Valentine Shenanigans and... Cary Grant's Kisser.

Well, it's Valentine's Day again.  It keeps on coming, every year.  John's in town, but he says Valentine's Day doesn't start until this weekend.  We are getting away.  Last year, we went to Philadelphia;  this year we're going to... wait for it... Syracuse!  Because we have a two night free stay at a nice hotel.  You know what we're going to be doing a lot of, right?  Sleeping.  A lot of sleeping.

Also, John's getting me a new washer/ dryer combo.  The gift is actually contingent upon me selling our old washer/ dryer on Craigslist. I'll bet your chocolate and flowers didn't come with a contingency.  Sheesh.

Yesterday all four of my children wrote out Valentines for their classmates.

"This is a good time to practice letter formation," one letter from a teacher said.  I don't know about that.  I do know that I spent a lot of time yelling "Write smaller!" and "How many different ways are there to spell Micaylah?"  and "Don't put the stickers on the wall!  Those go on the Valentine's!"  I was feeling a little tense because earlier, unbeknownst to me, Ella had commandeered John's Kindle and ordered Shape Magazine, China Daily, and the novel Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks.  I've already thought of a way to punish her.  I'm going to make her read the Nicholas Sparks novel.

I'm running out of Cary Grant kissing videos on YouTube.  I may have to pick a different movie icon next year.  I was thinking Jimmy Stewart, thanks to those great kisses in Rear Window and It's a Wonderful Life, but Jimmy isn't, well... you know.  He's Jimmy Stewart.  And then I thought Clark Gable, but I read somewhere that Vivien Leigh complained of Gable's horrible bad breath during the filming of Gone With the Wind, and that's kind of ruined Clark Gable for me.  I'll think of someone.

In the meantime, here's Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in yet another Hitchcock film, North by Northwest, which has a great soundtrack.  Everyone should watch Hitchcock if only to understand more jokes on The Simpsons.

The set up: Cary Grant is suffering from a severe case of mistaken identity, and Eva Marie Saint is hiding him in her train car.  They do some smooching.

Happy Valentine's Day.