What Does Valentine's Day Look Like to You?

The authors of Reviews, Chews & How-Tos talked a little about Valentine's Day this week.  Have you noticed that on the Internet, there seems to be an expectation these days to make it a huge deal?

If we look at Pinterest, our homes should be nothing but pink and red, we should be creating a perfectly themed meal, receiving amaaaazingly intricate and romantic gifts, and our children should be happily dressing up as Cupid while engaging in complicated learning experiences involving hearts and flowers.

For most of us, our reality doesn't really match up with that ideal - and we're mostly ok with that.

We don't all celebrate the same, and certainly not with anything like that idealized fervor, but we thought we'd share a bit about what Valentine's Day looks like to us.

Jackie Snider

As much as I used to wish otherwise, Valentines Day has never been a huge deal in my marriage. We are always either working or broke. I am a typical girl and do tend to carry false expectations of a ‘Hallmark Holiday’ but I’m generally happy with a small acknowledgment and a dinner I don’t have to cook.

My husband made the mistake very early in our dating relationship of a huge gesture he probably can’t top. Our second year together, I woke up to the first clue of a 5-part scavenger hunt throughout my house. Each stop included a small gift, like a teddy or chocolates, and another clue. It ended in a diamond tennis bracelet.

It wasn’t the gift that made this special; it was the creativity and time that went into the delivery. Then on our fifth Valentines together he proposed to me- for the second time!)

This Valentines day we don’t have much planned. As usual, he has to work. So my day will be spent doing Valentines crafts with my four year old!

Michael Hardy

A nice dinner out is a fine way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Choose a place you both like (it’s not a time to experiment), one that is reasonably quiet and intimate, and splurge a little … this is a special occasion. 

I believe the purpose of celebrating Valentine’s Day at all is to express love for one another rather than wow with spectacle. The shared meal has a long history of bringing people together, and a quiet restaurant evokes a romantic atmosphere. 

With someone else handling the cooking and cleanup, the dinner allows you and your loved one time to sit, talk and share a pleasant sensory experience, away from the day-to-day routines.

Lauren Murray

Happy Valentines Day everyone! My hubby and I have been together for a little over 13 years now and Valentines Day is not our strong point. Honestly, we’ve probably done something different every year. From flowers and chocolates to dinner and a movie, we’ve done the normal couple date type things.

Unfortunately, neither of us is very inventive or inspired when it comes to V-Day. Hubby has even gone so far as to call it “Hallmark Day” and boycott it all together.

Now that we have a child, all of the holidays are more fun. Valentines day is no exception. My Bugaboo really loves anything pink so seeing all the Valentines decorations at stores just sends her into a reel! She is almost 5 now so she has a greater appreciation for holidays and also big expectations.

This year I am planning on decorating her room while she sleeps so she’ll have something fun to wake up to. I’ve seen lots of great ideas on Pinterest and I’m planning on bundling a bunch of them together. Holidays are made more magical when viewed through your child’s eyes! I hope you have a magical day as well! Cheers!

Daniel Snider

 

Valentine’s Day has just never really been big for my wife and I. I have a very hectic schedule at work and we have never really had much money. Usually V-day is celebrated by either going out to a nice dinner or making a home cooked meal for my wife.

One thing I can say for sure is that there is always some form of chocolate! One of my absolute favorite ways to treat my wife on Valentine’s Day is with some exotic chocolates from Vosgas Chocolate. They have a very unique assortment of wonderfully tasty treats. Along with the candy bars and truffles they also sell the perfect wines to accompany them.  She and I both love the stuff they have and have been repeat customers for years now.

Lynda Hardy

I used to love Valentine's Day as a kid - I enjoyed the whole process of decorating a shoebox to act as a 'mailbox', and picking out just the right set of Valentine's Day cards for my classmates.   As much as it came with pressures to give the right card to the right person (not too serious, not too flippant, puns only to the punny people.... trying to explain to your mom why you just could not use that one weird card with a pig on it because no one would appreciate getting it .... and then the nailbiting wait to see if anyone gave you the pig...), it was so much more fun for me than adult Valentine's Day, which often has felt like a no-win situation - if you expect much, you'll be doomed to disappointment, but if you expect little, that often translates into people thinking you don't care about romance at all.

It's taken me fifty years to realize and openly be fine with saying it - but I love romantic gestures.  I like getting candy. I love getting flowers.  I like to be taken out to eat and to be pampered.  I like to make special desserts and have it noticed and appreciated.   And what I also realize is that the reason I can openly say I like and appreciate these things is because I am married to someone who won't make me feel as if it's silly of me to enjoy them.  Because it feels a little vulnerable to say "I like getting flowers", doesn't it?  Because there's still that risk that someone might think it'd be hilarious to just give you that weird pig instead.  You have to trust someone a lot to tell them what warms your heart.

I like getting flowers, even if they're silly and ethereal.  I don't particularly care if it happens on Valentine's Day - in fact 'any random Tuesday' would be a great time for romantic gestures!  As long as Valentine's Day is a reminder to make these gestures and not simply a 'designed mandatory romance' day, that's a good thing.

Hailey Snider (age 4)

Saving the best for last, here's the word on Valentine's Day from Hailey Snider.  She's Jackie and Danny's 4 year old daughter (and Lynda and Michael's granddaughter):

Valentines Day is where you draw Valentine pictures and you close them up and give them to your friends. 

You can also give them to grown ups that love you. 

Valentines Day is about telling people that you love them a lot. 

When you are a grown up you can make Valentines cards for your kids. 

Valentines day is also about eating candy. You can put candy in a bag and tie it with a rubber band, and give it to your friends. 

That makes them know that you really like them.



How about you?  Share with us in comments what Valentine's Day means (or doesn't mean) to you?

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Chore Chart: Perseverance Pays Off (Reblogged)

Reblogging from Lauren's personal blog: My Slightly Silver Lining

Good day my beautiful friends! I am so excited to be blogging about my daughters chore chart! So, many of you know that I have an high spirited, 4.5 year old, only child. She is the light of my life! I am learning that if I want something to work I really have to give her free reign to get to know the idea and really see the ins and outs before it will stick. Such was most certainly the case with the Chore Chart!

Lets see. . . I think it was about a year and a half ago that I jumped online looking for preschooler friendly household chores. I found a wealth of resources and ultimately decided to combine many of them to make my own program. I created the Chore Chart and explained the process to Bugaboo. She was interested at first and excited to help Mommy around the house. But as with all pre-k attention spans, it waned and fell by the way-side. We kept revisiting the chart at various times but she would just lose interest. Don't get me wrong, she was still helping out around the house. But it would only be when I hounded her about it. The idea of the Chart was to get her to self motivate.

Cookie sheet+Spray Paint=Instant Magnet Board!

Well, the chart has been hanging out on the fridge now for over a year with me consistently reminding her of its benefits. Lo and behold, the idea seems to have finally sunk in! She is now actively participating in the system and even reminding me when new chores need to be added! I'm so excited that its finally a working system because now I feel like I can share it with you!

So, here is how the system works: There are about 25 different household chores that Bug can do. I have a cartoon picture of each chore with the words printed below them. Each card is laminated so it can be re-used. We chose four or five chores and place them on our magnet board. Each chore has a colorful ticket attached to the back. When she completes the chore, she moves the card from "To Do" down to "Done" and places the ticket in an envelope. After she earns five tickets, she gets to "spend" her tickets in our toy bucket.

A few times a year, I'll go to the dollar store or the bargain bins at Target and load up on little toys, crafts and goodies to put in the buckets. Each item costs five tickets. When she chooses and item from the bucket, she hands her tickets into me and I keep them in a jar on the fridge!

The "Toy Store" includes books, crafts, puzzles, little toys and candy.

Chores that we have include: Clean up, wipe the table, tidy school room, make bed, set the table, empty the dishwasher, dust, feed the dog, clean your room, wash the mirrors etc. . I was able to find images for all of these by searching on Pinterest. I printed them from my computer, cut them out and laminated them all so they will last. I purchased this home laminator from Amazon and it gets a lot of use in our house.

We also use a Gold Star Rewards system. Gold Stars are awarded when we have a really good day. For example, the other day Bugaboo decided to clean out her closet where all of her dress up's are located. She did this on her own with no prompting from either parent and she did an awesome job! She gets a gold star for that! When she has accrued 9 gold stars, she gets a special treat like a lunch date with Mommy or a movie theater date.

Gold stars and tickets can also be taken away if we are having a particularly rough day of not listening. Not listening is probably the biggest issue we have with Bugaboo and she really hates it when she loses a ticket or a star. All I have to do is grab the ticket envelope and sit down with her and say, "Here are your tickets, are you ready lose them over this choice you are making?" Usually the answer is no, but sometimes she is just so stubborn she will lose tickets. She gets the chance to earn them back though, so it's been a really good system for us.

It takes patience and a lot of explaining, but I think the benefits are awesome. Chore Charts teach personal responsibility, self confidence and the value of a job well done. Bugaboo is learning that you need to earn the things you want by working for them. Everything isn't just a given. She is learning that everyone in the house needs to do their part to keep things in order. Its important for us all to work together.

It also helps to take pictures of how you would like things to look when they are "cleaned up". Kids are very visual learners and knowing exactly what you expect can make their "job" easier. That was a whole lot of quotes! LOL!

I hope you all enjoyed my Chore Chart Tutorial. Please feel free to share, comment and ask questions! I'd love to hear your feedback!

p.s. Here are links to some of the places where I found chore graphics.

Confessions of a Homeschooler
Homeschool Creations

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Roast Beets and Feta Cheese

With Valentine's Day coming up on Friday, our thoughts may be turning toward creating a special meal for the occasion.  It's fun to think about chocolate and sweets, but don't forget to include something a bit more savory.

One possibility that includes in season root veggies, is a simple Beet and Feta salad or side dish.  Beets are a naturally sweet vegetable that comes in a variety of colors from the familiar dark red to a brilliant yellow.  Their flesh is juicy and quite nutritious as well as delicious, and they're a visually appealing addition to a special meal.

Preparing them is simple, as long as you take due care to protect your work surface from stains.  The easiest way to cook a beet is to scrub them, put them into a foil lined baking dish, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, then wrap the foil loosely around the beets, and let them cook at 400F for about 45 minutes.

(Take note - the beets in my picture did not come with the greens intact, and the stems were cut all the way to the beets. If you can get them with the greens on, that's better! Cut the greens about an inch away from the beet and set them aside.  Leaving a little creates a handle, and makes them less messy to deal with.)

Once they're done, the skins will slide off fairly easily (or can be cut away with a paring knife).  Chop the beets into bite sized chunks.

I had a pair of red beets, and a pair of golden beets when I made this, and I really loved how the colors played together - the golden beets wound up stained by the deeper red beets, giving them a rosy pink color.  I simply sprinkled a nice bit of feta cheese over the top to serve.  Goat cheese would have been great here, too!

We chose to just have the beets and feta, but this could easily be made more substantial, by nestling the beets in a bed of mixed lettuces (or steamed beet greens!).  I didn't find that they needed any additional dressing, but a very simple lemon and olive oil dressing would have worked, or for added sweetness, a drizzle of honey over the top.

If you haven't experienced fresh beets, give them a try.  The play of reds and white will add a festive and special touch to your Valentine's Day dinner of your loved one's favorite dishes.

***

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