Bestest Blog of All-Time Valentine Carnival

Below is my submission for Cathy's Rants and Ramblins Valentine Carnival. It was fun remembering!

Valentines From the Heart ....Great Memories

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day around here. My truly Darling Husband has, since DD1 and DD2 became adults, decided he did not care to have flower, candy, and greeting card idustrial complexes, decide when to tell him how to say, I Love You. He does however, surprise and delight at other times of the year or even just for no reason at all. He is the romantic of the family. We quit giving to the girls when we realized that it could be construed as a pity valentine or if they had someone else to be their valentine.

However, when I was a child Valentine's Day was always fun. We brought our boxes to school and decorated them with paper doilies, red paper hearts and glitter and lots of Library paste that tasted sort of good. This was in the lower grades when everyone had to give a card to everyone in the class. Even back in the nostalgic 50's, it stopped at the pre- junior high grades when kids could start being very cruel. (Then see what a downer that day can bring)

Anyway..... My lasting memories of Valentine's day come during those pre-junior high days in the 1950's. When my cousin's grandfather came to live with her, he was not my actual grandad, but he was My Grandpa Stoner to me too. He was very old, born in the 1880's or 90's and had or did suffer from tuberculosis. Though I didn't know much about the disease then, he had a hunch and had been a tall man, at least 6 feet and he had snow white hair. He seemed to me the kindest man in the world and since he was bent over, to my child's eye he seemed to be talking or listening just to me. Once a year, he took us to downtown Los Angeles, on the bus, to the most beautiful theaters to see, usually a Disney film, and eat lunch at the fantastic, to us, Clifton's Cafeteria. What a great adventure!

On Valentine's Day, he always gave us the most beautiful boxed Valentine our child's eyes had ever seen. They were big like a book and had beautiful lace and sparkles and a satin sachet heart on the front that said To My Valentine, in glitter. Inside was the appropriate verse just to me, and the most beautiful signature I had ever seen, graceful and large, Love, Grandfather Stoner. I still have one packed away, all yellowed and the scent long gone, however everytime I run across it I remember that long ago time and the sweet man who was...My Grandpa too.

Last Weekend

Because I had been house bound for many weekends, last Saturday we checked out Pechanga Casino in Temecula for the day. It is only about 90 minutes away and we had never been.
It was ok, neither of us are big gamblers. DH couldn't find a poker machine that wasn't homesteaded by gamers. So he was not excited. I sat down at a Video nickle slot and tried to figure out how to play. You don't just sit down, put a nickle in and Pull anymore. I couldn't figure out the play but I did determine that hearts (and these were valentine type of hearts) were important! I slipped in a $5.00 bill picked how many lines and how many nickles I wanted to play and pushed spin. It just kept spinning and sprinkling hearts all over the screen. The lady next to me said it had to do with free spins that I was getting every time. I then just watched it pile up credits and make music and SPIN. When it finally stopped about 5-10 minutes later I figured that I ought to see what all the fuss was about and cash out. Was I surprised to find it was $414.50!
Wow that was easy.....sooo I put the receipt away safely and put in another $5, pressed all the appropriate buttons again, then again, then again....and POOF the fiver was gone. So I got up and I was gone. I found my husband, cashed in the receipt and we left. Stayed about 2 hours.

So despite the rain forcast, I am taking my $400 this weekend and staying at the Historic Mission Inn in Riverside for a Valentine weekend with my Valentine. I will have more to say after our stay and tour and dinner and brunch. TripAdvisor guests give it high marks.

Since DH retired, he has become a great house husband. I just started letting him do the laundry. Let is the appropriate word here as that was the one household task I didn't want him to do. He finally convinced me and is doing a great job (after sorting and drying instructions) so now our week ends are free for fun and games especially now that I get around easier. The last weekend we tried to get away, I broke my foot, so we are going to stay put in the Hotel, there seems to be lots to do. I can't wait!

Reflections

I am busy working on my Valentine Carnival post at Cathy's Rants and Ramblin's, so I have not had time to think about a post for today. Maybe more later......

It is now later.........

I had no Idea! I am amazed....Elvis Costello what a talent!.

I have a new favorite listen for my commute to work. I listen to accuradio.com while at work and I found this on their Classic Crossover station, and I had to have it. My exposure to Elvis Costello has been minimal, he is on my Roy Orbison: A Black and White Night. and that is it. This is Anne Sophie von Otter jazzy blues venture into Pop and her voice is sublime!

Where Am I Going With This?

I actually started this blog as a way to participate in Cathy's challenge. I found her site when I was clicking on Next Blog, and I became hooked on her and her list of reads, then their lists of reads, so as my list expands you and I will find that I have a lot of different interests.

Because I am following Dr A blog, I am learning that internet blogs can be difficult so I will probably not write:

1. Much about my Job: I work in a highly regulated business, bound most especially, by privacy of clients and employees, I have been in the business for over 20 years and I know the rules, besides the age group of people I train probably all blog and might run across my site. I have my places to vent when all is not rosy. Right now I love my job and with 3 years to retirement I would not like to lose it. No one at work knows I blog and I hope it stays that way, I must admit as the work place becomes younger and my pals retire I don't have a lot of folks around with whom I would share.

2. Anything too negative or at the expense of my kids or husband. They know about this spot, so I will see where their limits are. DH took slight offense at some literary license I took in a post, so I have to take care and speak only the truth (as I see it). They all deserve their dignity and their privacy. I will probably take exception to this once I have grandchildren.

So what will I write about? My pets, my travel, my life so far, maybe some rants on where the republicans and democrats are taking us. As a citizen I don't think much about where we are going as a country. Comment on anything in general. I will be mostly PG 14 and I will start commenting on the blogs I love to read. Also participating in the writing challenges etc. even if I don't get tagged. Also since I have started to write again I will try to figure the techy part of this blogging business. You will note that I have figured out links. Woo Hoo!

Global Warming and Odd Smells

I guess it is warm in England right now and the corpse flower is in bloom. The Huntington Library has one of these as well and its gardens are well worth the risk of its flower possibly in bloom.
I thought last night the plant was blooming somewhere in my kitchen so I went on a hunt. We have had a mouse for several weeks that has been feasting on the traps but has remained un-caught and in the last week we have seen no bits around the stove. I am hoping that he went to the great beyond without our help and has vacated the kitchen for a slow death in the walls because I just can't find what is smelling in the kitchen.

I am back!

I am going to go for a new start in 2007. I got sidelined Dec 22, when I managed to break my ankle and my foot. Sure did mess up my holiday and my vacation. DH and decided to go to UCLA's Royce Hall to see Slava's Snow Show, a great troup of Russian Clowns, and had a wonderful time. We had been visiting with the kids and made a mini-break out of it. Got a hotel room so we did not have to drive all the way home that night. Crossing the street on our way to dinner I fell into a messy pothole and went down and heard a snap.Spent the better part of the night in the emergency room. Spent a very unromantic night at the hotel, (I did have vicodin) eating a Jack in the Box Salad. I spent the next 4 weeks in a cast and not getting my kiitchen painted, as I had planned.I went back to work, I have a mostly sitting job. But the last few weeks have been a pain. I start out well in the morning but as the day goes on I have to prop my foot up use ice and take some advil. It makes me grumpy and I am ready for bed by the time I walk in the door.Christmas Day was swell. I had a few presents that I had ordered online but nothing else. So we decided not to do Christmas Day, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my brother and his family and went home early.On Jan 7 we celebrated Orthodox Cristmas with the kids in Santa Barbara, after DH pushed me around the mall in a wheel chair. I got to take advantage of the sales. That weekend was the only high spot of a less that Happy Holiday. I made the promise that I would start the Blog again, and I have been reading some favorites, but I just didn't feel like commenting. So I am going to get this site set up with links and stuff and come back to the community.