she made, which I am glad that she never made it again was something with bean sprouts and it was nasty.  She wasn't eating it becasue she wanted to make sure that we ate.  Let me tell you, we ate that dish for days and me, my sister and my grandmother told her that she needed to try it and see how nasty it was.  She would tell us that she was on a fast and couldn't eat.  Well after we had eaten on it for a week, she tasted it and agreed that it was awful.  Fine time for her to finally agree, it was all gone by then, lol. 

She taught me so many things through the years and the main thing that she taught me was that I can do anything that I put my mind to and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. I really took that to heart and let me tell you, if someone says that I can't do something, I will do my best to prove that I can.  My mother is my rock and my salvation and I thank her for everything that she has done and is to me.  I love you Mom and I wish you many more years.  Happy birthday!

To celebrate her birthday today, I cooked dinner for her and then I made her cupcakes for dessert.  I thought that I would share the recipe for the cupcakes that I made her as well as pics.  The cupcakes I made came from a recioe by Prudence Hillburn of Piedmont, Alabama.  She has won more than 30 national cooking awards and from this recipe I can see why. 

Lemon Danish Cupcakes

1 box of Lemon Cake Mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1(4 oz.) jar of apricot baby food

1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2/3 cup of water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon poppy seed

8 oz tub of cheesecake flavored cream cheese spread (I made my own and flavored it with lemon)

2-3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine cake mix, sour cream, apricot baby food, lemon juice, water, eggs and poppy seed and beat at low speed for one minute.  combine cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl.  Beat until smooth.  Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.  Spoon the batter half way in the cupcake liners and then drop a small dallop of cream cheese (about a teaspoon) in the center of each cupcake.  and then spoon batter over top to cover cream cheese.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  She gave the instructions to spoon confectioner's sugar glaze over top when they are cool. I made a cream cheese icing with confectioner's sugar, cool whip and lemon juice and piped it on top.   Totally delicious!