One night a year the Hubs and I are gifted a night without kids. Yes, just one night a year. So we try and make the most of it. The In-laws take the little one’s to their place, and feed them full of junk until they nearly puke. For once, we don’t care…..we get the house to ourselves without kids! Woo Hoo!
The goal of this night to create a romantic evening where we re-connect, enjoy a fine dining meal (something a little fancier then the usual dinosaur shaped chicken and carrots with dip), maybe even see a movie from beginning to end without interruption, a fire, conversation and then ….wait for it….we sleep through the night. (What did you think I was going to say??) Sigh. Love.
Ummm. The following is how not to have that night.
Drop off the kids at Grandma’s house and realize I simply have to go to the grocery store before we go home. We don’t have the fixins for that romantic meal. Grocery shopping takes entirely too much time. It’s like a vortex in there. I get sucked in and can’t find my way out in under an hour! There is not a chance I’m getting my fancy dinner done in decent time now. I am clearly not a candidate for Hell’s Kitchen I don’t cook well under pressure.
As I rush the cooking process, because we are IDIOTS and accepted a party invitation for tonight, I pick up a lid from a hot pot which has just spent half an hour in a 425 degree oven….with my BARE HAND! Burn the crap out of two fingers and my thumb. Cry just a little as big fat welts appear. Put the hand on ice and do my best to carry on. Now I really must hurry. Rushing is not romantic. Burns are not sexy.
Spend the entire dinner chatting about the kids, then how much my fingers hurt, then the kids, then my aching fingers! (This is going well huh?)
After dinner, jump in the shower to try and get ready to go to the party. It takes forever with one hand. While he waits, the Hubby, he falls asleep on the couch. Good grief.
Head out to the party. Get lost along the way. Detour on date night takes up another 25 minutes or so. Is this quality time yet?
Arrive at the party fashionably late and are prepared to do our “drop in”. Only problem now, these are some of our best friends, we’re having a great time, so stay until midnight.
On the way home pick up a coffee at Tim Hortons hoping this will help me stay awake long enough to be ummm romantic with my Hubby. It helps.
When we get home try to save a wee bit of date night by breaking out the special dessert we bought to share…because sharing desserts is “date like”. Yah, the dessert totally sucked. A waste of calories. Hubby eats the trash bin worthy dessert anyway. I’ve given up.
The house is so quiet it’s almost eerie, my fingers hurt and I’m still hungry.
Finally take my burning fingers to bed.
Gotta be honest. This is not really the night I had envisioned. We had some giggles along the way, but tonight, it kinda sucked.
Next year. Plan ahead. Order in. No party. Stay home.
Only 364 days until next year baby.
You poor thing girl. Not a way to spend a night alone with your guy. I have to say, try and make more of these nights…encourage the grandparents for quarterly nights. Your girls are old enough and don’t cause too much havoc. My inlaws are taking our kids for a few days during spring break. We are thinking hmmm, should we go away too? Maybe, just maybe we will get to go somewhere fun. I am going to push Vegas…but most likely it will be closer to home.
Hey, have fun at Blissdom…say hi to my little sis Shell! 🙂
Sorry about your fingers. The night did kind of suck. Can’t you have a do-over? Just beg the in laws!
I’m sorry you had a sucky night……hoping you have another shot at it maybe this weekend?
awwww…I wish I was closer, I would let the girls come stay with me and Doodles so you could have a much deserved re-do.
Of course I should thank you for the tips, Doodles told me that he was taking mommy out on a date with his tooth fairy money, and it was not going to be mcdonalds. 😉
Okay seriously once a year?? You really need to get out more. Though, well I guess we have lots of evenings out but always come back to our kids still being in the house, usually in bed asleep though. So, hmm maybe your one night is better than what we have.
That all may be…BUT…NONE of it was interrupted by a whining child. Hooray! Bright side! You’re welcome.
Our date nights always seem to go that way too lol
Oh MAN!!! When I do stuff like that I call it “I’m so old.” Uh oh….
Oh no! Surely you can do it again this weekend, drop the kids this time with the other set of grandparents? Yes, sometimes, what we have planned to do was just so hard to achieve.
And you’re so true with the grocery store, we moms, just couldn’t get enough:-(
You most certainly need a date night re-do!!!!!
I hope your fingers are healing.
Oh no!! That sounds about right though! It’s so much work to try and go out (and make it perfect)….that maybe it’s just easier to curl up on the couch…leave the rest up to whatever happens!!
That sounds like a horrible night. You poor thing. And I totally get the not wanting a crappy dessert. If it’s not amazing, I don’t want the calories.
Aw, sorry about your hand & your not-so-romantic date night. I’m lucky enough to have my son stay at the in-laws once or twice a month but it’s never as romantic as I envision either. And we always end up talking about the boy. The whole night! I think you’re right – a little bit of planning goes a long way.
Those “special” nights never work out. There’s way too much pressure for perfection. The best nights are always the ones where things just happen without even trying. Sorry it sucked!
Carol
Been there. Done that. It’s the allure of being able to do regular things sans kids. Sometimes it’s just too powerful. LOL
Sorry it sucked. At least you didn’t have to hear your name called 323 times?