My Funny Valentine

    It was our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. We had no money and my husband was laid off from his job that winter. Our only income was his small unemployment check, but occasionally my he was able to pick up a little extra money plowing snow.
   That winter we had a lot of snow. On the
eve of Valentine’s Day there had been a heavy snowfall so my husband had been out all Valentine’s Day plowing. I worked that day making a special dinner, his favorite cake, and creating a Valentine card. The dinner was in the oven, done, ready to eat, but no husband. I turned the oven down and waited and waited, but still no husband.

   Finally, I decided to eat by myself.  I put the leftovers away, watched TV, and began to worry.  Maybe there had been a terrible accident.  Did he remember it was Valentine’s Day?  Was he celebrating somewhere without me? I fluctuated between worried and angry.
   About nine that evening I heard a car pull up outside and minutes later a wet, cold, snow-covered man walked through the door. There were ice crystals on his eyebrows and eyelashes and he was so tired that 

Just Shelf It

    I am a collector, and almost everything I collect is antique. I am not sure they all started out as antiques, but they are now. Let's just say after fifty years of collecting I have many, many items that I love. The real problem became how to organize and display these treasures. The solution, for me, became shelves or more precisely bookcases.
    Bookcases may have solved my display problems, but not necessarily my organizational problems.  However, many options are available for organizing shelves; organize by theme, size or subject matter, just to name a few.  I have seen toys grouped and interspersed between books with stuffed animals used as the bookends. I have also seen a camera collection that looks nice displayed with photography books and original black and white photos. Whatever your collection, the trick is to make a calm, cohesive, and visually pleasing arrangement. You could also choose to have no theme at all, just a random assortment of the things you enjoy.  Whatever you choose, follow a few very basic design tips.