My kids LOVE the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (by Laura Joffe Numeroff)
And have you seen the similar books, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Take a Mouse to School, If You Give a Pig a Party, and If You Take A Mouse to the Movies? So cute and favorites of my students when I was teaching first grade.
So the the other day I was cruising the internet while nursing the babe and found this CUTE poem:
If You Give A Mom A Muffin
by Beth Brubaker
If you give a mom a muffin,
she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three year-old will come and spill the coffee.
Mom will wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry into the washer,
she’ll trip over shoes and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook
(How to Make 101 Things With a Pound of Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse,
which is being dumped out by her two year-old.
Then she’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year-old.
While she is changing the two year-old, the phone will ring.
Her five year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she was supposed to phone a friend
to come over for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some more.
And chances are,
if she has a cup a coffee,
her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
I thought it was so funny, and described me perfectly (except that I’m not a coffee drinker). Some days I feel like all I do is run around doing little things here and there but that I never actually accomplish anything. I’m sure many of you can relate. And last night at dinner when my husband asked, “so what did you do today?” It took me a second to realize he was just trying to find out about my day and not accusing me of doing nothing!
Anyway, this poem got me thinking it would make a fun gift, so I created a card in Photoshop, grabbed a package of muffins, tied a bow to it, and now I have a quick gift for one of my mommy friends.
If you’d like to make some of these quick gifts too, feel free to download and print!
You will find the original in Momsense magazine a publication of MOPS International published back in the summer of 2002. If you can prove it existed before that, you can prove this is yours. UNtil then all your followers will be mislead by a thief and a liar.How pathetic.
Beth, sadly, has taken a lot of credit for this poem across the internet. She is lying but refuses to admit as much. You can read on her blog that she – in a very roundabout way – admits she has no claim on the poem. The original author (Kathy Fictorie) holds the copyright on this poem when she had it published in MOPS magazine, which is how it was first introduced. Kathy had originally read it at a MOPS meeting, where fellow members encouraged her to submit it to the magazine. Beth claims she wrote it and submitted it on a forum (but she can’t remember where or when and there is no record of it anywhere). Beth has no proof, and admits such. Her blog posts on the topic contradict themselves. Kathy is personal friend, a long-time MOPS mom, and a college librarian for a conservative Christian college. As such she holds very high standard for ethics and plagiarism.
It bothers me that Beth, simply by being loud on various blogs, has laid perpetuated this lie, and frankly continues to. Kathy wrote this poem, and the Kathy published this poem. MOPS owns the copyright to it. Beth has been threatened with legal action if she continued claiming authorship, but the damage she caused is already widespread.
I know this blog post is getting old now, but Pam, please consider changing your printable to give proper authorship after all these years.
Hi there, sharing this lovely poem today on my parenting page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ConsciousParentingApproach! Inviting you to come say Hello to us too!!
Oh my gosh! I just wrote a huge post to my Facebook page last night (See below) and a friend asked if I had read “If You Give a Mom a Muffin”. He gave me the ling to this site. I had never read it, but love the fact that as I said in my post, most mommies would relate. I used to read the “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” books with my step-daughter when she was little. She is now 19! I also have a step-son that is 21. I have four more kids with my ex. They are 11, 10, 6, and 5 next week. Their daddy left almost two years ago and I work full-time, do hair when they visit their dad, coach softball and tee-ball teams, and all the other stuff mentioned in my little story below.
I love writing poems and have shared one of my blogs I started http://thebathroomchroniclesblog.wordpress.com/ in the area that asked for my website. I also have a blog of poems I started after their daddy left. That site is http://lied2nomore.wordpress.com/. Some of them have some bad words as I was working through a lot of emotions. However I love to read them in chronological order to see how far I have come since he left. There are still a lot of emotions, but much of the bitterness of the past has faded away and I try to focus on the best part of life……my family and the joys we have each day. I plan to leave the old, bitter poems out there though for anyone that may find themselves in a similar situation, so they can see there is light at the end of the tunnel as “they” say. See my post from Facebook below. Hope you enjoy.
From June 10, 2013 1:51 am
My life (as I am sure other mommies lives do too) reminds me of the children’s book “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”. If you haven’t read the book, it starts something like this…..If you give a moose a muffin, he’s gonna want a glass of milk. If you give a moose a glass of milk, he’s gonna want a …..
Well, if I’m walking out the door, I’m gonna decide to switch over the laundry.
If I switch over the laundry, I’m gonna have to start a new load.
If I start a new load, I’m gonna see that the cats need food.
If I fill up their food bowl, I’m gonna have to give them water too.
If I fill up the water bowl, I’m gonna notice we have ants on the counter again.
If I notice the ants, I’m gonna have to spray them.
If I spray the ants, I’m gonna have to wipe their little dead bodies off the counter.
If I wipe off the dead ants from the counter, I will need paper towels.
If I go get paper towels, I will see that my kids messed up the toy room, so I will start cleaning up the toys.
If I clean up the toys, I will forget what I came down the hall for in the first place, so I go back to the kitchen and see the dead ants on the counter and decide to again go get the paper towels.
If I get the paper towels, I will see through the window as I turn back around that my kids left their softball mitts outside again and I will have to retrieve them before it rains.
If I go out to the mitts, I will put the paper towels down on the floor on my way out.
On my way in, I will trip over the roll of paper towels and bloody my knee.
If I bloody my knee, I will need a bandage.
If I go to get a bandage in the bathroom, I will notice my kids forgot to flush the toilet again and I will, of course then feel the need to clean the gross toilet.
If I clean the toilet, I will have to wash my hands.
If I wash my hands, I will notice the big glob of toothpaste in the sink and will have to clean it out. If I clean the toothpaste from the sink, I will remember there was something I needed to do and realize I was supposed to have left 30 minutes ago and no I’m late!
So, I rush to the kitchen for my cell phone and key and see the stupid dead ants and grab the paper towels and the cleaning spray and clean the counter and realize I cannot find my key or my cell phone.
So, next time you’re wondering where the heck I am, remember this story!
And, in the end, I will more than likely open the door to the garage to find all four kids waiting for me in the car with my cell phone and my key.
So, it may not be that bad, but this is how my mind works! I have to work at staying on task! 🙂
Lisa Kay (Cox) Robbins
@Lisa Kay (Cox) Robbins,
LOL @ “So, next time you’re wondering where the heck I am, remember this story!”
So cute. I used this with my Muffins for Mom breakfast.
Appreciate this poem, as a mom. I am a Sunday School teacher and I’ll be using this for Mother’s Day. It is a great idea. Thanks a bunch.
I babysit for 3 different moms and was looking for some little something to give them for Mother’s Day. I think this is it!
Fabulous!! If you give a moma muffin…..
I would like to get signed up for the follower freebies!!! This is SO cute & I thought that I would make some of these up for my “mom friends”.
This is awesome! I am always joking that I clean just like If You Give A Mouse a Cookie! 🙂
Is there a book for this Poem, my granddaughter fell in love with it. I would to get it for her
There’s not a book for the poem, it’s just inspired by the “If You Give a” books. Cute, isn’t it?
I’m not a coffee drinker–most of my friends and family aren’t. I might do this but cross out coffee and handwrite hot chocolate over the top of the printed poem. Or it could be whatever the persons favorite drink is. I like strawberry lemonade!
I’m not a coffee drinker either–and neither are most of my friends and family. But it’s still a cute poem, right?
I was searching online for this poem when I came across your page. I particularly like the way you put it — “I thought it was so funny, and described me perfectly (except that I’m not a coffee drinker). Some days I feel like all I do is run around doing little things here and there but that I never actually accomplish anything.” Well said! 🙂
Cute idea, but you should give proper credit to the author, Beth Brubaker, not Kathy Fictorie!!!
http://footprintsinthemudblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/if-you-give-mom-muffin-stolen.html
The “Give a Mom a Muffin” poem is a perfect example of a “side tracked” mom. Thank God for Pam Young and Peggy Jones, and the FlyLady. Check out FlyLady at flylady.net.
Hi Pam,
This is ABSOLUTELY adorable, and I recently linked from my blog to this post. I’d posted this poem on my blog in December 2011, and my blog keeps getting hits from people looking for a printable version of this poem. I figured I’d send them in the right direction. Thanks for making such a cute printable to share!
Have you received an e-mail or comment from Beth Brubaker? I believe that she is the true author of this poem. She contacted me recently, asking me to consider changing the author on the poem so that she receives the credit that she deserves for writing this poem. Here’s a post on her blog. If you believe that what she’s saying is true, would you consider changing your printable to the correct author? Thanks!
http://footprintsinthemudblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/if-you-give-mom-muffin-stolen.html
Thanks for bringing this to my attention!!!
The original poem was not by Kathy Fictorie but by me, Beth Brubakr. I wrote this about 10 years ago. Here is the original poem:
If You Give a Mom a Muffin
By Beth Brubaker
If you give a mom a muffin,
she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three year-old will come and spill the coffee.
Mom will wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry into the washer,
she’ll trip over shoes and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook
(How to Make 101 Things With a Pound of Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse,
which is being dumped out by her two year-old.
Then she’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year-old.
While she is changing the two year-old, the phone will ring.
Her five year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she was supposed to phone a friend
to come over for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some more.
And chances are,
if she has a cup a coffee,
her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
Can you please make the appropriate changes? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you!
God Bless,
Beth
Perfectly true. Well put, Beth. Thanks for sharing with us, Pam & Beth. I enjoyed sharing with my girlfriends too.
Hey there! I LOVE this idea and did this for all my friends this Mother’s Day! I put a post on my blog with a link back here, just wanted to let you know!
http://livingcraftilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-belated-mothers-day.html
Thanks!!
Kelly
I love this idea. I am totally doing this. Thanks for sharing. This is me too a t. (I do drink coffee 🙂
I am so glad that I have stumbled across your website! (Thanks to Moneysavingmom – the blog that I visit regularly.) She posted your questions jar idea and it brought me here. So I browsed a bit and discovered that you have so many creative ideas that I love and can easily adapt to use with my students at school! This “Give a Mom a Muffin” poem has me thinking mother’s day gifts this year! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity! What a blessing you are!
Oh, this is such a fabulous idea – and I LOVE the poem. Haven’t heard of those books before, but will keep an eye out for them. We might get them in Australia although we do miss some great books.