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It’s hard to believe Valentines Day is next week. Soon it will betime to run out and buy those cutesy Valentine cards so popular withthe preschool set. Wait a minute - they’re packaged in boxes shrinkwrapped in environmentally unfriendly plastic. Plus, who ever remembersto buy them until your little darling reminds you the day beforeValentine’s Day? By then the odds are good that you’ll need to make anextra trip to the store just to pick up the cards – wasting gas.

This Valentine’s Day, get ahead of the curve with an approach that’scute, eco-friendly, inexpensive, and fun. Go retro and make your ownValentine’s cards!

You can get fancy if you want, but I’ve gotten rave reviews from thepreschool teachers with just the simplest of Valentines. Before my soncould even cut out a heart shaped valentine, he cut circles, squares,

I learned an important lesson this week. My husband is a parent too.

Okay, I'm exaggerating. My husband is actually a great parent. A wonderful parent.He adores the kids and they adore him. But, after a year of intensivehome renovations, it had gotten to the point where I felt like I wasparenting solo. Many nights he would get home from work with a quickkiss for us and then disappear into the construction zone. Sometimes hewould come back in for a quick dinner only to disappear again,sometimes he'd just pop his head back in for a goodnight kiss. Now,some of you may be thinking, what's the big deal? Allow me to respond:no daddy from the hours of 5pm to 8pm? Prime dinner, bath, andbed-time? With two toddlers? Do you now have teenagers and just notremember what 7pm is like for a 2 year old?