Happy Love Day

(Annette Speaking) Valentines Day is now one of my favorite holidays!

(Charles speaking) We did the 12 Days of Valentines again this year. For those of you who weren't in the loop last year, while we were dating, I thought to myself, "Self, why are the 12 Days of Christmas only for Christmas? Why can't I do it for Annette for Valentines Day?" So I did. I wanted to do something cute, so each day I would give her a gift (as clandestinely as possible), and it was always accompanied by a note that would start out "On the [nth] Day of Valentines My True Love Gave To Me, [insert name of gift here]" Then there would be a note that explained how that object represented her or reminded me of her. But! This year Annette did it for me as well. On Day One she posted a pink heart on the wall with a reason she loved me. On Day Two, she posted two hearts on the wall with two more reasons she loved me, and on and on for the following days. On Day Twelve though, she didn't just do twelve hearts. She did a BILLION hearts and she put them EVERYWHERE! I don't think a volcano could have done a better job of interspersing hearts around our apartment. I'm still finding them today hidden among my toiletries, clothes, cookbooks, etcetera. She claims I haven't found them all. It was cute. Leave it to her to one-up me!

Annette started her new job which has been fun. The manager who hired her seemed intensely desperate for help, but the stories she's told are that there are three or so workers at any given time, but only one or two customers at any given time. I think it's been fun for her to talk to the other workers and to get paid for trying on clothes. Disclaimer: My description of all of this could be wrong, so get the real story straight from Annette. I do believe Annette is perhaps a stellar saleswoman. She's gorgeous, she's genuine, and she's not pushy.


My finger is healing well. Yea! Who needs doctors when you have duct tape and Google?

We finally had my parents (Tom and Jan) and my youngest sister (Angela) over for dinner for the first time. Annette wanted to make Jell-O and it was close to Valentine's Day, so we made ten cups of Jell-O in our heart-shaped bunt pan. Pretty sweet, huh? The main dish was a marinated chinese chicken salad that is to die for.

We're starting a garden. A couple of days ago, I was outside digging rocks out of the ground which doesn't leave much since there's many rocks and little dirt. I heard rustling behind me. I heard it over and over again and thought someone was playing a trick on me. A second later two large pheasants startled me to death by flying out of some nearby brush and flew into a large tree in the back yard. I had no idea that pheasants could fly that high. This tree is a good fifty feet tall. Anyway, if you thought the age difference between Annette and me was large before, you'll be pleased to hear that I lost five more years off of my life after that panic attack.

Below are more pictures of the ground we're tilling.

The first is what it looks like before we've touch it

The second is what it looks like after we've worked on it for about one hour.
The next two show some contrast between the first hour of work and the second.

We had a great party with Clark and Quenta Hatch (Annette's uncle and aunt) and tons of their family and friends. There was lots of good company, fun games, and amazing food. If you ever want to play psychologist, scream.

The last comment is that Annette said that her mom used to make rock cornish game hens when she was about eight years old. We made some tonight and they were SO good. I should have taken a picture but Annette was so ravenously hungry that she almost didn't bother to take the hen out of the crock pot before she started eating. I think she ate them bones and all.

Thus it is. The End.