Valentines: A Twist and a Strange Discovery

So this year for Valentines Alpheus spent the day coughing, sleeping, coughing, taking medicine, freezing, coughing, sweating, and more coughing interrupted by a doctor's visit for some medicine and our family valentines celebration.

Here are the girls coming in for the reveal.  We had planned to have a frugal valentines and just buy steaks and shrimp for a wonderful dinner and enjoy the day at the pool together.  Since Alpheus was feeling so poorly and couldn't do anything to make a special day of it, he sent me out to buy some more traditional gifts.

(Lydia with the ladybug/hearts socks Mary bought for her and the rest from Dad and Mom.)

That was the twist to this year!  In all 12 years of our marriage I have never bought the valentines gifts. Early on I did buy a card for Alpheus, but now we just tell each other without paying $5 for a card we feel to guilty to ever throw away. LOL   Actaully each girl had bought one gift for another sister and then I completed the gifts with balloons, a dozen roses divided between us, and of course candy.

(Lydia bought Mary a bag of chocolates!)

Poor Mary was also not feeling well so she didin't enjoy this as much as she has in the past, but she did her best to hang out with us. I didn't get a shot of any of us at dinner, but Mary was able to join us for dinner and loved the steak and sweet potato!

(Hannah bought Sarah one large chocolate heart!)

(Sarah knew Hannah would love animal themed chocolates!)

 

(Alpheus and I shared a ballon and our favorite chocolates - caramel and dark chocolate Ghirardelli.)

I enjoyed writing personal valentines on the balloons!  One side says Eva loves and the other says Alpheus loves... On the girls I wrote I Love You and signed Mommy on one side and Daddy on the other.  I really like this idea and will probably repeat it!

My wonderful husband grilled the shrimp, steaks, and sweet potatoes for us even though he was still feeling pretty pitiful.  I made a pasta salad, cut some raw veggies for the girls to dip, and cheddar garlic biscuits.  Mmmmmmmm!

So what was the strange discovery?  We discovered an easy way to keep the cat downstairs without resorting to shutting the door- helium balloons! The cat refuses to come upstairs since I brought in the balloons.  LOL I put him in the cage when I was bringing them in. Then I carried them upstairs, let the cat out and didn't really think about it again. I was afraid he would want to play with the ribbon at the end of each balloon, since he loves string of any kind.  A few hours later the girls showed me how they would carry him up and by the time he could see them on the table he was clawing their arms to get away. Slightly painful but soooo funny! Has anyone else had this issue with a cat?  So I may invest in a weekly balloon to keep the cat downstairs! I wonder if he will get over it after time.  Very strange!

I am thankful for my family and the love we have for each other.  It is truly a blessing from God.

Happy Valentines, DH!  I love you!

Frugal February; Great Giveaway

Well, I read somewhere in the blogging world about a family that tries for the whole month of February to not spend.  They stock up on food and supplies for a few months before and then make an effort to not spend anything other than bills and gas which they limit as much as possible.  They do this to remind them all about how much we can live without and with how little many people around the world live.

I remember thinking that is a noble act and I was impressed.  I didn't realize that we would be facing a Frugal February ourselves!  You see my husband has not had any work as a carpenter since before Christmas.  He has also been plagued with knee injuries so he really can't do much if he had the work.  This has placed us to be very conscious of our dependence upon God's providence all the time.  You see, we knew things were going to be tight, but we were hoping to have our tax return by mid February.  Didn't happen, and yes it is Uncle Sam's fault that our e-file was rejected and we now have to wait for snail mail and hope things go through.  Again, it is another reminder that we should always remember to trust in God and not chariots and horses!

So anyway, we are saving money this month by using up the food in our pantry and freezer.  Yes, it may mean that I am eating green beans more often than I would like, but it really is a good thing to force us to be thankful for what we have.  Even in this frugal month, we are going to live like kings compared to so many around the world.

We are also continuing to save money as much as possible by keeping the electric bill down.  Though we have been going quickly through that great store of firewood my hunky wood chuck stock piled, we still have enough to get through the winter! 

We are also still using our drying racks for our clothes too, despite the best efforts of our 3 year old to break them!  I love using drying racks for several reasons.  I love not using the dryer because it is so out of sight I forget about it.  The clothes racks are right in the middle of our family room so I won't forget about it.  I also love that it gives the girls a taste of what it was like to do laundry before we had such electric servants. (Not that I am planning on giving up my washing machine at any time!)  Another benefit is they make a great barrier between the children watching TV in the family room near the roaring stove.  There is a lot less whining about how hot the room is when the clothes racks are full!  The cat would add that he loves them because they make great hiding places.  Thankfully, he has not been tempted to climb them!

So I was looking at one of my favorite blogs, http://inashoe.com/ and I saw she was hosting a give away of a really nice clothes drying rack!  This thing is top of the line.  Great height and volume and sturdy enough for her large family so I am sure it would be great for my family of 6.  And talk about frugal - free giveaway is very frugal!  I can afford that this month. LOL  So go on over to her site and check it out and buy one if you are enjoying Fast spending February or enter this giveaway with me!

What are some ways you are saving money right now?  I am open to suggestions! Blessings, Eva