Date Night

Have you ever seen the movie "Date Night?" - - - ha, ha, ha; oh anyway (wipe tears away.)

JP and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary (yay!)  Lily - the woman who watched Logan and Aslyn when we went to the Zac Brown concert last month - came out to spend another evening with my beautiful children.  Our plan was to just go out for dinner; but Lily said we needed to make it a real date and see a movie too.  She even brought with her the paper with the movie listings in it!

We decided to try Vernon's Hidden Valley Steakhouse for dinner.  The atmosphere is fashioned after the Prohibition era; the talk is "speak easy" which let me tell you most of what was said flew right over my head - I did get no tommy guns and no squawking, but everything else - whoosh!   I don't think I would make a good gangster.  At first we drove right by the place (good thing we had an address); the restaurant is unassuming and hidden behind a black door through a nondescript entry.  In fact while we were outside before giving our password to get in; another couple came walking by us and kept looking back - probably wondering what we were doing!



Taking the password.

Dinner was fabulous!  JP enjoyed a wet aged rib eye and I a dry aged; a half bottle of red wine (I don't remember what it was called but it was good - and I am usually more of a white wine drinker.)  The waiter asked JP and I if we were celebrating anything and we told him our anniversary.  He then asked how long we've been married.  After telling him seven, I felt like we should have been celebrating a much larger milestone number.   Has it only been seven years?  The waiter brought out the restaurants signature dessert for us (equipped with a candle) and wished us many more years of happiness.  Oh my gosh...the dessert...JP and I shared it, I scraping the plate of any last remaining morsels; in which JP teased me about.  I told him he was lucky I didn't just pick up the plate and start licking it! 
While leaving the doorman told JP that he better be back or he'll send Vinny out to break his knee caps.  Nice!

The evening was wonderful; more than I have ever spent on dinner in my life but worth every bite.  Upon Lily's request we went to the dollar theatre and picked whatever movie was showing at that time, The Sorcerer's Apprentice - it was cute.

I came home, stomach happy, tired, and ready to cuddle with my kiddies.  However, Lily had them both fast asleep in their beds, so we just told her about our evening, asked how things went with her,  and made our way to bed ourselves.

The next morning JP took Lily out horseback riding (her payment for watching kids).  She reminded us again and again that she is more than willing to come out once a month to babysit while JP and I have a date night - ha, ha, ha - seriously that movie makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Two Days

The days and nights are getting colder. Especially the nights. I have been in fleece pajamas, a hoodie, wool socks; bundled inside my down sleeping bag and barely getting my body comfortable with that. Of course the fact that JP likes to sleep with the windows open do not help.

It has now been two days since I've slept. One reason is because of the colder weather. But it is not necessarily the cold keeping me up - it's a darn mouse! Either I have become a lighter sleeper or this is just one noisy little critter. I hear him (or her - I don't know) scraping through Biscuits dog bowl and gnawing on his food. Okay, I thought after tossing and turning for a couple hours listening to this; I'll solve that problem. Dog bowl outside. Wrong! Now he is in the stove.

Yesterday I opened up the stove and removed any dog food he had hidden in there. I also found dog food in my fabric supply and in a hood of one of Aslyn's outfits; who knows where else that bugger is hiding it.

After another sleepless night listening to my dear friend, I awoke - coffee calling my name to wake me up - and all over my stove was mouse droppings! I swear this mouse is aggravating me on purpose. Now it is war!!

Reason number two for my lack of sleep (although this one is worth it.)  Don't let that innocent face fool you!  She is little miss party from 3:00 am - 4:30 am!  Isn't she adorable though?

JP's solution to my insomnia.  Go to bed earlier.  Both nights I was in bed by 9:30,  so I asked him, how much earlier?  He said as soon as I get home...6:00?!  That's a little too early if you ask me!

Hey, It's OK!

Every month Glamour magazine has a page devoted to little amusings that women may feel insecure about or are not likely to do (such as actually getting the dressing on the salad instead of on the side) So, I came up with my own list on things that I have learned or am working on.

Hey, It's OK!
...to ask for help.

...to curl up with my kids in bed and sleep in an extra hour even if it means not making JP breakfast (hey, he knows how to work a toaster.)

...to stand up for myself.

...to splurge on me once in a while without feeling guilty.

...to want to run away from it all somedays.

...to squander the day away playing with Logan and Aslyn instead of doing household chores.