A Simple Valentine's Day

So, a couple of people have recently asked me if I am doing anything for my kids for Valentine's day, and I guess I was just planning on being a total Valentine's Day slacker :) I hadn't given it a thought, really. We aren't girls (except for me and the hens) and we don't eat candy at our house, so what does the holiday really mean for us, anyway?

A lot more than you might think, actually. Like 10 years ago, Zach and I met on Valentine's Day. Who does that? I had never even had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day, so that was kind-of cool. And after 7 years of being together, our first child ended up with a due date of November 10. You do the math...TMI, I know, I know...But, anyway, if the day should mean anything to any family, it should be ours, right?

So, we need to celebrate. Now, what should we do? Well, we're somewhere between medical school and getting back into the workforce at the moment, so we need to be frugal (yes, it is an ugly word!) My first thought, however, was to log on to Amazon and shop for some little Plan City vehicles (which are about $7-$12 each.) I quickly logged off and thought, "not right now." So, I started to think about other ideas that would cost little to nothing. Heart-shaped pancakes are a given. We'll use our recipe that is kind-of naughty (and way yummy!) and full of dairy (and protein.) It came from my friend, Kelly (who happens to be my Valentine this year, since both of our husbands are in Haiti.)

Here's the recipe:

1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour, but regular flour is fine)
6 TBSP melted butter

Instructions:

Whip or blend the cottage cheese until smooth. Stir in the eggs and melted butter, then add the flour.

Cook pancakes until golden, then flip and cook for an additional minute. Do not overcook, These pancakes are moist and should spring back to the touch.

And for the topping:

Small bag of frozen raspberries
1/2 cup of agave nectar or maple syrup

heat on stove top until warm. Enjoy!

So, back to our Valentine's creativity....Tonight my kids and I were over at my parents' house watching Hollywood week on American Idol and I noticed how much fun the boys were having, playing with the vintage collection of fisher price little people my mom has at her house. (You know, the ones that don't have arms or legs and that were later modified so that they wouldn't be choking hazards...) I asked if I could wrap a couple of them up for Valentine's, noting that we would be (more than) happy to bring them back as soon as the kids start losing interest. She was delighted with the idea and even hooked me up with cute little Valentine's gift bags. So, there you go.

People sometimes ask how I became somewhat passionate about simple living (and i say somewhat, because I am somewhat passionate about shopping at Target as well)...and it was the combination of several things: living with and becoming close with our simple guru friends Chris and Kaye, living near Boulder, being motivated to live on one income, reading Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution, and viewing this clever little video called "The story of stuff" with Annie Leonard. I am sure that there were about a hundred other contributing factors, but those are the ones that popped into my head. Additionally, I had this realization when Levi was born that I could not stand the idea of any of our kids' toys or clothing being made by children. Here is a link to the Story of Stuff. It's really cool, so if you haven't seen it already, please check it out.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/