Brown cylinders and date nights

Will and I stared into the tub, willing those dark cylinders at the bottom of that murky water to be lego figures. Please be legos, please be legos, please be legos.......
ALEX.......are those your toys?????
MO.
He was not lying.
Sighing deeply, Will and I looked at one another and our minds synchronized as only fifteen years of marriage can allow our minds to do and we both silently/not so silently called it.
WE NEED A DATE. 
I read an interesting blog article the other day that talked about married couples and date nights. I think the general gist was that an hour in a restaurant does not make a marriage (which is exactly what the title said); she doesn't date much with her hubby, and it's about living the vows they made daily, in the trenches...date when possible, but not to waste their days....
I get it.
I appreciate the writer's sentiment and I agree with her that marriage is fun and meaningful with or without date nights. There is nothing that makes me love my hubby more then getting down and dirty in the trenches of our sweet life and doing that life together. I appreciate Will and the sacrifices he makes. I adore when he comes home after running to grab eggs(Cadbury included) at the store,  gives the little one a bath, and doesn't utter a single complaint about eating pasta from a box....again. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on my rocker with him on our tiny porch drinking a cold beer while we both watch the kids play on our patch of grass. Both boys would pile into our bed every night if given the opportunity and our sweet Alex, our sleep struggler often times always ends up snuggled between Will and I. Every. Night.
A dinner out in that corner booth the writer was talking about will not save an unhealthy broken marriage. A dinner out in a corner booth will definitely breathe a breath of fresh air into a marriage that needs a minute from the murky cylinders on the bottom of the tub. A dinner in a corner booth where you can hold hands with your spouse without speaking may be just what the Dr. ordered. A moment to pour open and vomit out thoughts, feelings and emotions that have been piling up for a few weeks may be imperative.
With all that being said -date night does not have to be a dinner out in that elusive corner booth...Perhaps we need to rethink what a "date night" means. What it comes down to is carving out that time. Being creative. "Penciling" it into the electronic calendar. Writing it down will be a reminder to me...Aly, wash your hair. GET OUT OF ACTIVE WEAR. For me, these scheduled pockets of time are times of refreshment, revitalization with the outcome of being a better self with my love and a better mom for my kids.
Without these scheduled periods of reconnecting I feel spent, tired and a little bitter if I'm going to be honest.  For the last few months I've ordered date boxes for Will and I to have a night in, sans kids (i.e. continued yelling at them to leave the room we're sequestered in) and to reconnect with one another after a tiring couple couple weeks at our jobs. It has been so much fun, and he's been a great sport about rolling with it.
Whatever it is do it. Carve it out. Your marriage deserves it.

Nothing to see here- just us Cheese balls

Nothing exotic or awe-inspiring going on here. I'm trying to find simple treasures in the ordinary. Humor in the every day adventures of mom-ming. Cue my last shopping adventure to our local Harmon's.

Seeing as it was a Saturday, I had the luxury of sleeping in; waking up to the bright sun outside and dressed for the warmer weekend in cute jean Capri's that I actually fit into again and my new converse sneakers. I looked freaking adorable, with the exception of my hair, which was having some serious issues. Nothing that couldn't be tamed by pushing sunglasses on top of my head in place of a headband.. like I said..freaking adorable. 

Caffeine. I needed caffeine. I stared at my coffee pot. It stared back and wasn't going to brew itself. *Sigh.* Will had gone back into work for a couple hours and I stared at the boys after staring at my silent coffee pot . I needed coffee, it was gorgeous out and we needed to kill some time. We were walking to the grocery store. 

With new tires on my jogging stroller that I, at this time only use for leisurely strolls, and random piles of crap on the bottom of it which included a 6 month bag of popcorn and some clothing items that I didn't have the energy to remove, we headed out. 

As we were crossing the highway a middle-schooler who was skateboarding in the opposite direction called out, NICE SHIRT!! I was wearing my Operation Underground Railroad tee. I smiled to myself. Clearly I was killing it today. 

We had a few extra items to pick up, all which would fit perfectly under the stroller. A few items ended up turning into a lot more, but still looked like it would fit. I eyeballed the checkout lanes....Ugh. I HATE self check out, but we were still under the required amount, and The Wyatt loves scanning. Because I'm such a great mom, I thought, sure. Let's go crazy and self scan today. After codes were typed in and the lady came over like 4 times to clear our screen because WE DIDN'T WANT A FREAKING BAG and Alex got his sticker, I shoved all our items under the stroller and we were finally ready to get my coffee. Sweet mother. 

With my order placed, we traipsed over to my iced coffee where a sweet, slightly older then high school looking girl sat smiling at me on a stool by my coffee. Excuse me, she said. Oh man. She  wants to tell me how cute I look today....oh the burdens I bear..... Seriously people. These are my narcissistic thoughts. Like, for real. Yes?? I ask with a confident, knowing smile. Well....I didn't want to embarrass you when you were standing in line....

Ugh. This conversation had taken an ugly turn. Did I have a poopy pull-up somewhere on my person?? Something was on me. CRAP. Something was definitely on me. Where was it. Shhhhhoooot. 

Yes?  I asked this again taken down a couple notches. 

Well, the lady at the self service counter didn't want to embarrass you but she thinks you forgot to scan a cheese ball.

I heard, embarrass you and cheese ball. Oh for the love of all things..I have a cheese ball in my hair??My hand flew to lightly touch my hair. We didn't eat cheese balls for breakfast. Crap. Did we eat cheese balls for breakfast?

Wait. That's not what she said. 

What? OH...um....I handed her my receipt.....the Cheez-Its...did I pay for those? 

No that's on there....she said she thought she saw a cheese ball. I'm so sorry. I'm sure it was just an accident...

Ok. I was finally tracking with what she was saying. Took me long enough. I stared longingly at my coffee which I had not yet picked up. ugh. Stupid non existent cheese ball. She didn't know that though...SO

I unloaded everything on the grocery store floor in front of her. Item by item.

She was mortified. I think it was that really old bag of popcorn...I really needed to throw that out..particularly if it's being mistaken for a cheeseball....I actually felt really bad for her, she kept apologizing....

But at the end of the day..everyone has a job to do. I told her this. Hers was to ensure I wasn't pilfering a cheese ball and mine was to respect her position and show my boys that their mother was gracious without coffee and could remain polite despite a silly mistake. 

At the end of the day we all left content, me with my coffee and ALL of us with a hankering for some cheese.