Valentines Day

Today Carl and I celebrated Valentines together (with Keevia, of course!). We decided to do dinner and a movie, and had budgeted $35 for both.

With Keevie, we only do matinee movies so there won't be a large crowd, and we can easily procure a aisle seat. I always sit on the aisle, and simply leave if she gets fussy. This isn't usually a problem, because I always just breastfeed her in there easily... Don't have to worry about showing anything! So. We went to the 1:30 showing.

First off, we were late because I was searching for my sling and having no luck. So we got there about 1:35. Then, there was a mile long line for the concessions/ticket line. I stood there at first and Carl took Keevs in, but the noise scared her, and Mommy wasn't there... so he had to bring her right back out. We switched, I took her back in, and he stood in line. When I went back in, the movie was already a good few minutes it.

Carl came in, oh, about 15-20 minutes later. I felt so bad for him. We sat and watched the movie (Very cute! Not quite as good as "The Game Plan", but cute), then headed out. I asked him in the car how much the movie had cost, and he said we got in for free! Some big, tough looking guy in front of Carl in line started making a scene about being late to his movie, and Carl told him to lay off the guys behind the counter (who obviously weren't expecting the rush!). He did, and went into his own movie, and then Carl asked for 2 tickets and a coke. They said the tickets were on them for saving them the trouble of the guy, and let him buy the coke. So, we spent $2.50 on the movie! Ha!

Then we decided to treat ourselves and go to the Chinese restaurant, Pekings. We got there around 3:30 pm, and apparently they don't open until 4. So, we went to this little store called Magic Mart and killed some time. We came back, and headed to the restaurant.

It started off badly, when we went in we were told I couldn't order from the menu, they only served the buffet. This sucked because I NEVER feel like I eat enough for a buffet. Also, I rarely really like the food that's ON the buffet. I'm pretty much a Wonton Soup, Moo Goo Gai Pan kind of girl. Neither of those are ever on the buffet. So, we got the buffet, and ate. I ate 1 plate of food, Carl ate 2. We got our check.

$37.50. For two buffets. Yes, you read that right, let me put it in words.

THIRTY SEVEN DOLLARS AND FIFTY FREAKING CENTS.

We were steamed. There was no advertisement on how much the buffet would cost. We assumed $10-12 a person. I had asked to order from the menu, they said no. As we were leaving, a waiter passed by our table and went to a table behind us. WITH FOOD FROM THE MENU. Oh, we were BEYOND steamed. We were livid.

We paid the amount, left no tip, and left. We will not eat there again (which is OK, it was obviously MSG laden and I got SO sick once we got home. I'm dreading tomorrow/Monday for Keevia).

So, we ended up spending $40 instead of $35. Which isn't a big deal, I know. But imagine what we would have ended up spending if we had had to pay for the movie?

Lesson learned. ALWAYS ASK when a price is not listed, and then walk out (before you get your food of course) when the price is too high.

Our day wasn't ruined though. Carl and I went on to Lowe's and perused there for a while. We looked at paint samples, wood flooring, counter tops, lights, etc. It was a lot of fun! We felt old though, as we actually found this enjoyable. Ha!

We plan on going to Wal-mart tomorrow and purchasing Keevia a teddy bear with a 2010 on it. This is going to be our Valentines day tradition for her, to purchase a bear or stuffed animal of some sort that has the year on it. We plan on buying her (and any subsequent children) a Halmark ornament each year as well, and when she moves out and gets married, she'll have like 18-21 ornaments for her own tree to start off with.

It was a nice, leisurely day, just the three of us. With Carl's increase in income, we'd like to budget about $60 a month for us to go out like this... and it doesn't even have to be that much. I think we had more fun walking around Lowes than we did in the movie, and we got to talk a lot more! It was very relaxing and rejuvenating!

What are you doing for Valentine's day?