Valentine's Day!

This is how I really feel about V-day. A very old post but still holds good even today. I think it is a media hype and people are forced to celebrate it. Restaurants spike up the prices and stores sell roses $20 a pop. Really?! Most of my friends who like to celebrate this great day, do so but not on the 14th of February. And what is worse? Nowadays kids are getting trained from the start to do this whole heartsy stuff.

So yes, my daughter's school had a V-day Party. And of course, as always parents have to pitch in to make these things work for the school. We were given the number of cards we had to make for her class. Obviously I did a head tilt and rolled my eyes while G said, "We are not doing all this nonsense. More waste of money." But then I am the mom and I cannot say the same thing and let her feel left out. So let me help her get in line with the peer pressure. Yay! Me!

I kept a budget of $20. I did not want to spend more than that for 17 kids altogether. To meet my budget, I made the greeting cards at home. I have loads of craft paper, glitter and glue at home. So I cut the papers to the size of a card that would fit into the left over envelopes after sending out the New Year Greeting cards. I drew hearts with glue and let Babs drop glitter on it. She enjoyed glittering while I whined about the mess. But it was a win-win because making 17 cards kept us busy during out epic-snow week.

Of course I had to use the left over enveloped which meant blue and brown. How do I make Blue and brown romantic? I added pink dots to it using glitter glue. Tee Hee Hee....

Then Babs and I did our trip to Tom Thumb. I calculated baking cupcakes against buying them. Buying worked out cheaper for 17 students and 11 teachers. So we picked up two trays of small cupcakes (did not want to load the kids on sugar) and one tray of large cupcakes for the teachers. $12 (Ka Ching!)

Finally, we stopped at a Dollar Store to pick up candies and treat sacks. Guess what I found there? The cutest heart shaped cases. I bought three bags of those ($3 total) and two bags of heart shaped chocolate ($2.50 total) and five bags of heart shaped candies ($3.50 total). After tax I had paid a little over $9. So with a total of $21 I was done.

We came home and I made babs help me put all the cards inside the envelope and seal them. Then we loaded the treat boxes with a chocolate and candies around it. Packed it and stuck it to the envelopes.

There, I made the daughter contribute. Stuck within the budget. Had the school happy and we were also happy! I think on a deeper level I enjoy doing these craft stuff more than Babs does because growing up our options were limited. I can still remember holding dearly to my precious camel water colors or the sketch pens that had only 12 basic colors. I had never heard of glitter glue or glitters. 

So a Happy V-day to everyone and hope you liked my idea :).

Love

ART

PS: You should definitely know that I did my Christmas gift shopping for 18 kids, 11 teachers and 12 adult friends for just above $50. I love budget shopping especially if I keep within in it. 

Winter Madness

• It was cute to see you wake up every morning and ask me excitedly, "No school today also Amma?" For five days in a row and then jumping up with a "Yay!"
• It was tiring to come up with something new to play with you for nine days in a row.
• It was sad to see your eyes watering non-stop...stupid cold!
• The excitement in your voice after seeing a snow covered balcony was priceless.
• Telling your friends that you cannot come to their house because of the bad weather was fun.
• Sleep over at two of our favorite friends two nights in a row...the best time pass!
• Playing 'kitchen' game and 'Restaurant' game again and again and hearing you say, "Ayla vaapas ye jal gaya," was hilarious.
• Taking afternoon naps with you snuggling tightly next to me to beat the cold was so comforting.
• Long talks on nothing was great.
• We also managed to take a mile long walk to the dog park and back on Sunday evening before things got bad...it was so peaceful.
• Baking cake, brownie with you was a fun experience.
• Making you dance for "Andangkaka" from Anniyan was awesome! Better still you mouthing the lyrics and trying to master it.
• Seeing you sing "Ek Suraj Naya," with your favorite uncle was the best feeling.
• No water in kitchen - sucked...the only bad experience.

I whined and moaned while I was stuck with you and your Papa for four days in a row inside the house. Today after getting back into the grind, I cannot tell you how much I miss you and those fun moments we had together. I wish we could do it all over again and yes, I will not change a single thing, but for maybe both of us being sick...I Loveeeeeee you Babbiiiiiiiii. You have made me love my life even more!

Love

Your Amma!