Valentine Weekend
Life is weird here lately. We have all gotten through a tough time and are feeling relieved and all, but at the same time, how do you just pick up and go on after a collapse of reality? You do. Not without a few colds, a few raw nerves, a few extra pounds of nervous eating though. And not without feeling mightily thankful, even more thankful than you were before somehow.
Stan gave me my Valentine candy Friday night. Cordial cherries with a few caramels thrown in for himself. I love a man who buys himself a gift embedded into my gift just in case I haven't gotten him anything, which I hadn't. I began liking cordial cherries when I was little and I'd go visiting my great grandfather. He lived on a humble farm in a crooked house and when he walked to the closet door in the dining room you knew you were about to receive a cordial cherry from his top shelf. So I like them because they remind me of Belford and because I like dark chocolate and cherries.
Saturday I woke up feeling sick, I have a sore throat and it feels like someone has his thumb pushed into my larynx. So I stayed in bed late. Oh, I forgot, we had 3 boys sleep over that night too, which is another good reason to stay in bed. Being sick on Valentine's Day AND having 6 boys running around the house in the morning is not romantic at all. My 17 year old actually got up at 2:30am to tell the younguns to go to sleep and be quiet. You gotta love that.
Once we lost the boys next morning, some got picked up by their parents some wandered off, Stan went shopping for some dinner. He made steaks on the grill and I made baked potatoes, asparagus and a salad comprising of a handful of chopped iceberg lettuce and a generous piece of luscious red pepper cut into the shape of a big heart dropped on top. It was a simple meal for 5, but good. Seth left in Stan's truck to go with friends, Sean and Luke settled into a night of tv staring, exhausted from the night before with their friends and Stan and I went up to our newly reclaimed attic.
The attic was Seth's bedroom but he moved to a smaller room and now our attic is a loft with my desk and books, a big console tv someone once gave us - it's like from the 80's but it works - and a big groovy papasan chair. We watched Nights in Rodanthe and I gave him a much needed back rub because he has not been taking care of his bad back like he should and I hadn't gotten him anything for Valentine's Day but three measly little caramels.
Then the two little boys came up right when the movie was ending and coughed, squirmed, crinkled the cellophane of Stan's Fig Newtons, coughed some more and we very nearly missed the whole sad ending. Then we tried to get them to go to bed, but they just layed there like stuffed sausages. Then we channel surfed until we saw The Amityville Horror and threatened to watch it which made Sean run downstairs to his bed, but Luke got even more interested in staying. Then I felt sad for poor Sean, afraid in his bed, so I snuggled in next to him and rubbed his head till he fell asleep.
Today I hooked up with an old friend from college on Facebook. I've been looking for her for years. We ended up talking on the phone and making plans to meet in Atlantic City for lunch next week. She also reminded me of something I did in college (and why I don't try much to remember things I did in college.) She was driving Alison and me. We were passing a bus filled with partying people. I motioned to a guy to pass us a beer. He hung out the window, I hung out the window, Karen drove close to the bus and the pass was successful and we three shared the beer. Then a little further down the road we got pulled over for speeding. ~sigh~ What is the matter with me? Or what was the matter with me? I don't even like beer. Don't tell my kids.
This evening we went to see Coraline. Cute movie. Sean got scared.
Stan gave me my Valentine candy Friday night. Cordial cherries with a few caramels thrown in for himself. I love a man who buys himself a gift embedded into my gift just in case I haven't gotten him anything, which I hadn't. I began liking cordial cherries when I was little and I'd go visiting my great grandfather. He lived on a humble farm in a crooked house and when he walked to the closet door in the dining room you knew you were about to receive a cordial cherry from his top shelf. So I like them because they remind me of Belford and because I like dark chocolate and cherries.
Saturday I woke up feeling sick, I have a sore throat and it feels like someone has his thumb pushed into my larynx. So I stayed in bed late. Oh, I forgot, we had 3 boys sleep over that night too, which is another good reason to stay in bed. Being sick on Valentine's Day AND having 6 boys running around the house in the morning is not romantic at all. My 17 year old actually got up at 2:30am to tell the younguns to go to sleep and be quiet. You gotta love that.
Once we lost the boys next morning, some got picked up by their parents some wandered off, Stan went shopping for some dinner. He made steaks on the grill and I made baked potatoes, asparagus and a salad comprising of a handful of chopped iceberg lettuce and a generous piece of luscious red pepper cut into the shape of a big heart dropped on top. It was a simple meal for 5, but good. Seth left in Stan's truck to go with friends, Sean and Luke settled into a night of tv staring, exhausted from the night before with their friends and Stan and I went up to our newly reclaimed attic.
The attic was Seth's bedroom but he moved to a smaller room and now our attic is a loft with my desk and books, a big console tv someone once gave us - it's like from the 80's but it works - and a big groovy papasan chair. We watched Nights in Rodanthe and I gave him a much needed back rub because he has not been taking care of his bad back like he should and I hadn't gotten him anything for Valentine's Day but three measly little caramels.
Then the two little boys came up right when the movie was ending and coughed, squirmed, crinkled the cellophane of Stan's Fig Newtons, coughed some more and we very nearly missed the whole sad ending. Then we tried to get them to go to bed, but they just layed there like stuffed sausages. Then we channel surfed until we saw The Amityville Horror and threatened to watch it which made Sean run downstairs to his bed, but Luke got even more interested in staying. Then I felt sad for poor Sean, afraid in his bed, so I snuggled in next to him and rubbed his head till he fell asleep.
Today I hooked up with an old friend from college on Facebook. I've been looking for her for years. We ended up talking on the phone and making plans to meet in Atlantic City for lunch next week. She also reminded me of something I did in college (and why I don't try much to remember things I did in college.) She was driving Alison and me. We were passing a bus filled with partying people. I motioned to a guy to pass us a beer. He hung out the window, I hung out the window, Karen drove close to the bus and the pass was successful and we three shared the beer. Then a little further down the road we got pulled over for speeding. ~sigh~ What is the matter with me? Or what was the matter with me? I don't even like beer. Don't tell my kids.
This evening we went to see Coraline. Cute movie. Sean got scared.
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