Valentines Day, Monday, February 14th, 2011

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

February 14th, 2011

It's MONDAY!

Today is Valentine’s Day and National Have A Heart Day. One promotes romance, the other promotes eating your vegetables.

It is a romantic event for lovers and a fun event for kids and family. Many a couple become engaged or wed on this day. For others it is a day to fall in love.

Did you know? While 75% of chocolate purchases are made by women all year long, during the days and minutes before Valentine's Day, 75% of the chocolate purchases are made by men. Over $1billion of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day.

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end

Author Unknown

St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers. Father Valentine was beheaded in Rome on this date in 269. The first valentine card was probably sent by the Duke of Orleans while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415.

It is also Read to a Child Day. It's the perfect opportunity to spend about 30 minutes reading to a child.

Children who are read to learn two things. First, that reading is worthwhile, and second that they are worthwhile.

Laura Bush

THINKING

The one who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today: Reflect on the relationship between love and forgiveness

Love is the thing that enables

a woman to sing

while she mops up the floor

after her husband has walked

across it in his barn boots.

By a Hoosier Farmer

NEW IN THE KITCHEN

VALENTINES DAY!

No one day of the year is sufficient to sustain a lasting romantic relationship. One big way that couples demonstrate their love for each other year round is by cooking for one another! Forget the store-bought sentimentality of chocolates, candies, or romantic restaurants this Valentine's Day. Make your Valentine's Day surprise with your own hands, from your heart to your partner's stomach!

Strawberry Valentine Dessert

Crust
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 pound margarine
4 tablespoons sugar

Topping
1 package (10 oz. size) frozen red raspberries, thawed
1 package (10 oz. size) frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch

For the crust: Mix all ingredients until well blended. With the back of a spoon, press into a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.

For the topping: Combine sugar and cornstarch. Add a small amount of liquid from the thawed berries and blend with the sugar and cornstarch then add rest of liquid berries. Cook over low heat until thickened. Cool. Pour on crust and refrigerate. Cut in squares and serve with whipped cream

PRAYERS

Valentine's Day

Is a wonderful way

To make "I love you"

Easy to say.

I think of people I met in the past.…

Many, many people. Where are they now?

Some are still friends, some just a Christmas card; others no longer meet but never forgotten.

Not every friendship lasts forever; we move house, school and job, we drift away from people.

But every memory of friendship shared, even for a short time, is a treasure, like sunshine and warmth in our lives, like a cool breeze on a humid day, like a shower of rain refreshing the earth.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of friendship at every moment of life

Amen

Please pray for God's protection of

our troops and HIS wisdom for their

commanders.

Lord, hold our troops in

your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the

selfless acts they perform for us

in our time of need. I ask this in the

name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

AND bless our Police Officers, Firefighters

and Paramedics and EMT's

GOD BLESS YOU!

AROUND HOME

Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart

Author Unknown

It was a quiet Sunday here at my house. I made it out to church and was very delighted to see DS#5 and his family there. Our little Mr. Wonderful was such a good boy in church too. He delighted everyone sitting around us with his smiles for sure.

Today I'll be getting some more of them as he'll be here this week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There is nothing much else on my calendar until Friday and then DD and I plan to do our annual Presidents Day Sale shopping.

Have a great Monday everyone!

COUNTING THE DAYS

No exercise is better for the human heart than reaching down to lift up another person.

Tim Russert

34 DAYS UNTIL SPRING

63 DAYS UNTIL CAMPING SEASON BEGINS

Keep looking ON THE BRIGHT SIDE of things.

A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone near…

Love,

ma