from under his feathers: we went on a date (and other musings)

We went on a date.

Well, we were supposed to be going to the District 11 GOP Convention as delegates earlyon Saturday (both Jason and I), but we could not afford it - ha! Doesn't that suck? All that work sitting through the County Convention just to get on the list as a delegate (being Ron Paul supporters, this was the strategy... working the system from the inside out)... and we couldn't go. We had some other logisitics issues as well, but already had plans that our kids were going to be with my sister's kids at my Mom's house in the afternoon... so we figured we could swing a little aloooone time, which we did.

We went to the Alpharetta Arts Festival... not too big of a festival that had a few good food vendors, and a lot of great artists - those kinds of things are always fun to stroll through, and even more fun when you have money. I personally prefer arts and crafts fairs like the Inman Park Arts Festival coming up at the end of this month where the stuff in the booths is a little more "accessible" - not too pricey with a wide variety of arts. And of course it's near Little 5 Points, Atlanta's own ecclectic corner (and old stomping grounds). I got some killer cushion covers made out of Guatemalan embroidered dresses the last time we went for a great deal. Looking forward to going to that...

Anyways, we didn't do too much, just ate some good Soba noodle and veggie stir fry, saw some art, talked to a few artists, and then went for coffee. My husband was especially goofy today... guess that's what happens when you're not parenting. You'll see in the pictures...

Sometimes it takes us a minute to realize we are kidless... and once we do most times our conversation revolves around parenting, how to do it better, especially with regard to our oldest son... something we both really need to do is learn more about how the mind of a kid with Asperger's works, understand that and alter our parenting accordingly. It is super tough. The whole damn thing. And makes you painfully aware of your humanity and weaknesses and the length of your patience. I know there is so much more that we could be doing for him... we need to be more strict about his diet, we need to get into a support group with other parents for ourselves and so we can learn what "normal" actually is, we need to do his Brain Balance exercises, do we homeschool? et cetera... I don't talk about this much on my blog, but it might as well be the elephant in the room... it is the most stressful and energy consuming part of our lives... our shortcomings are glaringly apparent... it's easier to just try to survive day to day than think about the breadth of the issue we really need to face...

I realized tonight that it was around this time - when Shiloh was Noah's current age (almost 18 months) that I got pregnant with Noah... I can't even imagine doing that now... I think we are done with having kids - but I always wonder if in a few years I might think otherwise. I don't know. Our plate is full and we need to get our life back... such an odd thought to realize I even put off getting pregnant again after Shiloh, I was so anxious to have another one so soon after she was born.

We also talked about our financial situation... we really need a car soon so Jason can start going into the office 9-5 everyday and really busting it with the insurance gig he has with Colonial Life. I am going to start a "shop my closet" thing and add some great new stuff to my shop with the goal/hopes of making $350 so I can invest it back into my vintage clothing shop on Etsy... I need $350 to get some inventory from this place I found and it would really free me up from the shopping side and I'd get a nice boost of great inventory. I am going to try to make a stab at that and see where I get... so I'll be posting all that soon...

I guess when you've been together as long as we have, and have the noise of kids all day long, date night sometimes gets reserved for talking about stuff you put off during the week, since by the time the house is quiet, you just want to crash. Annnnnd the pressure is off, you don't really have to do much except be together, except I won't lie, I really want a day to lay on a blanket in the park and just chill, or go away for a weekend. We haven't done that AT ALL since we got married... except for our one-year anniversary. God how I would love to go to the beach with my man for a weekend.

Anyways... just rambling now. Hell I am not even going to edit this. I am just going to post the darn thing. So here are our goofy pictures from this afternoon... I even said at one point "take some pictures of me so I can post them on my blog"... in a goofy, sultry voice -- and those pics turned out horribly. Which is fabulous.