He got me a stun gun. (How romantic!) I got him one of those model Stirling engine kits somebody linked to here a little while ago. I’m working tonight so we’re not doing a nice dinner or anything, but my birthday’s next week so I’m sure we’ll do it then. And then his birthday the week after - it’s a busy month for us.
So, how’d it go for you?
We got a one-year membership for two to the local fitness center (we agreed in advance that this would be our gift). We also got cards for each other and will get takeout tonight.
I got roses, as I do every year. 16, non-red, very pretty.
We went out to dinner a couple of nights ago for our anniversary. This morning I gave my husband a cheap box of chocolates I’d picked up on a whim. He seemed to be embarrassed having nothing for me, silly man. He knows I don’t give a rat’s behind about these minor holidays.
So far at work today, I’ve been given a pretty pencil, some lollipops, a few pieces of chocolate, and some conversation hearts. I’ll save up the loot and give it all to the kids when I get home.
My husband and I are going away tomorrow night to a very romantic bed and breakfast, and then we’re hitting the bookstores! What could be better?! 
I won’t know until tomorrow when I drive down to visit him for the weekend. I bought him a new button down shirt because he really needs clothes and doesn’t like buying them. Also got him a goofy card with a daschund on it, cause he loves those dogs a lot.
Tomorrow we’ll be going to dinner (casual) and drinking beers, then back to his place for some champagne and romance and whatever he has planned.
Dad made me go purchase his gift to my mom for him. She wanted and received one of those ‘journey’ necklaces with the 7 diamonds or whatever. It was on sale at Macys yesterday.
I got the pleasure of wishing my best friends ‘Happy Anniversary’. (Yes, they got married on Valentine’s Day. We all thought they were crazy.)
My hubby works out of town during the week, so he won’t even be home until tomorrow. A couple of times in the past, same circumstances, he’s had flowers delivered. But we’re just getting out of a nasty situation with the IRS, so I doubt he’ll do that this year. We do have a nice romantic dinner out planned for tomorrow night, though. It won’t be anyplace terribly expensive (oh, hell, this is Cumberland. There is no place terribly expensive!) but it’ll be just me and him, maybe a couple glasses of wine, maybe we’ll share a crab dip appetizer or something, and it will be nice. 
I have had an extremely…complex Valentine’s.
A month ago, after noticing for a couple of months that the Better Half was coughing a tiny little cough every morning, I asked him–nicely–to get a chest x-ray. He smoked during high school, and although it’s been 30+ years since he quit, still lung cancer has a way of popping up.
He refused.
Mister Tough Guy. Mister I-Never-Get-Sick. Mister I-Can-Handle-It.
Uh huh. :rolleyes: (No, this is not going to be about how he has lung cancer, or anything bad.)
A week later, during a conversation about something I don’t remember, I saw an opening and said, “…then go get a chest x-ray.” And feeling indulgent, he said, “Okay. Make the appointment.”
So I did, and the doc said as long as he was there, might as well make it a full physical, which he hadn’t had for quite a while.
So.
Last Friday, while dropping him off at work, during which exercise he was driving, he inexplicably took the long way around, rambling on inanely about Mazdas and about how the last time he looked, we had $13,000 in the checking account.
Which we both knew perfectly well is totally earmarked for college expenses, since next fall we will have all three of them in college at the same time.
And suddenly I remembered that he’d been nattering on for months about buying himself a red Mazda Miata, and we had agreed (I thought) that he’d wait until La Principessa was out of college, which puts it at Four More Years.
The penny dropped, and I realized what he was saying. “You bought a CAR?? WITH OUR CHILDREN’S COLLEGE MONEY??!!” And, overcome with despair that I had had that most horrifying of wifely crises thrust upon me, the Hubby’s Midlife Crisis in which he goes hogwild and spends the children’s college money on a red sports car, I burst into noisy sobs, couldn’t help myself, it was going to mean I’d have to go back to working fulltime at Walgreens, instead of having it be my little part-time hobby.
So I sat there weeping for a minute, until he finally said uncomfortably, “Sheesh, it only cost $2,000…”
Immediate cessation of tears. “Oh, well, why didn’t you SAY SO! Like, right away, instead of going all around robin hood’s barn talking about how much money was in the checking account. Butthead.” And other similar excoriations.
I mean, geez, I can handle $2,000 for a car, but “the entire kids’ college money” is different, plus I know perfectly well how much even a used Mazda Miata costs. He told his story poorly, is the thing, and I of course assumed the worst.
Turns out he found a used Mazda RX7 for $2,000, and the reason we were taking the long way around to work is that it was in the shop having various basic things fixed on it, and he wanted to ogle the place where it was.
So then last Monday was his doctor’s appointment. And he spent an hour on the phone afterwards, getting the requisite Magic Numbers from an assortment of insurance company functionaries in order to get official permission to have his “full physical” lab work done.
And about halfway through this exercise in futility, he looked over at me, on hold once again, and said, “This is your Valentine’s present, you know. Me, sitting here on the phone like this.”
I said, truthfully, “Sweetie, I couldn’t ask for anything better. A chest x-ray and a physical suits me just fine.” Because I’ve never been one for the hearts-and-flowers bit anyway.
So then this morning I come downstairs, and there’s a Create-A-Card on the dining room table, along with a gift bag. The gift bag turns out to contain:
[ul][li]Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating People Who Make A Difference. He knows I detest that sort of glurge, so…bwah?[/li][li] Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!). Again–Bwah?[/li][li] Captain Kirk’s Guide to Women, which does make sense.[/li][li] One of those “Grow a dozen roses!” expandable drop-it-in-water things. Which makes my heart go all warm and smooshy because he knows I dislike spending money on flowers, which are just going to die and then you throw them away, might as well set fire to a $20 bill. So it’s symbolic, see.[/li][/ul]
And then there was the card:
Awwww.
Wowser.
This one’s a keeper. Glad I did.
But lord, if it ain’t a roller coaster ride sometimes, him with his little surprises. He has always been like that, as long as I’ve known him.
So, Happy Valentines Day to y’all. Hope everybody else’s blood pressure has been a little more stable this week.
He made me a Venn diagram.
(yes, it’s the nerdiest valentine I’ve ever gotten… which ROCKS!)
Later tonight we’ll be celebrating the same way we’ve celebrated every other special occasion so far in our relationship… we’re gonna blow a huge amount of money on a ridiculously nice dinner at a classy restaurant we’d normally never go to because of the cost. 
Valentines day? Was it today?
Well I guess I got nothing.
No, wait, I got a letter about my pension rate change.
My AAA membership got renewed. (By my parents, who worry about me, and therefore my car). No SO, so no other presents.
Nothin’ at all, except hugs, kisses, and a husband who cried over the card I gave him (see thread about same in this forum). It’s wonderful.
My wife and I decided that we’re not doing Valentine’s Day this year. Money’s a little tight because…
We got a dog!!! Look, here’s a picture. Yeah, I’m pretty excited. We got her from the local SPCA shelter, and we pick her up tomorrow. Best Valentine’s Day present ever.
We got each other a brand spankin’ new heat/air system, done by a crew that didn’t tear up the house.
And he listened to me rant for 2 days about my kids, and came up with possible solutions.
I think I’ll keep him. 
We each got hugs.
Awesome! She looks kinda like a blackish version of my Jasmine!
I got a bunch of extra work to do.
Yep, lightingtool wins the thread!
His and Her butt-plugs. Very romantic. Also, we’re going on a romantic trip to a seaside town for the three day weekend. Yes, we’re bringing the butt plugs.
