First Valentine's Day

This was my son, Mason's, first Valentine's Day.  My husband and I don't usually make a huge production out of the day.  In fact my husband seems to think it is another commercial holiday, although I still get spoiled.  I disagree.  I think you should express love to your loved ones every day of the year, but it is also fun to have a special day to do something creative.   Now that we have a child I decided to start a tradition.

Since Mason is only 10 months old there wasn't much I could do.  My husband worked all day. And I didn't feel like dealing with the craziness outside our house that evening.  Yet I wanted to make a special memory for the three of us.

I created a cookies and milk picnic.

I used some craftiness and a little online inspiration to create a special table set.  Then I baked heart shaped chocolate chip cookies.  I displayed strawberries on a nice cake plate and poured milk into a carafe.  Very pottery barn-ish!  I cut out a Valentine's Day card for Mason that I knew he would love destroying and added a few personalized touches to my husband's envelope.  I crafted an I Heart You sign using old scrapbook paper, copy paper and frames.  The heart topiaries are for another event I am co-hosting later this month.

My husband texted me on the way home from work so I could put on the finishing touches and plug in the  Micheal Buble pandora radio station before surprising him.  Rob, my husband, came home with chocolate covered strawberries for me which fit the theme perfectly.  They, unfortunately, didn't make it to the photo shoot.

The three of us sat on the floor and ate strawberries, cookies and milk.  Well....Mason ate animal crackers and formula BUT he thought it was one and the same.  He tried to drink out of our milk cups but otherwise sat nicely on the floor eating his cookies.

It was a fun memory at least for Rob and I.  I love my family, and I love making them feel special.  Plus, who doesn't love fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and cold milk!

Taking You For Granted

So this week our kitchen sink plugged up.  At first I didn't really pay much attention to it.  I casually mentioned it to my husband as an after thought.  Honestly, I thought I put too much down the disposal again.  Carrot and potato peels aren't always my friend.  Usually a good flush of hot water, and my sink is back in business.  Not this time.

Three days later I was still without a sink.  I realized a few things during this ordeal.

One.  I took my kitchen sink for granted.  How many countries out there do not have running water to every household and to five rooms in that household?  How many people have to walk miles to get cold water and then heat it up by other means when all I have to do is turn a knob to get either scalding hot or icy, cool water?  How many people get running water but have to boil it or use other means to make it drinkable?  Plus, I can use a  a pretty, black plastic plug to stop up my sink and fill it up with clean, fresh water.

Two. I can live without my sink.  I have four other sinks in my house to use.  Yes, it was a little more difficult to wash my son's bottles and sippy cups and spoons.  I also became fast friends with paper plates and cups.  Another commodity many others do not have.  Disposable utensils and dinnerware.  And frozen dinners in a bag.  Genius idea.

Three.  Plumbing is way more complicated than I imagined...and I worked in the industry for three years (on the pretty side of things-selling and designing).  Pipes and closeouts, oh my!

Four.  My husband should start his own handyman business.  He exhausted every avenue to fixing our plugged sink.  He snaked and cleaned and drained until the middle of the night even after working at his real job all day.  And he never lost his patience.  He never got upset.  He just moved on from solution to solution until we had no more solutions, and I was coming to terms with the idea of washing the dishes piling up on my counter in big sudsy buckets on my kitchen floor.

In the end we had to call a plumber.  We needed his industrial sized snake with a razor-sharp blade to make the final push.  It worked.  Now I have clean, cold or hot, potable water running through my kitchen again.

And now every time I use my sink, I remember how blessed I am.

How were you blessed this week?




(Disclaimer: sink pictured is not mine...maybe in my dream home!)