I didn’t post Wednesday’s weigh-in yesterday because I wanted to spend the day with Jerry and leave my computer alone. He loved the Valentine’s gifts I gave him. Our day didn’t go as planned, but we had a lot of fun. He surprised me by taking the day off.
Jerry wanted to go on one of our “old school” dates from when we were dating: a walk through the Metropark, burgers (from a vegan restaurant called Unburger Grill), and movies. Of all the movies, Titanic was in the theater! I find it incredible that the film was released in 1997; Jerry and I didn’t even start dating until 1999. The first time I saw it was with my friend Audrey at the theater, and I *loved it*. I saw him several times. That’s why Jerry chose Titanic.
Even Joey and Chick felt romance in the air yesterday…
In the morning, however, it was *very* cold outside. Jerry said he didn’t know what he was thinking when he planned to go to the Metropark. Since I said I was willing to do whatever he planned, he was willing to go, but he said it would be miserable in the cold and I had to agree. So we decided to leave early (the movie didn’t start until 1:00) and kill some time.
We were near JoAnn Fabrics (I love that store!) and I said I wanted to run in and buy something quickly. Jerry said he would come with him and the moment he walked in, his eyes lit up. HA HA HA! I was so excited to see all kinds of Star Wars, Marvel, and Ghostbusters fabrics. He asked me if he would make him some pajama pants and took his time choosing the fabric. He couldn’t decide, so these are the four he ended up with.
I felt like we were there for a long time and asked him when we had to go out to see the movie. He checked the time: it was 1:00! So, needless to say, we missed the movie. However, none of us were very disappointed. We were about 10 minutes from a really big thrift store, so we decided to stop by for Valentine’s Day. We spent so much time in both stores that we were tired and decided to go make dinner at home.
I was still a little surprised that Jerry hadn’t done anything over the top cheesy – that’s his signature! After I got home, I opened the bedroom door so I could change clothes and stopped dead. There were rose petals EVERYWHERE and a huge Vermont teddy bear on the bed. She used to have a teddy bear like that of him, but Estelle liked it too much and she used to knead her paws on it, making her hair come off of her. So Jerry got this one and personalized the bottom with “To my Boo! Love Always, B.” (We just have to keep Estelle away from this; good luck to us.)
I love soft stuffed animals and the bear is very cozy and cuddly. He also got me a *very* cheesy gift that I admittedly knew I would complain about, but we would both laugh. It’s the rose in the showcase of Beauty and the Beast (we recently rewatched that movie) and it has lights around it. Turned it on and it actually worked pretty well with all the random lights in our room.
I don’t like to keep using the words “cheesy” and “cheesy” when it comes to Jerry’s romantic style (I mean that in a funny way, not trying to put him down in any way), but sometimes he really crosses the line. Several years ago, he bought this plaster mold kit where you can hold hands and make a mold with it and then pour plaster into the mold. And you should end up with a cast of your hands.
I couldn’t believe I had spent so much money on it (I think it was like $35) and I wanted to return it. Yes, I feel like a jerk even admitting that and now I regret it; I should have pleased him. But I felt bad and a few years later, I saw the exact same kit (unopened) at Goodwill for $5. I decided to buy it and we would have fun doing it.
Well, he’s been in the closet for probably the last five years. Yesterday, Jerry suggested we finally do it. And we really had a great time! We followed the instructions to the letter: first mix the mold powder with cold water inside the bucket. Then you quickly insert your hands and hold them still for 3 to 10 minutes. Then you gently remove your hands, leaving a hand-shaped mold.
Do you think everything went as it was supposed to? If you think not, you’re right!
First, I’m sure it probably expired a hundred years ago. But I didn’t think that would completely ruin it: it was just dust. Secondly, keeping your hands still for that long is HARD, especially when there is cold water! My fingers were numb after about two minutes and it was still extremely runny. We watched the timer go from three minutes to ten and it still wasn’t solid (not even close). We were both SO cold and couldn’t go any further. So we took our hands out and it was still completely liquid.
So, that project was a big failure. At least it was only $5 and not $35. And we laughed a lot. That’s the best part.
We prepared dinner together and had a fairly quiet evening. Even though we didn’t do anything we had planned, we had a fun day. And I was super excited to hear about Noah and Rose’s day! As I mentioned before, Rose (his girlfriend) loves Valentine’s Day (it’s her favorite holiday), but she’s never been in a relationship on Valentine’s Day, so she’s never been able to celebrate it with someone.
Noah wanted her to feel very special. She *loves* bears (like I love cats), so Noah bought her a huge teddy bear (Jerry and Noah didn’t coordinate on purpose, haha), flowers, and chocolates and brought them to Panera, where she works. She gave them to him in front of everyone, which was nice. (Her mom took a video of her, so here’s a screenshot.)
At home, he also gave her an indoor garden kit (something she always wanted to do) and one more thing that I can’t think of right now.
I helped her work on part of her gift for Noah. She wanted to make a ragdoll-like stuffed cat and dress him up like Noah: a Star Wars t-shirt and even the same piercings she has in her ears, nose and lip. I taught her how to use the sewing machine and helped her make the body.
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| Rose needs to teach me how to present gifts; Whether it’s presenting gifts like this or designing the food to look pretty on a plate, she always looks amazing. |
It turned out so cute! She also gifted him a bonsai tree (something he mentioned she wanted to get).
Celebrating Valentine’s Day was fun and I definitely want to do it again next year. Although I have no idea how I’m going to top this year’s gifts for Jerry 😉
And finally, I just want to point out that today is my 3rd anniversary of sobriety 🙂 Quitting drinking was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I also forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I went vegan two years ago: TWO YEARS. That blows my mind! Another of the best decisions I have made. <3
