Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me #7

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My husband believes I'm beautiful and tells me so.  This should probably count as a double gift!  Most women aren't 100% satisfied with their looks, and I'm no exception.  Yet I don't doubt Len's sincerity when he compliments me.  It's important for me to feel attractive to him, and it's such a relief that he doesn't require my physical perfection.  (His acceptance is beneficial to my overall self-esteem, too.)

This week I've been celebrating some of the ways Len shows his love for me.  Paying attention to his gestures makes me appreciate my husband more than ever.  I highly recommend making the effort!

Expressing my love in the ways that reach him best is a related topic.  If you haven't investigated the concept of love languages yet, grab a book from your library.  We've read The Five Love Languages of Children and found it both fascinating and helpful for understanding each other as well as our children.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me #6

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I don't always feel like an interesting person.  It's easy for me to get caught up in the mundane details of life at home.  Yet even when I'm not discussing a new book, idea, spiritual concept, or current event, Len listens to me.

He pays attention when I gripe about school for the zillionth time.  He appears interested when I explain why I'm dissatisfied with my latest attempt at Sunday gravy or what makes my newest coffee cake kit so wonderful.  As I drone on about laundry, driving logistics, chores, or cooking, my husband really listens.

That's just one more reason I know he loves me.  <3

Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me #5

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As I've spent time celebrating how Len shows his love for me, acts of service keep coming to mind.  He is a handy, DIY guy, so many of the projects he undertakes could arguably be for the good of our family or home, or for his own satisfaction.  There are some, though, that are done for love of me.  A few examples:

When I saw an ad for a pantry door organizer, he bought and installed it.  For me.

We've been fostering Lauren's cat for over a year now.  Now that we've cat-proofed as best we can, life with Lucca has mellowed considerably.  The last real annoyance was the baby gate we were using to keep Dusty away from the litter box and Lucca's food.  It was a hassle to step over, and wasn't easy for the shortest people to open or climb over.  I make many trips through that door to the mud room and garage.

My darling built a gate.  It's shorter than the old one

 and has a latch easy enough for everyone to use.

This project benefited everyone, but I know who it was made for.  :-)

Then there's the gift of light.  Len bought and installed (it was tricky) it, including my favorite bit--

--the switch I can reach while snuggled under the covers.

Being My Valentine: How I Know He Loves Me #4

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There are countless things about Len that make me love, respect, and admire him, but I'm spending the week before Valentine's Day celebrating how he shows his love to me.

Now and then he'll call or email me from work to let me know he's thinking of me.  Len's a veterinarian without a lot of desk- or down-time, so a mid-day message is a rare treat that never fails to make me smile.

I know there are many damaged or broken relationships out there, and I know hugs and phone calls aren't enough to build a strong marriage.  That takes time, and work, and God's grace.  And yet.  These little acts, these small signs, do build us up and bind us together a bit more tightly.  Thank you, darling!

Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me #3

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Does your husband love you?  I'll bet he does.  How he expresses that may or may not be obvious to you, but I believe you'll find his messages if you look for them.  And when you "read" his "I love you" actions or words (especially if you didn't pay attention before), you're doubly rewarded.

There are countless things about Len that make me love, respect, and admire him, but I'm spending the week before Valentine's Day celebrating how he shows his love to me.

I know he cares when he rubs my shoulders or back for no obvious reason.  He reaches out to touch me as we pass each other throughout the day.  And my husband kisses me goodnight every single day--even if I'm grumpy or already asleep.  What a wonderful man!

Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me #2

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There are countless things about Len that make me love, respect, and admire him, but I'm spending the week before Valentine's Day celebrating how he shows his love for me.

For one thing, he tells me so.  I certainly appreciate hearing him say, "I love you," but his written words touch me even more deeply.

When I spy an envelope from my husband, I know I'm in for a treat.  His words of appreciation, tenderness, or encouragement warm my heart and put a smile on my face.  Yes, words of affirmation is another of my love languages.  Len knows that and offers me something special . . .

. . . because he loves me.

Being My Valentine--How I Know He Loves Me

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There's a lot to love about my husband, and I do.  He is loving, intentional, and attentive.  He is fun, serious, and thoughtful.  He is an outstanding provider, family leader, and friend.  Etc., etc., etc.

I've been thinking, though, not about why I love him, but about how I know he loves me.  He gifts me with these signs, and I want to spend the week before Valentine's Day reminding myself (and you, I suppose) of a few of them.

Len understands that one of my love languages is acts of service.  Once I casually mentioned how much I admired a neighbor's lantana flowers and how pretty some would look around the base of our mailbox.  THAT DAY he went to the nursery, bought a set, and planted them.

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He loves me!

While I Was Away

When I left town to help someone, Len took time off from work and held down the fort for a week. What a wonderful man/husband/father!

And when Dad is in charge of the homeschool, something interesting is bound to happen . . .

Hmm . . .  What could be in the plastic bag?

 Len found this recently dead lizard while mowing the lawn.

 Waste not, want not . . .

 The stereoscope enlarges 3-D objects (vs. slides under a microscope) to 20X and 40X.  It's been one of our best school investments.  (Skip the next few pictures if you're squeamish!)

 Marianna took most of these photos.  There are plenty more!

 Len  walked me through the pictures, pointing out the heart (they could see the ventricles under the stereoscope), lungs, spinal cord, kidneys, trachea (which opened near the tip of the tongue), etc.

Having a veterinarian for a dad can certainly be fascinating.  He's brought home baby bunnies and squirrels for visits, and dissected a still-warm chipmunk on the kitchen table.

The Garage

Apparently, I'm not the only one with the urge to reorganize.  Len will be moving some items to the shed and disposing of others while he changes the garage set-up.  Everything on the right-hand side will move to the left so we can pull the van more easily in and out.

And along the lines of giving a mouse a cookie:  if you're going to move a boatload from one side to the other, you might as well remove all the shelves, sand some spots, and paint the whole place!

Milestones

Today we celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony at the clinic's new location.  The mayor and chairman of the Board of Supervisors were both in attendance, and seemed to enjoy their tour of the building.

I don't have a picture of the actual severing, as I was part of the group of onlookers.

In other news, our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up this month!  Sometime between last year and now, I passed the married-for-half-of-my-life mark.  How's that for wonderful?



Progress

• Wednesday:  Final permits signed.
• Thursday:  Appointments seen at Market Street until 1:00 p.m., then moving, moving, moving.  (Len home after midnight.)
• Friday:  Open for business at Plaza Street first thing in the morning.  A busy day with clients, patients, unpacking, and organizing.
• Today:  More unpacking.  More organizing.  More appointments.  Hurrah!

Congratulations, Towne!

Puppy Love

My darling has two blogs, both of which have been long neglected.  He's finally back to updating Veterinary Tails, right now with pictures of the clinic space he and his partner recently purchased in Leesburg.  It should be fun to watch the progress.  (His animal stories are interesting, too!)

I've put a link in my sidebar to make things easy.

Tres Leches, Take Two

Today is Len's birthday. Yes, he's still two years younger than I am.

We enjoyed our family dinner last night: Sunday gravy, broccoli, and salad. What is Sunday gravy? It's a slow-cooked, traditional Italian tomato sauce simmered with multiple meats--in this case pork ribs, Italian (turkey) sausage, and highly flavored (Parmesan, prosciutto, etc.) meatballs--and served with pasta.

In December of 2007 I made my first Tres Leches cake, which leaped onto Len's short list of favorite desserts. So of course I've made it for him many times since, right? Uh-uh. Until now.Although rich (lots of eggs and cream!), this cake is served cold and tastes light and refreshing. It makes a delightful summer dessert. I've added a few updates to the recipe on my cooking blog.Happy Birthday, darling!

Let Him Serve Cake . . . With a Spoon

My darling birthday man (I can't tease him about his age since I'm older!) asked for one of his four favorite desserts* today: hazelnut cake. He prefers it unadorned--no icing, no whipped cream, no ice cream, nothing.

I baked two cakes so that one could go in the freezer for some other special day. When it was time to flip the layers out of their pans (sandwiched between cooling racks), one slipped, with the cake landing half on the rack, half on the table. Not good!Usually this would make me crazy mad or bring me to tears of frustration, but today will be different. I wrapped up the pretty layer, and we will enjoy birthday cake served in bowls. I know, he likes it straight up, but the raspberries look so pretty! And they are on the side, after all...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HONEY!

*And for the uber-curious: the rest of his top three are cheesecake, apple pie, and tres leches cake.

Maybe I Should Leave Town More Often?

While I was gone FOR ONE DAY, Len took the children to the library, the pool, and a bluegrass concert (complete with a picnic) in the park. And that's just the stuff I know about! If he did anything crazy like making waffles for breakfast, they might ask me to turn in my parent-at-home badge...

Gifts that Keep Giving

Many Christmases ago, Len and the children gave me a statue of Mary for the side yard. My wonderful husband also built a wooden arch to hold a rose bush over her.

Weather and the plant's weight eventually destroyed that arch, so now Len's gone one better: he bolted together some metal trellises and bent them into a much stronger framework for the roses. The climbing bush has almost made it across:Len's mom gave us this plant from her garden, and it has proved amazingly hardy, surviving numerous moves before its final (I hope) settlement by the basement window.It's blooming now, and should for at least several weeks. The flowers usually come back in the fall, too.In case you can't tell, these are small flowers, maybe the diameter of a quarter.

I used blooms from this bush for my sister's wedding cake almost six years ago. I brushed the petals with lightly beaten egg white and sprinkled them with super-fine sugar. They dried beautifully and were transported to NY, where another sister and I chose the best ones to decorate the cake we baked and put together.

Enough with the extra stories--this post was meant to be a thank you to my husband for the statue and trellises. I see them every morning as I walk past with Dusty. Thanks, honey!

Let There Be Light

For years I've been wistfully wishing (the truth? grumpily griping) for better lighting in our bedroom. We have a nice, bright floor lamp, but the bedside lights were small, low, and too dim for my aging eyes. We've discussed solutions and Len has even shopped in the past, to no avail.

We concluded a recent date night with a trip to Lowe's, determined to spend some anniversary money (thanks, Mom and Dad!) on bedroom lighting. There were surprisingly few choices that met our needs for brightness, wall mounting, etc. We finally settled on this four-bulb fixture; it's a little more modern than our room, but that's okay.Originally all four bulbs were linked, but my clever husband fiddled with the wires to create two light zones. Now one of us can read while the other slumbers peacefully...The attic over the garage is behind the wall, so Len was able to install the lighting without any unsightly cords showing. (Talk about the bonus round--when I married him, I had no idea he is so HANDY!) But check out the photo below for my favorite feature:Look, look, look! My own lightswitch for my lights, and it's within reach of my pillow! Oh, happy day (night?)!

Confirmation

On Saturday Daniel was confirmed by the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the military. Mass was lovely, and the singing of the litany of the saints during the anointing was especially moving.

We invited family and friends over to celebrate. I thought it was a low-key menu (picked by Dan), but it takes a long time to cook 40 hamburgers--just ask Len!

But Len's biggest role in this sacrament is the preparation. He's handled 7th and 8th grade religious education for all our teens so far. Of course this saves me time, but the biggest benefit is the children's exposure to my husband's thoughtfullness and godliness. He may or may not be smarter than me (why speculate?), but he certainly THINKS more (often and deeply) than I do!

White chocolate rasperry cake on Saturday--yum! And now back to Lent...

Who Would Have Guessed?

He's blogging now!

I Lift Up My Eyes
Veterinary Tails

The Re-do is Done

The bathroom update took a little longer than expected (explanation further down), but the project was a great success. By skipping the new cabinet, using leftover flooring, and putting in a lot of sweat equity, Len kept this project under $100 (not counting the plumber--explanation below).

First, some "before" pictures:

Not hideous, but not inspiring.Hideous.Blah. The light fixture, mirror, and medicine cabinet were all removed. The toilet was in the bathtub.Len cut two holes to add reinforcements behind the drywall, then built a long, sturdy towel bar out of a pipe. It reaches from the door to the shower.Ta da! The paint is a bright (rather than soft) yellow. Lauren said, "If you're not a morning person, it will make you one."The accent color is "mango" spray paint. Notice the towel bar.No longer blah.

:-)

Len bought a sheet of vinyl flooring, but when he pulled up the old floor and one layer of water damaged subfloor, it became apparent that it would be a lot of work to install that inexpensive floor. He decided to use the laminate tile we have in the kitchen, which hides dirt well, looks good with the paint, and has held up very well in the four years we've had it.

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Laminate is not the ideal material for a (wet) bathroom, but hopefully the children are old enough to help keep it in good condition. (I still need to show them the spot in the pantry that was swollen by a leaky gallon bottle of water.) Len glued many of the joins and caulked the edges carefully, so we have high hopes for this (free) floor.

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When Len was ready to reinstall the toilet, he found that the water shut-off valve needed to be replaced. No problem. He's handled bigger jobs before. To replace it, though, he had to turn off all the water in the house. Problem: the whole house shut-off valve wasn't working, either.

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The next line of defense was a valve between our house and the street, so it was time to call a plumber. He came, he replaced, we paid. Len took care of the toilet and its valve, and we have a bright "new" bathroom upstairs (shared by up to 6 people).

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Calling the plumber was not really a big deal, either. It delayed the project a bit, but was not a problem in any other way. It was a few days before I clued in to the biggest blessing about the valves, namely that the best time to find out you can't shut off the water is when you don't really NEED to shut off the water. Who knows what disaster may have been averted? ...

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Thanks, honey!