Rollin' with my Homie

This weekend, Dustin and I split up with the kids and had dates with them. This isn't unusual but definitely special! Dustin and Jesse were going to spend the night at Dustin's parents' house and then play golf Saturday morning. Jesse was getting to drive the golf cart. This meant that I needed to bring my A-game to my date with Brea. We were competing with a GOLF CART, people!

I think we do some fun dates but I try to keep them low key. Case in point:

This was our last date. Coffee lovers will recognize this drink. It would be the hot chocolate from Seattle's Best. They put a chocolate stick in the perfect cloud of whipped cream! My kids think this is just short of heaven.

But what I mean is, this is the sort of thing we do. We go out, talk to each other, eat foods or go to places the kids like. Usually they like awesome things like Seattle's Best or ice cream. But my Brea had been recently talking about going to a restaurant (Chuy's but I think only because that is the restaurant in our family) and being dressed up.

She was particularly looking forward to people seeing how pretty she looked and commenting on it. Not to her, mind you. She hates to be told she is cute. But she wanted to hear the people talk about how pretty she looks TO EACH OTHER.

I will give you a moment to allow this all to sink in. Took me about 2 days.

I'm no dummy. I took the massive hints and started my planning.

We went to a "fancy restaurant" called Crumpets. The reviews all glowed with the fanciness of the place. They serve pate, y'all! (not that we ate it, cuz liver is so not my thing)

Part of the date was the getting ready process, done Girl Style. We bathed, painted our nails, curled our hair, put on make-up and fancy dresses, all while listening to music that made us dance and not hold still even when our mother had a hot curling iron uncomfortably close to our skull. IT WAS FUN!!!

The restaurant met our expectations, in that: 1) Everyone thought Brea was pretty but were far too fancy to tell her so to her face, 2) The food was served all fancy like, 3) We had a very good time.

We ate artichoke hearts stuffed with goat cheese and topped with toasted almonds. We shared a lovely green salad, but the server also was ridiculously kind to Brea and brought her a huge fruit cup. It was beautiful and she was openly delighted. We shared trout almondine, veggies and garlic toasts. And for dessert, a lemon chiffon cake with loads of strawberries.

The best part was the talking. I know each family is unique and one of the things I have found very different about my kids is that they talk to me. ALL. THE. TIME. But very often, it is real conversation. Okay, sure, it can be a conversation about nail polish or why people don't ride horses anymore but I have definitely had more difficult conversations before. With adults.

We also drew pictures on a small, fancy pad of paper with glittery pens. And read poetry. So what if the poetry was Shel Silverstein, IT STILL RHYMES.

I think it must have been a roaring success because when she woke me up Saturday morning, she said, "Can we go to the fancy restaurant for breakfast?!"

To which I replied, "Sorry kid. Mommy only has one fancy dress and now they've seen it. We're going to have to find ourselves a new restaurant!"

Winter Wonderland...?

I had a realization while in the shower this morning. Am I the only one who gets her best ideas and thoughts in the bathroom? I often say, 'Let me go to the bathroom and think about it." And I return after a time, with an answer.

ANYWAY. So I was thinking about how I am all flumpy lately. That would be a family term to describe the way I drag myself around the house without any true direction. I am uninterested in cooking. Even food itself doesn't hold the allure it usually does. Getting house work done is more than a chore and all I want to do is read, game and drink copious amounts of coffee that my husband says is too much and I should stop drinking so much therefore I am on coffee consumption restriction regime. Yeah, that is not the coffee talking BECAUSE I HAVEN'T HAD ANY TODAY!!

Okay, I'm really not unhappy with Dustin about the coffee thing. Truly, we were spending too much money on coffee and my espresso machine just isn't creating the kind of espresso I want to drink. So, here I am.

But the coffee isn't the point, since it was just a very wonderful and fulfilling distraction that brought me simple joy with its scent and flavor. What? Who are we talking about? AGAIN, not coffee. I am trying to talk about my winter blues. Because I think that is what they are.

I hate the cold. And I get cold really easily. Ask my sister-in-law who insists on pointing out EVERY TIME I AM COLD WHEN SHE IS NOT. The number of times this has happed is best described as often.

Okay, again off topic, sorry.

Yeah, I think Winter and I just don't get along. That happens sometimes, right? I mean, when Spring comes around I will be filled with the desire to make fantastic foods with the produce available. Summer brings water adventures and sweet tea. Fall is the best time for tromping around in the great outdoors. But Winter? All I get is holidays. And, for the record, the other seasons ALSO give holidays. Just sayin'.

So, I have this knowledge that I am one of THOSE people. The kind that pretty much just shuts down when it gets cold and the sun's rays weaken. How do I fix it? I mean, for now I will just wait the very few weeks until Spring comes dancing in. But for the future?

Blah. This is starting to feel like work. Forget it! I'm off to find some coffee and read my book.