QotD: Happily Ever After?

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Submitted by Stephen.

Well, Valentine's Day isn't really a big deal around here for Steve and I. Once upon a time, I felt the need for a holiday like that. But Steve, well, it's like we have Valentine's Day several times a week. Except instead of cards and chocolate, it's usually a sweet phone call, e-mail or mix cd he spent hours putting together for me (yes, we are silly like that) and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. He really is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met. He pays attention to the things I say, which makes him an awesome gift giver. Seriously, nice guys are the best. He even rescued me on Wednesday when I tried to put air in my tire and ended up letting all the air out instead. Yeah, I'm a real idiot sometimes. I can be pretty self sufficient, but other times, I'm a just a helpless girl in need of a intelligent man to come to my rescue. He didn't even yell or get upset, as my father always did when my mother did something silly and inconvenient.

So yeah, what did I do to celebrate Valentine's Day? Well, around here, it's more for the kids. I got the Valentine's Day cards I picked up last year on clearance out of the closet ($.25 a box, yo!). The 3 youngest kids mixed and matched what they wanted, and I still have plenty for next year. Then I stayed up late baking 132 double chocolate cookies for various school parties.

Wednesday morning, we all got up and ready for school. Steve and I gave the kids their Valentine's Day candy. Then we headed off to school. About 10 minutes into the drive, Steve called. The kids' school was closed due to ice. I was clueless as it wasn't on the news that morning and there wasn't a lick of ice on the roads in our county.

Since we were already dressed and out, we all headed to Target to pick up Steve's gift. I know, I said we aren't big on Valentine's Day, but I wasn't happy with what I gave him for Christmas, so I saved up to buy him a good gift for whatever holiday came next.

Anyway, the kids were in shock over how dead and quiet Target is at 8:30 in the morning. They were a little creeped out by it. Me, I love it. I bought Steve's iPod and Josiah spent the rest of his birthday cash on Pokemon figurines. I also let them pick out a frozen dinner out for lunch as a special treat. Then we headed home, put pjs back on and chilled for the rest of the day. Well, they chilled. Since that meant 4 out of 5 kids taking turns on my laptop, I organized 2 different cabinets in the kitchen. I was tired of them not shutting completely or being whacked by boxes of cereal when I opened them.

I made lazy lasagna for dinner with super buttery chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Steve loves him some cookies. Steve brought me my sweet potato fries (which required 3 trips into the same store to locate), a couple of boxes of chocolate, and some Ben and Jerry's. Gary came over to watch LOST and have some of my yummy lasagna.

This morning I sent all the cookies back to school with the kids. Even if they don't have parties today, at least they can share them. Seriously, I don't need 11+ dozen cookies sitting around the house calling me to eat them. Although, I do still have 3 dozen chocolate chips cookies, plus the cookie dough I sat aside in the fridge for myself. Nothing like cookie dough from the fridge. When I was a kid, my mom would say I would get worms from eating raw cookie dough, but I've never gotten worms, so I suspect she was just trying to keep me from eating all the cookie dough.

Now I need to go get ready. Steve was a sweetheart and made me an appointment with my awesome hairstylist, Amy. I think he was tired of me whining about my hair. I usually only get it cut once or twice a year (because I am cheap), which means I'm really not due for a trim til sometime in June, so this is a special treat!  Amy's really cool and fun too. She grew up in the same church as Steve, so I even get some fun little stories. She's a little older than him, so she refers to him as "Stevie". Heh. If I decide to go with something new and outrageous, I'll share the pictures, but I'm thinking I'll be boring and just have the dead ends cut off.

Ok, seriously, I'm going now!