Last night was date night. Every Wednesday night we have no kids because they are with their other parents. I don’t know how we would survive without it. The mid-week respite we call it. We really need the time to recharge. The last few weeks have been especially hard because of the ecomony and the strain it has put on our business.  I cooked a romantic dinner for two from a recipe I got in my new cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. I made Mustard-Roasted Fish which I adapted to my taste and for two. It is listed in my  recipe section. It was soooo good. I will definitely make it again.

Afterward, we went in the hot tub and then Paul gave me a deep tissue massage that was so relaxing I fell asleep.

My husband Paul just told me that friends of ours, also in a blended family, are getting a divorce. They have five kids like us (four boys and a girl)  and have only been married 3 1/2 years.  The father, I’ll call Jerry, is really broken hearted about it and so are his  three children. When he first told Paul about it he attributed the divorce to the strain of living in such small quarters– a three bedroom house. He said they were always on top of each other. Later, in another conversation, Jerry told Paul that after a lot of soul searching, he admitted a lot of responsibility because of his own rigid standards and inflexibility. He was really tough on his wife’s older boys and he regretted it. They resented him which is too bad. I wondered to Paul if it wasn’t too late for Jerry and his wife to get counseling and work things out. The first step to reconciliation is admitting that you are wrong and are willing to fix it. Read the rest of this entry »