Finding some quality ‘ADULT’ time in lockdown with kids
Now I realise the title may sound a little on the sexual side but I’m actually not referring to time between the sheets. No I innocently mean being able to spend quality time with your partner when your life has been confined to your own four walls.
Now my hubby James and I are lucky in the sense that currently we only have one child to look after and he goes to bed around 7pm, normally quite well these days — aside from the odd night where overtiredness kicks in and he acts like a complete mental arsehole! But on the whole, after around 7pm, we get a few hours of much needed respite and peace. But normally we fill those hours with catching up with work — the hubby and I are currently building a new business empire (mwaaahhhhhaaaa — said like a baddy in a Disney movie), or we watch brain-numbing TV programmes and repeatedly scroll through our phones.
But on Saturday night, being the hosts of this Saturday’s weekly quiz with a group of pals, where we had opted for a ‘Movie Theme’, we thought why not dress up and have a date night. After all, it’s one of the rare days in lockdown where I would be making an effort — by that I mean putting on some make-up, much of which has dried out or is on the dregs at the bottom of the pot, but hey, why bother spending money to replenish it all right now? And after letting my hair dry naturally and giving Tina Turner a run for her money, I decided to turn on the curlers and add a few ‘stylised’ curls in.
Pick out the only semi-smart maternity dress I own, dig out my wedding tiara (just to over-emphasise looking glamorous — but looking like an adult wearing a childish hair clip) and dusting off some silver heels — I stumbled downstairs.
Voila!
James had donned a shirt, bow tie and velvet jacket — dapper on the top and casual on the bottom with his denim shorts!
I wore my heels whilst I cooked our delicious steaks on the hot pan. So by now my delicious perfume scent was pure beef. The potatoes and veggies I prepped earlier were cooking nicely in the oven and I only had to attend to Louis once to try and get him to give into the land of nod.
I shut the blinds in the dining room, lit some candles, well actually I turned them on as they are battery operated, dimmed the lights and put on one of my fantastic Hayley playlists from my Spotify account. Yes my ‘Lovey Dovey’ album which is an eclectic mix of all sorts of tracks from one hit wonder like ‘Glorius’ by Andreas Johnson and ‘Jesse’ by Joshua Kadison through to classic love songs form Fleetwood Mac, Queen and The Beatles.
We were set.
And I have to say, for James and I, it went really well.
The food was cooked to perfection.
Our phones were in another room. We chatted, enjoyed adult conversation that didn’t just revolve around Louis, work or the Coronavirus and finished the meal with a yummy scrummy homemade apple crumble.
We didn’t rush. Normally when James and I go for dinner we are ready to pay the bill and leave straight away. But we had nowhere to rush to. The only place we had to be was in the living room at 9pm for the quiz.
It got us reflecting on how next time we get to go to a restaurant for a nice meal we will appreciate it so much more.
It also got us thinking about how you can create beautiful moments in your own home. I am someone who is always busy. It’s not because I use it as a badge of honour but I just genuinely like to be around people, I am a natural organiser and often fall into being the coordinator of friends and family gatherings. But not being able to go out has made me relax, and enjoy just being at home and spending time with each other.
We had a really nice evening where we connected (oh god, that sounds wanky — yes I can say wanky), ate really nice food and it felt like a real treat.
Don’t get me wrong as soon as lockdown is relaxed and I can have Sunday roast at my Mum and Dad’s I am there in a heartbeat, but I will be grateful for that on a whole new level too.
But, for now, whilst in lockdown, with the pressures of looking after your little ones or maybe sharing space with your family 24/7 whilst trying to juggle studying or working, if you can, take some time out to create an experience, like cooking a meal and recreating your favourite restaurant.
It’s surprisingly fun and rejuvenating. Even though I had to wash my hair agin to get the smell of burning steak out …
