Give mom something to write home about.

• Position: Classic Anello pen - What's New?

We can't speak for other households, but ours seems to be ruled by two elements: piles and lists. Now, as for the former, we take care of that by putting it on the latter--as if writing it down settles the matter. List-making isn't as easy as it sounds--at least at our house. First, there's never anything to write on. We keep buying magnetized memo pads for the fridge, but they disappear constantly. (Our four-year-old is the prime suspect, but we've yet to catch him red-handed.) Moreover, there never seems to be a pen handy, although we keep restocking the pencil cup in the kitchen (a prime venue for creating lists). Under such circumstances, I usually opt for a paper plate and magic marker, but my better half does not appreciate that improvisation at all. Little wonder. She has beautiful handwriting and is an avid letter-writer. When the kids were learning cursive--that's what teachers now call script--in school, they went to Mom for help. Good, thing, too, because my scribbling is a combination of slanted print and upright script---and sloppy.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

So, with Mother's Day closing fast, the kids and I decided that, in addition to the usual flowers and...