My Funny Valentine('s Day)

It was a most unusual Valentine's Day here - of course it's been a rather unusual February and an unusual winter for that matter! Lent started about three weeks too early, we've had about 50 more inches of snow than we had by this point last winter (seriously!) and we've had a bug going around the family for the last three or four weeks (I have to admit that we're loving being home this much and as for not having to drive on the super-mucky roads - that's just fine with me).

Anyway, I woke up to a very funny musical Valentine card at my computer. I didn't buy a card for John. He claims that he appreciates having a "free" ticket to forget a card for me sometime. :)

But, MY Valentine got to stay home from work today; after driving his clunker of a car just a little way on the freeway and realizing that that clunking that started after hitting a pothole last night was starting to turn into a definite lurch, he brought it right back to the local mechanic and walked home. Apparently the already beat-up struts got filled with water and then froze (ouch!). He'll probably be able to go into work tomorrow for just a little while, after both struts are replaced (fun!).

And so, he worked from home this morning and he and I put our heads together this afternoon and did our taxes (how romantic!!!).

In the midst of this we were treated to a lovely Narnia play. Terri, Bernie, Gus and Frank acted out in lip-sync the beginning scene of the dramatized audio of the Silver Chair - it was terrific! This is where we are introduced to Jill Pole and our previous acquaintance from the previous story, Eustace Scrub, who are chased by school bullies into Narnia and have a rather complicated quarrel.

Random acts of artistic Valentine creations from the kids were scattered throughout our day.

Ria spent most of her day painting "Veronica's Veil" and a rocky tomb entrance for tomorrow's Stations of the Cross that will be put on by a number of teens in our homeschool group.

After e-filing our taxes (I LOVE TurboTax), John and I decided to go right out and spend some of the tax-return-to-be on a new snow blower of all things. Our old snow-blower is almost dead and we're expected to get quite a bit more snow this winter (and John travels enough to make him feel guilty about those of us at home dealing with lots of snow clearing).

Frank, who simply would not be parted with us even for a short jaunt into town, came along and promptly fell asleep. Nevertheless, he enjoyed our little stops at several local stores (where we discovered that everyone was completely sold out of snow blowers- and it was suggested that we try again in late summer). We'll make do, though. Our very kind neighbors often bail us out when the snow gets really deep as they have a very large and powerful snowblower. And I'm sure we could give them a call, particularly if we really needed help.

Our day ended with a stop at a coffee shop with Frank being very animated and funny (the nap helped, I guess!) which all added to the sense of quirky fun.