Valentines

I always get my kids a little something for Valentine's Day. It's usually a little gift bag with some candy and a generic gift in it. It's never anything substantial but it's usually fun. This year, everyone is getting the same candy selections and matching bags. The gifts are different this year. Alli is getting a gift certificate for our local movie theater. Beth is getting the new Neutrogena Wave (some electronic device to wash your face). Cori is getting an iTunes gift card. Elvis is getting a Little Einsteins DVD. I even have a bag for Boy Wonder and he's getting a Pizza Hut gift card in his. Materialism at it's best, folks! I'm happy to do my part. (Of course this makes me a little sad as I'm not fixing a bag for Baby Blair. When I started thinking about Valentines several weeks ago, she was included. Now she's not.)

Of course, as usual, I've screwed a couple of things up. I didn't get to the theater in time to buy Alli's gift certificate. They close the ticket area early and I just couldn't get it together in time to get there. I'll give her an IOU and pick it up tomorrow. I bought one of those singing cards to send my mom. She lives here in town but mail is fun, even at 70, I assume. However, I forgot to mail the card. It's stamped, addressed, and ready to go. I stressed a lot over the exact time to mail it. I wanted to arrive ON Valentine's Day. I needed to mail it after 5:00 PM Tuesday but before 5:00 today. You guessed it - I thought about it at 6:30 tonight. I'll probably just hand deliver it tomorrow, totally blowing all that time I spent deciding when it should be mailed.

My first day off went well. The pancakes with M&Ms and Reese's Pieces weren't the best but they were okay. (We all prefer the ones from a few weeks back that we made with Kissables.) Today's were good enough to eat, though, and all were consumed except the one that is left on the back of the stove right now. I guess the dog will have it for breakfast tomorrow. Boy Wonder took Elvis to his house to watch him play video games. I enjoyed having a little time with Alli without Elvis or BW around. Beth and her friend spent the day talking and giggling. Cori spent the day alternating between sulking and working on a school project. I talked to the girls some and watched the Gilmore Girls some. We ordered Chinese take-out for lunch from the same restaurant we ate at last night. This meal officially finished off our gift certificate for that restaurant. (Cori did NOT have Chinese for lunch. She had to make do with Burger King.) After lunch, I dropped Alli off at BW's house and they went to visit his sister. Beth had counseling this afternoon but spent the evening running around with her friend. Cori and I made a quick trip to Walgreen's tonight. She needed glitter for her project and I needed laundry detergent.

Now, I'm headed to bed. I'm dropping Cori and Beth off at my mom's tomorrow morning and going with Alli to take Elvis to therapy. Mom still has her Christmas tree up and she's having company this weekend. The girls will help her put up the Christmas decorations and get the house ready for visitors. (We can't have anyone outside the family know that she still has her tree up, evidently.)