Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Trends, May 8, 2000

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, May 8, 2000 | 8:52 a.m.

Lisa Ferguson is an Accent staff writer. Her Trends column appears Mondays. Reach her at lisa@lasvegassun.com or 259-4060.

Lights, camera, action

She's only human.

Remember this on Sunday, Mother's Day: Nobody's perfect, including moms.

Unless, of course, she's a TV mom, in which case she's able to tend to a boat-load of little ones (as well as an oversized kid she calls her husband), the house, the dog, the bills and her career without breaking a sweat -- or a nail.

It is to these fictional superwomen that the website wwww.dearmom.com pays homage with a page dedicated to "TV Mom Trivia." Test your knowledge about these small-screen matriarchs:

Which actress played the mom in a singing group and was also Miss Pittsburgh in 1952? (Shirley Jones of "The Partidge Family.)

What did Peggy Bundy ("Married ... With Children") serve her family on Thanksgiving? (The "Bundy Turkey" -- pizza.)

Roseanne ("Roseanne") was a working mom with many different jobs. Name three of them. (Assembly-line worker, telemarketer, waitress.)

How old was ("The Munsters' " mom) Lily Munster? (304.)

Where did Grace (Brett Butler) work in "Grace Under Fire"? (An oil refinery.)

Regular or decaf?

What to get the special lady in your life this Mother's Day? How about the chance to drink her first cup of hot coffee (not lukewarm, because it cooled down before she could drink it, while she was busy taking care of you all these years).

The Plug-N-Mug, made by Eagle Flask USA, is an electric cup that can be plugged into a vehicle's cigarette lighter. Its North Carolina makers claim that the 18-ounce, stainless steel mug delivers coffee at the "perfect sipping temperature" of 160 degrees throughout the day.

Featuring a splash-guard lid, anti-skid base and ergonomic handle, the Plug-N-Mug is dishwasher safe and can be engraved with a special Mother's Day message. Available at www.engraveAmug.com, it retails for $24.95 (plus $5 shipping and handling).

When you care enough to send the best ...

If you get Mom nothing else, at least take the time to send her a greeting card.

The folks at Hallmark have compiled some data about Mother's Day and its card-giving tradition. The holiday is the third-largest card-sending occasion in the country.

An estimated 144 million Mother's Day cards will be given this year. Lucky for consumers Hallmark reports it has more than 900 cards in its Mother's Day line. (Just for the record, the company has been producing cards for the holiday since the 1920s.)

Twenty-one percent of men and 77 percent of women are purchasing the cards. The five days leading up to the holiday are when half of all Mother's Day purchases are made.