So I guess that it’s been awhile since I’ve updated here. Basically, I haven’t had much time to sit around, let alone write a blog. Ever since Mom flew in last Saturday I’ve been going almost nonstop and let me tell you – I’m wiped. I spent the early afternoon with mom and Val yesterday, but I started up with a headache and ended up going home and crashing on the couch. Crashing on the couch sounds delicious today, but I committed to going to Sagemont last Monday (when I missed to hang out with mom, which turned out to be a shopping marathon) so I need to go. I can crash tomorrow. Maybe.

I know that I should be enjoying the time that I’m spending with mom but more and more I just feel … relieved that it’s a short term visit. I don’t think I could stand her living around here. I’m sure it would be different if she had a life here and I didn’t have to entertain her all the time, but having her around is very tiring. Especially with all the shopping. I used to like shopping, but now most of it seems a little pointless. It’s just more stuff that we don’t have any room for. I enjoy trying on and getting new clothes, but besides the fact that I really don’t need more clothes and the clothes I want to buy I have no place to wear them, it’s really not that fun to shop for clothes with mom. I think it would only be enjoyable if I was looking for a specific thing for a specific event, and even then it gets tiring. And the culture shock isn’t easy for her, that’s for sure. A lot of times I feel annoyed that she can’t embrace the differences. So what if regular coffee around here isn’t to her liking – why not try something new? Bleh. It’s just been a lot more stressful of a visit than it really should be.

I know I should try to ignore the little annoyances and see the big picture here, that is, that I will probably not get to see my mom more than once or twice a year for the next twenty years or more, and I should cherish the time together. But it’s a little difficult. My mom and I have next to nothing in common. When we are alone, and just hanging out, things fall flat. There’s nothing to talk about. I don’t know, it’s only another week and a bit and I’ll survive it just fine. Things will get back to normal and I’ll probably lament the lack of company. Hopefully in a couple of months I’ll have my work permit thingy and then things will really change around here. I’m excited for the upcoming events we have, but I’ve gotta focus on the here and now.

So yesterday was Valentine’s Day and I think we blew the romanto-meter(tm) well off the scale. I spent most of the day running around to get my fancy dinner all set up, but I still ran out of time. I probably shouldn’t have stopped for an hour to watch Dr Phil while my cupcakes were being baked! I got up decently early and got ready to go out to the mall. I was going to pick up something cute to wear, but my budget is rather small and I never realized how expensive Victoria’s Secret is. La Senza is so much more affordable, but that’s another rant, for another time. Anyways, my mall trip left me drooling over shoes at Dillards and leaving empty handed. I drove across the freeway to Panera and had a light lunch, since I needed to buy groceries, and groceries on an empty stomach is bad! (I still went 10$ over my budget…as usual.) Then to H.E.B. where I searched high and low for some sort of frozen chicken cordon bleu but they didn’t have anything remotely close. Most frozen dinners are either of the T.V. variety or pasta. H.E.B. didn’t even have any frozen chicken or beef portions. So I brought my purchases home, put them away, and then had a short break. I had to call Mike to ask for more money and I complained that I should have done groceries at Walmart since I didn’t remember getting so few items for $60. Anyways, back to Walmart I went. The place was a madhouse. They were already moving the Valentine’s stuff over to the clearance centre! I nabbed some very fake looking flower petals, some Dove heart-shaped chocolates (and boy, are they tasty) and cake mix and pink icing. Also some cheap candlesticks and two 74 cent tall candles. (What are those called anyways? Tapers?) Oh, and they had the frozen chicken cordon bleu! (Comes in two serving boxes, perfect!) I checked out, and was feeling sort of pleased that despite the mornings minor setbacks, my romantic evening for two seemed to be working out.

So when I got home I started working on the cake mix and then spooned the batter into my silicone muffin cups. (I tried to get the paper ones from Walmart but all they had were “happy birthday!” and Spongebob Squarepants… not so romantic.) Anyways, I only have 12 and the mix made 24 cupcakes so I had to spoon in half the mix, bake for 20 minutes, wait 5-10 minutes for them to cool, and then start over. The mix got lumpy while the first batch were cooking, so I hope that they are still edible. (Mike ate half a cupcake last night so I’ve got a few here if anyone would like one…but he said they were tasty, he was just full of dinner.) Anyways, so I’m watching Dr Phil and letting the smell of chocolate cupcakes waft into the apartment. After the show’s over, I decide to hop in the shower so I can pretty up before Mike inevitably calls me on his way home from work. By this point, Mike’s ETA was still 1.5 hours. No sooner had I locked the door when Mike’s key is turning it back! I quickly bolted the door shut and demanded to know why he had come home early! He said he just wanted to surprised me, but I was definitely not prepared! I shooed him out to Best Buy, showered, and then got to work on the dinner. The rice pilaf took 45 minutes so I threw that together first, then I iced a few cupcakes and decorated them with the Dove chocolates, put them in a pie plate (nicest serving dish I had without Santa Claus on it), and then did my hair, set the table, threw the chicken in the oven, peeled and sliced potatoes, boiled them and then had to do acrobatics to get my masher out from behind the hutch in the dining room. (Cat likes to jump up there and knock things in between the hutch and the wall..If you are wondering why I keep my masher on the hutch it’s because it’s so cute!) Then I’m going back and forth between cleaning dishes and making sure my food doesn’t burn or boil over. (This is where I completely forget that I have a bag of microwavable Green Giant veggies in the freezer.) I ironed the table cloth, set up the candles, plates, and cutlery, opened the wine and poured some in glasses, got the food all ready to go, shut the lights and lit the candles, and then I called Mike to let him know it was ready. I hid in the bathroom while he took in the sights, then I came out. I also forgot the music that I’d selected to play on the iPod, but there you go. I had limited time and someone put pressure on me!

Mike got me a really nice bathkit from the Discovery Store in the Galleria (we saw it last time that we went) so now I have a nice bath pillow, a floating candle, and yummy Lavender-scented lotion. He also tried to make chocolate covered strawberries, but the chocolate didn’t so much melt as much as burn and form some sort of chocolate tar. At least I still have strawberries to much on! All in all, it was a great night. Hopefully next year we’ll have enough budget to go out somewhere because having a romantic evening at home is stressful! I definitely would need to budget more time, and possibly buy supplies before the day of. I got busy with volunteering early in the week, however, and thought I could do it all in one day. Guess not! It may not have come off without a hitch, but it was definitely a very romantic Valentine’s Day.

Well another week has ended. I’m glad that the weekend is here, so I have Mike all to myself for the next two days. We’re planning a date sometimes over the weekend, so that will be fun. Maybe a movie or something, it’ll be fun to get out – just the two of us. Tonight I guess we’re going to play a board game or something, and I’m cooking spaghetti. Tomorrow we may have to help the his parents move some of Grandma’s furniture. She seems to have settled in to the nursing home rather well, so she’s there for the time being, and she wants some her ‘personal affects’, if you will. And then we need to continue cleaning up the main house and Grandma’s apartment so that mom will have a nice place to sleep. She arrives on the 17th and I’m getting super excited. We’re going to go shopping, sight-seeing, and all kinds of things. Even a day spa, maybe! It’ll be a lot of fun hanging out with her.

I really need to get into my scrapbooking again. I’ve got a bunch of ideas but no motivation to see them through. I think having the scrapping table in the wrong place, I can’t see the TV and I like to have some background stimulation going when I’m working on it. I have some ideas for some cutesy greeting card kits, but unless I figured out a way to cut out my own cards it would end up getting a little bit pricey to make. I’m just afraid that it wouldn’t end up selling for cheap enough. I’d need some kind of supplier. I’m planning to make a couple prototypes and see how that goes. I really need to see how much my materials cost and see if I could sell them at a decent price and still make enough money for it to be worth it, but then there’s the whole problem of finding people to buy them! Maybe I’ll just have to continue only making them only for friends and family, and maybe selling them just to friends and family, then I won’t care if I make a profit or not! I’ll try to upload some photos soon so ya’ll can give me feedback, and tell me if you think they would sell or not.

Anyways, I hope that everyone has a great weekend, and happy planning for all those out there who are going to be celebrating Valentine’s Day. I’ve got some plans up my sleeve as well, so we’ll see how those pan out! :D

Mike just set up my own wiki for sharing and organizing my recipes and it’s great. So if you want to know what’s for dinner over here, or maybe just want a new idea for something to cook up tonight, take a look. It’s even possible to join up and share your own, if that appeals to you! I’m not really expecting many people to do that, but it’s there if you are interested. I’m mostly just proud of it and want to share it with everyone. Of course, today’s the first day that it’s been online so there’s not much there yet. I’ll be adding pictures and more fun stuff as time goes on. YAY! Enjoy!