Thursday, February 14, 2008

My 200th Post

And, it's a rant. No pretty pictures of birds and flowers, no slightly irregular pottery pieces to giggle at, not even any yucky photos of X-rays and incisions. So, if you are looking for something cheery, funny, or educational, you've come to the wrong place today.

Today is Valentine's Day and it is my least favorite day of the year. No, I take that back. It is my second least favorite day. My least favorite is Sweetest Day, because that "holiday" is totally the invention of the cards and flowers people. I give a very slight edge to Valentine's Day.
At least it has its roots in some sort of history and tradition, depressing though it may be. Hearts, flowers, Cupid, chocolates - I hate it all. OK, not all the chocolates, just the ones in heart-shaped boxes.

For the terminally single among us, the days and weeks leading up to VD serve only to remind us of our aloneness. Store displays and TV commercials promote twosomes. Single people are made to feel like second class citizens as we microwave our Soup for One or our Healthy Choice frozen dinner entree while couples dine out on love and champagne. One is indeed the loneliest number in mid-February.

The curse of VD is one of the two reasons that February is my least favorite month of the year. The other is the weather. After some teasing days of temperatures in the 40's and 50's, even flirting with a near-record high in the low 60's, February has taken that downward swing it always does. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, and back to snow again. The roads are a mess, and I have a cramp in my shoulders, a combination of shoveling slushy snow and hunching tensed up behind my steering wheel, wondering why I live so far from civilization.

More reasons to be cranky- an anticipated visit from a friend this weekend has had to be postponed. And, I am getting a cold.

So, as you can see, I have good reason to be in a bad mood, and I don't see any chance of recovery for the next 24 hours. Beware the bad-tempered blogger.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not one of my faves either and I'm not single. I'll go to work like usual, come home and fix dinner, clean, whatever. We exchange cards maybe. I have never, ever gotten roses for V'Day. I think I've only gotten VDay flowers once. I buy all the guys bags of a favorite candy - Reeses', Dove whatever but that's it. It's not the big love fest in many places that Hallmark and candymakers/florist/teddy bear people would have you think. Really.

The advertisers are doing exactly what they're supposed to - make you think you're home while everyone else is at the ball. I used to think I must be the only wife who never got roses even once. It ain't happenin' kid. Most of us aren't at the ball to dance, we're there working, catering and cleaning up.

BIG HUGS TO KAT!! (and I am sorry to hear about the cancellation.)
Holly

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I am not single and I don't like it either. I don't like to be told when to express love and worse yet how to do it.

Happy Valentines Day to you anyway.

Funny but the word verification to this post is cryou. Tee hee... that should make your day. :)

Drink plenty of fluids. ;)

NCmountainwoman said...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Seriously, I also hate these "Hallmark Holidays."

Keep in mind that you have tons of blog readers who care about you and appreciate your writing about so many various things.

So...HAPPY 200TH!!!

Mary said...

Don't think for a minute that you are missing anything by being single on Valentine's Day! For me, Valentine's Day was sweet when I was dating my husband but it's not *just for couples*. I used to enjoy giving cute little gifts to my daughter when she was little and I still do :o)

So, Kathi, I'll go home from work today, poop patrol the yard, fill the bird feeders, do a load or two of laundry, cook the same old tiring dinner. When my husband gets home, he'll give me a Yankee candle or something like that, open the mail, sit at the dinner table and fill himself. Then he'll get up from the table, belch, toss a Hershey kiss in his mouth, and head for his recliner in front of the TV where he'll stay for the rest of the night. That's VD at MY house! LOL!

Oh, go ahead and rant. It's good for you. Hope you feel better soon.

Happy VD!

KGMom said...

First, congrats on your 200th--rant and all. I mean, if you can't rant on your blog, where can you?
I think you will find many folks who hate the Hallmark trumped up "holidays." I used to ache on Valentine's Day when my kids where in grade school--what with the make your own mail boxes, and then see how many (if any) Valentines you get.
I also think you will find many "couples" who say--VD--big deal. Maybe when you're a teen, but once you an old lady (like me) it really is an excuse for commerce to push more products at us!

Julie Zickefoose said...

Here's another big ol' romantic who thinks Valentine's Day is a pile of steaming poop. Bill and I joke about my diamond tennis bracelet that he just never seems to get around to buying. I circle them in the Sunday ads and leave them in conspicuous places. He did get me some bitchin' roses and we wrote each other notes, but there were trips to take and bellies to fill and that was it. You're not missing much, sweetheart, and now it's over for another year. Airborne and Zicam, deep breaths and dog kisses work for me.

Love you even when it isn't V.D.

JZ

Sara said...

Kathi,
Congratulations on your 200th post, that is an impressive amount of time and thought shared with all of us. Thank you !
As for the February doldrums or (in my case) RAGING CABIN FEVER !!! The Rx is chocolate and running to the window to soak up sunlight whenever it appears.
I hope you and your wonderful critters have a great weekend.

Kathy said...

I hope your cold won't be too bad, and that the nasty weather improves. I have enjoyed all your posts.

Kathi said...

Thank you all so very much! You're kind words nearly made me cry!!!

I came home from work yesterday, fed my aminals (yes, I know I spelled that wrong!) and went straight to bed. Slept from 8:30pm to 5am and feel a whole lot better. VD is over and the cold is almost gone and I have the weekend off. Hip-hip, hoorah!

~Kathi, who appreciates her cyber-pals

Kathi said...

OMG - I meant YOUR of course, not "you're." I hate it when people get that wrong, and now I'm red-faced that I did it, too!

~Kathi, hiding her head in shame

Julie Zickefoose said...

I think there is a gremlin in Blogger that makes us commit typos. I almost always have some ridiculous typo in comments. Which is one reason I try not to comment too much. ;-)

I am sure all those typos have nothing to do with Sebeka Cabernet Pinotage, a South African wine I first bought for the pretty cheetah on its label, and now buy for the intense, complex taste. Nothing too do wiht taht.

Kathy said...

Not to worry about typos. They happen to most all of us! I'm glad you are feeling better. For anyone at all interested, eharmony.com is a place to find compatible people. My best friend's brother just got married to a never married gal in her 40's through that service.