Send singing valentine

Big Valentine's Day Gift


 

 


Send a singing valentine to loved ones on Valentine’s Day, Wed., Feb. 14. A quartet from Channelaire Chorus will sing to recipients at work, home, school, in a nursing home or hospital, or in a restaurant.

The chorus will deliver two love songs, a rose, Valentine card and a special gift between 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout Ventura County.

The schedule is limited and is open to first come, first served.

The cost is $47 per valentine. Checks, Visa and Mastercard are accepted.

A song can be sent by long distance phone for $15. All calls will be made between noon and 4 p.m. Pacific time on Tues., Feb. 14.

For more information or to order, call (805) 495-6952 or e-mail ro.madeline@verizon.net.

The awardwinning Channelaire Chorus is a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women singers committed to barbershop harmony.

A few years ago, I spent $2,000 on my wife for Valentine’s Day. In turn, she spent $2,000 on me.

My wife and I had never even spent that much money on Christmas gifts or birthday gifts for each other, let alone for Valentine’s Day. But why not? Valentine’s Day is an important holiday, right? It’s when two people in a relationship celebrate their love for each other.

And so, every February, loved ones across the country help make the world go round by exchanging candy, cards, flowers and gifts in the name of St. Valentine. We spend double the price for a dozen roses on Valentine’s Day. We deface our homes and sometimes even our cars and our clothing with anything that comes in reds, pinks or purples. And we put hearts on everything.

Before my wife and I tied the knot, we used to make a really big deal out of Valentine’s Day. My wife is a teacher. When we were dating, I would sneak into her classroom before she got there on Valentine’s Day, and I’d place a few thousand roses on her desk and around the room. I’d also adorn her room with red, pink and purple heart-shaped decorations.

And then I’d leave a Valentine’s Day card for her, my greeting inside longer than this column and sappier than a movie of the week.

Later in life, as the “puppy love stage” wore off (when we got married), Valentine’s Day got smaller. I guess part of the “wear off” is due to the fact that a married couple pulls money from the same pool to buy silly Valentine’s Day gifts. When my wife spends $50 on me I think to myself, Boy, I would rather have had that $50 in the checking account than that supersized, heartshaped, 353-piece box of assorted chocolates.

I’ve come to dislike giving chocolate to my wife for a different reason. Every time she eats chocolates, she tortures herself because she feels guilty about eating junk food. Then she tortures me for buying the junk for her.

I hate buying flowers, too. Why spend that kind of money on something you’re going to throw out in a few days? To me, buying flowers is like purchasing an expensive piece of art, framing it, and then hanging it on the wall, only to have it explode in a week’s time. That’s a silly simile, but then again, buying flowers is just as silly.

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to stop spending money on garbage for Valentine’s Day. We would just have a nice dinner to show our love for each other. That mentality lasted only that year. The following year, we emptied $4,000 out of our savings account for Valentine’s Day. But we needed to show our love for each other. So we went all out to prove to ourselves that we really love each other, like we never did before.

As much as my wife and I would like to take credit for spending so much money on each other for Valentine’s Day, I must take a moment to add one small detail. The day before that $4,000 Valentine’s Day, my wife and I came home from work to find our bathroom and adjoining hallway under water- again. Our galvanized water pipes had been bursting open here and there for months. This was the last straw.

And so, the next day- Valentine’s Day- my wife and I treated each other to some brand new copper plumbing, a grand total of $4,000. (I thought about painting the pipes red, pink and purple in honor of St. Valentine and in honor of wasting money on Valentine’s Day.)

We didn’t spend a dime on chocolates or flowers that Valentine’s Day. And as a result, my wife didn’t feel any regret over eating chocolates, she didn’t torture me, and I didn’t feel bad for spending a ridiculous amount of money on flowers that I’d have to throw away in a few days. For $4,000, my wife and I never have to worry about a leaking pipe in our house again, and we could say we spent $4,000 on one another to show our love on Valentine’s Day.

This year, give the gift that keeps on giving. Re-pipe your house.

Paid for by ACME Plumbing. E-mail Michael Picarella at pic@theacorn.com.

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