Monday, April 27, 2009

In Anticipation of Dates and Other Hiatus

I live for date night! Okay, that is overly dramatic, but it does give me motivation to keep trudging away at all of the weekday responsibilities that can fluctuate between monotony and frenzy and remind myself that only 6 more days... 5 more days...4 more days... remain until I can unwind with Fred, even for just a few hours and focus on "us". This weekend I had such a bad cold on Friday that I just couldn't bear leaving home. Saturday I had YW responsibilities from 9AM -4PM and I was hoping that we could fit in a cheater date in the evening, but by the time I completed some minor cleaning and fixed dinner and cut Fred and Abe's hair, it was time to take Mikayla to the Saturday night dance. Fred and I took her together and walked through the grocery store aisles for last minute groceries, but that doesn't really count, so we thought we could at least watch a video at home together. That used to work for date night when our children were little. It doesn't anymore!

I've been reading some old posts of a dear friend who said that she and her husband used to donate blood plasma in their poor college days, to save up enough money to go on a get-away date each year. I'm squeamish and am glad that we don't have to resort to that this year (though Fred did survive by doing that in his single years, he can no longer donate because he went on his mission to England and may be infected with Mad Cow Disease--we get a lot of mileage out of that), but those dates are worth sacrificing for. They not only make us better husbands and wives, but certainly better fathers and mothers. I think of it as an annual investment. This May will revolve around Jordan, so we will probably wait until June, after girls camp, but it is fun to be anticipating and planning.

Fred has been stressing and struggling to put together all the pieces for Stevens-Henagers' RT program this month. The guidance, top administration has given him for classes is about as helpful as the guidance they have given him to get the program up and running; "Here are a list of 160 main themes we want the students to learn in a two month period.... you may not have the time or resources to hire a teacher yet, so can you teach as well, oh, and the curriculum hasn't been written, so can you have that ready by Friday?" He's starting to feel like Stretch Armstrong. Amazing flexibility and oooh....the muscles!

The weather has become beastly again. Fred has been trying to take all kinds of precautions with his beloved peach tree, which we have had for three years and gotten one lonely peach out of due to Spring frosts. Two days ago, when it was supposed to freeze, he set his alarm for 5AM so he could put the sprinkler on it and inhibit the freezing process, but the water froze in the hose, so his attempt was futile. We're still crossing our fingers to see if it will pull through. Of course Fred couldn't wait to plant watermelon, no matter how much coaxing to wait until Mother's Day, so he is covering those with buckets every night. We were spoiled with 86 degree weather last week and were running through sprinklers and mowing lawns and we are now all very perturbed. The children's starts have taken complete possession of the kitchen table and are becoming restless in their cramped containers--we all are.

I have a treat for all the Jon Schmidt fans out there (Lori). He has a new arrangement out that is our family's new favorite song. He is so talented and funny. If he ever comes back to Boise, I will take all of my older kids for sure. Below is a link. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

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