Valentines to Go

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Valentine prep began two days ahead. I prepared yeast dough that rose in the refrigerator overnight. I baked one set of strawberry rolls, washed the heart-shaped baking dishes, and baked another set so that all were ready by the afternoon of the 13th. The most difficult part was finding the neighbors at home to deliver them.

021318 Valentines ready to go.JPG

We wanted something special for neighbor Logan (7), something not edible. I picked out the mug decorated with hearts. Inside the red tissue paper was John’s choice – a black truck with a friction motor. I don’t know what happened to the mug, but Logan played with the truck the whole time we were chatting with his parents.

Do you ever give things away without tasting them? We had a rather late breakfast on Valentine’s Day, as we do most days. I assumed the rolls were edible. The thought just struck me that if the neighbors had been sickened, they could have been on the way to the hospital before I suspected anything was wrong. If you are really good at worrying, you can worry in reverse like I do.

John surprised me with a balloon and chocolates. He ran errands with our son the day before and hid the gifts in the garage. They were in the kitchen long before I went in to get breakfast ready. We had one bought donut each and a strawberry roll.

021418 Valentine breakfast table.JPG

I apologized to John for not having bought him anything, and he said, “You did buy me something.”

My open-book face showed perplexity. “I bought you something?”

“Yes,” he said, “at the supermarket. When I commented on liking chocolate-covered raisins as a child, you threw the pack in the cart.”

And they say men are oblivious!!!

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

67 thoughts on “Valentines to Go”

  1. LMAO. That sounds about right! Love it! I made breakfast for hubby, which is special for him because I don’t usually get up before the chickens like he does. I think he had thought to buy me flowers but as we were watching the news and they were showing all the flowers at the flower shops, I said: “I love flowers but such a waste, I hate that those poor things die so soon” . Him: “Oh, I was gonna get flowers.”
    So, I guess I’m not getting flowers. I didn’t know if that would have been a good time to tell him I like white tulips. The truth is just about everything, chocolates, cookies donuts and all that, are gone in a flash anyway. At least flowers last a few days longer. Sigh! Sometimes I shoot myself in the foot. How do these guys keep up with our fickleness?

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  4. That looks absolutely delicious! Some of us men are oblivious, some of us never learned about emotions, but some make up for it in small ways. I’m glad your husband is that special type.

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  6. I guess Logan’s parents were OK. I do understand your reverse worrying but I’m afraid there’s no cure. Well done John on rescuing the “I’ve not bought you anything” so deftly.
    xxx Massive Hugs xxx

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  11. Happy Valentine’s Day !
    In our church, they celebrated it on the 12th, showing a video on why the Valentine’s day is celebrated followed by a potluck dinner. Loved to read about your celebrations. Afraid we didn’t celebrate it at all.
    Susie

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        1. Oh, no! We had a very solomn service where ashes we’re imposed on our foreheads followed by communion. It was Ash Wednesday. I don’t remember Valentine’s day falling on Ash Wednesday before, but maybe it did.

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  13. Wow Anne, I enjoy holidays at your place so much! They’re so – so people-filled! And baked-treats-filled!! I would like to be your honorary neighbour! 😀 Oh, and btw, “worrying in reverse” – I got a kick out of that, it’s my specialty too! Happy Valentine’s Day – in reverse (just looked at my watch, so… yeah!!) ❤

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  15. We’ve never been ones to celebrate VD with much enthusiasm. Although my husband did bring me a bouquet of red roses last night. He was at the grocery to pick up his script, saw the flowers, and decided to buy them. And they say love is dead amongst the old folks? 🙂

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  18. Hmm – I tried to find a place to post on today’s post (“On the Porch”) and couldn’t find it … perhaps my eyes are crossed from typing/revising/proofreading documents at work all day. Anyway, my friend lives in Cary, NC and retired this time last year. Her and her husband had their porch expanded and screened in and a built-in fire pit. Her and her hubby were looking forward to spending some quality time outside and a mild Winter, but she has been posting pics of her yard on Facebook – up until our Blizzard of 2018 (February 9th) they had about as much snow as we did here in SE Michigan. There’s nothing like the first day of Spring-like weather when you get outdoor with no hat, or gloves and feel that sun on your bare head. I’m sure looking forward to it.

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      1. I decided on going back one day instead – after all, you were still in Valentine’s Day mode, so I could be as well. Oh, you’re sure used to the cold weather and snow – I saw you will not give up your heavy coats and don’t blame you. 🙂 My friend who lives in Cary, NC is from Michigan as is her husband.
        They have lived there about 30 years. We had a whopper snowstorm on the 9th (9.2 inches) and had snow every day the week before. The 40-degree temps and all-day rain have melted a lot of it away. Maybe there is hope to get out and walk this weekend if there is no black ice. I’m originally from Canada (still a Canadian actually); we moved here in 1966 when I was 10, so you’d think I’d embrace the cold and snowy weather more. I don’t like to drive in it and luckily now I work from home, so it is only aggravating when it halts my walking regimen.

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          1. The older I get, the less I like to drive in the snow. I took the bus for decades to downtown Detroit. Walked about 8 houses to the end of my street, then hopped on the bus, hopped off in front of the office building where I worked. We loaded in groceries for Winter and I just went out for fresh produce and dairy and bread, often just getting off the bus at a local grocery store and walked home. I continue to do that and load up on pantry items in Fall. Our law firm went through a merger and it was a bad deal for my boss as they wanted to raise his rates very high, so he didn’t want to lose clients and we went out on our own … still in Detroit but had to take two buses. Not good. I did ride with a few people in the building, but that never works out as your schedules don’t mesh. After the 2008 recession, I got laid off and my mom got sick and I stayed home, then when hired back I chose to work from home. I do like that alot, even though it is not full-time work, Tennessee is so beautiful. My mom and I visited there in the 90s and the people are so friendly. I worked in a diner while attending college … all workers and clientele from the Deep South. The nicest people I have ever met.

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            1. I worked in an accounting office and always drove to work. When business slowed, my days were cut until finally I worked at home. The firm was sold. What a wonderful way it was to quit work gradually!

              I’m glad you’ve been to TN. I grew up in the western part of the state north of Memphis. The other two thirds are much prettier. We’re in NC now, about 20 miles from the border.

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              1. I enjoy working from home and by doing so, it gave me the opportunity to begin a walking regimen in 2011, which I never would have done, had I not had the luxury of working from home. I don’t start work until 11:00 a.m., but I do usually work more hours than what I am paid, but it works out in my mind since I don’t have the commute. My boss will be 71 next month and I will be 62 in April. When we first left the Firm on 01/31/03, he said he would work until 65, then I could collect Social Security. That would have been assuming I still worked on site. Robb was easily the busiest attorney in the Firm … he is a labor attorney for management, plus a lot of our clients had other issues (litigation and corporate) which he could give work to other attorneys. But they wanted to raise his rates substantially, so we left. Robb was always a workaholic, plus taught school at a local law school twice/week. My mom said “you’re 9 years younger – that’s not a good idea” but I pointed out that Robb was a workaholic, we had tons of work for a sole practitioner and his father was a probate attorney who was still practicing law up in Saginaw, Michigan at age 82. He suddenly developed kidney failure as a result of his diabetes and passed away, so Robb had to shut down his practice. Then the recession came along. We never have gotten back to the usual pace, though business has picked up so far this year – his son is in law school, last year, and graduates in May. He lives in Chicago, goes to Loyola University, but has no desire to go into labor law or in business with his father (or so he says so far). I wish he would as I dread if he retires because it would not be my desire to go back out in the workplace again and would try to find something else working from home.

                I always told my mom that we should have moved to a southern state. She had many orthopedic problems (42 operations in her lifetime as she was hit by a car at age 11 in 1937) and the Winter weather was hard on her getting out – we were fearful she would fall and I don’t like driving in snow. But now, the southern states have their fair share of snow as well. There is no happy medium it seems.

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                1. You have an interesting work history. I worked until I was 71. I look around and see people retiring at age 55. How do they do it? They will be bored with retirement by the time they are my age, now 75. We get more snow in the mountains than the rest of the state gets. My brother lives in Winston Salem. Businesses and schools close when they get a dusting of snow. That sounds like your kind of environment!

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                  1. Yes it does Anne … I would definitely be happier there. I am going for a walk today and taking the car for a spin. More snow here tonight but only an inch and in the 60s next week – wish that was it for Winter, but you know how it is in a four-season state. I agree that retiring at 55 is too early. Years ago we had a neighbor that retired from working at the steel mill at 56. He had quit high school to work there and retired with his pension after 40 years’ work. He was bored. He went fishing all Summer and cut the lawn three times a week – I benefited from that as he cut mine too!

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                    2. I think I’d like to entirely skip Winter! Though it was pretty and the photos I posted in last Saturday’s blog post, the day after the Blizzatd of 2018, I have to admit were pretty incredible. The icicles on my neighbor’s property and the huge drifts were beautiful, and some of my followers live in warm countries and perhaps did not see snow in their lifetimes, so they would have liked seeing the pictures and a few did comment. We had a snowfall on February 4th which I also took photos of and posted – very pretty. But I would have a better opinion of snow if I never had to drive in it or worry about going out in it. I never schedule anything in Winter … it is bad enough I need to go to the allergist once a month for allergy shots and this week I will go at three weeks instead of four weeks as the weather will be in the 60s by mid-week (that is a fluke in itself and will likely set a new record the weatherman is saying).

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                    3. Oh! We are different in one respect! You’d skip winter. I could live without summer. I grew up in TN before air conditioning, and summers could be absolutely unbearable. Our home in NY had no cooling system because one of us thought it wasn’t necessary. I’m glad I survived.

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                    4. I don’t like the hot and humid days we get either … sometimes I skip walking on those days, but I promised myself after this long, cold, snowy Winter, I would walk at Meijer which is a large grocery store, similar to a KMart or Walmart when it is that hot. I only walk in the morning, before work, and don’t like walking in the heat if possible. I do occasionally walk in the grocery store sometimes in Summer when the humidity is unbearable.

                      My mom told me that when she was growing up in Toronto, that one Summer (I believe it was 1936 or 1937) it was so sickening hot for days on end, that the men would go down to Sunnyside Park with their pillows and blankets and sleep on the Boardwalk to get the breeze from Lake Ontario, just to get a good night’s rest so they would be ready for work the next morning, rather than having a fitful night of sleep with just a small fan for air circulation.

                      “One of us thought it wasn’t necessary” makes me smile … the heat can wear you out, but I guess I would say Summer is better for me as I don’t worry about driving then.

                      One of the bloggers I follow lives in northern Michigan. She and I had a discussion about their Winters (they get about 140 inches of snow a year) but she said she enjoyed the Winter as there was no fear of spiders in the Winter months. They get those brown recluse and wolf spiders up there and she is terrified of them. I, too, am terrified of spiders. So, she said she preferred Winter for that reason as she has peace during that time. Three weeks ago, she was going down the pathway from the house to their mailbox at the road, slid on some snow that covered a patch of ice, and fell down hard on her arm. She broke her arm in three places. She has had surgery and multiple pins put in. That is a fear of mine, as I get older. I walked today, but around the icy patches.

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                    5. We walk just after dawn when motorists can see us. I avoid sun because of one medication, and that is the easiest way to stay out of harmful rays.

                      I’m with you on spiders. I learned long ago that I had to kill them, because no one else could do it quickly enough to suit me. *shudder*

                      We are very careful with ice underfoot. In a split second, as your friend found out, your life can be turned upside down.

                      It’s possible we won’t have any more ice on our roads this season.

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                    6. I don’t like that heavy humidity and heat that makes you feel dragged out as soon as you get outside, whether it is just running errands or walking. I am with you on that. If it rains in the morning, I rarely will go out and walk later, except on a weekend after running errands … never in the dark. I won’t go out in the dark at all. Too much crime in the City which just started happening about five years ago when Lincoln Park was in receivership for a few years and they cut down on police officers, and crime started running rampant. Also, do you have issues with pit bulls – people abandon their pets, or they escape from their homes. That is a little worrisome to me as a walker. I follow the crime reports for our City on Facebook and a few times I’ve skipped a walk at the Park and gone to Meijer grocery store in the car instead, because people reported a pit bull at large in the neighborhood. I’ve lived here since 1966 and it was a nice, peaceful neighborhood until the last five years. I hope to live the rest of my years here, so don’t like what I see. My friend Ann Marie told me a neighbor fell on the ice, broke his hip so severely he had to go to UM Hospital in Ann Arbor which is an hour’s drive from here. You can never be too careful with it. I’ll stay put today for sure, save to run out and start the car. I don’t drive enough so I have a trickle charger on the car. It will be 9 years old in September and yesterday I saw it was at 4,765 miles. I sometimes mention my car mileage against my “foot mileage” in my blog, especially when the car mileage is over my foot mileage … people think it is pretty funny, but I had to get the trickle charger as I worried about electrical issues from not driving it enough. I have no family and work from home, as you know, and 99 percent of my friends live out of state, so we communicate on social media. Must drive more!

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                    8. I love dogs, am allergic to cats … but, I don’t have any pets. I had a canary that I adored but he passed away in December 2016. He had a stroke and I had to have him euthanized … it broke my heart so there will be no more pets for me. When I left for my walk, the doberman two doors down who lives in the corner house and rushes the fence (quite scary) was in the front yard. It just sat and glared at me … I took the long way around.

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                    10. I am like that as well. I live in between two houses with little dogs – both of them are very cute and very friendly (except for Woody who knows me up close, but when he sees my wool hat in the Winter, he gets agitated and won’t stop barking).

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  19. Hello Anne. For some reason I cannot find a place to comment on your post of having Valentines on your porch. Not sure if this is just me or if it is the same for everyone? I do love the photo of you sitting outside wrapped in red. It looks beautiful out your way.

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      1. It was beautiful here as well. Lots of snow melting going on. Not quite as warm as you but for us very warm :).
        I am wondering if your comments things got unchecked in your settings? Sometimes wordpress does some odd things with our blogs.

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