When my friends ask me about my family, one constant always comes through:  "Mom is, well, Mom."  She's a throwback to another era - a former secretary turned housewife, who raised three kids, providing three home cooked meals a day, and maintained daily loads of laundry, housekeeping, errands and multiple runs to baseball, soccer and band practices, usually in three different directions. 

She hasn't lost a step, and her love of cooking continues to this day.  Whenever I arrive home, I'm greeted with a bounty of meals, cookies, breads and snacks made to my taste.  It's an embarrassment of riches for my taste buds.  Because I'm living 1,500 miles away from home, Mom takes it upon herself to make sure I still get some treats.  every couple of months she'll bake some homemade bread, cookies, and make some rice krispie squares and ship them off, along with a quick note reminiscent of ones found in my elementary school lunches.   

Of course, Mom is also frugal, and she's determined to fill every box she sends, so in order to fill up space, she performs a raid on her own cupboards and fits in as many random treats as she can.  This is, of course, the biggest surprise of the package and the one that nearly brings me as much delight as her homemade bread.

A healthy mix of kitchen staples along with some snack-worthy goodies, here's a quick look at some of the thing mom sent me in the latest package: