5 Happy Years With My Cheap Date

Friday, October 12th, was our 5-year anniversary (see post below). We are on a very strict budget right now, and agreed not to go overboard for any part of the day. We went to the grocery store a couple of nights before and bought things to make a dinner of filet mignon, yummy salad (including spinach and green leafy lettuce, almonds, craisins, and honey dijon dressing...scrumptious), and garlic bread. We drank water...we thought about wine, after the fact, but because we were driving pretty soon after we ate, it was probably good that we didn't. So, basically very little cost in dinner, and it was SO good...Rich did a great job grilling!

About 30 miles north of Childress is a town of about 1000 people called Wellington. This is where a lot of Rich's family is from and his grandmother lives there. Well, through donations from a wealthy trust, a local, very old theatre, the Ritz, has had a 1.3 million dollar facelift and has literally come back to life. It is amazing! This week, just in time for our anniversary, was their Grand Opening of sorts. Starting Friday night, they are showing a classic movie every evening at 7:00 p.m. They are starting with the 30's and showing a movie for every decade through this Thursday. So, Rich took us Friday to see The Wizard of Oz! Yes! All you movie lovers know I was in total heaven! I have TWOO on VHS and DVD and it is one of my all-time favorites. As I sat there and looked around I was brought to tears thinking my grandparents and great aunts/uncles probably sat in a theatre very similar to The Ritz watching TWOO when it first came to theatres! How awesome! Anyway, we ate popcorn and cracked ourselves up and had a great time! PLUS, the icing on the already delicious cake was, IT WAS ALL FREE! Rich's grandmother insisted we come by her house on our way to the show for "popcorn money." Not knowing there wouldn't be an admission charge, we ended up spending NOTHING on our anniversary date and we had a great time!

Here we are inside the theater...we are backrowers anytime we are at the movies!

The screen and stage area are just like it would have looked in its original state...isn't it beautiful? You can see a lot of the art-deco styling in the light fixtures and the arches around the screen.

More of the inside...the wall was a really nice butter color with rust/burgundy accents.

Someone even took the time to recreate the detailing on the ends of each row of chairs. How impressive!

I took this on our way out of the theater after the sun set! Aren't the lights amazing? I really felt like I was taking a step back in time.

Here is the side view so you can actually see the name of the theatre in lights! Isn't it just gorgeous?

We agreed we would spend very little money on each other for gifts, but I won as far as spending the least. I made Rich's card AND his gift and I think they are one of the best I have given him yet. I had so much fun doing it, too! In my English classes, I gave my students an assignment to help them review for their vocabulary test. I directed them to http://www.puzzlemaker.com/. They were to create a crossword puzzle using their vocabulary words and definitions. Then, they were to exchange papers with someone else and their grade depended on the other person actually completing the puzzle and turning it in. They loved it. As I was describing the assignment, I was explaining how they could use the site outside of school, like as a birthday present for a friend; they could create a crossword puzzle of memories. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I thought, "What a great idea for our anniversary." So, I made Rich a crossword puzzle of memories from our first five years of marriage. He LOVED it and loved that I made it even more. We had such a good time filling in the answers together, especially when he would get stuck but didn't want me to help him with it...;)

Rich with the giant envelope I made to hold the card and crossword puzzle. On the table you can see the flowers he bought me.

The card I made Rich. Inside was more design and a poem I wrote to him (that's the part that made him just a tad weepy).

He followed the rules too, and got me a VERY sweet card (yes, I teared up) and some beautiful flowers. I have to tell you though, my card made him weepy which made me cry even more. We were a teary mess by the time dinner was through.

The crossword puzzle I made Rich...I highly recommend this as a gift to someone special. It is so much fun. I am going to frame it so Rich can take it to work and hang on his wall in his office.

Our whole day was just perfect, mainly because we were able to spend it together reminiscing and romancing each other.

Rich left Sunday morning early, for his Short Course in College Station with all of the TXDOT engineers from the entire state! He and the other Childress County engineers FLEW in a lear jet owned by the state...fancy schmancy. The only reason they even flew was because they wanted to make it to CS in time for the Sunday golf tourney...silly boys! Anyway, after church I called Rich's grandmother to see if she wanted to go back to the Ritz last night because they were showing Casablanca! Yes! So, Nanny, Rich's parents and myself all went back to Wellington for another night at the show and again it was fabulous! I LOVED Casablanca and Nanny had a great time! Can you belive I had never seen the CLASSIC of all classics?

I'm eagerly awaiting the return of that man of mine so we can go see E.T. Thursday night!

R.J., phone home....