Us - prebaby - the 'lets go to a movie right now' daysLast week when my parents were here they offered (or perhaps felt obligated?! :) to watch Judah one evening so Paul and I could go out and see a movie. Free babysitting. It was delightful.
So delightful in fact that for a moment we were slightly tempted to move to Canada just for the free babysitting. But then common sense struck, or maybe inspiration. We thought of this family from church that we've done the occasional random kid swap* with, and asked them if they'd like to set up a monthly movie night - one night they go out and we watch their kids, and another night Paul and I go out and they watch Judah, and one day baby #2. (*swap: we don't swap on the same night! That would defeat the purpose. It's more of a dump and run)
We generously offered for them to go first (ya know, since we just got to go see a movie and all!)
They love the idea - so tonight (when they will be watching Judah on one of those occasional random swaps) we're going to set up a schedule, and movie nights will become part of our monthly routine - woohoo!
We took Judah to the theater when he was very little, and he was very good the entire time. But we fear if we dared try it now we'd end up with popcorn being thrown at us. Which really would be a cheap way of getting free snacks... but really - imagine sitting in a dark-suppose-to-be-silent-theater with a little person whose view on life is 'if you can jump, why sit still?' and whose close second view on life is 'everyone loves me and wants to hear me squeal like I am a piglet stuck between two fence posts.' I just can't imagine paying to sit in that room. I can turn the lights out in my own living room and get the exact same experience. But soon I won't need to. Because soon it'll be written on my calendar in big, bold letters MOVIE NIGHT - no baby!
Tonight will be a no baby night, but we're not seeing a movie. I want to say what we're doing, but I fear that Paul will read my blog in the few hours between now and the date and he'll then know what we're going to do... that happened last year. In fact almost exactly a year ago. I was planning a secret date for us to both get manicures, but he happened to read my blog entry about it a few hours before we went. He was a good sport and didn't tell me about it till we were at the manicurist place.
Ok, I will take the chance and hope he will not read it and post our date, because I am really excited about it. We are going to go to Long Horn Steakhouse for free. Well, up to $40 free. I found a mystery shop for that restaurant and I got accepted for it, so FREE dinner! Yay! Free steaks =) When I talked to the lady on the phone about it she told me the shops can be performed up to 3 times a year, and that I could recommend friends if they were interested. So, if you're interested just let me know and I'll give you the website :) The deal is that they will reimburse you $30 of your meal and then a $10 bonus for completing it within a certain time frame. You can go with 1 - 6 people, but they will ONLY pay up to $40. 1 person could get a really nice meal, 2 people we'll probably end up having to pay a little bit out of pocket. 6 people is so not worth taking!
After dinner you go home and answer a survey online about your experience, then they'll send you a cheque.
Well, Judah needs to get spiffed up for his night out =)
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4 comments:
Great idea! Hope you have a great time! Prayers for your newest one!
Have fun!
We used to do a lot of mystery shops. Got a lot of free Sonic food that way.
That's a great idea! We always traded off baby sitting with the neighbors and it always worked out well for us. I hope you guys really enjoyed yourselves!!
Jessica
Good to have you back. Yes, I agree with the idea of moving up this way. I would sure babysit for him, you and paul. But the idea of swaping nights is great. More parents should do that.
Love AP
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