happy valentine's!

 

Chocolates look so enticing.  I didn't have any, but the girls said they were good.  I do admire them.  Shh, I did have like ten Hershey kisses though....have to stop buying them.

The water problem is fixed, at least for now, a new pressure switch, and a new shop vac.  We had wanted/needed one for a while, but it became imminent with all that water leaking, so thank you local hardware store for being open on Sunday morning.  

Random grandkid pics:

Anya with her daddy, our oldest son, Benjamin

Elise and Anya

and...Tennyson, who helped himself to the bottle of syrup.  Um, no.  

This fine cold day in February, with a high of 15  (-9.4c) but feels colder with the wind, I'll be going out and about.  Tomorrow we are having a Valentine's party for the activity club, and they will need some prizes, and I am making some cupcakes, so I need a few supplies.  I'll also get a few groceries for the week, since I'll be out.  I'm trying to minimize my out-and-abouts, as gas prices are UGH.  

There is a nice chuck roast with potatoes and carrots in the crock pot, which I love love love, and I love love love that dinner is already made!  It will start to smell heavenly in here soon.  

Yesterday, Jonathan went to a Super Bowl gathering at Ben's house.  There was a snack contest, and Jon won...because he made chipotle chicken crispers with a copycat recipe from Chili's.  He used fresh chicken breast, and made it all from scratch, in little batches in the air fryer, with two kinds of sauces.  I had to hold back, he had to do it on his own, for the contest, and believe it or not, I can tend towards steamrolling.  

 Emily had taken Charlotte Claire and Camille and their friend Amanda to an Asian food market.  They came in the door with noodles and egg rolls and all sorts of treats, some of which they prepared and had for dinner.   

The Super Bowl....well, I am no football fan, but I did watch part of the game.  I root for the underdogs, but I didn't care too much who won.  The commercials were so-so.  We tend to mute all commercials, don't watch much t.v.  We didn't have any special snacks, I had a baggie of leftover popcorn from the other night when we had some of the older girls here...homemade stovetop popcorn, in coconut oil, with butter, oh dear, my favorite.  I can only make it once in a while, because it's too good.

I've been feeling kind of disconcerted lately.  I can't put my finger on it.  Maybe it's a middle age thing, but I think it's more promptings from God to be more serious about the inner life.  It's important to remain hopeful in all that we go through, chastening and trials are a part of life, and not meant to discourage us, but to test our faith.  Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, you can feel one way or other, maybe people don't respect you, but to keep your heart pure, and seek only approval form Him who judges righteously, then there is peace.  It's a fight, and we fight not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities.  

It's possible to go through an entire day, and lie in bed, and think, how have I been faithful today?...and draw a blank!  That is a total waste!  We need to walk wisely, and redeem our time.   Ask God for help, He will most certainly give it!

Anyway,  we're still debating our new flooring here.  The kitchen tile needs to be replace, we would like the waterproof wood-like planking, but I think it will look stupid next to the different wood (laminate)  in the living room, and that it would look fantastic to replace it all at the same time, and go right down the hall with it...the hall which still has the original carpet...(AND, we have a cat who occasionally pees in the hallway, which...infuriates me.  Not at the cat, she is a sweetheart, but at the smell!  She has a litter box, and she goes outside, but sometimes she just squats daintily, and pees on the floor. ) So, I want to rip up the carpeting immediately, I don't even care if it's just plywood until we figure it out.  Paul wants to get flooring just for the hallway, but it all has to match...doesn't it?  We can't have patchwork flooring.  They don't make the stuff we have in the living room, anymore.  He thinks we can match it "closely enough".  I am dubious.  

I'm of the mind that we save up until we can do it all, but maybe I'm just stubborn.  Our living room floor is still fine, so....can two different wood floors co-exist, as there are two wide doorways connecting kitchen and living room...?  Then the hallway connects to the living room, so if it matched the kitchen flooring, it would be true patchwork...ha.  

Oh, the the conundrums!  If money were no object, what would we do with ourselves?  Life would be borrrrring.    

Ah well, off we go...Camille's violin is at Emily's house, so I'll stop there to get it and drop them off something nice for Valentines day....