Friday, January 21, 2011

Tell Me How...

My friend Jade has this great series she does on her blog she calls "Tell Me How...". She posts all sorts of questions and her friends give such awesome answers. I always read all the comments, since her friends always have such good suggestions. Recently, she's done "Tell me how... to deal with dust" and "Tell me how... to unpack." I've always thought that a blog is the perfect platform for something like that... what better place to get advice than from all your friends?

So I'm going to start my own "tell me how..." series. My first question: Tell me how... to date my husband (when we have no money and a 9-month old).

I'm pretty sure that many of you are in a similar situation. We're trying to grow Cory's practice, so disposable income is pretty sparse. Add to that the fact that Spencer goes to bed between 7:30-8:00... so we don't "go out" much. We don't have a lot of money for movies, dinner out, or mini-golf (things we used to do). Plus with Spencer in bed, it's not like we can go anywhere. Now yes, we have family nearby who are always willing to babysit... and we do take advantage of that. But I'm talking about stuff Cory & I can do at the house, for free/cheap (besides watch a movie). What do the rest of you do when the kids are in bed? (aside from crawl, exhausted, into bed yourselves). What are some good dating ideas? How do you keep your relationship strong? (cheesy, I know, but still a valid question).

And Jade, if you're reading this (and I know you're a little busy), feel free to post on your blog.

Let the commenting begin... :)

13 comments:

Andrea said...

We LOVE to play Uno or any two person board game. That is what we do for our "home" date nights.

Tara said...

I just started working with romanticmarriages.com and they have tons of great ideas that are inexpensive and can even be done at home. There are free date night kit ideas for January that are so much fun! Here's the link:
http://romanticmarriages.com/free-kit/free-kit.html

NaDell said...

You could read a book together (borrowed from the library) or listen to a book on CD. Picnics on the living room floor. Craft projects that become your art for the walls....hmmm. We are the watch-a-movie kind of people.

Sarah said...

Yeah we've been watching a lot of movies (I LOVE Netflix). I'm looking to 'mix it up'... just a little :)

Melvin and Carly said...

I'll check back to read more comments because this is something I don't know how to do. We're watch-a-movie kind of people, but things get tough when the kids are up until 8:30 or so and your hubby goes to bed by 9:00 because he gets up at 3:30 am. I love puzzles, Mel...doesn't. We do like to play games every now and then. ;)

Kelley said...

We like to play games together as well. Some of our favorite 2-player ones are: Dominion, Carcassonne, skip-bo, cribbage, etc. I'm going to a "dating seminar" for a RS activity in a few weeks, so I'll let you know if I get any good ideas :)

Vee said...

This might not be as romantic with a baby, but sometimes I like to have a late dinner for just the two of us after the kids are in bed, light some candles use your good dishes, etc.

tarynn said...

Quite a few of our friends didn't have any kids when we did, so we would all hang out at our place playing games or whatever while the kid(s) slept. That was always a lot of fun!

Michelle said...

I got the idea from Becca to set the kitchen table with a cloth, use your nice dishes, light some candles and eat dessert together and just talk. We like to do "YouTube" dates or "wiki" dates where we sit down and surf the net together, it usually gets us laughing or talking about some subject together. (beyond the kids!) We also like to play 2 player games, if you want to borrow any of them you are welcome to! :) I really like your new idea, if for nothing else I get to read and get idas for myself!!

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Just fix a normal dinner, but then make menus and decorate the table (the dollar store can be your best friend) and have an 8:30 candelight dinner, complete with plastic wineglasses!

Talk to older sisters in your ward who would love to babysit for free, or YW looking for a service project. Do lunch together at Cory's office.

Marie said...

Games. We love phase 10. We used to do this all the time, but was working so much it was come home eat dinner and go to bed.

Brett said...

We just got introduced to a couple of fantastic 2-player games. Both are a ton of fun.

Pandemic is for 2-4 players; just as fun with 2 which is rare.

Lost Cities is technically a 2 player game only, but we've also adapted it into a 4 player team game if we have friends over.

Some other games we've had for a while that are great for two players - Ticket to Ride (any edition), Carcassonne, Sequence, Nertz, etc.

Jade said...

We used to order Schwans meals for date night. Schwans isn't the cheapest thing in the world, but it's cheaper than going out by far, and we normally liked the food just as much. So on our stay-in date night we would make Schwans for dinner -- nice and easy to stick in the over, MUCH less clean up than making a big fancy meal. Eating out is my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE kind of date, so this was our way to still kind of do it without hassling with the expense, the babysitter, etc.