diff --git a/init.rb b/init.rb
index 8bee271..da111ed 100644
--- a/init.rb
+++ b/init.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-raise "Rails version must be 2.0 or greater to use validates_timeliness plugin" if Rails::VERSION::MAJOR < 2 
+raise "Rails version must be 2.0 or greater to use validates_timeliness plugin" if Rails::VERSION::MAJOR < 2
 
 require 'validates_timeliness'
diff --git a/lib/validates_timeliness/validations.rb b/lib/validates_timeliness/validations.rb
index 6e8d892..60b2bfc 100644
--- a/lib/validates_timeliness/validations.rb
+++ b/lib/validates_timeliness/validations.rb
@@ -17,11 +17,17 @@ module ValidatesTimeliness
         validates_each(attr_names, configuration) do |record, attr_name, value|
           raw_value = record.send("#{attr_name}_before_type_cast") || value
           
-          next if raw_value.is_nil? and options[:allow_nil]
+          if raw_value.nil?
+            record.errors.add(attr_name, "cant' be blank") unless configuration[:allow_nil]
+            next
+          end
           
+          column = record.column_for_attribute(attr_name)
           begin
-            if raw_value.acts_like?(:time)
-              time = raw_value
+            time = if raw_value.acts_like?(:time)
+              raw_value
+            elsif raw_value.is_a?(Date)
+              raw_value.to_time
             else
               time_array = ParseDate.parsedate(raw_value)            
 
@@ -29,18 +35,30 @@ module ValidatesTimeliness
               date = Date.new(*time_array[0..2])
               
               # checks if time is valid as it will accept bad date values
-              time = Time.mktime(*time_array)
+              Time.mktime(*time_array)
             end
             
             restriction_methods.each do |option, method|
-              if restriction = options[option]
-                restriction = restriction.to_time
-                record.errors.add(attr_name, "must be #{humanize(option)} #{restriction}") unless time.send(method, restriction)
+              if restriction = configuration[option]
+                compare = case restriction
+                  when Time, Date, DateTime
+                    restriction.to_time
+                  when Symbol
+                    record.send(restriction).to_time
+                  when Proc
+                    restriction.call(record)
+                end
+                
+                begin                  
+                  record.errors.add(attr_name, "must be #{option.to_s.humanize.downcase} #{compare}") unless time.send(method, compare)
+                rescue
+                  record.errors.add(attr_name, "restriction '#{option}' value was invalid")
+                end
               end
             end
           rescue
-            record.send(attr_name + "=", nil)
-            record.errors.add(attr_name, "is not a valid time")
+            record.send("#{attr_name}=", nil)
+            record.errors.add(attr_name, "is not a valid #{column.type}")
             next
           end      
           
diff --git a/spec/resources/person.rb b/spec/resources/person.rb
index c2e188d..16426dc 100644
--- a/spec/resources/person.rb
+++ b/spec/resources/person.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
-
+  set_table_name 'people'
 end