Galentines Day

I am blessed with the most unromantic husband. And the most caring husband, too. He would never think about buying me a Valentine's card or candy or flowers. But if I asked him to go buy me a Valentine's card, candy or flowers, he would run to the store. But what means more to me is that he cares about me, worries about me and does whatever he can think of to keep me safe and happy.  And it turns out I can go to the store and buy myself cards, candy and flowers whenever I want. 

He opens doors, not only for me, but any woman or child. He takes care of our sidewalks and lawn as well as any neighbors who need outdoor help. He is the first person to call if you have a leak and need water shut off or your furnace won't start or your car breaks down. Once I got a call from an 80 year old woman that I had worked with many decades ago who was having an issue with her electric stair chair in the middle of the night. He got out of bed and went over to fix it for this woman he had never met and came home, drank coffee and went to work.  

My car is always full of gas, my tires and brakes are always maintained. He worked a very hard labor job on the railroad for over 38 years to support and take care of our family which afforded me the opportunity to switch jobs every five years or so when I discovered something more fun to do. 

So - enough bragging about this guy, let's get back to the 14th. When I was rearranging (I am being honest, instead of cleaning) in my pantry, I found all kinds of holiday leftovers. I decided to celebrate Galentine's day with a tea party. Of course we still aren't going anywhere or socializing, but I also have a collection of containers. 

I used some white styrofoam boxes that I used for carryout holiday meals the first year of lockdown. I baked some tiny heart shaped cookies, made brownies which I cut them in heart shapes and packaged in some heart treat bags. When making a quick trip to the store I picked up some assorted candies and such. I also baked some chocolate mini muffins and a loaf of lemon bread. 

For our savories, I put a corn and black bean salad in some adorable little pink cups with gold hearts. I had some treat containers that held ziplock bags of chips to scoop it up! I made pinwheels with cream cheese, finely diced onion, grated carrots and cheddar cheese and some Penzy seasonings. My Pampered Chef sandwich press seals the rounds of wheat bread with homemade chicken salad, with grapes instead of my usual celery since I forgot to buy celery. The round sandwiches fit perfectly in a giant pink cupcake wrapper, part of a rainbow pack hiding in the pantry. 

I had some Biglow Salted Carmel tea bags and also picked up some flower seed packets for fun and thoughts of Spring.

My neighbor across the street lives alone and has two grown sons who live out of town. We moved to the neighborhood a year apart and have been friends since our children were in preschool 38 years ago. 

Across the cul de sac is another neighbor who has had quite the time with foot injuries (and two bouts with Covid since she won't get vaccinated). She was home in the recliner for the past two weeks after falling on the ice, landing on her knee replacement.

Behind me lives Miss Peggy who is in her late 80's. We met Peggy and her husband Jack when we purchased our house in 1978. They were raising a blended family of young men in their teens to early 20's and one elementary boy of their own. The "boys" have been in and out over the years and the youngest is staying there now. 

One street over is my friend Mary who has had quite the time since lockdown. Her husband suffered a series of strokes in the early days when family was shuttled to the parking lot of emergency rooms, hospitals, rehab centers and nursing homes. He has had a series of unrelated health issues from heart and lung problems to kidney stones. He is also developing some dementia. She has her hands full with him home now. He is wheelchair bound and recently fell and broke his collar bone. 

I decided to treat these special Gals on Galentine's Day.  I had six boxes so I also made tea party lunches for my daughter and daughter-in-law who were dropping off grandchildren for the day. 

The best part of Galentine's Day is that I only had enough supplies for six tea parties. Mr. Merry and I had a celebration with some leftover pizza and cheese dip from the super bowl! And since we were eating the "trimmings" from the heart brownies, all the calories and fat grams had leaked out!