9 weeks in

We've officially been back in Salina for 9 weeks now. God has provided in amazing ways. We have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with our family and have been blessed to have been able to reconnect with old friends. Here are some highlights we've been able to enjoy since being back.

1. It's QUIET at night and you can see the stars!
2. We can see our family any time we want!
3. We can walk to the park and play outside because it's not a million degrees outside.
4. Three words: Salina Public Library.
5. Gabriel started preschool and soccer!
6. DATE NIGHTS with FREE babysitting!
7. Season tickets to the community theater!
8. K-State Football games!
9. It takes 10 minutes to get across town.
10. Bogeys, Dairy Queen, and Rolling Hills Refuge....need I say more?





But there are a few areas that we're still seeking guidance on. We'd appreciate any prayers you could shoot our way on the following things.

1. Jobs for both Michael and I.
2. Finding a church home. We've been trying out several churches in the area and have come to realization that we were SUPER spoiled in Keller. Everything from the music to the teaching style was incredible and done with excellence. That's not to say we aren't going to find that here in Salina - it's more of adjusting our expectations and find out where God wants us to be. We are ready to be connected to a body of believers in Christ and develop some new friendships, ones that can keep us accountable to the mission we feel we have been called to.
3. Finding a new home. My in-laws have been so gracious to allow us to stay with them for the past 9 weeks with our two boys. It's been fun hanging out and getting to share meals together. But, we are really ready for our own place. Both Michael and I are ready to find our own "home" and establish some normalcy for our boys. The past 9 weeks of staying here as been such a blessing, but we hope God opens up some doors (literally!) soon to allow us to make our own home here in Salina. And I'm pretty sure my in-laws will be happy to have their garage and their basement back!

Overall, we are very happy with our move back home. We both feel confident that this move home was the right now. Now we wait on God to shine light on the next part of the path. At this point, we feel as though we're in a holding pattern, but for what purpose? Until we figure that out, we'll continue working at being content with where we are. But let's end on a positive note! Here are a few more snap shots of the last 9 weeks here in Salina.

God's Provision

You know when you have a secret that is super awesome, but you've sworn not to tell anyone? I've been attempting to manage that anxious feeling for a while now. Finally, I can let the cat out of the bag.

We're moving back to Kansas!

Right before we got pregnant with Dominic, we had thrown around the idea of putting our house on the market and moving to a bigger house. Moving back to Kansas had always been a pull for us, but we didn't know how we were going to make that work. Then I got pregnant and all plans to put the house on the market got put on hold. I wanted to have our baby in a Texas hospital, using the same doctor that delivered Gabriel. But after being pregnant for a few months, Michael and I started feeling that pull again. We felt the Lord prompting us to put the house on the market again.

But wasn't the market terrible? Did we even stand a chance at selling our house? Although not super optimistic, we decided to move forward and contact a realtor. We met a fabulous group of folks with ReMax Masters and had a very honest discussion with our soon to be realtors, Bill & Pat Evans. The numbers didn't look good. As it stood, we looked at taking at least a $20,000 hit on our house. Yowza! The Evans tell told us to call them when we were ready to make a decision. So, back to praying we went.

As we approached Dominic being born, the pull to move closer to family grew stronger and stronger. We agonized over the decision. We'd made some terrific friends in Texas, Michael had a good job. Moving to Kansas would be crazy...but then when you follow what God wants you to do, you sometimes have to do what seems crazy (you know, that whole "lean not on your own understanding part"). Two weeks after Dominic arrived, I called Bill back. We were ready. Then Michael and I started praying even harder. If we were going to do this, we needed some clear direction from the Lord and He was going to have to provide a way to make this happen. We asked Him over and over again:

"Are you sure you want us to move?"

"Do we stay in Texas or move to Kansas?"

"What about a job for Michael?"

The only answer we heard consistently was, "Trust Me." So that's what we did. And 86 days after making the decision to put our house on the market, we going to be selling our home AND Michael is going to be able to stay on at his job until he finds a new one in Kansas. GOD PROVIDES!

The day we moved in! When we were the only kids on the block!

It's official! SOLD!

I want to extend a special thank you to Bill & Pat Evans, and let us not forget sweet Carla! We could not have done this without you!! There were been a few road blocks along the way, but God has proven His faithfulness through every one of them. Although we'll have to live with our parents for a couple months to get back on our feet, we feel certain that this is the path God has intended us to take. We're trusting Him.

Michael and I are extremely excited about this next chapter of our lives with our boys. Although it's bittersweet to leave our Texas family, especially our sweet church family at Milestone, there is great joy at thinking about how God is going to use us in new and creative ways in our home town. And the grandparents are just a "little" excited!

Milestone Church - we will miss you so much!

So, farewell, Texas. You've been a fabulous home these past 8 years. We'll always think of you fondly.

Fluff Frenzy

Photo Credit: Love and Whimsy Photography

I didn't know it was possible to become addicted to diapers. Cloth diapers, that is. We are in love with them! Who knew that cute prints and fluffy little bottoms would be something I didn't get tired of?

We've been "CDing" it (cloth diapering) for 7 weeks now and I love it even more than I did when we first started. There are some that would be skeptical about starting to cloth diaper, but let me expel some myths for you about cloth diapering.

1. "I'll have to use pins and old Birdseye cloth diapers. What a hassle, not to mention unflattering."

Nope. Truth is there are so many options out there for cloth diapering mommies and daddies now that it can actually be like trying to find a prom dress. They're all so cute, but which ones do I choose? We have a variety of cloth diapers to choose from, which I like. I'm glad we aren't an "all one system" family. My husband has his favorites and I have mine. Surprisingly, my favorites are prefolds! (These are the ones that are most similar to the cloth diapers our grandparents used. But the upgrade is no pins and they have the most adorable diaper covers for them!) My husband prefers the pocket diapers. These are diapers you can use just like a disposable, except they're reusable! Each night after the diapers are clean and dry, I stuff microfiber inserts into the pocket liners and then they're ready to use the next morning. You put them on baby just like a regular diaper! Diaper changes are fast and easy!

2. "I'll have to spend so much money up front. We just can't afford it."

Well, this might be somewhat true but not completely. When you figure in the cost of buying newborn diapers for the first month or two, you've about covered your cost. The beauty of cloth diapering is you spend it once and don't have to spend money again! (Unless you get sucked into buying more diapers because they're so cute...not that I do that...) Cloth diapering can be done as little as around $100, upwards to $400-500. It just depends on the system you choose. As I mentioned, we chose a mixture of diapers including all-in-ones, pockets, prefolds, and fitteds. To date, I spent around $300 total. That included about 24 different diapers, diaper creams, detergent, snappies and a wet bag. I would have spent this on disposables within the first two or so months.

3. "They'll be so messy. Eww. Can't deal with all the poo."

Seriously? Have you ever used a disposable? They are notorious for blowouts and leaks! Another great thing about cloth diapers is that they fit around your child better to contain blowouts and leaks. Unlike a disposable, cloth diapers have elastic in the back, containing blowouts and leaks better. And washing them is a breeze. Because Dominic is strictly breastfed, his dirty diapers are totally water soluble. At night, I just toss the whole wet bag of diapers in and wash up! No mess, no hassle. When he starts solids, I'll have a nifty little device called a diaper sprayer that will just spray the poo off into the toilet. No dunking and swirling required. And really, if you're afraid of poo, you might rethink being a parent if you haven't had kids yet. Poo is inevitable, as is spit up, vomit, and getting peed on. Get used to it.


4. "It's a total pain to wash all those diapers. And you're using up so much water!"
Wrong. It's easy. I actually look forward to doing my diaper laundry. I know that sounds strange since I dispise all other kinds of laundry. But doing fluffy laundry is fun! How can you deny that a full clothesline of diapers is stinkin' cute? And if we're talking about harming the environment, have you considered how many disposable diapers are just sitting in landfills, NOT breaking down? Billions! Sure, we use a little more water now that we're doing an extra load of laundry a day. But compared to the harm those disposables are doing in landfills, I think my conscience can rest happily knowing I'm not putting another diaper in our landfills.

Photo Credit: Love and Whimsy Photography

5. "They're not practical for out and about usage."
Sure they are! That's why amazing women (and men) around the globe have come up with new and improved cloth diapering systems that cater to busy parents. Packing up a few cloth diapers when I go out is no more impractical than carrying several disposables in a diaper bag. I have a little wet bag that I keep in my diaper bag that the used diaper can go into. Then I take it home and wash it up with the rest of the day's diapers. Now I realize that cloth diapering can intimate folks that are not used to it or have no experience with it. I haven't jumped ship entirely and abandoned disposables all together. If I were leaving my child in the church nursery, at this point, I'd probably send my baby in a disposable. But if it's just me, toolin' around town, we're CDing all the way! They're no more of a pain than changing a disposable and I can use my diapers all over again the next day!

As I stated in an earlier post about cloth diapering, we are not doing this entirely for the "green" reasons. Our driving force behind cloth diapering our son was to save money. Let's face it, times are tough and money's tight in a one income household. You've got to pinch pennies where you can. We've found that cloth diapering our baby is an easy and fun way to do this. I'm not against disposables for others. If that works best for you, go for it. But this system has been life changing for us and I wish I had figured CDing out earlier and had used them for Gabriel. We could have saved thousands of dollars, literally.

If you're throwing around the idea of CDing your babies, I'd encourage you to do a lot of research to figure out what system would work best for you. You might want to use a hybrid system like me, or maybe you've fallen in love with a particular brand. Give it a shot and try it out for a couple months. In the end, if you try it out and don't like it (which I haven't heard many that don't) you can always go back. All you've spent is a couple months worth of diapers. Check out great information websites like theclothdiaperwhisperer.com, kellyscloset.com, jackbenatural.com, and diaperjungle.com. These are just a few sites that have great information and are great places to purchase cloth. Or host a diaper party! I did this (see Febuary's posts for my experience with this), and loved it. It was so informative and allowed me to really decide what kind of system I'd want to invest in. Bottom line, consider it. My guess is you'll fall in love with it too. Then you may be trying to figure out how to come up with extra money to purchase more fluff for your baby...not that I do that either.

Totally Hooked on Cloth

So Dominic's arrival is just a couple of weeks away (or it could be tomorrow, who knows). As I've shared with you, we're getting ready to cloth diaper our little guy this time around and I am already completely sold out to cloth diapering without even trying it. I'm addicted to the cuter than cute fluff that is available for babies and the idea of saving THOUSANDS of dollars on diapers makes me giddy with glee!

This coming Monday, I'm hosting a Cloth Diapering party at my house and I'm so excited! Kristi Rooks from Hip Green Baby is coming to give demonstrations on how to use cloth diapers and give a run down on what options are available right now for cloth diapering families. Not only does she sell some of the major brands of cloth diapers (FuzziBunz, SoftBums, Kissaluvs, Thirsties, etc), she also makes her own. Now, you all know I'm a sucker for people that craft their own things, so her innovation and devotion to making her own cloth diapers to sell brings a smile to my face. WAY TO GO! I've got 6 other mommies that are going to be attending and I'm hoping that they're going to fall in love with cloth as much as I have.

So far, I've purchased 4 Fuzzibunz diapers, 3 Bum Genius 4.0's, and 1 Thirsties Diaper cover (planning on purchasing some prefolds from Kristi on Monday). I ordered all of these from Kellys Closet, an amazing cloth diapering online store and resource center. They also have a fantastic blog called The Cloth Diaper Whisperer that I've started following. One of the deals that the store had was that if you purchased $59 in cloth diapers, you could receive a FREE cloth diaper (up to a $22 value). Well, I was going to be purchasing my initial stash, so I said, "Sign me up!" When all my sweet fluff came in the mail a couple of weeks ago, inside was a Sunshine Yellow Rumparooz. SOOO CUTE! I'm also planning on purchasing some SoftBums diapers on Monday. I've already seen Kristi do a demonstration at another friends house and she's amazing. I was very impressed with how knowledgeable she was about cloth diapering. I also appreciated that she taught us about cloth diapering in such a way that the fear often associated with moving from disposables to cloth lessened a great deal. I can not wait to put Dominic in these diapers. I've actually been considering putting Gabriel in a cloth diaper at night and moving away from using disposables all together for him, especially since he only uses one a day.

Don't be surprised if my blog starts to have more cloth diapering posts. Eventually, I'm even going to start making my own wipes. I'm all about saving a buck and transitioning to this style of living is going to save us hundreds!

Cloth Diapering Adventure

In about 19 weeks, we're going to have a newborn again. Another adorable, chubby, sweet little boy! Just last Wednesday, I found out that Baby @#2 was going to be a boy. Which was surprising for both Michael and I, considering we were totally convinced this baby was going to be a girl. But it makes no difference to us. We can't wait to have a little guy with chubby legs, cute baby coos, soft baby skin....

However, we're not looking forward to little to no sleep, maybe getting in 2-3 showers a week, and loads of diapers.

When we had Gabriel, I always thought it would be "fun" to try cloth diapering. But I didn't think it was realistic for our family. Who has time to do laundry once a day or every other day, and ewww! Wouldn't it be gross? And what do you do when you're on the go? Aren't they super expensive?

Fast forward two and a half years with one child being in diapers. I think Huggies, Pampers, Costco, and now Target have made a small fortune on the amount of money I've spent on disposable diapers. Earlier this week, I had to go buy yet another package of diapers for Gabriel (as potty training is not going so well), and had a small heart attack when I realized how much per diaper I was spending lately. $.39 a diaper!!! Because I've got a football player in the making, my son has to wear a size 6, which is the biggest diaper they make. Which also means that I have to buy packages that contain the least amount of diapers for the same amount of money. After handing over my $15 to Target for my small box of "generic" diapers, I took a deep breath and affirmed myself that with this new baby we would be doing things differently.

My friend Lauren, who's also expecting, threw a cloth diaper party a couple of months ago and I was able to see all the different kinds of cloth diapering systems. Needless to say I was overwhelmed. But that wasn't going to turn me back to using disposables. So for the past few months, I've been researching all different kinds of diapering systems. Unfortunately, I still haven't made a decision on what we want to try. The initial investment for cloth diapering can really add up, spending close to $200-300 up front. But when you compare that to the amount of money spent on diapering a baby for two years with disposables, it's just a drop in the bucket. And, the benefits of cloth diapering as opposed to disposables are awesome too! Less diaper rash, no torn tabs, no more killing the environment. All I need to do now is make a decision on what few diapers I want to try before we take a huge plunge into a system. Here are a couple of the brands we're looking at pretty seriously. Any thoughts, suggestions, or experiences that you think would help us make an informed decision are welcome!

Soft Bums

Fuzzi Bunz

Thirsties

A New Venture

I've been a stay at home mom now for approximately 25 months. And I love it. It has great benefits, no dress code, and I can usually take a bathroom break whenever I feel the need. But there is one slight disadvantage.

Lack of payment.

Yes, I get paid in love, tickles, hugs, peanut butter and jelly, and an occasional nap. But as far as seeing a monetary benefit, I've got nothing. Hopefully that will change in the near future as I'm getting closer to taking my National Counselors Exam (NCE) and securing a (cross your fingers here) PAID internship. But until then, money remains tight. Knowing that I'm a Freeland, it may not surprise you that I'm careful with our money. We save, Save, SAVE - all the time. But since I've been without a job for two years, it's been harder to take advantage of various "fun" activities because what we save has been paying bills...and insurance...and school loans. Going to the movies, out to eat, getting a pedicure, or buying clothes and shoes are all luxuries that I don't get to partake in very often. And now that graduation is over and the degree is in hand, more school loans are about to arrive in nice little white envelopes come November.

My solution for this has been to not only seek a paid internship, but to dabble in a little side business. I may not have mentioned it before but I love to sew. Back in college, I was able to train and learn under an awesome guy named Mark at Kansas State when I worked in the costume shop. I learned how to make lots of things, from petticoats and corsets, to ballgowns and dress pants. Within the past year, I've started making more things with my nifty little sewing machine. Specifically baby items. So far I've mastered how to make Slings, Embellished Burp Cloths, Nursing Aprons, Blankets, Diaper Bag Changing Pads, and Snugglers (mini-security blankets). After I started making these for friends, people kept telling me, "You should sell these." So after much prayer and a leap of faith, I decided to go through with it. Here's a peek at some of the items I've made over the past year.

The following are various other custom orders for friends -

from Burp Cloths to Nursing Aprons:

For Baby Liam

For Baby Owen
For Baby Caitlin

Various other designs and items (Snugglers not pictured)

Right now I'm working on choosing a name, getting a logo and website, and setting up an online store. But in the interim, I'm taking orders over e-mail and Facebook. I would love to make you something special. As an incentive to try me out, I'm offering a 20% discount to anyone that contacts me and mentions my blog "Some Babies Just". I guarantee you'll receive an item that is made with love and creativity. Leave me a comment or e-mail me (find the email in my profile box) if you're interested in having me start a special project just for you or someone you love.

Sugar and Spice

I told myself that this summer was going to be the summer for projects. I have loads of things on my list, which I'll be sure to share throughout the summer. But the first project that I was ready to head up was organizing my spice cupboard.

Now I love to cook, but I often get frustrated because my cupboard is booby trapped. Where is Data from The Goonies when I need him? I have approximately 50+ spices and seasonings, so this organization is LONG over due.

Spices are crammed in there so tight I have to take
half the cupboard out before I can find what I need.
And look how ghetto I am! I have some spices in Ziplock bags.
This is to show how much was in that cupboard
and the varying sizes of everything.

I got the idea to tackle this from my friend Jenny (check out her blog, it's cool...). She was in the same predicament that I was. Lots of spices, all in different size bottles and lacking uniformity (something us perfectionists REALLY need). She did the leg work and found out that buying jars that would be cute and fun would cost approximately $2-3 a piece. Well, who has that kind of money to spend on spice jars? So she came up with a brilliant idea to re-use baby food jars! I had no idea what she was up to when she asked me to start saving Gabriel's old ones, but let's just say I was thoroughly impressed. She caught some great pictures of her results. Now, my pictures are not nearly as fancy or artistically taken as hers, but you get the point.

I used Goo Gone to get the sticky off the jars
(see my notes for a better way to do this)

Washed them several times to make sure they were sanitized.

This was about half of the jars I used.
I also used larger 6 oz jars for spices I had a bigger quantity of.
Clean Lids!

Spray painting the lids with chrome paint and polyurethane.

I decided to use a polyurethane to seal the lids but it's so important
to let this dry fully before you try to use them.
(I got a little impatient and left finger prints on some of my lids)
Look at how cute my jars turned out!
You can hand write the labels like Jenny did
(which she has fantastic handwriting!),
or you can cheat and print them off like me!

FINISHED PRODUCT!! I feel so fancy now!
Don't they look pretty? I love how the colors look against one another.
My new cupboard!

Couple of things that I wish I had done differently (if you think of doing this yourself):

1. No matter how anxious or excited you are about finishing up, WAIT FOR THE PAINT TO DRY! It's worth it to wait.

2. If you are able to get a hold of jars with the label still attached, keep them on there and soak them overnight in a soapy bath. Then use your fingernail or a razor blade to take the sticky off. I used the Goo Gone which worked until it dried, then I realized I had smeared the glue everywhere. It was a pain to take off.

3. I would still like to find some thing recyclable that goes with my theme to put my extracts and my shakers in.

That's it! I'm so happy with how they turned out! My life is just a little more organized now, which is always a special blessing! I think it turned out really well. And the spices look so pretty in there. It feels so good to be recycling used things and I think the total cost for me was $2 for a can of spray paint. That beats $2-3 a jar and they look just as nice. If you need a place to get jars b/c you don't have any kiddos leaving you with a large amount of them, check out your local Freecycle (this is where I got more jars). More likely than not, some mommy is saving hers and would be happy to give them to you.

Now, all I have to do if I run out of a spice is head to Central Market and just buy the spice in the quantity I need, no wasting of a plastic jar! Go Green and try to organize by using recyclable products. :) Next up, painting the living room!

The New Toy

So, I have a new toy. My husband and I are not ones to spend money on ourselves. Nor are we the type of people to purchase the latest and greatest technology.

But after a YEAR of researching (and procrastinating) we have bought...dun, dun, dun: iPHONES!

And they're fabulous. I won't lie. I probably play with it and am on it WAY more than I should be. Am I now too connected? Probably. But am I'm having fun being WAY too connected? Oh absolutely. Just ask Facebook.

Here's just a sample of the fun we've been having with them.

We have arrived

It's time to unbuckle our seat belts, step out of the car into the baking hot sun and take a look around. We've done it, kids. We're here.

Our family has been going through some "stretching" as of late. Much of it has been needed, but I won't lie to you. It's been a hard thing to go through. Often times, things don't go as planned. Some things don't work out. But one thing I know for sure. After going through this forced stretching, you will come out a stronger person and better off.

This week our lives start anew. We're going to be experiencing some firsts. And we're excited about it.

Alright, enough with the vague reflections. For those that know what's going on: we're doing great, things are looking up, and we're ready to move forward.

Take a right at the fork in the road

Thus begins a new journey for my family. We're getting ready to go into uncharted waters and I'm nervous. Do we have enough food? Did I remember to pack an extra pair of underwear? Did someone remember to let the dog out? I have a feeling we may be stopping at some gas stations along the way to ask for directions, even though my husband cringes at the very thought of it. We knew this trip was coming, but it snuck up on us. Hopefully we've got enough gas in the tank to make it where we're going...even though we're not really sure where that is yet (hence asking Joe Bob at the 7-11 for directions). If anyone has any ideas on where our final destination should be, we're open to suggestions.

Don't you love it when people talk in metaphor?

Frugal Freeland

I believe I have reached a point of frugality that is cool. The days of Swedish Massages from Olga and pedicures from Hong Hanh (whose American name is Lisa) are LONG gone. About 10 years ago, being frugal was like wearing plaid with stripes. It just didn't work. You were not considered "cool" if you clipped coupons, shopped the clearance rack, or used freecycle.org. Now we're in the present day. Times are different. Both Michael and I are busting it to try to keep our little family of three afloat on one income. I'm a nut when it comes to the Grocery Game, following Slick Deals on Twitter, and am a frequent peruser of FreeCycle. No longer is there shame or stigma attached to hauling in 40 coupons with you when you check out at Kroger or Tom Thumb. Far off are the times when buying anything in a resale shop would consider you of lesser socioeconomic status. Times have changed. Everyone is in the same boat, the Gotta Get a Deal boat.

Earlier this afternoon, one of my best friends and I were talking excitedly about planning a day date of going to Thrift World (the best Resale/Goodwill-esk type store this side of Dallas). I told her I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and she suggested we make a trip. What a great idea, Carissa! The money had been put aside for some new clothes anyway, but the thought of buying actual "NEW" clothes made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I can't pay full price for anything anymore. So what if it's gently used? If I'm getting it for a $1, vs. $40 at Macy's, who's the sucker?

My transition into Frugal Land has also made my husband thrilled beyond belief. We both get a feeling of joy after planning out our grocery list, taking the time to clip the coupons, and ringing up a whole cart of groceries, having the check out lady hand us a receipt saying we saved 50% or more. (Thank you Grocery Game and my coupon ammunition) It's our way of sticking it to the man...although I'm not quite sure what man we're really sticking it to...and what exactly are we sticking to him?

All of the hipsters are now on the cheap, tightwad train just like me. I actually feel like I'm finally in the cool crowd, sitting at the popular table of prudent, penny-pinchers. Who knows, maybe I'll get nominated for prom queen this year. I'm pretty sure Thrift World has prom dresses on sale in March.

The Addiction

Hello. My name is Kristina. [Hi, Kristina.] I'm addicted to TV.

I admit it. I'm completely enthralled with this little box that lights up. Michael and I have always joked around about our perfect date being dinner at home and watching a movie together on the couch. But the more we think about it, the more it's not a joke. We really love TV. What's funnier than just being addicted to television is being addicted to television when you don't have cable (or satellite). Our new best friend, offering loads of prime time drama, is hulu.com. Have you heard of it? It's fabulous! Most of the shows we enjoy watching can all be found on hulu (minus Lost). And now that Michael has figured out how to hook up our MacBookPro to our rather large television, the enjoyment of TV watching is even greater.

Here is just a sample of what we're addicted to. (Don't you love that I'm throwing him in this addiction admittance, too?)

In no particular order:
1. Lost
2. The Office
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. Chuck
5. House
6. Heroes
7. Fringe
8. Lie to Me
9. 24 (although your days are numbered Jack Bauer...you've jumped one to many sharks as of late)

Wow. That's only 9...that's not too bad, is it? I mean, we're not even in double digit territory. Maybe I'm not as much of an addict as I thought.

Well, even if I'm not an addict, there is no denying that I LOVE to watch shows with my handsome groom. Although the story lines seem to go no where sometimes (House and Cuddy are never going to do it, Hiro will always think he's meant to save the world alone, there will always be tension between Jack, Sawyer and Kate, and Michael Scott will NEVER learn to be socially appropriate) it's a dang good source of FREE entertainment. Thank you, television networks for feeding my addiction with quality programming. I heart you.

Overrated

Ah, February 14th. The day of love, flowers, chocolates, and romantic dinners. The night where men profess their love to the women in their lives and life is at an all time high.

I love you, Sarah.

I love you too, Robert.

(he gets down on one knee, opening the box containing the ring she has be waiting her whole life for.) Sarah, will you marry me?

(tears in her eyes) Oh yes, Robert, yes!

*insert screeching record here**
Riiiiiight.....In the Freeland house it works a little differently. Valentine's Day is just another day on the calendar. Michael and I have never really celebrated Valentine's Day. We don't bother with it, not to mention my husband is against buying flowers for anyone, let alone me. The thought of being expected to buy me flowers on a certain day because Hallmark tells him it's the thing to do, is repulsive. Second, both of us find it irritating that one day is set aside a year where you're supposed to declare your love for your significant other. Call me cynical, but when I said my vows almost 5 years ago, wasn't I suppose to show my husband I loved him every day of the year?

Now don't get me wrong, I love being wooed. Even though he finds it ridiculous to buy flowers that will eventually die, I enjoy receiving roses, daisies, and the like...I'll never turn those down. But I don't want my husband to give me flowers, chocolates, or ridiculously expensive jewelry because he feels obligated or guilted into it. I want him to show me he loves me intangibly and tangibly when he chooses to (preferably more than once a year!). I think this makes the gesture more genuine and appreciated all the more.

Whether your a cynic like me or you buy into the hub-bub of this commericalized holiday, Happy Valentine's Day. Hopefully your lover will continue telling you how much he/she loves you even after the 14th of February has passed. I know mine will, just not with flowers.