A Little (VERY belated !!! ) Romance.

     
I love Valentine's Day !!! 😀 I am a hopeless romantic , and proud of it.  😍 So, when February 14th comes around, I am usually prepared,  but not this year 😔. I have been pretty busy, both with work-related and family responsibilities and Tess' mother had to be hospitalized for several weeks after a fall and Tess received the "Royal summons" 🙄 to go to Florida to visit her and again when she was ready to go home. We were all set to see Michael Buble at the Garden on February 20th, but that's been postponed indefinitely. We'll try to catch up with him sometime during the tour. We gave our tickets to friends (including the pair from our anniversary giveaway box !!! Because NO ONE entered ??? 🤨 So no one won 😣. Don't you feel silly now  ? ) who called later to say they'd had a great time. I know Tess was more disappointed than she admitted. I know that look. It breaks my heart 😔💔. Yesterday, I got home from a weekend business trip and that afternoon, Tess put a card under my office door. Inside, was a belated Valentine with an invitation for a candlelight dinner. (We celebrated over the phone last month , but it wasn't very romantic for either one of us.) How could I resist😁??? Oh no😲 ! A present !🎁 We have an agreement, My Tess and I, about presents. Preferably handmade and nothing ostentatious or expensive. ("Frugal" is her middle name. Not really. ) Fine. Of course, we made this agreement AFTER she gifted me with my OSAKI JP PREMIUM 4S Japan 4D massage chair three years ago.                                        

 Isn't she a beauty !!!😍 

Now, Tess is a chocoholic, so she's easy to buy for 💝💝💝💝💝!!! So usually, I just call See's and have them back a sixteen wheeler into the driveway and dump the contents into the empty swimming pool😆(We drain it for the winter, although I think it would be cool to use it for a skating rink⛄🏒⛸️🎣). Tess requested that I not make fondue this year because she says it's too fattening😆.Thursday is usually Tess' baking day, and she made a cake

for us and dinner was in the oven calling my name😋. As I walked by, I noticed that there was a wrapped package on the dining room table. Oh no ! 😲 I don't have a present ! My sweetie was upstairs taking a bath and I didn't have time to go shopping. I'd done that two years ago and while I was out, I bumped into an old friend, went for a drink which turned into a late lunch, and came home seven hours late, in the dark. She thought I had been kidnapped or something. She didn't yell, she didn't pout, but she hugged me harder than ever (and I get plenty of hugs🤗🤗 from her on a daily basis) and I've never felt so guilty.  Present....present.... Money ?💵Nope. That would insult her. I could call the florist💐 ? No. She says flowers should come from your garden. I looked out the back window. Nothing growing in ours yet. It's still too cold.
Shiba Inu 🐶? Uh uh. I went into the pantry and rifled her supply of semi sweet chocolate morsels, some sweetened condensed milk, marshmallows, and, threw them all in a bowl, nuked it, stirred it up, tossed in half a bag of walnut pieces, and half a bag of rice  krispies, poured it into a dish, covered it with plastic wrap and hid it in the back of the fridge.

Then I rooted around in t ithe closet where she keeps the holiday stuff and found a red velvety heart shaped box and a long silvery box and some ribbon. I finally decided on the silver one, lined it with wax paper and hid it on top of the frid

ge until after dinner which was...heart❤️ shaped. Seriously ! After dinner, we decided to watch two movies and during the intermission I got up and offered to make the coffee ☕and tea 🍵 (she should've known I was up to something) and cut up the fudge and filled the box💝 Then we exchanged presents.  Ladies first. Tess gave me a handknit scarf 🧣and watch cap in my favorite color and soft as a bunny🐇, and a pair of beautiful leather riding gloves 🧤. We're still having a lot of cold 🌧️weather, so I'll wear them. She made some for me a couple of years ago, but I'm hard on my clothes and she said they had "seen better days". Did you make these 🤨??? Tess: Yes, except for the gloves. Me: Who made those?  Tess: Someone in Italy?  Me: Were they ....expensive ?🤨 Tess: N...No. Me: Fibber. Tess: But you need them! The ones you wear are disgraceful. They look ancient and they do not even have fingers. Me: They're mitts !!! Tess: Your hands get so cold. Feel how soft they are. Me: Cold hands, warm heart. Ooo ! Nice !😍You spoil me. Tess: You are not spoiled! You are pampered. Me: I sure am😁. Tess: Then you like them? Me: They're great. She smiled, which was another gift. Her smiles have been rare lately. Me: Open yours !!!🎁  My Tess is one of those people who takes ten minutes to open a present because she refuses to tear the paper (actually, she's the only one I know. She uses it later to wrap other packages and saves the ribbon for ponytails. 😄Did I mention she was frugal ?) Well, after I woke up 😴 she had finally folded the paper and wound the ribbon into a little ball. We have a closet where she keeps all of the decorations, ornaments and gift wrapping  paraphernalia. (Watch out, Martha 😬!!!) I shouldn't complain. To make a long story short (too late, I know🙄) I gave her this little pearl pin 

(everything has to be little 🙄)  that I found in a LITTLE shop in St.James last year but I hid it from her, and subsequently myself, but I eventually found the box on a high shelf in my office and took it downstairs to wrap it.  P. S. : She loved it. And the fudge. Later, we took our cake into the den and snuggled up on the couch and watched a Michael Buble concert from a couple of years ago on YouTube. A month and a half late, but it was still the best Valentine's Day ever. I'm looking forward to Easter🐰🐤💐 Sometime in July. 😉.