Sunday, Feb. 14

Got up at 7:30 and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. I usually take Sunday off, but since I missed last Thursday, I felt like I needed to do a make-up session today.

I didn't do anything else of significance after that, except program the DVR for this week's shows and movies, and get ready to go out for a Valentine's Day lunch at a popular restaurant on the river. Mother came over at 11:00, and after exchanging Valentine cards, the three of us left for the restaurant around 11:30 for an 11:45 reservation.

We noticed on the way that most of the snow has melted in our town, though there are still some holdout blobs in shaded areas, and the neighbor's snowman is now a squatty, backward leaning, four-foot-tall mound.

One of our favorite local musicians, a guitarist, was performing at the restaurant. We were seated at a table overlooking the river, and it was very pleasant watching the water flow over the dam as we listened to the music. We each chose something different from the menu...Hubbie had the deep fried catfish, Mother had grilled chicken, and I had Caribbean pork tenderloin. We all had salads and baked potatoes.

We skipped the desserts, though, since Mother had made dark chocolate cupcakes, and thawed a quart of strawberries, for us to have with ice cream later in the day.

On the way home, we saw black smoke billowing from a building, and on approaching, saw that part of a motel a few miles from our house was fully engulfed in flames. Sirens blared as fire trucks and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene. Across the street from the motel, curiosity seekers were parked on a vacant lot, enjoying the entertainment, I guess.

We hurried on home, hoping that no one was injured in the fire. After changing out of our dress clothes, Mother and I planned the week's menu, and then Hubbie and I went to the WDCS to shop for groceries.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, doing nothing more than washing a couple of loads of clothes, reading the Sunday newspaper, and watching a scrapbooking episode on TV. Well, actually, Mother and I watched that, while Hubbie went upstairs to play on the computer.

It was 4:30 before we were ready for our dessert. Mother went home after that, and Hubbie and I took up residence in front of the TV, as usual. Around 7:30, we had a light supper...I opted for an egg sandwich, and Hubbie had a bowl of cereal. We shared an orange.

Then we watched two episodes of "America's Funniest Home Videos," followed by the movie "Twilight," based on the popular vampire book. We read all four of the books in the series, which Hubbie was more intrigued with than I was, so I thought he'd also enjoy the movie.