I hope everyone had a splendid Valentine’s Day with their sweetie.  Or themselves, if you are lacking in the “sweetie” department. Whatever.  V-Day in the Hoover Household was business as usual for the most part, however, my day could be described as nothing short of a roller coaster ride!

The Loop-the-loops and Peaks:

In (my) big news…. The Stealing Drawer was republished on Sammiches and Psych Meds! What might be considered trivial to some of you more experienced bloggers was nothing short of a freaking amazing feeling to me!  Seeing my work for the very first time, promoted on another website and Facebook page literally took my breath away.  If you want to show your support, please feel free to click on the link –> Sammiches & Psych Meds – The Stealing Drawer

The family was syrupy sweet to each other all day long.  Seriously, why does it take a Pepto-Bismol pink doused holiday to encourage the kids to treat each other kindly?  Flowers, wine, chocolates, and sweet nothings from the hubby, heart necklaces from the littles, there was a lot of sharing, caring, and love overall.  Since life got in the way of any romantic dinner, Marty and I have planned a glorious date night this weekend, that I am so, so looking forward to.

The Straight-Aways:

In response to my potential blog promotion, I finally bit the bullet and created a viCARIously Speaking Facebook page. Last night, I was reminded why I turned my nose up at the idea originally: the stupid rules regarding capitalization.  So ‘viCARIously Speaking’ is ‘Vicariously Speaking’.  Unimportant to most, but it plays havoc on my OCD.  I guess I am going for exposure at this point, so please like and follow, and I would love the chance to follow and promote other bloggers right back!  Check out the little widget on the right hand side of the page –>

I am currently in the market for a new car.  Let me start by saying that I hate car shopping.  Like, worse than going to the dentist.  We completely blew last Saturday searching for, test driving, and putting up with a cocky salesman, only for us (me) to walk away from the deal because of a lousy $1000.  If he wasn’t going to budge, then neither were we.  But, that brings us back to square one and minus one said car.  Why is this not in your ‘Dives and Oh-Shits’ section, you might ask?  I may or may not have propositioned my husband with sex if he took care of the whole “car buying process” himself.  Apparently, he took me seriously and after smooching hello after work yesterday, he headed over to the dealership to wheel and deal without me.

Dives and Oh-Shits:

Martin dealing with the whole car situation left me handling basketball practice last night.  I don’t know a shitting thing about basketball, except that there are five players on each team, and the point is to get the ball into the hoop.  I never concerned myself with the terminology, plays, rules, etcetera.  As the Assistant Coach, I have always just been there for moral support:  Hey, way to go buddy!  Nice try pal!  Yea team!  There was one of me and seven of them.  I did mention yesterday was Valentine’s Day, right?  That is seven fifth grade boys, hopped up on candy and cookies from their school parties.  Little “T”, with wild eyes and a crazed jerking of limbs that could only be described as a sugar high, exclaimed loudly as he entered the gym, “I had five kiddy cocktails and four packets of Fun Dip!!”  Fan-fucking-tastic.  The boys spent the better part of the hour and a half doing laps because of random outbursts and unruly behavior.  That, and because I didn’t know what else to have them do.

Jesse the Cat attempted to murder Xena last night.  We came home to one of the kids’ Russell Stover’s Assorted Chocolate Heart packages littered about the dining room floor.  All eight chocolates gone.  The dog can’t jump on the bar-height table.  But the asshole cat can.  Jesse, stretched out on the living room rug, nonchalantly watched the debacle unfold.  After inspecting my 10-pound Chihuahua, pacing back and forth, questioning what vet clinic would be open at that hour of night, and scouring the web for home remedies, I finally came to the decision to self-induce vomiting in my dog.  Let me tell you, that is one fun way to spend a Valentine’s evening with your spouse.  Between hydrogen peroxide applications, encouraging Xena to move her fat ass off the couch, corralling her to a controlled area to where we wanted her to puke, cleaning puke off of the deck because (obviously) my husband has never corralled a Chihuahua before, we were finally satisfied that she got rid of all of that chocolate nastiness in her stomach.  So did I.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to look at anther piece of chocolate the same way again.  21 hours later, and it looks like Xena the Warrior Princess will live to see another day.  I almost wish the stupid cat would have ate the chocolate  instead, though.

And last but not least, I buried my water kefir grains last night.  What has been providing delicious, probiotic-rich Water Kefir drinks for the past several months is no more.  Life got in the way and I neglected them.  Little needy bastards. I am better off without you anyway, grains.  Hmpf.

With all the ups and downs yesterday, I am so glad to be on a level playing surface today.  Ah, who am I kidding.  My life?  I give it T-minus 43 minutes until my kids bust through that door, then time to strap into my seat, lower my safety harness, keep my arms and feet inside the car at all times, and enjoy the ride!