U-Haul

In all of my years, I have never heard the U-Haul ad that says, "U-Haul our favorite neighbors out of the 'hood and break the hearts of our children who will no longer be able to take a walk and see their best friends every night after dinner in the summertime". Maybe they never used that one because it's a tad wordy. Nevertheless, truer words have never been spoken in regards to U-Haul - at least in our book! I'm glad they are moving in the wintertime, so we don't immediately feel the effects of the after dinner walks without Ella. We have a couple of months before the whining begins. Richmond has already started planning the days that would be perfect to invite Ella over - like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This morning, after seeing the "big moving truck" in Ella's driveway, he decided that the only possible solution is to marry her - then they would never have to be apart. Oh, he has talked marriage with Ella before, but never with such conviction as today. Bless his big, sweet, broken heart......good thing she's just moving across town!

Random Thoughts on Valentine's Day (Very Random)

As I was pondering a Valentine Day post, my thoughts were all over the board. I couldn't pull together anything that stayed on the same subject long enough to be interesting, so.......I'll just post my random thoughts......which probably won't be very interesting either!

Random Thought #1 - I decided to look up the history of Valentine's Day; after all, I was certain that it existed before Hallmark, Zales Jewelers, FTD Florist, and Victoria's Secrets....right? My husband has long declared this day a marketing ploy by the previously mentioned companies, among others. I will say, he has fallen victim to their evil schemes on several occasions despite his accusations! (Love you, honey) So, I Googled the history of Valentine's Day. Wow, can you say obscurity? There are several theories out there. I will choose to believe this one:

Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine.

Random Thought #2 - What's up with the kiddie Valentine Cards they put out these days. I was shocked the first time I had to buy these after Richmond was born. They were nothing like the Valentines that we had in the 70's when I was a kid. What happened to the envelopes? Why are they so small? When did Disney/Pixar/Nickelodeon take over? Why aren't there any cards with cute cuddly characters that don't belong to the aforementioned group? Have I mentioned that I have always thoroughly despised anything with licensed characters? Before I had children, I envisioned just saying "no" to all things licensed. We would not have Pooh bedding, no Buzz Lightyear shoes, no Thomas the Train backpacks, and absolutely no Barney anywhere in my house. Ahhhh, the dreams of future Moms are full of grand illusions. Then reality sets in when we actually give birth to these little Pooh-Buzz Lightyear-Thomas the Train-Barney loving creatures, and we give in. No amount of Mommy strength can keep us from buying a little vehicle named "Snot Rod" for our 4 year old Cars fanatic for his Valentine surprise! (My licensed merchandise rambling was totally a random thought within my random thought.....see, all over the board) Anyway, we bought the Cars cards because I did not want Richmond to be labeled a "generic geek" before he even starts kindergarten. But bless his heart, his odds of gaining this label somewhere along the way are very, very good. After all, remember who his parents are. Having had a career in retail, I prefer the term "private label" as opposed to "generic". I also prefer the term "financially savvy" as opposed to "cheap".

Random Thought #3 - Richmond has been loving the whole Valentine thing for the last week. He is really into "being Valens". He has asked me on numerous occasions to be his "valen". So sweet! Last night, he really wanted to discuss the matter of who would be whose "valen". Unfortunately, I could not concentrate because, ya'll......the Vols were playing Kentucky in a little game of hoops on ESPN. I wanted to be there for him....to declare my heart forever his. But, but.... Chris Lofton and the boys were knocking down 3's like it was nothing. Oh, joy!! However, I regained consciousness during a commercial long enough to hear him declare that he shall be my "valen", along with his brother, Knox. Realizing that his Daddy was left "valen-less", he decided that one of our female neighbors (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) would make a perfect "valen" for his Daddy. Ummm, I was a little freaked out by that for just a minute. But then Lofton hit another 3.......

Random Thought #4 - This day never passes without one special memory from the past. I was 23 with no Valentine in sight. (This was the same year that the Lord blessed me with my permanent Valentine!!) For some crazy reason, when you are 23, you think you are old - especially with no marryin' prospect! So I am at my mom and dad's house hanging out with my family, who are all preparing for their Valentine dates. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I had created a Valentine jingle that I was sharing with my sister. It went a little something like this....."Mom has a valentine, Daddy has a valentine, Tony has a valentine, Marcy has a valentine - Missy has no valentine - pooooor Missy." (Yes, I live in Nashville; no, I am not a songwriter) It was a very sad tune, but my 17 year old sister found it to be hilarious. Of course, she did.....because she had a valentine. In fact, she found it so hilarious that with all of the laughing and snorting and such, she sucked one of her valentine M&Ms down her throat and proceeded to choke. For real. I had left the room for a minute and returned to find her on the floor, holding her throat and turning blue. As luck would have it, I had just completed the Heimlich Maneuver training. Also, for real. I grabbed up all 5'11" of her off the floor and commenced to thrustin'. The M&M shot out of her mouth like a Patriot Missile. That's right.....I saved my sister's life.....even if she had just been reveling in my non-valentine-having situation. We've had a lot of good times since then, so it was worth it :)

Random Thought #5 - Conversation at my house this morning:

Me: Richmond, it's time to do our chores and put on our clothes.

Richmond: Mom, it's Valentine's Day. I thought we were just suppose to sit around and love each other all day, not do chores.

Me: Well, we can love each other while we do our chores.

Richmond: That's not love.

Last, But Most Random Thought Of All - Richy had a friend in high school who had lots of girlfriends, but he had devised a grand plan. He always broke up with his girlfriend in early December and maintained his bachelor status until after Valentine's Day. You got it......no Christmas gift, no Valentine gift. And if he was really lucky, his new post-Valentine squeeze had a birthday that fell somewhere in between - mid January was perfect! Now that's brilliant...... Please note that he is 38 and still single. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Now, we can all be glad that I didn't try to weave these stories into one. I was not an English Lit major, as is evident. I was a business major which is also evident, thus the bullet points/highlights theme. And maybe, just maybe - I am a bit random by nature.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Let It Snow

Scenes from yesterday's "snow event"......

Is is Knox, or is it Randy (Ralphie's Brother) from A Christmas Story?

Ella and Richmond

Claire wasn't loving the snow

"I can't put my arms down"

"Help....I can't get up!"