Valentine’s Day, 2008

Posted February 21st, 2008 by Mom |

To begin this post, I have to go back to Tuesday of last week. The boys, my mom and I went to Back Yard Burger for lunch. It was cold and the boys needed to run and jump around in their indoor play area.

While we were there, we saw a friend in J’s preschool class, Will, and his mom. Will’s mom told me that she once gave Will an empty box, filled with flour, and set him at the kitchen table playing with his toy trucks and using the flour as an indoor sand box. She also mentioned that the flour was dusty, so next time she was going to use cornmeal.

After lunch I took the boys and we went grocery shopping. In addition to my “normal” list, I purchased two 5 pound bags of corn meal.

Thursday morning (Valentine’s Day) dawned pretty cold, so I dumped the toys out of one of the boys’ toy bins and filled it with one of the bags of corn meal. Before giving the box to the boys, I spread an old bed sheet on the floor to contain any little spills.

Oh, did I mention that I was without a car for most of the day, since I took my car to have the oil changed and tires rotated/balanced/aligned? That made for a “homebound” day for us. All the more reason to have a little indoor fun.

I thought.

(I should have thought harder.)

I so wish that the photos could be uploaded to the blog. It was a DISASTER along an 8.0 magnitude earthquake!!!!! There was cornmeal on the kids, their clothes, the carpet, the couch, the rug, the kitchen floor, the toys, EVERYWHERE! (B later told me, “I could have predicted that!” Thanks, Dear. I’m glad you have more foresight than me. However, the kids had a great day! They still mention it often “When are we going to open the other bag of cornmeal?” My unspoken reply is “Never!”)

As the day grew later, I called my mom and asked her to pick me and the boys up so she could take us to get my car (that now had a new tire on it, since my front passenger tire had a slit in it and was leaking air - probably from the huge pothole I had recently hit. Oh, well, Happy Valentines Day to myself!). Thanks, Mom for bringing us home after dropping off my car, and for taking us back to get it!

Before the boys and I left, I swept the cornmeal into a loose pile near the bin - at this point I had completely abandoned the hope of the old bed sheet containing the “little mess” (HA!) and had already thrown it into the washing machine.

B came home while we were gone to get my car. He freaked out thinking that I had gone off the deep end and left for good. (I later told him that if that were true, I don’t think I would have taken the kids with me…)

C, J and I came home to B sweeping and he had already vacuumed the carpet. Thanks B! B also gave me a bewildered look and asked to see me in our bedroom for a moment. Here are a few comments that were made before I got to speak:

“What the heck happened to this house?!” (well…)

“Where were you?!” (I forgot my cell phone, and just took my wallet with me to go get my car. Oops, Sorry!!)

“Did you do anything today?!” (Uh, yes. I always do. What do you think?! How dare you think I just sat on the couch and ate bonbons all day. However, I’ll admit that the house does look pretty bad.)

“I understand ‘letting loose,’ but there’s a limit.” (uh, let’s discuss this…)

I then explained my “brilliant” idea and named Will’s mom as being responsible for the initial idea (I didn’t want credit for all of this mess!) B then commented that, “I’m probably going to be shaking my head for a week over this.” Yes, Dear, I will be too.

We then professed our love for each other, it was after all, Valentine’s Day! B brought me home a box of chocolates, gave me a beautiful necklace from Tiffany’s and then told me to “take the rest of the night off and stay back here.”

What a great man to easily get passed what the house looked like when he got home!

B was still shaking his head “over this” as he wanted to know who dumped out the toys in the floor (that should have been in a bin). I had to ‘fess up that it was me since I needed a box for the cornmeal. (the beginning of the end)

My Valentine’s Day present to B was to spend the next few days scrubbing the baseboards in the house and doing a major overhaul of cleaning. (I have to admit, I have done a great job!) But, I couldn’t spend so much time cleaning, if B didn’t let me be a stay at home mom! Thanks B for not only giving me a wonderful Valentine’s Day, but a great life!