Planning to pop the question? Here's how!

With Valentine's Day just a heartbeat away, there must be hundreds of hopeless - or hapless? - romantics out there, desperately wondering how to "pop the question." This week, I went to the experts for some good advice, asking happily married Huntley residents to share their own stories:

Jaimie and Shawn Kowalski got engaged in front of St. Mary's church on Huntley-Dundee Road. "We didn't live (in Huntley) then, but we wanted to," Shawn said. "Now we go there, and our kids were baptized in that church."

"I got the ring in a green stuffed animal - a Grinch!" said Jaimie. "The Grinch movie had just come out, and (Shawn) tucked the ring inside the pockets where the Grinch's hands were. I probably held onto it for 15 minutes before he said, 'Aren't you going to look in the pocket?'"

"I guess I should have put it in a champagne glass or something," Shawn concedes. "I wish I'd done it a little bit better, but -" No 'buts' about it Shawn, you're an original. As I assured him, the champagne stunt has been overdone, but who do you know that got a stuffed Grinch?

The couple now has three boys - Kyle, 5, and 2-year-old twins Carson and Cory. "For our youngest, that Grinch is his favorite toy," says Jaimie, "he sleeps with it every single night."

Sun City residents Jim and Diane Fitzgerald have been married for almost 39 years. "I proposed on Christmas Eve," Jim said. "We were at her parents' house for dinner."

She remembers it well: "We were in the basement, down by the furnace, because all the relatives were upstairs."

"We were trying to find a place to ourselves for a few minutes," Jim explained, and I remarked that it sounds like a hot proposition to me. "Yes, it was," he nodded. "And she said yes!"

Rosie Lukas's husband, David, almost went overboard with his proposal. "We were in my hometown visiting my parents," she said. "It was a beautiful day in June, and we went to the state park to take a boat out on the lake."

"It was very windy that day, and he was trying to reach an area of the lake where birds were nesting, so he could distract me. He was rowing against the wind and I kept telling him, 'Don't worry about it, you don't have to go there,' but he said, 'Yes, I do!"

Eventually, all went according to plan. "We got there, I was distracted by the birds, and then he proposed," Rosie said. "He didn't get on his knee, because he was in the boat. Of course, I had to say yes, because I would have probably gotten thrown overboard if I hadn't!"

Susan Oberhauser and her husband, Tom, married in 1985. "We were very young, finishing college," she said. "I finally said to him, 'Should I take this job offer and move away, or are we going to get married?'"

That's all it took. "He said, 'Oh, no, let's get married,' then he went out and got a ring," she recalled. "So it was not super-romantic, but it was good. I'd marry him again in a heartbeat!"

Andrew Lind has been married to his love, Elizabeth, for three years. "My wife and I were at a church dinner with people who knew we'd been dating for two years," he said. "Some of them were hounding me about when I was going to ask the question, and others kept hounding her about asking me."

"Afterward, we were sitting on her couch watching a movie, and it just sort of came out: 'Will you marry me?' I know I popped the question, but she brought the subject up and we just started talking about the future."

What movie were they watching? Andrew knew instantly: "When Harry Met Sally."

If you can't make up your mind, take a tip from that old Nike commercial and "Just Do It," says Jacki Buchanan. She and Dustin soon will celebrate their second anniversary.

"We just talked about it - I don't know if I really did propose?" Dustin mused, but his wife's memory was very clear: "Yes, we were in the kitchen at his house. He just turned around and opened the case, the ring was there, and he said, 'Will you marry me?'"

"But she knew it was coming," he added, and Jacki agreed: "Sure, I did. We talked about it for months, but I still was excited. About time!"

As for myself, I got engaged in a graveyard. An eighteenth century graveyard, in fact, outside an old chapel in Vincennes, Indiana, where my husband, Rusty, and I attended Revolutionary War encampments each Memorial Day. It was almost dark and we were walking past the stones, reading names by lantern light and wondering how they lived. That's when he proposed, down on one knee, which was not the best idea since it had rained all day.

We got married almost year later, then repeated our vows at Vincennes in an 18th-century wedding with all of our re-enactor friends. And yes, there's nothing more convincing than a row of well-armed, bearskin-helmeted grenadiers to remind you to take those vows seriously!

Romance book sale: The Friends of the Huntley Library have a novel idea to help you romance your favorite book lover, offering specially selected sets of gently-used romance novels for valentine giving. Bundles of five paperbacks are $1, and hardcover books are 3 for $2. Whether your taste runs to the steamy, the sexy, or just the sentimental, there's sweet deal waiting for you inside the library at 11000 Ruth Road. Stop by during regular library hours to check it out.

Library closure: The Huntley library will be closed today from 9 a.m. to noon for staff meetings and maintenance, and will re-open at noon.

"Super-couponing" helps you save: If saving money warms your heart, you won't want to miss Grafton Township's "Super Couponing Seminar" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Cosman Center, 12015 Mill St. in Huntley. Coupon-shopping guru Jill Cataldo will demonstrate how to save hundreds of dollars on groceries by "stacking" coupons, tracking sales, and searching for online discounts. The program is free. Transportation will be provided for seniors and the disabled on a first come, first serve basis. Call (847) 669-8500.