It’s Valentine’s Day! To celebrate, I took down the outdoor Christmas lights. Ahem. I took down about half of them in January- actually the more difficult ones that went around the top of the house- but never got around to taking down the ones in the bushes or palm trees. I hope it goes without saying that I haven’t actually been turning them on- no, they were just sitting there dejectedly.
Finally, I got home from work yesterday and said “It’s February 13th! These lights CANNOT be up on Valentine’s Day.” And I took them down. I’d like to say I learned a valuable lesson from all this, but I really didn’t… other than it’s no fun to procrastinate, which I already knew.
I don’t really do much for Valentine’s Day, although I did make my daughter a special breakfast on Sunday (Tuesday mornings are not conducive to pancakes.)
I like Super Bowl Sunday much better than Valentine’s Day. What a great game! I was rooting for Kansas City, but what I wanted most of all was a close, exciting game, and we got that. Here’s our Super Bowl dinner:
Barbecued soy curl sandwiches, loosely based on this recipe. I have to admit I used a sugar-free barbecue sauce from the store, which has sucralose in it. I know, that sounds kind of gross. I just can’t do that much sugar. Sucralose isn’t a health food either, but in the short term it’s better than sugar (for me, that is) and I rarely eat it. With everything else on the sandwich- cole slaw and onion rings, YUM- you couldn’t tell the barbecue sauce was a little weird. My husband definitely didn’t notice, and ate two sandwiches.
I might be the only person who didn’t watch the halftime show. I spent halftime doing dishes and laundry, so that I could relax and enjoy the rest of the game. I know, I’m a nerd. But I’m glad I did that- the second half was so good.
Moving right along! Remember how the dryer repairman was scheduled to come last week? The day before, I asked my husband “How old is this dryer, anyway?” And he said “Well, it was here when we moved into the house twenty years ago.”
WHAT??? Our dryer is over twenty years old? Yes, we realized we’ve never replaced the washer or the dryer. We quickly canceled the repairman (who probably would have laughed in our faces) and ordered a new dryer, which will arrive tomorrow… possibly.
I’m not sure if I can be home for the delivery, since they won’t give us a window until later today. If worst comes to worst, they’ll have to come another day. Just as long as we have it by March, it’s fine. I’ve gotten pretty good at hanging the clothes to dry, but my son comes home on March 4th for spring break and I don’t think I can add another person’s laundry to the mix without a dryer.
That’s about it for now! We’re enjoying some cooler weather this week, and I’m having a cutback week with no long run tomorrow, because I’m running a race on Sunday. More on that later!
Did you watch the Super Bowl? How about the halftime show?
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
29 Responses
We watched the first half of the SuperBowl and a bit of half-time but it was almost 10 pm here so I sent the neighbourhood kids who were visiting back home and put my kids to bed…and then didn’t watch anymore myself, but it sounds like such a great end to the game! I was also rooting for KC.
We are using the same washer/dryer that was here when we bought our house. They’re an old set, but they work SO well and I am dreading having to get anything new because I know it won’t be nearly as reliable long-term. Our dishwasher looks like something from a Flinstone’s set (honestly, this thing is likely from the 70’s) but it works SO well and we have friends that went through TWO brand-new dishwashers in 6 months. They really don’t make things like they used to…SIGH.
My parents had the same microwave for almost 20 years; since getting married we’ve gone through THREE.
I still have my “Valentine’s” tree up in the basement, but now I really have no excuse. That tree needs to come down *sob*
Yes, unless you want to make it into an Easter tree? That might be pushing it a little.
I’m always bummed that the Super Bowl is on a Sunday night- there’s school and work the next day! That’s why I did all my chores during halftime, but I still ended up staying up later than I wanted.
Happy Valentine’s Day! We had heart-shaped pancakes (courtesy of Eggo and a cookie cutter; I’m not making homemade pancakes on a school day!) and strawberries here, too!
Yay for a new dryer!
We had a weird Super Bowl experience. My husband recorded the Puppy Bowl for our kid, but forgot to record the Super Bowl. We sat down to watch it at 7:30, and it had already been going for an hour. So we were behind. We paused it for awhile to put the kiddo to bed. And then at some point in the third quarter,
our Apple TV restarted and when it got going again, it showed that the Chiefs had won. Womp, womp. My husband was able to rewind and watch from the previous point, but for me it was not as exciting once I knew the outcome. We did watch the halftime show and I was very anxious about Rhianna and all those other dancers being on those elevated platforms so high above the ground!!! It kind of distracted me from enjoying the show, although I did like hearing a montage of Rhianna’s greatest hits.
Now I suppose I should go FINALLY throw away our Christmas wreath, which has been hanging on our front door since November…
Ha! Really? Your wreath is still up? Well, I don’t feel so bad now.
That sounds like a very frustrating Super Bowl for you guys! Especially since the ending was exciting. It sounds like it wasn’t a super high priority for you guys though.
A NEW DRYER!!! I am sooo jealous of you. Our washer and dryer are terrible (they came with our house), but technically still work, so we have them and I just complain bitterly about them endlessly.
I have to laugh at you just getting the Christmas lights down. There are two people in our neighborhood who still have full Christmas trees up in their windows and they light them every night. I walk by them most nights with the dog and am sort of taking bets with myself about when they will come down. Before or after Easter, do you think?
REALLY??? They still have Christmas trees up? Fully lit? I must have an update on this- I want to know how long those stay up.
Yay for your new dryer!!! 20+ years is pretty impressive, to be honest.
I did watch the Super Bowl (well, I was generally in the room reading while the guys watched the Super Bowl, but it still counts) and I watched part of the halftime show as well. I loved last year’s halftime show so much, but I thought this year’s was still fun, all the dancing. Rihanna’s songs are very catchy, which was fun.
Yes, I’m glad we got that long out of the dryer. Weren’t your sons rooting for the Eagles? Sorry about that.
I’m really, really, really craving the BBQ sandwich right now. I’ve got to scratch that itch!
I think we still have some X-mas lights up in the neighborhood. It’s hard to tell now that it’s still light out when we walk the dog on most nights. We always enjoy seeing which house will be the last to take them down.
Ha ha! I’m glad someone is even later than me. And yes- you should definitely make that sandwich!
Can’t wait to hear about your race on Sunday! Yay!
In Zurich, our apartment house shares ONE washing machine and ONE washing dryer with 4 different families.
The washing machine got replaced last year at 24 years old. This is quite normal. Not sure why our products seem to last longer!
Hmmm, that’s a great question! I hope our new dryer lasts for 20 years- but everyone seems to think the new ones don’t last as long. SIGH.
Oh boy- one washer and one dryer shared by four families would be hard for me- mainly because everyone else would feel like I was constantly hogging it.
That’s exactly how it is… I’m the one hogging it all the time with our running laundry! 🙂
Valentines day is not really too late to take down lights; in fact, we have people who leave them up and then next year they will just be early! I still have all of my holiday cards hung up on the wall; they are just so festive and then what will I do when I take them down anyway? Put them in the pile of momentos that I never look at? Throw them away? So I am going to enjoy them!
Yesterday, I did the same thing you did with your dryer. I noticed the shorts I was wearing had a hole and I thought that maybe it was time to get rid of them, and then started to think about when I had gotten them. They are Gators athletic shorts that I bought when I was living in Gainesville…in 2004. Ha! I realized then that these dang shorts are 20 years old! No wonder they are falling apart. Sadly, I think it is time for the trash can finally.
Yes, some things just aren’t meant to last forever! I left my holiday cards up until a few days ago- I absolutely loved them and felt like each one was a little work of art. Then suddenly I got tired of seeing Christmas trees and angels, and took them down. I still have a string of white lights up though, which I’m calling my “winter” lights.
Well, my hubs is from Philly so needless to say, the game did not go as we hoped. He and my son were at the game so tough loss. He did come home in time to make me dinner for Valentine’s Day which was nice. Good luck w your race this weekend
Oh no!!! That is a very tough loss. He must be a big fan if he went to the game. And really? He made dinner for Valentine’s Day? That’s so sweet!
I was rooting for Philly, we lived there for 2 years and our daughter was born there. We live in California, near San Francisco, so my husband was rooting for Kansas City (because Philly beat his team, the 49ers, so he didn’t want them to win, which is grudge logic, right?) I enjoyed the halftime show…my husband said Rhianna looked pregnant, my daughter told him not to shame her for her post-baby body, and I said, ‘huh?’ because I was not paying much attention. Anyway, he was right. We had snacky food, and since we are in California, it was over pretty early for us.
I’ve used grudge logic many times in deciding who to root for! And yes- on Super Bowl Sunday I always wish I lived on the west coast so the game could be nice and early.
I’ve never thought to put onion rings on my sandwich – that sounds brilliant!
It’s funny, my mother, who lives in Southern California, loves to hang her laundry out to dry. They very rarely use their dryer. I used to think that it was silly of her when I was little, but she says she loves the smell. I’ve always wanted a clothesline so I could hang my laundry as well, but we don’t really have a good place for one in our yard.
I love how the heart pancakes and the heart strawberries go together! We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s day here. My oldest wanted to set up a “date night” for me and my husband, offering to watch her siblings while we watched a movie, but I didn’t get home from work til kind of late. Maybe we’ll take her up on it another time…
When my husband and I were first married, we didn’t have a dryer for a while and used to hang the laundry outside. It DOES smell really good! Now we don’t have a clothesline, so hanging the clothes to dry inside doesn’t have the same effect.
I went for a walk in a slightly different part of my neighborhood yesterday, and it’s still fully Christmas down there. Like, one guy still has the yard projector beaming MERRY CHRISTMAS on his garage **shrug**
What, seriously? I don’t know, it just gets depressing after a while.
Even though it was a good game, I didn’t watch the 2nd half which you know from my weekend recap. I did watch the half-time show! I never miss that! I thought she put on an excellent show!
We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. I was traveling so I didn’t do anything special. I was able to kiss my valentines goodbye that morning before heading to the airport, though! Paul was very excited about all his valentines. I FaceTimed with them that night. It didn’t appear that he got much candy so I was likely the outlier in sending m&ms but oh well!!
Yes, Valentine’s Day is fun for that age, and all through elementary school. I’m surprised he didn’t get much candy- but maybe that comes next year.
I watched most of the game, though I nodded off a few times in the final quarter (I guess I was legitimately tired). Every time I “came to,” someone else was leading, LOL. I like both teams, so I had no preference who would win, The commercials are my poison, though 😉
Yes, I can see how that game would be hard to follow if you kept falling asleep! And yes, this is the only time I actually don’t mute the commercials.
The only part of the halftime show I was interested was figuring out if Rihanna was pregnant, haha. I was one of the millions of people Googling about it during the halftime show!
Hooray for a new dryer! 20 years is impressive! I keep wanting my washer/dryer to die so I can get a new one (and since I’m a renter, I won’t have to pay for it!), but it’s trucking along. Dang! The dryer is SO loud that I can’t run it while I’m watching TV or on a work meeting, which is really annoying.
Ha ha, yes it is pretty nice having a new dryer! Now I’m wondering when our washing machine will conk out.