Valentines

Happy belated Valentines Day! I hope you had a good one.
I myself was sick but other than the fact that I couldn't breathe, I nearly went through a whole box of kleenex yesterday and I'm still running a fever, I'd have to say yesterday went fairly well.
My original plan for yesterday was to spend the entire day on the couch. I'd have felt entitled to it and wouldn't have felt guilty about my lack of productivity - except that it was Valentines Day. Even though Matt and I had just had the weekend away staying at a hotel and eating out I still wanted something to celebrate Valentines Day with. And what do I do when I need inspiration? I go to MarthaStewart.com of course. I decided to decorate the house with hearts and shamelessly cutesy decorations. I found a craft for wax paper crayon hearts that you hang in your window and I decided to try that. I also noticed a flower arrangement she did up with red tulips and cinnamon hearts. It just so happened that Matt gave me red tulips last week and that we had a bag of cinnamon hearts in our cupboard (from our wedding... 3 years ago...) Well, I set out to start prettifying my house when I realized that I didn't have wax paper. Nor did I have enough cinnamon hearts to sufficiently fill the vase I was working with. Nor did I have a clue what to serve for supper! I did, however, have giftcards to Safeway. Now, I don't normally shop at Safeway but decided yesterday was a good day to make an exception. Money is a little tight right now, especially after our nice weekend in Calgary, so I decided that if I were to spend money it ought to be money that doesn't come out of our account. So, after a successful shopping trip at Safeway, coming home and putting Gabe down for his nap and grabbing a quick bite myself, it was time to get to work. First off I filled a juice pitcher with water and a few drops of food coloring. I went outside to our massive snow banks and drew hearts in the snow, all along our walkway and in front of our driveway. Next I rearranged my flowers and cinnamon hearts. I decided it was stupid to buy more cinnamon hearts that we would never get around to eating so I changed vases, pulled some flowers and made a pared down version of the arrangement. With the flowers I pulled out I removed their petals, made our bed upstairs and put the petals in the shape of a heart on top of our duvet. Then I got to work making Pots de Creme - something I had alway intended on doing for Matt on Valentines Day. If I ever had to choose between making pudding and pots de creme, I'd always make the pots de creme. So easy, no double boiler involved and a lot less time taken up.
With dessert in the fridge I set to work making my wax paper crayon hearts. That took about 40 minutes and Gabe, who had since woken up, spent that time coloring a Valentines Day card for Daddy. Matt's parents called shortly after and asked if they could take Gabe out for supper with them tonight (heck yes!) so I got him dressed in a dress shirt, a tie and a sweater vest (all with red stripes) and ready to go. FYI, whoever makes kids ties that you actually have to tie is a saddist. Honestly! I was using teddy bears to try and tie it around and eventually had to free-hand tie it and then barely got it over my son's gigantic head! That thing is never going to be untied from this point forward.
Well, by the time Matt got home, Gabe had been picked up but I'd hardly started dinner so he helped my whip it up: Steaks, tortellini, sourdough loaf and Black Bean and Corn Salsa. I also had some frozen strawberries that I had let defrost in my fridge last week and so I put those through the magic bullet, added a touch of strawberry syrup and topped it up with club soda. It was a very nice dinner overall. And afterwards I was so sick I put on my sweat pants and went to bed while Matt played with Gabe.
I'm paying for the effort a bit today. I still can't breathe, my head's killing me and I'm dying for some cold medicine (which I'm not allowed to take), but it was nice having a Valentines Day.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)