Gonna give it a go, this year…Send prayers. 😉

All the commercials are encouraging gentlemen all over to flock to the jewelry stores/florists/edible bouquet retailers to purchase their beloveds something wonderful and romantic for the upcoming holiday. I actually heard a commercial on the radio coming home from work this evening about registering a star for your true love this year. Seriously? Nothing says love like a named star at the US copyright office, no? My reader feed is being slowly populated with VD-related posts (and not the kind that require antibiotics, ha ha). I could also tell that this day had to be close because I came down with my annual sinus infection from hell again this year.

Our calendar of events for the cooler months goes something like this: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Sinus Infection, V-Day. In that order, although sometimes the last two happen to go down at the same time. This is not unheard of.

Many of you are familiar with “The Holiday That Shall Not Be Named” at our place, given a couple of blog posts regarding same. It isn’t that we hate the sentiment. I mean, y’all KNOW we tried to pull off numerous romantic evenings that fell (flat) on February 14th. Sometimes it’s better just to back away slowly and know when you’ve been beaten.

The hubs and I aren’t superstitious by nature, but there is something about the appearance of pink, white and red stuffed toys and heart shaped boxes of chocolate during the middle part of January… Initially, we just point this out, laughing, and say, “Oh, look, honey…stuff for The Holiday That Shall Not Be Named!” and then we go on about our merry way. Fast forward to the first week of February, and sightings become just a little more ominous. While sitting in the nurse’s office being diagnosed with not just a sinus infection, but yucky ears, as well, I couldn’t help but realize where we are in the calender.

Logically, I know that one thing really has nothing to do with the other, but at the same time, I also wonder how much “self-fulfilling prophecy” has to do with this. I mean, if you EXPECT something bad to happen, it probably will, right? And as far as my annual bout of Sinusitis? I blame seasonal allergies. I have a friend who suffers from them as badly as I do, and it seems like things kick off for both of us shortly after Christmas. She missed a couple days of work last week due much of the same stuff I’m suffering through this week. I am fairly certain that this has more to do with the amount of pollen/allergens in the air than it does the upcoming V-Day.

That all being said, we MAY make a small attempt at romance this year. The 14th falls on a Saturday, so we have all day (therefore, no work missed if things go south). Plus, nobody is in the hospital, prepping for surgery, there is no hot tub to cover, and I figure if I wrap us both in bubble wrap, we should be able to pull off a nice, romantic dinner at home, right? I am hoping to start small, but bust the V-Day Curse once and for all.

Loving seafood as much as we do, I am thinking about doing a low-country boil (and if any of you has a great recipe for this, please leave me a comment), or maybe I will make a lasagna, which is our traditional Christmas Eve supper, but I was hobbling at Christmas and all that prep time did not tickle my fancy a bit. It could go either way, but I know the caloric value of a low country boil will be a lot easier on my waistline. (And because I’ve read the draft of this to him, the mere mention of a low-country boil has him salivating and saying, “MMMMmmmmm!” it looks like that is what’s for romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.) Look, Ma! I said it…

This is the kind of floral gift I am partial to!

I am also dropping floral hints around the house (in that I just read this blog to him out loud prior to posting, because I’m subtle that way). The hubs KNOWS I love roses, but I do feel that dropping an excessive amount of cash on a dozen red long-stems is nuts, because as beautiful as they are? They die quickly and I hate to throw them away when that happens, but who REALLY keeps dead roses for months on end? I might press one, but that’s the extent of that. Instead, I am hoping for a rose bush; a tea rose, long stemmed variety or another knockout bush (because they go NUTS in our yard), if I were to have a say in the matter. Or a potted flowering plant of some sort. One year (NOT for V-Day, mind you), the hubs brought home two absolutely GORGEOUS lily plants for me as a means of apologizing for something we’d been fighting over. I believe it was the spring after we opened the studio, so it might have been 2009. Those bad boys come up in the bed in front of said building every single year, blooming beautifully and smelling wonderful! Now, THAT is a floral gift I can get behind!!!

So it is with a hopeful heart that I share this publicly: I am not going to bash Valentine’s Day, this year. I am not going to fear it. I am actually going to look forward to it.

I’ll post something on the 15th to let you all know that we are still alive.

Just sayin’…

On another note, the neighbors that rented the house next door after The Neighbors moved out not too long ago, and now we have new neighbors. I HATE having a rental right next door. Although, this batch may also be good blog fodder, because on their first day in, they sunk the moving van into the front lawn/mud and required a tow-truck to get it out. They may have entertainment value. Time will tell. *fingers crossed*

Till next time…