Time Together

Since we have moved and don't know many people we don't have anyone who can babysit Munchkie.  At least no one after 5pm.  Munchkie's Daddy and I know that we need to spend time together, doing more than sitting on the couch at our computers watching TV, just the two of us.  During Munchkie's Daddy's first few weeks back at school, I told him that I would like to meet him so that I could see what the area was like where he went to school.  So we met for lunch.  Then I had something for work that ended mid morning, and met him for lunch since he would be out of school at one.  We created a tradition.  Since he only has one class on Thursdays and nothing but studying on Fridays, we decided that this would be our date time.  We are paying for a babysitter Monday through Friday from 8am-5pm, so why not take advantage of that babysitter for dates?

We now meet for lunch together every week if we can, so that we can spend time together.  I drop Munchkie off at the babysitter's, Munchkie's Daddy at the subway station and then come home and get ready.  When I take the time to shower, shave (even though I think hellllooooo fall, goooooodbyyyyyyye razor), put makeup on and wear something besides a tshirt, it makes it feel a little bit more than an ordinary day.  It makes me feel special and the day special.


I have enjoyed following The Dating Divas and reading their tips and suggestions to keep romance alive.  They have great ideas from big dates to little things you can do, each one to make the other person (and yourself as well) feel special and a lot of times for not much money.  We have been trying out different restaurants around town and I'm starting to realize that lunch is definitely a cheaper alternative to dinner.  We can try out different menus at nicer places for half the price.  Last week neither of us were even hungry for dinner, so it really saved us money!

We find that it is essential to our relationship to set apart this time together.  We tend to be pretty busy and our schedules don't necessarily line up together.  So even though we may spend time together at night, we both are too tired to actually do much else besides sit there.  Sometimes after working my brain is so fried that I can't even carry on a conversation or focus on what Munchkie's Daddy's is saying, which isn't that great for our relationship or for his self esteem to be honest.  When we set aside this time to be together, we know that our main focus is on the other person, we have set aside the time physically and mentally.  This is a huge deal when both physical time and mental space are precious in this family.

Successful Saturday

I had one of those fantastically successful and productive Saturdays.  The ones that don't stress you out, but the ones that you go to bed and think, oh now that is how I like to spend my day. 

We started off by going to the super cute coffee shop and walking to the farmer's market.  At the farmer's market we found all kinds of goodies.  I just love the farmer's market so much.  I must have walked up and down the aisle at least 5 times surveying each booth's wares.  The first purchase I made was a little jar of eczema cream for poor Munchkie's face.  She started with these patches of eczema this summer and I was so excited to find something natural to try on them.  We are planning on making some tomato sauce with the tomatoes and basil to freeze and slightly replenish our frozen sauce.  The kale will make great kale chips for some healthy snacks and the peppers never made it past the raw stage because we snack on them like apples.  The delicious yellow honey tomatoes.  Oh they're gone.  Have been since an hour after we got home.  Now that is what a tomato is supposed to taste like!

 On the way from the coffee shop to the farmer's market we passed by a tag sale that had a few items that caught our eye.  The first was a dog kennel.  Both of our dogs' kennels were in bad shape and we recently bought a new one at Walmart for one of them, but couldn't handle paying the price for a second kennel.  The kennel at the tag sale was much better quality than the cheapest ones at Walmart and she accepted our offer of $5.  Amazing!  As we were walking away we both stopped and saw this trunk.  Oh my goodness.  We both turned and looked at each other and said, "I've always wanted a trunk."  The seller finally accepted our offer of $21 after some negotiating.  I can not wait to fix it up a little bit.  What perfect storage!  It's not too big and can hold all kinds of things inside of it.  With a little refinishing, paint and new hardware, I think this can be a very beautiful piece that will find the perfect place in our new home.  I was so excited after this find that I wanted to go look at some things for our new apartment.  We went to Ikea to get some ideas on making small spaces work.  Then  I went to JoAnn Fabrics to look at a few things, Home Depot for paint samples and found a great deal on a mirror at Goodwill for another project.  I really enjoyed the time with my family, but also a few hours by myself meandering through stores thinking and creating in my head.

The perfect ending for our day was a date night after Munchkie went to bed.  We had wanted to spend one last date night out while we still had people around us that we knew.  Unfortunately our plans slightly fell through and so we spent the date night in our own living room with Munchkie sound asleep upstairs.  Some Thai take out, a few candles and a movie really made it feel like a date night.  We had a good time together talking and enjoying each other's company without thinking about all the things that needed to be done around the house.  We were able to truly focus on each other.  I look forward to date nights and believe that they are an essential part in a healthy relationship.  Even though we spend quite a few nights together in our living room, it's completely different when you have a mindset of sharing a date night together.  You are able to mentally push all other things aside and truly focus your energy and attention towards the person you love.  It makes a huge difference to feel special and loved as you do during these times.


And so, after a movie, dinner, creative thinking trip, tag sale, farmer's market and coffee shop I had an incredibly productive and perfect day.