Introduction

What a typical weekend evening sounded like in our house a few weeks ago:

Spouse 1:  What do you want to do tonight?
Spouse 2:  I don't know, what do you want to do?
Spouse 1:  I don't care.  Are you hungry? 
Spouse 2:  I could eat.  What are you hungry for?
Spouse 1:  I don't care.  What do you want?
Spouse 2:  How bout Chinese?
Spouse 1:  No, Chinese doesn't sound good.
Spouse 2:  Ok, what does sound good?
Spouse 1:  I don't care, anything but Chinese.

Add nauseum.....

Long before we were married my husband and I decided we would commit ourselves to a weekly date night.  We would go to dinner, movies, concerts, occasionally theater.  But as time went by and as our family expanded to include our son, our date nights became incredibly predictable.  We'd go to dinner - usually at China Road, Red Robin or Outback - and head to one of the local home improvement stores to shop for items on the never ending list you have when you own a 111 year old home.  It had become so routine that we often didn't even discuss what we'd do beyond which restaurant we would eat at.  That changed (at least a little so far) a couple of weeks ago.  I read an article about the importance of date nights in a relationship. It emphasized not falling into a dinner/movie routine (or in our case a dinner/Lowe's routine) and trying to keep things new and exciting.  It suggested taking turns planning the dates and making a sort of contest out of it.  I thought it was just what our date nights needed and approached Mr. M about it.

Much to my surprise he was very enthusiastic about it.  He even upped the ante, so to speak.  Our family budget includes $50 a week for date night - what doesn't get used one week stays in the fund, so if we go cheap one week we can splurge another.  Mr. M suggested that the contest not only be for the best date, but the cheapest.  I have accepted his challenge, which brings us here. 

The rules are simple.  Each week we take turns planning a date.  Whoever's turn it is is responsible for all details, including securing a babysitter if needed.  At the end of the year we will pick a winner.  I created this blog to keep a chronicle of our dates, so we can go back and review.  And in case we can't pick a winner amongst ourselves, I wanted ya'll to be able to vote on your favorites too (assuming anyone reads this).

Please bear with me.  I am new to this blogging thing and just figuring it out.  As I get a little better at it (and find time - a hot commodity when you have a 4 month old) I will pretty it up a little.  I'll do my best to post our weekly dates a day or two after they happen, again, time permitting.  Check out my next post to see a short recap of our first 2 dates.  Now that I know I'll be blogging about them, I'll make sure to get better details to share.