Trumped by a Colonel.

Lately I've been all about schedules. I am adhering to them for the sole purpose of gaining a little "me time" in the afternoons while BOTH of my children take their much needed (and strongly opposed to) naps. So, it seems to be working out nicely. The kids sleep, and I get some time to recharge my batteries too. The kids have a way of running me down to my little nubs. They wear me down. It's just what happens. So schedules. Yeah. It's a must.

Speaking of schedules, we also have a bed time ritual that we love to stick to. The kids get a cup of milk, a story and we put them in their beds. And this all wraps up by 8 pm. Life is good again.

I have also begun to adopt one day a week where I do not cook. I have chosen Friday as this day. Monday through Thursday, I have cooked every single night. When my husband comes home, we have dinner ready to eat. And that too is good. The kids are at an age right now where they can play with each other, and not drive me up the wall long enough to allow me to make something resembling food for dinner. It's a blessed thing.

So on Fridays we are either going to go somewhere and pick something up to bring back home to eat, or we will all just go out to a restaurant and eat. Doesn't matter, I'm not cooking. And the cooking thing... well that's all just very domestic of me. I didn't cook that much when I was back in the states. Truly. It would have interfered with my shopping. But I'm not minding it so much. It's working for us. Of course it's working for him, but I'm not minding.

So tonight. Let's get back on track shall we? We had plans to go to this Peruvian chicken place. The food is really good. And it's not too far away. I was looking forward to it. When my husband walks in the door tonight, he tells me this, "Here's the thing...." When do you ever start a conversation like that? I had the feeling that he was about to change our plans. And. I was right.

He tells me that there is this Colonel at work who had invited us for dinner. Now normally, that wouldn't be such a bad thing. The part about this that makes it bad is that Chileans actually do things a little bit differently than we do in the states. About dinner time?? 9 PM is the standard. Seriously. Anything earlier than 7 PM is just not done. So the dinner request was for 9, and our kids go to sleep at 8.

We were told that we could bring them. Sure. And I'm absolutely positive that this Colonel and his lovely wife and their other house guests were going to be all too understanding when my 2 year old and (nearly) 4 year old started losing their grip with reality, boundaries, behavior and manners all due to their little bodies being tired and hungry. No. I think they would be highly annoyed. I think they would wish that they hadn't invited us. Or more accurately, they would have thought twice about saying, "sure bring the kiddos." It's past their bed times, they need their rest, and yes, they do need to eat at a more respectable hour. They are children.

So I opted to stay home. The husband went without me. And yes, our dinner plans were changed. I'm OK with that. Because he loves me. And because I just bought CS3. For those of you unfamiliar with what that is, it's a photo editing software. I wanted it. I bought it. There you go. And I will make him take me out another night.

Such is life. Things here are different. And I am appreciating the differences. It's a good way to be. I can't change it, so I must just go with the flow.