Early Valentine's Day

Last summer/fall a friend got a group from church together large enough to buy Wicked Tickets at the Group Discount rate. 

I've been holding onto those tickets since October WAITING for February 12th to come around. Brooks and I decided it would be our Valentines date together.

Then in December I get a text from Brooks saying something about how he needs a wedding ring. 

Brooks has gone through THREE rings and losing them all. We just never bought him a replacement for.....um......3 years? Turns out working in the rest home reminded him he needed a new one (good thing those ladies are old, or I would have to pummel them for hitting on my husband). ;)

Well, it got me thinking, if I'm going to buy him a ring it mind as well be for Valentine's Day, right? I found this cool guy online that takes coins or replicas of coins and makes rings out of them. They looked pretty awesome. PLUS, I found a ring made out of a replica of the first coin in the Continental US! I thought it was pretty neat how it had all the names of the 13 colonies on it. It looks wedding-band-ish, right? 

Plus, he LOVES Revolutionary War/history stuff. Perfect. I ordered one.

When it arrived I couldn't wait to give it to him on Valentine's, so I gave it to him last week.

Leeeeeeeeet's just say it wasn't exactly what I pictured.

First of all, it was HUGE and HEAVY. It FIT over his knuckle (his knuckle his HUGE) fine but it took up the WHOLE finger. 

I wish I had my camera on him. It was priceless. I could tell immediately he didn't like it but he TRIED to act grateful. When I saw it on his finger we both just started laughing.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!?

Clearly, I wasn't. Like, not even a little. Of COURSE he wouldn't like it, he hates ALL things gaudy and excessive. 

I thought I was out the money and it would be one of those stories we would laugh about for a while, but he suggested I TRY to return it to get my money back. 

And it worked. With the money I got back I bought the boys, Brooks and I some Harlem Globetrotter Tickets in March. So Happy Valentine's Day to us, right?

(I'm thinking of permanent marker-ing a ring on Brooks while he's sleeping.....)

But the night for Wicked finally arrived and I was SOOOO excited to be going. The group of us all sat together (7th row....AMAZING seats) so it felt like a Girls' Night on one side of me AND a date on the other.

I told Brooks I was going to paint my face green to go to it and he said he wouldn't sit by me if I did.

#partypooper

Turns out that night was the night of Brooks' championship Churchball basketball game too.....that he missed. He said there was no way he would've missed going to Wicked with me and seeing me get so excited. (Although he didn't ALWAYS see me enjoying it since he kept needing to catch some "shut eye". He assured me he was still listening though and he remembered it from the last time we saw it in New York. Poor guy was so tired from work lately)

Can I just say I reeeeeeeally needed this date? This NIGHT AWAY!!!!  It was a HECK of a week for me ever since Aleeya got lice from a kid at school. 

Yes, I said LICE!!!!!

(thank you 1st grade)

Ugh. So so so gross. Our first encounter, and hopefully last.

I've spent all week washing EVERYTHING in hot water, steaming everything, clearing her chest of drawers to wash it all and Iris' since they share a room, combing through her head, washing her hair, rubbing prescription goop on it, washing everyone's bedding AGAIN and AGAIN every night. And I thought my laundry pile was large LAST week with the puke-bug! Oh no, that was just warm-up. 

But I can FINALLY say, they are gone and no one else got them!!!! Gosh, that is SO lucky, and I realize how awful it COULD have been.

Did I mention I needed the Wicked date?

Well, now you realize how much!