My cheapskate Valentine.

Happy Valentine's day everyone! Hope it's good for all. I'm always amazed by the wide range of how people celebrate Valentines Day. Some people lavish each other with chocolate, jewelry, flowers and/or dinner at a fancy restaurant. Then there are couples that take "V" day with pretty much and "eh" attitude (of course when I was single, it was the holiday I hated the most, so there is that range on the celebrating spectrum, too).

I've always thought that my husband and I kind of took the middle path, with a slight veer toward "eh" at times. Over the past few years, we have gotten a heart shaped pizza from a take'n'bake place, had cookies, and get each other (and the kids) a small gift and chocolates.

Well, this year just feels different. Because I know times are tight, I asked for the gift of time from my husband, that's all. See, I have a massage gift certificate leftover from my birthday last year, so I just wanted the time to use it. Fate is not in my favor, however, as the spa is booked up for Saturday. So I'm hoping hubby does not go crazy and buy me something..... too big (haha). All I got him was some special dark chocolates that I found on sale and some spicy nuts, also on sale.

But the best part of our Valentines day will be after the kids go to bed (not that you dirty minded people!). I'm going to make some hors 'duerves and fondue just for him and I. I might even get dolled up a little while he's putting the kids to bed. I'm pretty excited that I was able to get all of my supplies/ingredients for decent prices or raid my freezer for them. I also hand made his card and found an awesome quote to use in it. All in all it should be a pretty cheap Valentine for us. And I am A-OK with that!

And the walls came tumbling down.

Hello everyone. Welcome to my life. I thought I'd give you a little back-story to show how I come here today.
This goes back to six months ago. On a sunny day in October, my boss of over seven years came into our office. I was the only one working in that branch that afternoon, so I was pretty surprised to see her. She let me know that even though it saddened her horribly, the company I worked for needed to lay me off, temporarily(?).
She explained how it was a hard decision for the owners of the co., but since I was a part-time employee, they were going to have to let me go for a little while, but hopefully the mortgage market will pick up. More than likely not before Christmas, or January or February, mind you. Those are always our slowest months.
So I got the fun task of going home to tell my husband "I am now a stay at home mom, can we afford it?" I just sat like a zombie through dinner and while the kids watched a movie. I had been doing my work for over seven years. I loved it, what was I going to do now? I think I would have really freaked out, if it wasn't for my awesome husband. He always keeps me on the even keel. We talked and prayed all night. And we really looked at this as an opportunity. Our little guy was just about to turn two, how much fun to be with him all the days. Plus, wouldn't it be great to be able to meet our 6 year old at the bus stop every day? Of course we were worried about the money, but we knew we'd figure it out one way or another.
Well, it's been four months now, but it has FLOWN by! I am loving being with my kids, though I do still look for work and file for unemployment. And I'm dealing with issues about being laid off and an at home mommy. But that's for another post.....