Homemade Valentines

I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day and thankfully Aaron's not big on the Hallmark holiday either. I pity all those fellows running around trying to pick up flowers or being pressured into making dinner reservations at overbooked (and overpriced) restaurants. I'd much prefer a lovely home cooked meal than being crammed ("asshole to bellybutton," as my father would say) into some restaurant with a million other couples fawning all over one another. Not to mention, being assaulted by red and white carnations arranged with babies breath, or large dangling hearts hitting me in the head. Call me Uncle Scrooge, but I like to keep it simple.

So I guess you'd be surprised to find that I actually enjoy exchanging homemade Valentine cards. Even as a kid I preferred making my own and left the store-bought ones for the suckers (o.k., the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ones were pretty cool). Over the last couple of years, I've collected a handful of old skeleton keys of all shapes and sizes. I got the idea earlier this month to use them for a few homemade valentines. I knew I'd find a use for them one day. They're a bit cheesy, I know, but then so is the holiday.