20 Date Night Ideas

 Do you need Idea's for your Date Night plans?

While surfing the web, I happen to run across a post on All Things Katie Marie about date night. My fiance and I have been together for a long time, October 2 will make 9 years. Most couples plan their Valentine's Day to be a romantic fun day but not everyone has the time to plan out a big night. My fiance works 2 jobs and it just happens to be mandatory for him to be working at BOTH jobs so it was just me and my daughters this past Valentine's Day, but we had a nice little dinner a couple days after.

When I found this list, I got excited and then realized that I had mixed thoughts. There are some wonderful ideas on the list and I'm going to try them out but others just seem unreasonable for my lifestyle.

Some of the ideas are free and some will cost a bit, so pick the idea that's best for your family.

Below is the list... I also added my thoughts on some of the ideas at the bottom.

20 Date Night Ideas 

Cook something together.
Go off the grid for the weekend- no cell phones, no tv, no computers. You'll be amazed at what you do for entertainment.
Go see a movie.
Go to a restaurant you both have never been to.
Hit up BevMo's five cent wine sale and have your own wine tasting at home.
Play a board game.
Go bowling.
Have a spa night. Take a relaxing bath then follow up by taking turns giving each other massages.
Movie or TV marathon.
Play some miniature golf.
Swing some golf balls at the driving range.
Be in control and go to a shooting range. Be careful!
Put together a puzzle.
Go on a food crawl. Go to a different restaurant for an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.
Go fishing.
Test drive a car you have no intention to buy.
Pack lots of blankets and drive out in the country to look at the starts.
Snuggle up by the fire and read a book.
Give yourself an imaginary budget. Then separately go online and pick out all the things you would buy for each other with the money.
 Get active! Go on a bike ride, hike, walk, etc.

My thoughts on the Date Night List

 1. Okay so to start things off, Cooking something together - my boyfriend and I - won't work. He's the main cook around here (I know, I know, Lots of people say it... Your a stay-at-home mom, why are you not the main cook in the house... Because we do things differently! That's why, his cooking is better than mine so he cooks... The End) Every-time Alan and I try to cook together, one of ends up leaving or doing something wrong and the other is stuck finishing the meal or fixing the meal.

 2. Going off the grid is just to good to be true. All alone in a small cabin, deep into the woods with no phone signal or internet, sounds of a small river flowing close by, laying under the starts all night and watching the sun set and rise..... Ahhhhhhhh...... Sounds so peaceful and romantic..... *Snapping back to reality!!* We have kids. If I happen to find a baby-sitter (extremely rare occasion when a baby-sitter is found), I would have to give the sitter a way to get intouch with me incase of an emergency. Along with my fiance's texting addiction, he wouldn't be able to focus on anything if his phone wasn't close by. His only thoughts would be "I wonder if I have any texts?"

3. Going to the movies is a wonderful Date Night idea. If you get a couple hours without the kiddos, either call your local movie theater or go online and check the theater's site and see whats playing. You can still have your phone in case something important comes up (phone on vibrate is best). You can sit back in a dark room and hold hands with your love while watching a nice movie. It's very relaxing and I've almost feel asleep in those dark chairs. We have a theater in town that has couches! HEAVEN!

4. A restaurant that neither my boyfriend or I have been to sound promising. The only problem with this is finding a restaurant that we can afford. With 4 kids to support along with the bills.... money for dates don't even make our saving list! A cheap restaurant with some class sounds like a great idea for us!

5. BevMo's?? What and Where is that? I live in a very small town in North Carolina named Candler. We don't have any store that you can buy wine for 5 cents at. Truthfully..... I don't really have the taste for wine and neither does my other half. The only kind of wine that I found that I like isn't really a wine to me... Boones Farm. Seems more like a malt to me.

6. Alan and I have played board games in the past. Every now and then, one of us decide to pull out a game and convince the other to play a time or two. It's really fun and I love it! GREAT Idea!

7. I wouldn't go bowling with out my girls. They love going bowling and we never go. A trip to the Bowling Ally would be more of a Family Night then a Date Nite.

8. This sounds so doable! I just may have to try this out! It can even happen without a baby-sitter. Just wait until your kids goto sleep and then RELAX!

9. A Movie or TV Marathon goes on in my house often since my fiance is a TV nerd so this wouldn't be any different than any normal day.

10. Playing Minuture Golf would be another thing I would want to bring my kids along to. They would have a blast!

11. I don't golf....... and neither does my man!
12. I am NOT a fan of guns

13. To me... Puzzles can be fun at times but get boring quickly

14. Going on a food crawl would be such a fun thing to do! I believe we may do this soon!

15. My kids love fishing, I couldn't go without them.

16. I don't believe I want to spend my Valentine's Day or Date Night riding around in a car..... New or not.

17. I would LOVE to drive out to the country and look at the stars..... Oh wait.... I live in the country! :-) I may have to talk my man into taking blankets to the field across the road and watch the stars with me!

18. I don't have a fire-place so I can't snuggle up by a fire and I'm the only one who likes to read in this relationship!

19. The fake budget sounds fun but not for a Date Night

20. I would LOVE to go on a hike on a warm summer day but that will have to wait a few months for that.

So I have LOTS of thinking to do! I'm not sure what my fiance and I are going to do for Valentine's Day but I'm sure we will enjoy every bit of it.

Do you have any Date-Night ideas to add to the list?

My Story of Pre-Partum & Post-Partum Depression. You are NOT Alone!!

Depression is NO Joke, and You Are NOT Alone!!

Almost everyone has heard of or know someone who has suffered Postpartum depression. For those of you who don't know what it means : 

Postpartum Depression is when a woman feels moderate to extreme depression after she has given birth. It can occur right after the baby has been born or up to a year later. I personally believe it can happen after that 1 year mark as well, it depends on your personal situation.

Not many people know about Pre-Partum Depression, that's when you get some sort of depression while you are pregnant. Some cases can be mild and others can be full blown extreme depression. Alittle bit of worry while your pregnant is normal but if you start to slip into deep depression, the thoughts you have can be dangerous and the stress can be too much on the baby and cause problems. If you realize you or someone you know is going through depression while pregnant, talk to your doctor or your friend and get help. 

Here are the symptoms of Pre-Partum Depression

• Feelings of guilt, anxiety or worthlessness
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Impaired concentration
• Changes to eating habits
• Weight gain or weight loss
• Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
• Lack of interest in activities that you usually enjoy
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide

I had no idea there was a name for what I was going through. I also had no idea how common it was for a woman to "not want her baby" for a while when she was pregnant. Let me explain.

My boyfriend and I got together in October of 2004, I had just turned 17 and was still in my "Party Girl" teenage years. We were together for almost a year when I realized that I hadn't had my period in a few months! On my 18th birthday, I looked at my mama and told her I was proud of myself because I made it to my 18th birthday without having a baby or being pregnant! Everyone around me was having babies early and I always wanted a baby but never really thought about when I would have one. Come to find out, by the time I made it to the doctor, I was 4 months pregnant. That means that I was pregnant on my 18th birthday but didn't know it. My first pregnancy was wonderful! I didn't have morning sickness, I didn't blow up in size like people were telling me I would, I only got the basketball-belly. I did have to start going to the doctor twice a week due to my belly deciding to stop growing during my last couple months. I had to be hooked up to a NST machine and press a button everytime I felt my baby kick. Other than that, all was fine and dandy. The only problems I had were the fact that me and my aunt didn't get along for a few months while I was pregnant. Both of my aunts were also pregnant and sometimes it was hard to be around another pregnant woman. After I had my daughter in June, I realized it was tough being a mom. My boyfriend was working alot so it was normally just me and the baby. I'm not for certain, but I think I was starting to get some of the postpartum depression symptoms. My daughter wasn't even 4 months old yet and I realized that I was once again, pregnant! Already stressed about my first baby, I was horrified! I cried and cried! I went to the doctor and they confirmed it. I was 3 months pregnant. Finding out that I was about to have another baby was not what I wanted to hear. My daughter was very young and so was I. It didn't make me feel any better to know that we were barley able to afford living as it was. A few weeks after I got the confirmation from the doctors that I was, indeed, pregnant again, I quietly broke down. I didn't want another baby. My boyfriend already had 2 sons, other than our daughter and we was getting his youngest boy every other weekend. It was very hard for me to handle both my daughter, Loran, and his son, MJ, both at the same time, by myself! Like I said, my boyfriend was working all the time and it was 2nd shift from 4pm until 2am or 3am so when he was home, he was sleeping. I got to the point where I would would do nothing but get out of bed - take care of my baby's needs, and stay on the couch. I didn't want to move, I didn't want to eat, I couldn't sleep. I would stay up at night until Alan would get home and then hang out with him and our best-friend until they would wind down from a night at work and then I would try and get some sleep. Most of the time I would lay in bed wide awake until I got frustrated and would get up and find something to do. (I'll admit that normally it was video games... Fable on XBox is wonderful) I sat there, in my house, day after day wondering how I was going to take care of this new baby? Could I love it like I loved my daughter? Would I be able to care for 2 kids at my age? Would we have the money to care for 2 kids, not just kids... 2 babies? My due-date for my 2nd child was set for the month before, Loran's birthday! I wasn't even sure if my babies were going to be a year apart or not. My neighbor's son and his wife had been trying to have a baby for years. They had one son but it was her son from another marriage so they wanted a child together. They had tried everything but they couldn't get pregnant. I was so terribly close to giving them my baby. I wouldn't of actually just handed my child over, but I was thinking about letting them adopt.

One of ultra-sound pictures from the day I found out I was having a another baby girl

Once I found out I was having another daughter, it made me feel a tiny bit better. I was worried that if I was to keep this baby, I wanted it to be a girl. I never had the want for a son. Don't get me wrong, I love boys! I have 3 little brothers and 2 step-sons and love them all dearly. I just don't know how I would handle the differences between the 2. I have wanted a baby girl for aslong as I can remember and I always told myself and everyone around me that I did not want a boy. Of course, if I would of had a boy, knowing that I can't choose what sex I want my child to be, I would of loved him just the same. But knowing that I was having a girl made me feel a bit better, but not completely. I still wasn't sure if I wanted the baby that was growing inside me. My boyfriend was pretty supportive, he wasn't happy that I didn't want the baby but he understood why. Noone really knew exactly how bad I was suffering. I was going through this pregnancy alone. With my first daughter, both of my 2 closest aunts were also pregnant with girls, we were only a few months apart. Everything I went through, it wasn't long that my aunts were going through the same thing, all with our first babies! Loran was born in June, Alexandra was born in July and Jane came in September. All right after one another. Noone was pregnant with me this time. Both my aunts were getting use to being new mommies while I was breaking down inside. I wouldn't tell anyone how I felt due to people thinking bad of me. How could I explain to my family that I was spiraling out of control and I felt like it was the baby's fault?! I felt horrible for feeling the way I was feeling. I wanted to love my baby. I didn't want to feel nasty thoughts about her. I couldn't even tell my mama, I was afraid to tell the doctor even though I'm pretty sure that I should of said something because I had a mix of Post-Partum from my first baby and the Pre-Partum with my 2nd. Once I started feeling my daughter move around in my belly, I slowly started loving her more and more. I knew she was coming and she was mine. The closer I got to her due date, the more I wanted her. By the 6th month of pregnancy, I had to do the NST visits twice a week again. It was the same ordeal, my belly wasn't growing like the doctors wanted it to, but my babies were always healthy. I don't remember how many times my doctor asked me of I was suffering from any type of depression but I was never alone with my visits and didn't wanna say anything and for my family to not understand. By the time Jade was born, at the end of May, I loved that little blonde baby girl more than ever! I was now 19 and extremely glad I didn't make the decision to give her up. If I would of put hope in that couple's mind's, that they were about to get a baby of their own, I would of had to of broken their hearts and kept her. Jade was mine and I wasn't giving her up. I loved her just as much as I did Loran. After we got home and I was a new mother of 2 babies, life was hard. I had 2 daughters that were under a year apart. Both in diapers, both with bottles, both in cribs. My oldest, Loran, would cry everytime her baby sister would cry! It was so pitiful and cute all at the same time. It was also very stressful! I wouldn't only have one screaming baby... I had 2. I would have to feed one while making the other happy. I was stressed and since we had a new baby, Alan got a new job and worked even more. I've always been the type of girl that if I had a problem, I dealt with it. I didn't like going to the doctor and complaining so they could give me something to make me feel better. (That's how asking the dr for help, felt like for me) So once again, I started getting symptoms of Post-Partum depression again. I kinda knew I was going through Post-Partum but I kept quite and worked myself through it as best as I could. I took care of my babies and rarely ever felt so bad that I couldn't or didn't want to go on with my day. On the bad days that did pop up, their father took over very well. He helped me out the most he could with him working all the time but even he didn't know it was depression that was making me feel that way. I believe he just thought I was not happy with him and my life and I'm very sorry that I didn't let him know what was going on at that point. My daughters are now 5 and 6 and I love them dearly. Yes I still deal with bad days where I am very moody and nothing seems right. I have lots of days where I think that this is not how my life is suppose to be. I never thought I would be almost 25 years old with 2 kids in school. My main thought is that the only dream that has came true for me is that I would have a child. I wanted to travel and now that seems impossible to me but I always remind myself that it's okay for now. Things will get easier as the kids grow and I remember how hard it was when my girls were smaller. My depression is getting alot better as days go by and someday I may decide that it's to hard for me to take and I'll goto the doctor and see what they say, but for now I'm doing great. My life is good and I'm happy. I love my daughter's with all my heart and I wouldn't trade them in for anything in the world! <3

Anyone who had dealt with this, has their own story about how they went through or is currently going through Post-Partum or Pre-Partum Depression. If you believe your going through any of this, know that YOUR NOT ALONE! Here is another story about a woman who is pregnant and is going through the Pre-Partum Blues. (The Blues is when it's a mild case and hasn't made it to the not eating, sleeping and full blown depression) She is having a real hard time coping. The video is from Ricki Lake's new show on the ABC channel called The Ricki Lake Show.

Watch Below

 

I hope my story helps someone. Even if it's just one woman who reading this and realizes she may be suffering through either Pre-Partum or Post-Partum Depression and decided to get help, I will be happy. Extreme depression can be harmful to you and your unborn child. It can also cause your relationships with people around you decline. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. The help you need is just one question away. Please share this post so we can spread the work on Pre-Partum Depression, almost 70 percent of pregnant women today feel some sort of depression during pregnancy ~12 percent suffer from extreme depression! And even fewer realize it and get the help they need.

Post written by Autumn B

References - Other than Me:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

http://www.allparenting.com

http://www.encognitive.com
 http://therickilakeshow.com

A Poem I Once Wrote.......

As I sit here tonight,

Wishing your were here,

Knowing your happy,

Right where you are,

I could of been in her place,

But chose to stay,

I couldn't move my kids...

To live under that place.

I love my life...

But can't help but think,

Think about all that got left behind,

The Future,

The Past,

The Present and Beyond,

Puzzle pieces that don't all belong.

Some square,

Some round,

Some oval,

Some wild.

All with one purpose...

The purpose of me.

The things that were mine...

Some that still are,

Everything that I've lost,

All that I've gained.

The twists of my life

With the happy and the sad,

With the ups and the downs,

It all adds to one thing.......

And that thing is Success.............

Or was that depressed??

Movie Theater Shooting

I saw this picture on my facebook wall and I couldn't help but want to add it to my page! My heart goes out to all the victims of the Movie theater shooting that happened Friday night at 12:30am. Those people were just wanting to watch their favorite movie premier and got hurts for it, some even lost their life's! They were alot of kids hurt in that shooting that did not deserve it. Christian Bale would be making those little kids dreams come true if he went and seen them in his Batman suit! Give those kids something to smile for, give them hope! Everyone who got hurt or lost someone are in our prayers!

4th of July in Downtown Asheville!

Our Family's Fourth of July Fun!!!

 
The words with a * after them have more information about that place to item at the bottom of this blog.

Brooklynd and Ciara chasing Pigeons!

This Fourth of July, my family and I decided that we were going to Downtown Asheville* for the Ingles Fourth of July Celebration in Pack Square*. We got downtown alittle after 4:30pm (the festivities started at 4pm) It took us FOREVER to find a parking spot! That's the thing about downtown Asheville*, they don't have very many places to park and the spaces that are available cost! I'm a country girl, born and raised in Candler, which is right outside Asheville*, I'm use to parking lots that are free to park in. Not parking lots that have a guy sitting at the entrance asking for my money to park in one of the spots!! I'm also not a fan of putting money in one of those little meters and having to run back to your car every hour or so to add more money if you aren't done shopping/walking around. So we ended up parking in the Bank of America parking lot because I saw a sign that said "FREE parking for Bank of America Consumers Only!" Well the bank may not of been open at the time but Yes, we are Bank of America consumers and if anyone would of said anything to us we were planning on swiping out out bank cards and showing them the sign :0) The Celebration Grounds* were alittle over a mile from where we parked so we had to walk a bit. The kids didn't seem to mind. My daughters started chasing Pigeons!! The pigeons would just walk the streets and not budge when you walked past unless you were just a bit to close or coming after them lol! Brooklynd kept chasing them, she wanted to catch her a bird! She told me that she was going to safe it! I truly have no idea what that pigeon would of needed saving from except from her and her sister!! :0)

My girls with their butterfly wings, Aj was still waiting on his dog.

The balloon guy making Aj's balloon.

Once we got closer to Pack Square*, we saw this guy who had a flower balloon on his bead and a apron full of balloons around his waist! He was making balloon animals and such for tips. Brooklynd, Ciara and Aj HAD to have a balloon so we stopped. The girls ended up with Butterfly wings while Aj got a dog on a leash. Then off to the festivities we went! The first thing the kids seen was a big blow up slide! Before the kids could get on the slide we had to sign a weaver and get them a bracelet, so we did.. Easy Peasy! They all went on the slide (my youngest got scared and climbed back down the latter but the other 2 had fun) I was a bit upset to find out that Splashville* was closed :0( They had live music set up on the new walkway/stage they recently built in front of the court house, so the sound guy and all his buttons and such, were set up st the back of Splashville, where all the water should of been coming up. It ended up being a dance stage for all the kids to play and dance to the music on. These 3 young girls, I'd say they were between the ages of 8 to 10, came out onto Splashville platform with hula-hoops. And next thing I know they are hula-hooping to the music! I have to say, that I think of myself as a pretty good hula-hooper even though I'm 24 :0) But these girls had me beat by a long shot! They were swirling the hoop on their arms, head, legs, ect all while not missing a beat... unless one of the other kids ran into their hoop.... that seemed to happen often but the girls never seemed to get aggravated when their hula-hoop got hit and knocked to the ground. They hula hooped for a while, every now and then one of the girls would go sit down and then a few minutes later she would be back out there. My daughters wanted a hula hoop so they could hula-hoop dance with them :0) It was an awesome unexpected show to watch! We LOVED it! I got some of it on video and took alot of pictures!!

A guy from the music station Star 104.3 was there also. He was the one who announced the bands and done all the talking for the games that were set up every so often for the kids. One of the games was where the kids lined up in 4 lines. There were 4 buckets full of water and had a big sponge in each one. Further down the road were 4 more buckets that were empty with a fill line marked inside them. The point of the game was for each kid, one by one, to fill their sponge with water and run it to their empty bucket, squeeze out their water, then run back to their line and hand off the sponge to the next kid to do the same. The first team to get their bucket to the fill line wins! They also played that same game but with the kids stretched out between the buckets and passed the sponge down the line to the water bucket to get wet and back to the empty bucket to get squeezed out. Another game was with bouncy balls. Each team had 36 balls in a big bowl. One by one the kids would run to the other side of the game area and put their ball into the top of a orange traffic cone! That game took a while before it was over but the kids enjoyed it. They had prizes that were given out to the kids after all the games were over. They were suppose to be to only the winners but all the kids just ram-shacked the girls with the prize bowls and got a prize whither they won or not :0)
They also had craft tables sets up along with face painting. The girls doing the face painting were not the best artists but the kids didn't mind. Once we started walking around, we noticed that since Splashville was closed, alot of the kids were playing in all the random fountains that Asheville has placed around and about downtown. So of course my kids run straight for one and starts playing. It wasn't long before someone walked over and told me to get my kids out of the fountain so we just moved on to the next one :0) I mean , COME ON!! It's 90 something degrees outside and everyone was expecting Splashville to be on, so most of the kids were in their bathing suits anyways! After a bit of water fun we walked back down to the grassy area near the stage and Splashville and sat down and enjoyed the music. Me and my girls got up and danced in front of the stage and on the water platform a few times! We had a BLAST!

The fireworks started alittle after 9:30pm. They were being shot off on the top of a parking deck not to far away. There was only one small tree in our way but the fireworks went up so far in the sky that it only barley blocked a few of the fireworks. I video-taped the whole show but I haven't had a chance to put it on my computer yet, when I do I will be sure to post it :0) After the fireworks, we started the walk back to the car. By that time it was almost 10pm and all 3 kids were sleepy and ready to go home. Ciara, my youngest, did not want to walk to the car but both her daddy and my hands were full so she had to walk anyways which didn't make her to happy but we made it back to our car to find it still sitting in the same spot :0)  No flashing of bank cards needed :0) haha After a long day in downtown, I was happy to be at home. I have to say that 2012 is the best 4th of July we have had yet as a family!! I'm so happy that we decided to go Downtown and spend the day! And to top it off..... we didn't even spend $10 the whole day and had the time of our life's!!!!! We are defiantly planning to return to downtown next year for the 4th of July Celebration once again. We couldn't of made a better choice!!! (Of course we will return way before that for all the fun bars/clubs, diners, shopping and much much more!!!!)

Our 4th of July fun in downtown Asheville!!

*Asheville ~ A city in Western North Carolina known for the Biltmore Estate and called Beer City of America. www.ashevillenc.gov 

*Pack Square ~ Downtown Asheville's historic Pack Square has transformed into a beautiful public park with 6.5 acres of public space for visitors to relax and linger. In addition to the Roger McGuire Green in front of City Hall and the County Building, the new park has a large open green space on a slope overlooking the main stage, three water features and original, large-scale art by regional artists. There are many seating areas surrounded by native trees and shrubs. A granite Veterans’ Memorial stands near the courthouse at the northeast corner of the park.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our 4th of July and we hope that your holiday was as wonderful as ours!!

All pictures were took by me and belong to me, Autumn B of *Thru My Eyes Photography*

I made Supper!

I made my kids supper tonight! That may not seem like a big thing to mostly everyone but to me it is. I'm not a big cooker. My fiance does most of the cooking in my house. If he works nights.... then it's microwave food for me and my daughters! But tonight, Alan was at my cousins house getting his brakes changed so I decided to make my girls some food. It wasn't anything fancy but it was good and we loved it. What did I make?? Chicken and Mashed Potatoes!  I boiled some chicken breasts a few days ago and kept some in the fridge. So I made the potato's and then broke the chicken in little strips and topped the mashed potato's with it. YUM!!!!! What a quick and yummy meal, my girls and I had. Now they are outside playing for a few more minutes before they get ready for bed. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself tonight!! Yay! Go me!

*Choices*

The saying is "You made your bed, now lay in it." In other words : You made your choice, now deal with it! It's the way of life. Every corner you turn, every path you cross... they are decisions you have to make. You have to chose before you take your next step. Go right or left? Climb the mountain or go around it? Take a train or go by bus? Stay where your at or run like hell?! How you choose to make that decision doesn't really matter... it's the outcome that can change you life! For the better, for the worse, or everything can stay the same. The question is.... What if you would of make a different decision years ago? Where would you be? Who would you be with? What would you be doing? It's the questions that everyone has or will ask themselves atleast once in their life time. Millions of questions...... with no answers to be seen. Life can take you to some crazy places. It's how you react and how you make your next step that molds your life. A single thought can change a decision in a blink of an eye. Just how much trouble could of been stopped with alittle thought? How much heartache could of been spared? The True Question is if we all had one chance to change our life....... Would you? Look around you? Would you have the kids you love so much? Would you be as happy as you are now? Would you be happy once your whole life got changed? Could you live with your world being turned upside down??

To be Continued...................