A Month of Love

I believe it was Augustus Caesar who decided to give January an extra day, extending it to 31. What was that man thinking? When January is finally, finally over it's time to celebrate. Maybe have a 'Good Riddance' party.

Ah February..... such a cute little month. The shortest. Being 5'10" I love anything short.  Punxatawney Phil lives not very far north of us, and I've always wanted to be there on February 2, in spite of knowing it's probably a day of revelry brought on by too much to drink. Phil will likely see his shadow but I get to see men standing around in black coats and top hats trying to hold that 50 lb rodent. Smile maker stuff for sure, in spite of the prediction of six more weeks of winter.

February is chock full of good stuff - candy hearts with cute little sayings on them, cookies cut out in heart shapes with pink icing, little kids making valentine's boxes out of a shoebox. Remember those? I wish I still had my valentine from Danny Bacon, who lived up the street on the corner and had strawberry blonde hair that stuck out in too many directions and enough freckles to share with another kid. I thought he was dreamy. Since he was my first kiss I sure do wish I'd saved his valentine.

February is my husband's last month of work. It's our last full month to live here in PA. It's my last full month to play with a certain little 3 year old boy who holds my heart. It's also my last month to enjoy this for awhile -

I bought six bottles of my favorite creamer in late December, before they quit carrying it, but alas I'm down to the last one. It won't be back on the shelves til November. Sad, sad. So I'm going to enjoy every single morning while it lasts in this red 'Love' cup.

A brand new month means I get to flip the calendar and when it's a Susan Branch, well that just makes it more fun! I can't get enough of her. Her handwriting just amazes me. Who writes like that? Interesting that I've noticed lately my handwriting is beginning to look exactly like my mother's. Susan Branch's is prettier, but I think I'll keep mine.

February is the month we're going on a retirement celebration trip to Mexico, so this is on my fridge as a motivation photo - anyone else do that? Not that my abs looked like that even when I was 16 but a goal is a good thing - something to aim for. Maybe I could call the project 'make belly button more shallow' rather than 'develop stomach muscles.'

If February wasn't wonderful enough already, there's the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, and the greatest Survivor ever is starting next week, then the Winter Olympics for two weeks. You can go here to find all sorts of fun things to celebrate in February. Fun stuff like Grapefruit Month, Boost Self-Esteem Month, Bird Feeding Month, Mend a Broken Heart Month, Rescued Rabbit Month, American  Heart Association Month (with February 5 being 'Wear Red Day'), Time Management Month, Relationship Wellness Month, Library Lovers Month, Return Shopping Carts Month, and maybe the best - Spunky Old Broads Month!

I need to get busy! Need to Tivo great shows, exercise, eat a grapefruit, be nice to me, feed the birds, hug someone hurting, eat healthy, wear red, keep my calendar, communicate with my hubby, go to the library, take back the cart, send valentines and address them in my mother's handwriting, bake cookies and ice them pink, kiss someone with freckles, and maybe my favorite - find a spare rabbit to rescue.

I'm pretty sure my husband and family would say I'm quite spunky enough, thank you very much! And we don't need a rabbit at this point in our lives, but maybe I could just sprinkle some carrots on the lawn.

What's not to love about February?