VALENTINE'S DAY

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Yesterday morning before I went to work Joe gave me this cute little pink bag.  Inside were two cards -- one from him and one from Jenny.  Along with that were some Peeps...

... and a pair of earrings that match the necklace he gave me for Christmas.

Every year Joe gets me one single red rose.  I've told the story here before, but for my new readers I'll quickly say why.  When we first got together Joe was not working.  He had not yet gotten his Social Security Disability so he had no income at all.  I was giving him $10 or $20 a week just so he had some money in his pocket.  You know that didn't go very far.  So for our first Valentine's Day together all he could afford was a single red rose from 7-11 that cost about $5.  That rose meant more to me than anything else he's ever given to me.  So each year he gives me one red rose.

This year he had the rose sent to work.  When the UPS guy came in, I was at the front desk.  He said, "This one's for you."  Since I sign for the packages almost every day all the UPS guys know my name.  I couldn't imagine what this huge package was.  I got Bob to take over the desk for a couple of minutes while I went into the back with it.  Here was a vase and a four foot high rose.  Yes, you read that right.  Four feet!  When I got off of the desk I had Diane take a picture of it for me just so everyone could see.  I am just a little over five feet tall, so you can tell how big it is.

I had to throw out the shipping box because it would not fit in my car.  In fact I had trouble fitting the inner box in my car to bring it home.  Usually I would leave it at work, but I am working at Fishtown on Friday and have a three day weekend.  I want to enjoy it.

I put the vase and the rose by the stairway when I got home.  It is taller than the bannister!

And you can see the cards on the bannister.  Here's the ones Joe and I gave to each other.

My gift to Joe was a steak dinner which I made when I got home from work.  It was very good although I could have cooked the steaks just a bit more.  They were a little rare for our taste.  I am not the greatest cooking steaks.

Joe loved it!

Today I will be taking down all my Valentine's stuff and putting up St. Patrick's Day.  Time is moving so quickly.  Hope to show you those decorations soon.