Tuesday, February 10, 2009

SPT Challenge Feb 10



Today's SPT challenge, courtesy of Lelly's Musings is part of her ongoing "Feel the Love February" (or something like that) challenge. Today's, specifically, is:

"I think it would be romantic to ......"

Can I just say, I've only been doing this challenge for three weeks now, so it seems a little early to complain ..... but blech. This challenge is especially hard for me because frankly, I don't have a romantic bone in my body. We've been married for twenty-one years ---- who gives two hoots about romance??? As long as the trash is taken out, I'm happy! Throw in a spontaneous vacuuming of the inside of my van and I'm delirious with joy!! Clean up the dog barf so I don't have to, and I will kneel at your feet and worship you forever!!!

Hmmmm. Perhaps I'm confusing romance with thoughtfulness???

Let's list, instead, all the traditional trappings of "romance", at least according to the marketing people at Hallmark, and see what we have:

1. Flowers. Are you kidding me? I am WAY too practical for flowers. Hello, in case you haven't noticed .... they DIE and then you THROW THEM AWAY. That's not to say I don't enjoy them when Blaine sends them .... but honestly, if he's going to spend fifty bucks on a gift for me, I'd much rather have a gift card to Target or Hobby Lobby or Bed Bath and Beyond. Providing me with an opportunity to shop guilt-free for even more picture frames or home decor in one of my favorite stores ?? ... now *that's* romantic!!

2. Chocolate. Ok, yeah, I love me some chocolate. But again, with the practicality. Don't waste money on the wrappings of a big pink heart-shaped box with crinkly cellophane, a bow, and six pieces of frou-frou fancy candy inside. You want to warm my heart via the candy route??? A jumbo-sized box of Milk Duds will do the trick, thank you very much.

3. Jewelry. Sadly, I'm just not a jewelry person. I wear basically the same one pair of earrings, alternate the same two necklaces, and either my wedding ring, or the band Blaine bought me for our fifteenth wedding anniversary, pretty much every day. I have some other jewelry .... about the best I can do is thinking to put on a bracelet once in a while, or maybe another ring if I'm *really* playing dress up. Remind me to tell you the story some time, about one of the worst days of my life, when I lost every single piece of jewelry Blaine had ever bought me, including my engagement ring, AND wrecked my car, all in one day. Ahhhhhh, good memories.

4. A candlelight dinner on the beach. Have I mentioned before that I'm not really a beach person, either? First of all, if you're at the beach, taking a walk in the sand, well, it's really hard to walk in. At least if you're an out-of-shape chick like me. And if you're in firm sand, it's probably sticking to your feet, which I hate. And I've never been on a beach, anywhere in the world, that the wind wasn't blowing in off the water at a kajillion miles per hour. So .... what? It's going to blow that sand all in my food? And blow the candles over and burn the tablecloth? And whip my hair in my mouth the whole time I'm eating??? And is it only me, or is it ALWAYS stinking cold at the beach at night, no matter the time of year?? So it will pretty much kill whatever ambiance we were going for with the romantic, candlelit dinner --- at least that's my opinion.

5. Watching the sunset (or sunrise) on the beach. See #4, minus the food part.

6. Wine. Ummmm, do wine *coolers* count? (clearly, I have no class whatsoever.)

I guess, depending on your perspective, Blaine is either to be envied because I'm so low-maintenance when it comes to romance, or pitied, for marrying such a stick in the mud.

You know, my idea of a good time is how he and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary ..... we hired a sitter, went to Blockbuster and rented a few movies, went to Dairy Queen and bought ice cream blasts, then parked our van in a parking lot and watched movies and ate ice cream together. Honestly, that was a pretty good night.

So maybe my personal "I think it would be romantic to ....." challenge for this week is nothing more than that:



I think it would be romantic to simply go out to dinner, just the two of us, with no kids menus or crayons or chicken fingers at the table. No grabbing a bite before or after soccer practice. A real, live dinner, where we can sit and visit and hang out and enjoy one another's company. Reconnect as a couple, and not just be "the mom and dad" who are constantly busy with work, chores, and chauffeuring children.

And then maybe grab some rented movies, ice cream, and find a parking lot somewhere.

27 comments:

joanne said...

awwww man, that is SO my idea of romance. Just a few minutes alone, a bite to eat and some ice cream...mmmmmmm ;)

Lisa said...

Last year for our 17th my husband and I walked around town and went 3 restaurants for only appetizers....It was great!

But it is really great when he tells the kids to leave me alone and does the dishes.....that's love.

Sharon C said...

Kristie, you just made my day. I'm so thankful I came to your site and could end the day with a laugh.

#4 had me rolling, perhaps because I can soooo relate!

Love your blog Kristie! Been following for years, but rarely post...Thanks for sharing your family with us!

Amber said...

Sounds good to me too!

BTW: Baby powder works wonders to get sand unstuck on your skin. I was a skeptic until I tried it. Now, no trip to the beach is complete without it!

hyzymom said...

We are twins separated at birth... My V-Day card to John this year says... "It's Valentines Day, Romance is in the air (pictures of hearts and couples gazing at each other on the front)...open up and inside it says... "It makes me want to puke." Happy Anti-Valentines Day. Yes, I know he's a lucky man. :o)

Anonymous said...

Hey,
Are you guys okay? I heard tornadoes in Oklahoma and Texas...let us know!

Unknown said...

We sound like we have LOTS in common. My husband is way more romantic than me and tries way harder than me. I just blogged about this last week. Oh well! I think I got pretty lucky with him and he got lucky with me, low-maintenance and all! :-)

Anonymous said...

You just described my perfect date night! :) GUess I am low maintenance too!

Melissa said...

AMEN! My husband and I have 15 years behind us and I feel exactly the same about every item on your list. Of course I tend to think that the reason we have made it this long is because I require so little attention that really I don't need anything more than someone to get the Christmas decorations out of storage once a year, take care of the lawn, make sure that the trash bins make it out to the curb once a week and remove anything dead from my house in the event of its demise or capture by my dogs.

Anonymous said...

Another separated at birth. I am the same way! I had never gotten flowers from him and when my first was born, I told him if I didn't get roses I was divorcing him. For years the joke was I had to give birth to get roses. I too, think they are a waste of money, but I do enjoy the $5 bunch of flowers he picks up at Cub Foods when I'm having a particulary bitchy day. I would just as soon have a good dinner at a place that I know, not some funky restaurant downtown, go home and watch a movie and not have to dress up to go out. Romance to me is not him not only washing all the clothes, but sorting them after! That would make me hot! Hope you guys didn't get the bad weather yesterday.
Sheila-MN

Anonymous said...

Right there with you - no chocolates or flowers for me. I do enjoy diamonds, though. Or a nice dinner works, too.

vgsmom said...

I knew it would be worth the wait. Some of my same sentiements.

The Traveling Yogi said...

You crack me up! I'm with you on the flowers. I enjoy them on the rare occasion I get them, but I'd rather the money be spent elsewhere. However, we are totally opposite about the beach. I love the beach and could live on a beach somewhere.

Hoping and praying that the severe weather did not impact you and your family as it went through OK.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was romantic when you and Blaine watched movies in the van on your anniversary, courtesy of the DVD player.

Hope you didn't see any tornado action yesterday!

Tracy said...

Oh my goodness! I could have written this blog almost word for word (except for the losing jewelry and having a car crash bit). I was amazed to see how closely it matches my ideas of romance. And then, to come here to the comments and see OTHER people feel the same way. Well, it's like manna from Heaven. I'm not alone!

Anonymous said...

I like fresh flowers but not the expensive kind, but not for romance. Sheesh. I just grab some at Costco for the dining room table. Started when I was in Texas, and the heat made me puke every time I walked outside. So I brought the flowers in. How's that for romance?

Chocolate? Are you trying to make me fat?!

My idea of a romantic dinner is not at an expensive restaurant. There are better ways to spend money. Much better. Fortunately, here in Oregon resortville, there are plenty of quiet restaurants that don't cost you an arm and a leg.

Anonymous said...

We went out one Saturday night and were surprised to find that our favourite restaurant was packed. Rather than wait we walked down the street. Also a wait. WTH? The 3rd place we went clued us in that it was Valentine's Day.

Anonymous said...

Love it - and, I'm right there with you on ALL of it (except for the beach stuff....I mean, come on, I was born and raised on the West Coast, so it's like, genetic or something to love the beach!)....of course, when you're divorced, romance is no longer something you have to worry about anyway.......

Lene said...

Alone....very romantic

shara said...

My guy and I decided that since we are both VERY broke this year, and since Valentine's Day "is just a commercial holiday created by the greeting card industry" and "we can show our love anytime to each other without anyone telling us to", that we are not going to buy anything for each other this year.

We will probably spend time together, snuggle, and maybe babysit his grandson.

mmmm...

jakenapril said...

i agree. there are romantic things, but it seems as though we only think about it come v-day...which i don't really love. great post!

kimi said...

You nailed it! My dh had to explain to my 13 year old why if he bought me expensive jewelry (after hearing the same stupid commercial about how "all a girl wants is a diamond you can see across the restaurant") I'd kill him. He explained I'd rather have a nice living room set.

Yup totally screwing up our sons for any future "diamond" girl they may date.

The-flu-shot-sucks-if-you-still-get-the-flu Mom (flu victim #1) to:

Daniel-13 (flu victim #2)
Scott-12 (flu victim #3)
Bryan-10 (Relenza rocks!)
Sarah-9 (Relenza rocks!)
Dana-9 (flu victim #4)

Anonymous said...

Kristie, I'm Stephanie's Aunt, get her to tell you about our 10th anniversary!

I love your posts, they crack me up. The crazy aunt in Tx!

Anonymous said...

I am so with you on this. Be practical - and don't EVEN THINK about getting me that lingerie YOU think is sexy cause you know I am NOT going to wear it, no matter how hard you beg. But power tools - you can give me those ANYTIME and I will love you forever, which I will do anyway.......Thanks for a great laugh Kristie, and for being one of those practical, easy to please Moms who would just rather spend quality time with her man!

Anonymous said...

That's so funny! You and I could be cyber twins! I don't do jewelry, either. I mean, I love looking at jewelry and thinking that others look so good with all their accessories-but it's just not me! My husband has bought me exactly 3 pieces of jewelry in our almost 20 years...my wedding set, very cheap diamond earrings (that I love) and a bracelet. I don't wear any of them now; my wedding band began falling off my finger in the fall because I had lost so much weight so it sits in a jewelry box waiting for the weather to warm so I can have it sized to fit again! Flowers...well, I like a bunch of cheap Walmart flowers every now and again but I would KILL my husband if he spent $50 on flowers! That could pay a BILL! But the dog vomit and all the other 'manly' jobs...oh, yeah, do those for me, honey and we're good! (We're spending our 20th anniversary at Vacation Bible School-separated in 2 different buildings this summer and then 2 days later we're taking 18 teenagers to Alaska for a week on a mission trip. Oh boy....anniversary fun!!
Patricia, Georgia

Dacia said...

I think that's sweet to do those fun things like watch movies in your van. Obviously good memories for you. Who says we all have to have the same ideas about romance? Hopefully you'll get a dinner out with no kids. I sure hope I do :)

Alisa said...

I love this- really I do-
I have lots of romantic ideas, but please don't do them for valentines day! And seriously- alone time is not long enough for a dinner AND a movie!