Valentine

My funny valentine stepped up and gave me a really nice week of thoughtfulness. Last Friday he came home from work with a lovely little bouquet of cut flowers. I'm not really sure what they all are except for the daisies and baby's breath, but the fragrance has been heavenly all week. This morning, a week later, I re-cut the stems and gave them completely fresh water and they are still lovely. The colors are all green and white, so the bouquet is striking in its simplicity.

Then last Saturday we went to the garden show as I mentioned earlier, and bought a tiny little orchid. It's just a little pixie sitting on my kitchen window sill. Wednesday he brought me a really sweet card and took me out for a quick dinner after I messed up the self-timer on my oven when trying to cook a roast. Last night, Valentine's Day, we went to Barnes & Noble and I hunted around for something to read but didn't buy anything. It's hard for me to read when I can barely stay awake past 8:00. Anyway, his gifts were simple and fun and really sweet.

My valentine had a treadmill test and a complete physical on Wednesday and did really well. He was very worried about it, but he gets that way with any medical test or exam. He doesn't worry about much, but he goes overboard about doctors and exams and tests (and I can count on one hand how many he's had). His treadmill went well and he made it through in good shape, stopping short of being qualified to climb Mt. Everest. He was advised to lose about 20 pounds which he carries around his middle (I would have guessed 10 to 15 but 20 is probably good). His blood pressure was good after he told the nurse he suffers from white coat syndrome and she would need to recheck it a couple of times. His cholesterol and glucose were high, but the doctor believes the glucose will resolve with weight loss alone. The cholesterol, however, appears to be an inherited trait that will only improve with medication so my sweetie is taking the first medication of his life other than the rare antibiotic. In fact, the doctor said as he was writing the prescription that he didn't even have him in their system for prescriptions. Not bad for being 6 months from 50.

He came away from the exam feeling pretty good about his health, and resolved to improve it. He started walking with me a few weeks ago and wants to run when the weather improves and our schedule allows. He has already dropped a few pounds in the couple of weeks he's been walking (I hate how men lose weight with so little effort in so little time) so he'll probably be at his goal before we even get to warmer weather. He'll also eat better which makes it more difficult for me to enjoy my french fry fetish.

I made him a batch of his favorite cookies for Valentine's day, but took most of them to the office. We really have no business eating four dozen cookies -- I don't care how good they are. Plus we know I'd eat three of the four dozen. He had just enough for a treat last night and this morning and I got a couple too. Tonight we'll head to the local garden show (we have free tickets) and I'm trying to get ideas for the flower beds. I even started writing down flowers that sound promising and also are hardy for our area. That means they must be able to handle heat and neglect.

So that's it. A nice Valentine's Day week, and I'll be we didn't spend $30 total. I always said I'm a cheap date.