February Vacation Days

Today is Day#3 of vacation days I am using to stay home and write answers to my Final Exam Take Home test. Not exactly my idea of a good vacation....but hey, it's gotta get done! (Get 'er done!! as that redneck comedian says!)
The test is only 10 questions. Right now I'm ready to start #8. Three to go. After that, I still have 3 chapters to read, 3 more one-page summaries to write, and one homework problem to do. Sometimes the homework problems take a long time to figure out - like 3 hours. This is crazy to try to cram this all into one week. Imagine trying to work a full 8-hr work day + 2 hrs drive time + 1 hr dinner time on top of it. Impossible! So, I'm glad I had vacation to use so I could have a semi-normal life and get some sleep this week too. Thomas has been very understanding (as usual) while I spend all my free time typing on my computer. He makes dinner for us, then relaxes in the living room watching his favorite shows. I'm in the kitchen at the table, typing. Once in awhile I laugh at something funny on the TV. I'll stop for a few minutes, and we'll laugh and talk about what was so funny. Then I'll go back to my typing, and he goes back to his channel surfing.
I can't imagine trying to do this with kids in the house. I'm glad I waited until they were grown and on their own before spending my time to finish college.
I appreciate how patient Thomas is through all this. I mean, it's been years that this has been my routine. I'm sure he'll be glad when I'm finished. He should probably get a degree too -- a Bachelor of Arts in Patience! I should pursue that thought and see what I can come up with for that!

Valentine's Day full of Surprises

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and it was full of fun & surprises! Thomas and I went to church in the morning. When we get home after church the first thing we usually do is change into more comfortable clothes and decide what to have for lunch. Since it's usually about 12:30 when that happens, we're both pretty hungry. A lot of times we go out to eat. Yesterday was not one of those times!
He decided to have a chili dog and I wanted re-heated takeout pizza we had leftover from Friday nite. He was microwaving his dog and I would come into the kitchen to sit down and eat, then think of something I had to do first, and leave to go do it. I did this about 5 times before I finally pulled out my chair to sit down and eat. When I did that, I looked down and there was a box of Russel Stover candy (my favorite) and a red HALLMARK card! I was so surprised! We laughed over that, since I'm the one usually doing little surprises like that to him all the time.

Later that day, we attended #4 of 6 sessions at our church's "Sacred Marriage" seminar. It was very good, as always.

After that, we had to stay at the church for 45 minutes before the Couples Valentine Dinner started. Most couples wandered put of the church sanctuary into the fellowship hall. Some of the women wandered into the kitchen where two women were busy preparing dinner for the Valentine couples. We asked if we could help, and SURPRISE! they needed help! I got to cut up broccoli, cauliflower & yellow squash before they steamed it. After that I stirred linguini on the stove, and helped add the spices. Inbetween those two things, I put the frozen Stouffer's mac & cheese in the microwave to defrost, and threw the chicken nuggets in a pan and into the oven to heat up. This was dinner for the little kids of the moms who signed up to prepare dinner for the adults. It got kind of crazy when I was pulled away from cooking so I could have a Valentine's picture taken with Thomas! Once we got all the food served, I finally got to sit down and enjoy the rest of the meal & fun & games.
They had our own verion of The Newlywed Game with 6 couples from our church. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! The best secret was finding out our pastor's favorite cereal is BooBerry!! And he doesn't have little kids anymore - they're 10 & 15!
The best part was the dance we all had with our spouse to a song by Brandon Heath. I don't recall the name of the song, or the words, but it was a special SURPRISE moment of love dancing with Thomas! I told him we were practicing for Ben's wedding in Nov!
So, for me, Valentine's Day was really fun and great this year! I hope it was for you too!