Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I'd let you have a look at two of my little sweethearts in their fun new Valentine's Day dresses. I love this pattern because it is so easy to sew.  It only has four pattern pieces and a zipper up the back. I've made dozens of them over the years for my girls starting with Princess. I've sized them from 6 months to 6X without a problem.

The hardest part was paying for the fabric! Can you believe that the regular price for this piece was $9.99/yard? I got it for half price and I only needed a yard and a half for both dresses, but it was still extremely painful.

When I was checking out, I got in line behind an elderly woman who was buying a new sewing machine. She was talking and teasing the clerk as her daughter ran the machine out to their vehicle. She called the salesgirl "annoying" right to her face, but then she said it was OK because old people can say whatever they want.

In an effort to explain her point, she turned to me and tongue in cheek said, "That is the ugliest jacket I have ever seen, you really should get rid of it." Then she laughed and said, "When you are in your 80s you can get away with saying anything and people just assume you don't know what you are talking about." Then her daughter who had just come back in through the door commented, "And if you aren't in your 80s, you can say whatever you want as long as you follow it with 'Bless your heart.'"

Then she proceeded, "She has been standing here so long she probably forgot she just bought a new sewing machine...bless her heart." Her mother chuckled, "What did you say I bought?" The banter continued for another minute or two as the two of them headed toward the door. I stepped up to the clerk with my fabric in hand. She smiled and called to the two women as they pulled open the door, "I hope you have a wonderful day!" So I piped up, "Bless your heart!"

That brought another round of giggles as they left the store. Sometimes I really miss my grandma. I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day.

Laugh much and love long...


As the Drama Queen would say, Happy Single's Awareness Day!

...bless her heart!

Sharing Treats

My sweetie and I went to the Stake Valentine's Dance tonight. I told you all about that last year and it was pretty much the same this year except that on the serving table they had thrown piles of chocolate kisses. I was so excited to find some with almonds since they are my very favorite! That prompted an interesting discussion later at dinner. Is it OK for parents to hide treats from their kids and not share?

One day when my sweetie was a kid, he was hanging out in his mom's room and on a whim, he opened the tiny cupboard on the headboard of her bed. Imagine his surprise when he found an entire bag of Danish Wedding Cookies! Surely she wouldn't miss just one...

That was the beginning, and by late afternoon, the entire bag was gone.

It wasn't long before his mom discovered the powdered sugar on her pillowcase and the empty bag in the cupboard. As my sweetie tells it, "She hollered up a storm!" (He doesn't even like those cookies anymore because he was so traumatized by her reaction.) After all, shouldn't parents want to share their good fortune with their kids?

I never knew my mom to keep many treats at the house, but maybe that's just because I was never as curious (or maybe desperate!) as my sweetie. If we wanted chocolate and treats, we just headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. But I do remember going through the China cupboard one day and finding a box with what looked like little square chocolates in it. I didn't figure Mom would notice if I took just one...

I put that tiny brown square in my mouth and tried working it with my jaws. It was hard as a rock and after about 3 seconds, I spit it into the garbage. It was awful! I tipped the lid over and looked at the name again... "Ayds, appetite suppressant candy.". They were diet pills! No wonder they tasted so bad.

The other time I found Mom's candy stash I remember vividly. I had gone down in the basement to get something for her out of our food storage room. For some strange reason, I happened to look up toward the top of the freezer. I must have been at least ten or twelve, or I never would have been able to see, let alone reach, the giant Hershey's candy bar resting on top in all its delicious glory.

I was so excited! I grabbed it down and noticed that obviously I wasn't the first one to discover its existence. The wrapper had been torn and tiny bits of chocolate fluttered to the floor. I carefully pulled off just one square and popped it into my mouth. It's sweetness still lingered on my tongue and tainted my breath as I headed back up the stairs. So good!

It took me about half an hour to realize that if I didn't go for a second piece, I knew I was going to die right on the spot. I sneaked back downstairs without an errand and reached again for the candy bar. As my trembling fingers broke two pieces from the bar, a realization hit me.

What I had assumed was a sibling stealing chocolate before me had actually been tiny teeth marks. My partner in crime was definitely a mouse!

And I was about to be violently sick...

Guest Blogger - Valentine's Day by Princess

This is Princess. My mom told me to go write a blog even though I really didn’t want to, but I also really don’t want to be grounded. When she said, “Make it about crazy boys on Valentines Day!” I was like Blehh! Who cares about boys?

Now yesterday, the answer would be ME! I love boys! but today… The boy I liked got a girl friend this week, the boy that liked me did too, though I’ve heard it’s just a rumor. Every where you turn in the halls at school there’s a couple making goo goo eyes! The girls talk about flowers, teddy bears and heart shaped chocolates, the boys, well, they still talk about basketball. But they’re going totally crazy, they’ve started to wear nice clothes and all of them are being more social. Everyone’s looking for their Valentine.

There are the occasional few that don’t get caught up in that stuff. My group of friends talk about never getting Valentines, and how excited we’ll be in high school when we can date. So, I’ve spent my weekend listening to Adele. Prima Donna and I ate cookie dough and watched High School Musical! Who needs boys when you’ve got a Taylor Swift album?

My turn!

***Is this pretty much what you all think of Valentines Day? I know my older unmarried kids call it Single's Awareness Day.  Why are we so caught up in the holiday? It's easy for me to say that it's no big deal, but I've been happily married to my sweetie for 28 years so I have a valentine every day. I'm not really complaining about Valentine's Day, obviously this is a day that we celebrate at my house. I have three November babies, four if you count Baby Doll who was born a month early in October.

When we were kids we sweated over the valentines we made for our friends. We checked each little candy heart to make sure they didn't say anything that could be misinterpreted. And then of course when we were looking at ours we read each and every one just hoping there WAS a hidden  message from a secret admirer. My heart aches for my girls every year when they come home without a flower or candy heart. The Dog Walker is totally bummed that no one invited him to the Sweethearts' Dance. Yesterday he was trying to convince me that it was OK for him to ask someone to this girl's choice dance.

I think Princess is right...everyone's looking for their Valentine. I'm grateful every day that I found mine.***