Cozy

 

Outside. 

Inside.

A Table for my Valentines

I didn't do a whole lot of decorating 'round the house for Valentine's Day this year, but to ignore the holiday completely at our house, would be a cardinal sin to at least one of our family members! Valentine's Day is the #1 holiday to our Sweet Girl. She's loved it her whole life. Look -- she even has valentine PJ's! :-)

Since the kitchen is truly the heart of my home -- we travel through it when we come home, and you can see the table from the front door -- decorating our table with a valentine theme was the perfect idea. I 'shopped the house', and came up with some sweet ideas. Here's what I used:

My trusty red tablecloth. He's the star at Christmas *and* Valentines. I try to buy a color of tablecloth I can use for multiple holidays.

Lacy placemats.  Can you believe they're vinyl? Easy-peasy to clean. Love it. Again, these are used for multiple holidays. I pull these out for Mother's Day, Easter, Spring dinners, etc.

Red heart plates from Target. ($2.99? Be still my heart!)

Aww, that looks like a valentine right there! But I added just a couple more touches to the table...

Valentine colors in apothecary jars. No budget for filling these babies to the brim with candy. (Although I love that look) Pretty tissue paper provided lots of fun valentine color for free!

 

A personal touch.  My favorite. A Valentine picture drawn by our daughter when she was five added such a sweet touch to the table and paid homage to our Valentine fangirl!

 

There you have it. A table for my valentines...♥

I ♥ Valentine's Weekend

Really -- does it get any better? Last weekend was the perfect storm for Valentine's Day. It fell on a Sunday, and so you had Friday, Saturday AND Sunday to be spoiled! And I hope you were!

Our weekend was filled with lots of family activities -- our Sweet Girl had a show on Friday and lots of family came to see her perform. She was thrilled that aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents would come to see her, and I think they enjoyed the show, and seeing what color guard was all about. Saturday, she was off for a Sadie Hawkins dance at the high school (the theme -- Sadie's in the 80's -- in other words, my Sadie's experience! LOL) and had so much fun.

Sunday, we had a family Valentine's Day. I *did* get a few eyerolls from the teenager, but she jumped in anyway, and had fun with old Mom and Dad. ;-) We made home-made heart-shaped pizzas and decorated Valentine sugar cookies together (for the no-fail recipe I use, click here). I made sure the table was all decorated up for the occasion, and I'm not sure, but I think it made the food and the conversation even sweeter... ;-)

A romantic classic Cary Grant movie was planned next (the family voted for Father Goose) , but the Olympics trumped that, and we went with the next best romantic thing -- the pairs figure skating competition! We watched married couple Shen and Zhao stun the crowd with a beautiful performance and stay at # 1 all night -- pretty dreamy stuff! 

A perfect ending to our Valentine's weekend. Hope yours was fun, too. ♥

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ oxox ♥

The Cat Who Came to Dinner

Don't you just  love the simple, sweet things that happen in a day to make you smile? These little things -- my 'sweet nothings' --  make my life rich and full no matter what our circumstances are.  Here's one of them: Gracie coming to dinner. Every. single. night. Before we all  have a chance to sit down, Gracie takes my her place and gives me that look you see.  "What? I'm here for dinner."  We won't mention the reproachful look I also get every time I "excuse" her from the table...

What are the "sweet nothings" you enjoy in your everydays?
I'd love to hear about them...

A Bird in the Hand

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

:::

That's the motto for the week.  Remember I was telling you I felt hopeful? Well, there *was* a little light just around the bend.  Mr. H signed up for two very small contracts today that will get us through the next several weeks.  Just in the nick of time, too --  we were just about down to our last dollar!  Yesterday's quote was perfect, don't you think? 

It's not our dream situation (and boy, am I ready for a dream situation!)  but my hope is that these little piddly contracts will help get us through until we hear back from the bigger and better opportunities we're waiting on. In any case, a "short-term-contract" bird in the hand is worth two "waiting-to-hear-back-interviews" birdies in the bush...

Speaking of bird in the hand, this whole situation and its well-timed blessings brings up another thought:

That I am so thankful for a watchful and loving Heavenly Father who notices when even the smallest sparrow falls.  I have felt powerless like a small sparrow many times this year...   But I'm reminded:

Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:31)

There is One who hears the pleadings of my heart and holds me safe in His hand.

I guess that makes me a bird in the Hand. :-)

picture credit

Words to Live By

Don't be discouraged. 
It's often the last key in the bunch
that opens the lock. 

                                                          -- Author Unknown 

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Dreaming of Warmer Days...

I *know* you're like me. You've gone from the January "blahs" to the January "blehs"! I am officially tired of winter. All I can say is thank goodness for February and Valentine's Day: reds and pinks, doilies, hearts,  sweet-nothings to hear and sweet-somethings to eat! Just in time.

I found one more thing to get me through these grey, cold days -- look at this picnic basket I found thrifting...

...with all this inside. Now I'm *really* dreaming of warmer days!  ♥ And a picnic with Mr. H. ♥  

C'mon Spring -- hurry up!