Check this out...

Gives new meaning to the title "Dishwasher," doesn't it. This is my mom's dog, Willie Pugensen. He is a pug. Obviously. But this isn't really what I wanted to show you. I just thought this was a funny picture. Here is what I really wanted to show you...

Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake(s)

I know this is going to make me sound like such a grump, especially fresh on the heels of my declaration of  feelings towards football, but I'm just not a fan of Valentines Day. To be completely honest I usually wear all black on Valentines Day. All black seems entirely appropriate to wear in honor of St. Valentine. Yep folks, St. Valentine was a real person with a real story. Not just a day made up by Hallmark. St. Valentine was actually a bishop somewhere around the year 270 AD under the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius II. All the surrounding nations were in great turmoil during this time for various reasons. Claudius held the belief that men who were married would not make as strong and effective soldiers as those who were not married so he issued an edict banning all marriages. As you can probably imagine, this raised quite the ruckus. Not just with the soldiers but with Valentine as well. He felt this ban was completely unreasonable so he secretly defied Claudius and began performing secret marriage ceremonies. Naturally, his defiance could only stay hidden for so long and Claudius found out. Valentine was sent to jail. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and  tried to convince Valentine  to accept his marriage ban and also to accept his belief in the roman gods. When Valentine refused, Claudius sentenced him to death. While Valentine was in jail he befriended his jailer, named Asterius, who had a blind daughter. It is said that Valentine's deep faith healed her blindness. Eventually, Valentine fell in love with the daughter and just before his death he sent her a note which he signed, "from your Valentine." After his death he was named a patron saint. In 500 AD Pope Gelasius I set aside February 14 as a day to honor the martyr, St. Valentine. During the Middle Ages Geoffrey Chaucer started associating Valentines Day with love. It was believed that birds mated on this day. There are a couple slight variations to this story but this is basically it in a nutshell.

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cake

I'm going to say something that is really going to stir things up.

I could care less about football. I wouldn't even say that I hate it because I don't even care about it enough to bother hating it. So there you have it. How un-american of me. If you want to leave right now and never come back I totally understand. In high school I used to go to every single home football game. I'd whoop and holler when everyone else did just to give the appearance of being somewhat intelligent and interested. But I really wasn't. I did this week after week for four angst-ridden teenage years and I never really caught on to what the game was all about. I never even made an attempt to like it.  So why would I bother to keep going? Surely I could have found some more entertaining way to spend my Friday evening? The truth is, no, not really. Even though I thought football itself was the most boring thing ever, actually going to the games was a lot of fun. It was tradition. I would spend the whole evening hanging out with my friends, frequenting the snack bar, and making the occasional, awkward, gawky teenager attempt to flirt with a cute boy. Most of my fondest high school memories are the fun times I had hanging out at football games. So now here I am, I don't even want to say how many years later, just a couple days away from the biggest day of the year, other than Christmas, and not much has changed. As I said right up front, I still don't care about football. I still enjoy a good time with good friends, I still enjoy frequenting the snack bar, and even though I am far from being a teenager, I am still awkward and gawky when it comes to flirting with boys. I honestly couldn't even tell you who is playing in the Super Bowl this year. However, I can tell you that it is a great time to go shopping. Seriously. All the stores are completely empty other than the grumpy employees who have to work when they would rather be home watching the game. I can also give you some simple snack suggestions. In my opinion the snacks are the best part of Super Bowl Sunday.