Valentine's Day Car Decorations

Good Wednesday morning!

Before we get started, I wanted to share a couple of things I saw on the Today Show yesterday. It was during the Martha Stewart Valentine's Day segment. If you're like me, you've already skipped to the next paragraph. I love watching her and reading her magazine, but when it comes to being able to actually do the craft or recipe or orchard planting or sheep shearing... I'm just not on her level... EVER. However, she did two things yesterday that were very kid friendly and "DOABLE." Go to http://www.marthastewart.com/ and look on the bottom left side of the web page. You will see the Top 7 for Valentine's Day. Click onto Valentines for Kids. That will take you to a page which shows one craft. On the right, you will see the word "Crafts" and if you click on that it will say "Thumbnails." That's where you want to be. Look on the first row of the "Thumbnails" section and count over to number 3 - Hearts and Lollipop Flowers and number 4 - Clothespin Valentines. I thought both of these were cute, fun and simple crafts you could do with your little one. There may be even more, but as I said before, I'm a little limited.

Story #2 - Blind Date Week - A Blind Date Should Never Last Over 15 Hours... But This One Certainly Did

Again, this blind date was initiated by a friend who thought I would "be a perfect fit" for her boyfriend's friend. We had so much in common. It would be fun. It would be enjoyable. It would be relaxed. It would be... a disaster.

My blind date had a real name, but he preferred to go by the nickname "Wild Man." Already, warning signals were going off in my head. "I will only go out with committed, dedicated, faithful Christian young men. 'Wild Man' doesn't sound like a committed, dedicated, faithful Christian young man's nickname," I told my friend.

"Oh. That nickname's a joke. He is totally opposite of a 'Wild Man.' That's why they call him that. It would be like calling you 'Shorty,'" she explained. Well, that made sense... sort of. So, I agreed to let her give him my number and waited for the inevitable awkward telephone call.

The call wasn't too bad. It was short and to the point, but we were strangers and we didn't really have anything else to talk about other than the actual "Blind Date Details."

His family owned a lake house and there would be four or five couples going to the lake for a day of skiing (I couldn't ski), boating (I could boat), and a cook-out before heading home that evening. I had become pretty bold when it came to asking for details which would matter to me, so I asked him if there would be any alcohol served at the party. "No. We don't do alcohol," was the short, but good, response. I would not know any of the other couples (my friend and her boyfriend were not going), but with that many people along, I knew if things weren't going well, I'd have someone to talk to.

Since the conversation was going very quickly, some of the finer points of the day didn't sink in until later... much later. Especially since the last thing he said was, "I'll pick you up at 7:00 Saturday morning." Hmmm. That was very early. But I knew since he was the host he wanted to be the first one at the lake to get the boat ready and open up the house, etc., etc.

"Okay. I'll be ready," I cheerfully responded, and we said our good-byes and hung up.

Then I started thinking. I had committed to an all-day date with someone I had never met and all of HIS friends I had never met. Worse yet, I had committed to an all-day date with someone I had never met, and I would be wearing a bathing suit most of the day (not good... NOT GOOD AT ALL), riding in a boat (imagine the bad hair day I was going to have), and starting out the day at 7:00 a.m. with puffy eyes and all the other things that come with NOT being a morning person. Good attitude... I needed a good attitude. Where was that thing?

Saturday morning arrived early (not so bright), but I was ready with an ever-so-new-and-concealing cover-up, as well as a change of clothes, make-up and major hair products. I was prepared for the worst. Wild Man turned out to be taller than me (good), nice looking (good), polite... he opened the car door for me (good) and was almost totally, completely, utterly quiet. I'm not talking "thinking before I open my mouth" quiet. I'm talking SILENT. He would answer questions if I posed them, but it was that Midwestern kind of answer... "Nope" and "Yep." After 215 questions, I was done. I wasn't a morning person, and the mere fact I had come up with 215 questions before 8:30 in the morning was pretty impressive. I dug in my bag to make sure I had packed extra deodorant, because by this time I was drenched in flop sweat from the unbearable exertion of keeping a one-sided conversation going for 90 minutes! Where was that lake???
I had assumed we were going to the lake closest to where we both lived, about an hour away. However, as an hour passed... and another 30 minutes passed... and another 30 minutes passed, I had to ask one more question. "Where is this lake?"

I honestly cannot remember the name of the lake now, but it was two hours and 30 minutes away from my driveway. "I don't know why, but I just thought we'd be going somewhere closer," I replied quietly.

"Nope," was the only explanation I received.

I dug in my bag to make sure I had packed headache medicine. I had. I promptly took two.

From 8:30 to 9:30, not one word passed between us. I had asked earlier if he minded if we listened to the radio, but he had replied, "No reception." Ah. A two-worder! We were getting somewhere now.

We finally pulled into a driveway of a nice little lake house. There were two or three cars already there. I introduced myself to his friends, all of whom were very nice, and the day began. There was only one boat which pulled one skier and three passengers. That meant five in the boat counting the driver and five on shore. I opted to stay on shore for the first outing. I talked to the other four people left with me, and they talked with surprising enthusiasm about how much fun Wild Man was, how much they thought of Wild Man, how lucky I was Wild Man invited me to the lake, etc., etc.

"Does Wild Man actually talk to you, guys?" I asked.

"Oh, he just has to warm up. Then you can't get a word in edge-wise," they assured me. So there it was. It was me. I hadn't asked interesting enough questions to get him to "warm-up." I went into the lake house, found a piece of paper and tried so very hard to think of some new "material," if not for the day at the lake, at least for the horrendous 150 minute drive back home. Nothing... I had used up every question known to man on the way down.

Around 11:00, I started putting lunch items out and getting the counter organized for people to come in from the boat and start making their sandwiches, etc. I was fixing ice in the glasses when Wild Man and the first boating group came in from the boat ride. "Wow. What's the hurry?" one of the girls asked. "It's just 11:05. It's not time for lunch yet!" I decided then and there I did not like her!

"We usually ski until around 12:30 or 1:00 and then come in for lunch," someone else offered.

"Oh. I see. Well, when do we usually cook out?" I asked, bracing myself.

"Around 6:00 or so. Just whenever we feel like it," came another answer.

Oh, no. I'm not a math person, but that would put us eating around 6:30 or 7:00, cleaning up around 7:45 or 8:00, saying good-bye around 8:00 or 8:15, and then getting into the car for the 150 minute drive back home around 8:30. I wouldn't be home until 11:00 p.m. that night. Only 12 more hours to go.

I was in the next group on the boat. We rode until 12:30, and went back to the lake house for lunch. Everyone took their sweet time filling up on lunch, and group three got into the boat around 2:30. (I didn't mention that the entire time in the boat Wild Man never spoke... to me or anyone else. At one point, I asked one of the other girls if he indeed was fluent in English. Maybe that was the problem. I didn't speak Italian or Portuguese or Russian. "You are so funny! I think that's why he likes you so much.")

"He likes me? Did he actually say those words? Did that come out of his mouth?" I asked.

"No. You can tell by his body language."

I wanted to throw myself overboard.

At 4:00, I was sitting on the porch of the dock watching the boat. Think, think, think. How can I get home? Pray, pray, pray. Lord, how can I get home? Thirty minutes later, black smoke started coming out of the boat, and it barely made it back to the dock. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Everyone was very concerned, but no one more than me. What if one of these guys was a boat mechanic. I looked around. Everyone looked just as dumbfounded as the next guy. YES! I ran back up to the lake house, threw a bag of charcoal on the grill, added tons of lighter fluid and lit that sucker! We were about to start cooking out! You've never seen one person make 22 hamburger patties so fast in your entire life!

Even with the boat breakdown, we still weren't ready to eat until 6:00. I did all the clean-up, mopped the kitchen, vacuumed the den, and swept the deck (while everyone was still finishing dinner).

At 7:30, we got in the car... and the countdown from 150 minutes backwards began. Thirty minutes into our drive home, he put his blinker on. "What are you doing? Why are you getting off the highway?" I know I sounded almost hysterical.

"Gas," was the one word reply. I looked at his dashboard. We had 1/8 of a tank. We could make a two hour trip on an 1/8 of a tank. I did it all the time! He refused to keep going, so I had to add another seven minutes to the 150 minute backward countdown. Total dejection!

Not one word was spoken for the remaining two hours left of the trip. Not one. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!

When we pulled into the driveway, he walked me to the front door. "I had a good time. Would you like to go out again?"

NO! NO! NO! I screamed inside my head. "I appreciate it, but I think we're better off just being friends," I said firmly, but politely. Friends who have never met and never, ever, ever speak to each other.

"Well, thanks for coming," and off he went.

I learned the most important lessons of Blind Dating 101 that day.

(1) Never, ever go on a blind date unless it is for lunch.

(2) Make sure the blind date is scheduled during the work week so you absolutely cannot stay over one hour.

(3) Always take your own car.

All three of these basic rules will ensure you will never waste an entire day of your life... and that you will never have to go on a first date in a bathing suit (albeit with a very nice, new cover-up).

DISCLAIMER: I said no "date" bashing. Wild Man was a gentleman at all times. He was a good driver and a generous, gracious host. He is now married to a beautiful, genteel woman, has four well-behaved children and is extremely wealthy. I made that last sentence up. I never heard from him again (no pun intended). But I do hope he has all those things, and much, much more!

Story #3 is simply called She Didn't Eat the Fish. It was a brief blind date, and it's failure was 100% my fault. There... I took total responsibility... and I don't do that often!

Valentine's Day Car Decorations

Sorry. I had said this was free, but actually, it is just terribly inexpensive! The day after Valentine's Day (from now on) buy three or four boxes of kid Valentines (SpongeBob, Princess, Hannah Montana... it doesn't matter) at 50% to 75% off. Keep them until the next year.

This year, however, you will need to pay full price for two or three boxes. (That's where the "Sorry" comes in.)

The night before Valentine's Day, after you've tucked the little ones in bed, make an excuse for Dad to leave the house in YOUR car. (Out of milk, need gas, etc., etc.) As soon as he pulls out of the driveway, the kids should be ready in PJs, coats and tennis shoes to run to Dad's car or truck. Put at least one kid inside and one or two on the outside of the car. Tear tape as fast as you can and let the kids decorate the entire car (inside and out) with over 100 Valentines. (You and the kids can pre-tear all the Valentines that afternoon before Dad comes home.)

They are excited because they are trying to finish before Dad gets back, and they got to jump out of bed after being tucked in.

If Dad can be totally surprised the first time you do this, that would be great. If you have to give him a little head's up so he won't ruin the surprise until morning, do so. Mike would put on a huge show for the kids who were peeking out the upstairs window every Valentine's Day... and then he would drive to work and back with over 100 Valentines stuck all over his car. He received many comments, but he loved the very visible way the kids showed their love for him.

We did this for several years when the kids were small, so this tradition will not last forever, but it is fun and sweet, and it is something brothers and sisters can work on together. It's also one of those things you try to teach them over and over again when they are small... giving is better than receiving!

It's getting closer and closer to Valentine's Day. Don't forget the elderly around your neighborhood, and make sure they receive a Valentine's Day card and/or candy or treat. It will take just a few extra minutes, but it will mean so much to them. Always, always, always take your kids with you when you visit and deliver goodies to the elderly or other neighbors. Let them learn by watching, so when they are adults they'll automatically think about "giving" and making time for the really important things in life.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I'll give you a fun date for you and your little Valentine tomorrow!