I (Heart) Valentine's Day

I still love Valentine's Day like I did when I was a kid. I used to fold those paper doilies in half and use markers and glitter and make Valentine's. I love the little boxes of Valentine's too. They don't put envelopes in them anymore which I think is sad. Now you get those little dumb stickers that make the card rip when open them. I remember when the goofy kid with the recently shaved headed gave me the gushy Valentine in second grade. Eeew. And when my "crush" in 1st grade gave me one that said I was his "Pal". Wah. We decorated little white bakery bags and hung them on the chalkboard with scotch tape until they got so heavy they *clunked* to the floor.

DS is in the 5th grade and they have a "No Party" rule. However, they have "Raise" which is a time of reading, listening to music, going outside if it is warm and eating. So, we can send "treats" but it is not a "Party". Kind of one of those, "I did not have sex with that woman" deals. I made goodie bags of Hershey's chocolate, Sweetheart Conversation Hearts and Heart shaped lollipops to go home with the kids and Twinkies to eat in class. I was a Homeroom Mom for 5 straight years and it is a hard habit to break! When DS was in 2nd grade he came home wiht this big chocolate heart from a girl. He didn't think much of it, but that was a HUGE thing for a 7 year old girl to DO! Her mother took me aside and told me that they heard DS's name every night. They are in the same class again this year. Also in 2nd grade, DS and I were out shopping one day and he announced that he needed five pairs of earrings for the "girls". Uh......huh? He had five little girls picked out that he wanted to buy earrings or necklaces for Valentine's Day. Whoa little man. We did happen to be at Fred's at the time, so he dug in the big 50¢ jewelry bin and picked out nice litle sets and paid for it with his allowance. At the time, I figured I would be a Grandma before I hit 40! Sadly, the giver of the chocolate heart was not one of the recipients of the earrings. Whoopsie!

Tomorrow I am doing a Hopitality luncheon for about 100 Teachers for 5 - 12 grades. I did this last fall and had trouble getting enough Mom's to bring food in until another more "popular" Mom came to my rescue and got a lot of things donated. We were going to be short on food so I made 100 sandwiches, two veggie trays, 6 dozen cupcakes and I can't remember what all else to fill in. Then at Christmastime I was to do a little goodie bag for the teachers so got Hostess Cakes donated, then went and bought hot chocolate, candy canes and chocolate Santas and wrote, "Have a Super Sweet Holiday!" on each bag. So, here we go again with trying to get enough food donated and brought in by Mom's for tommorrow. I finally called the PTSA President and asked if there was any money I could eek from the budget to help buy maybe some sandwich meat or something to fill in. She writes me back a one line email..."You have a $900.00 budget." WHAT???? I have MONEY????? I could have strangled that woman. She has noooo idea how frugal I am. So, I am off to Wal-Mart to order sandwich trays and sheet cakes for eveyone. I do have to buy a full meal for them with that money during Teacher Appreciation Week - but I will order boxes of fried chicken from Wal-Mart. That stuff is good. And cheap!

But, first, a trip to the thrift! They are having "Sweetheart Surprises" and "Valentine's Day Giveaways!" Ooooh!

Have a Happy Heart Day!