Valentine's Day Idea

The Headlines:


It's February 14th next weekend.

I know, you hate the holiday.

But there's a good chance the one that you're with… doesn't.

So buck up… and do this… or at least do something!



How many times have you heard this?  "I hate Valentine's Day.  It's a made-up Hallmark holiday!"  If I had a dollar for every… yea, we ALL hear it.  We get it people - you don't like the day of love.  It's not completely made up, however, there is actually an action that spurred the holiday.  I was just talking to my fellow blogger friend, Kristen Hewitt from Mommyinsports.com, who wrote about its origination...  Spoiler Alert: it's the day a priest was beheaded for secretly marrying couples after an Emperor outlawed marriage for his soldiers.  Read the full story here.

Anyways, she doesn't really like the holiday either.  See, for some reason her and I tend to lean toward opposite sides of the fence on…almost everything... because I, for one, LOVE Valentines Day.  Always have.  Please tell me the problem with telling people in your life… that you love them?  You don't need a serious boyfriend, wife or "person"… but maybe a Dad or a best friend or even a child that deserves to know they're special to you on Valentine's Day!

But here's the thing: the saying "It's the thought that counts" is more true than anything on this day.  One doesn't need expensive red roses on Heart Day - so cliche - but a card from the heart and maybe something else… a special thought or action that someone did just for you.  That's it.

For the record, all good ideas start with thought.  I, personally, do my best thinking on walks.  Where do you do yours?  Go there and think of something special for whomever you want to "gift" some love to on February 14th.  Please omit all restaurants or bar visits from any possible ideas.  It's just awful there on this day.  Price fixed menus, chicks mad their man didn't get them a Louis Vuitton, single guys looking for chicks ticked off, crowds, lonely people… just stay away and come up with another idea.  

Dad brought home roses to his daughter & he wore the heart tie to work from his kids!

Here's what I did last year for BP (the husband) - don't judge - it came from the heart:  I put this goofy sign up in the hallway so that when he walked in from the garage he saw it…

If you can't tell… it says: How do I love thee… let me count the ways.  Then I proceeded to put numbers up throughout that house… 1, being the card in the picture above which laid out the whole silly task ahead and gave hints where he'd find the number cards.  2, was the Duval-Leroy bottle of bubbles on the bar below.  

3, the table where I fed him the dinner I made for the night.  4 & 5, were my daughter and son's bedrooms… because he gave me them.  The backyard spa was in there because we were going in that night...

and so on and so forth.  He had to run around the house looking for all the numbers - I think they went up to 10.  Of course, the kids followed and it was just good fun.  Because it was an idea that came to ME, cost almost nothing but meant the world.  It simply showed I cared - on Valentine's Day.  So I ask again… what's wrong with that?

There are those that say "Why does there have to be a holiday?  Why can't we just show love all the time?"  To that I say… show the love everyday.  But also show it on this day.  Because it's there and a little special something on a random Saturday in February never hurt anyone.  You know what did?  Doing nothing.

For this Valentine's Day 2015… we are having both sets of parents in town for my son's 4th "Police" Birthday Party.  Didn't quite think that through… or maybe it will be just the kind of special Valentine's Day we're all looking for!

   

Cheaters Prosper… Again.

The Headlines:


The New England Patriots won.

Cheaters Never Prosper.

Yea, right.

So what do we tell our children now?



I truly thought it wouldn't happen… sure, they got to the big game but I was positive they would never win.  That's not how life works.  But I was wrong.

**Full disclosure, I don't care about football and have no vested interest in either team.

No I didn't attend the Super Bowl yesterday… BP (the husband) did.  Heck, it was in our backyard (Arizona).  But I did watch (some) it.  I saw the interception that changed everything but I never thought the guys from the East would win.  I thought it not possible.  Because Cheaters never proser.  You know, that old saying our parents said and re-said throughout our young lives?  And I believed them.  But the fact of the matter is… Cheaters do and can prosper.  In fact, sometimes they do really really well.  Heck, they can even win the Super Bowl.

Now, I'm not judge and jury here.  Yet clearly there are those of us (me) who are acting like it.  There has been no official and finalized investigation into the latest Patriot scandal… Deflate-gate.  But I always say… where there's smoke there's fire.  Someone had to yank that air out… someone took those videos (spy-gate) and it wasn't the other team.  It was someone linked to New England.  Period.  But still… they have not been punished enough, "journalists," fans, heck even the NFL have (and will) let them off easily.  In front of millions of children they even WON the Super Bowl last night.  And that just kind of knocked the wind out of me.

Because, it is very clear, in our society Cheaters DO Prosper and that sickens me.  In fact, to go one step further… it's the guy who doesn't cheat who ends up losing out.

I get it.  We all fudge a little here and there.  The Mom who forgets to pay for the pack of gum she threw in the baby car seat, the golfer who refuses to record low scores on the course, the son who grabs a cookie when he's supposed to eat a carrot.  It happens.  But there are lines that have to be drawn.  There are lies that matter.   As far as I'm concerned, The Patriots are a good ball team who, for all we know, have gotten to where they are by fudging here and there which makes all of their wins not victorious but down right suspicious.  And who wants to look up to that?

I'd rather look down.  Or maybe just away from the team who we-think-was-the-best-but-we-just-don't- know-because… they-cheat.

Yep, my husband was here last night…

and I was here, at a Super Bowl Party with my kids who didn't look at the game for more than 30 seconds.

Thank God… because the Cheaters Prospered Again.  And I'm going to need some time… to figure out how to explain that.