Oh, Valentine.

You know that Valentine's day is right around the corner when on every corner you see street vendors with their massive gifts for the folks who forgot that the 14th of February means get a card, flowers, or something for your loved one, or else face the horrible consequences. I was driving by one that was near our gym and had passed it a few times before, but I decided to turn and look at what they had while at a stop light. They were selling these huge baskets with a bunch of "stuff" in it all hand wrapped with beautiful red suran wrap. There were also giant stuffed animals. They were huge and just plain silly. When Mike showed up at work today, we were sitting together laughing about these vendors. I was telling him how hilarious some of these things were. There was a giant dog that had a face like Emma (my old dog) with matching paws, but it looked like the manufacturer ran out of fabric and threw on some pink to make it look like it was wearing a lovely sweater. We were rolling, just laughing at the stupid stuff that people will buy each other on this day of Saint Valentine. When Mike and I left work, I stopped off to pick us up a romantic meal from Weinershnitzel. That's right. When I walked through the door with my tired daughter on my shoulder, what should I find staring me in the face? A ridiculously giant cow sitting next to a giant basket, filled with stuff, and wrapped with beautiful red suran wrap. Mike was hiding from me. I thought I was going to die. I had spent a good 10 minutes in Mike's office laughing my ass off about how shitty these things were and come to find out, he apparently didn't agree. He had picked it up a few hours prior to my basket slandering episode. Of course, this made us both laugh so hard. He kept saying, "You were making fun of me!" C'mon, how could I not. Oh, the prizes we found in the basket o' stuff. There's a big fluffy heart with red feathers wrapped around the edges (which I plan to hang from my office door so that people know to leave me alone while I take care of payroll), a box a chocolates with peanut butter filling which Mike told me I shouldn't eat, another stuffed animal, a styrofoam heart, silk & plastic roses which I intend to put in a vase right away at work, and finally the packet of miscellaneous bath and body products which we are both concerned will give us a few nice cases of yeast infections. Oh! I almost forgot the 24 carrot gold chain with the gold heart. I wore it for about an hour before it started to hurt. Mike, honey, I love you so much that if you got me a bag of dirt, I would cherish it. You're wonderful and I thank you for my gifts. Thank you for thinking of me. You're awesome.