Big Casino Win & Sam's Club Savings!

Tuesday, April 14th - Thursday April 16th

Pretty usual week - work, gym, dinner, TV, bed - repeat.

Friday, April 17th

(There are too many good photos of Mike's birthday weekend for me to pick and choose. Please see them all here instead)

On the eve of Mike's birthday celebration, we made our way over to Mom and Dad Dozeman's for a birthday dinner. Of course we can't do anything simple - we tried to cram multiple events into one day by scheduling our chair and cushion (from the dining room set - it's been months of hassle back and forth to get everything together) pick up from the furniture shop. We were running late - another frequent problem - I didn't get out of work until 5 and it takes about 45 minutes to get up there. The shop was only open until like 5:30. We had to call Rich and Lois in a panic to ask them to pick up the products for us. Luckily they are nice, helpful people so they dropped what they were doing and managed to travel through rush hour traffic in Grand Rapids to pick up our chair/cushion across town. =) Yeah for parents!

We had a really nice time at the Dozeman parents. They made us a beef and pork roast with a ton of sides and two desserts. By the time we were done eating I was ready to roll away! We hung out with the parents until about 11 p.m. watching TV and catching up. Mike and I made it home by midnight - just in time to crash before our busy day on Saturday!

Saturday, April 18th

Today Mike had plans to play golf with his brother Steve at noon. We slept in pretty late so our morning was blown. I ran off to go shopping for Mike's last minute gift and he left to go golfing. I didn't hear much about the game except that he and Steve were close most of the game but Mike lost at the end. It was still a gorgeous day though so he was able to enjoy the weather and the game despite losing =P

Mike, Steve and I all left at 5 to head to New Buffalo, MI to spend the evening at Four Winds Casino. We had never been before but I heard great reviews about the place from coworkers. We started out the evening by registering at a nearby hotel with several other party guests. We had a slightly annoying experience with the front desk staff promising to call for a bus to the casino only to call us an hour later and say it wasn't going to happen. Luckily we were all in good spirits and made it to the casino by other methods. We all headed straight to dinner at the Buffet restaurant.

I'm not usually one for buffet but this place was crazy nice. They had just about every type of food and a little bit of everything to go around. The entire birthday party ate to excess before taking off for gambling. Mike insisted I could not micromanage this trip so I was forced to only plan dinner and hope the rest of the evening worked out well. Thankfully it did - everyone parted to play their favorites games/slots/tables/etc. We met up at various times but overall just had a good time. Our highlight of the evening came toward the end of our gambling experience.

By about 11 p.m. everyone was out of money and feeling out of sorts for losing. While we all prepared to leave, Ricky made one last attempt at a nickel slot machine by putting in a $20 and pushing "max bet". Before he knew it - he had 30 bonus spins at 3x the bet. We all stood in complete shock at the number claimed from the $100s to $500s to $1000s!!! At the end of 10 minutes, Ricky had won almost $4000.00. We were all amazed and stoked! The amount was so high we had to have an attendant come over to give Ricky the money.

After the check was in hand, we all cashed out and called it a night for gambling. On Ricky's new dimes, we called a taxi and went to "The Stray Dog" pub in downtown New Buffalo (if you can really call it downtown... more like three buildings) and celebrated. We had a great waitress who was very patient with 9 loud people celebrating a big win. The local band sounded great and we all had several celebratory shots for Ricky's win and Mike's birthday. After the bar closed down on us, we grabbed another taxi and made our way back to the hotel.

With booze in the room, we stayed up for a few more hour watching TV (some really bad bra infomerical in Spanish became a quick favorite) and the craziness continued. Akerman ran around with a decorative hotel blanket on his head claiming he was a Ninja... Steve got in Ricky & Lisa's bed because he was tired (or maybe cold?)... Chris showed some skin... I pretended to be Minchie (poor pregnant lady had to be around all us drunks) and complained to the front desk at 3 a.m. because Minchie & Chris's room door was broke and they still did not have a room for the night... the list goes on.

Around 3:30 we called it a night and went to bed.

Sunday, April 19th

After a brief breakfast with a few hungover party goers, we headed home. Once home, I gave Mike his birthday gift - Grand Theft Auto IV for PS3. I'm not really a game fan but anyone I asked about PS3 games told me that was the one to get for Mike. Luckily Mike liked it. Despite being one of the most vile, cruel, games I've ever seen, it does have a pretty interesting story line. Assuming you can avoid the temptation to run over people, randomly beat up someone because you feel like it, or pick up a hooker on your way home, it could be a pretty cool game!

Sunday was pretty laid back filled with games and pizza. Mike and I headed to bed early so we could function on Monday.

Monday, April 20th

Today was an exhausting day... I had panic attacked during the night because I realized I had this 10 a.m. interview! Last week I was taken up on my offer to help the Marketing Communication department and they asked me to write a feature article for our Stryker Forefront magazine. I am very excited about this opportunity but the time line is tight - it's due this Friday. I scheduled a few interviews last week without really thinking about the prep time involved before hand. I decided I better get to work early and prepare.

Luckily I managed to ask intelligent questions of my first expert. It was a bit nerve wracking - not because I was interviewing someone but more because I was interviewing someone under the watchful eye of the Marketing Communications Manager. I know this article is kind of test for me - to see how I do and such - and although the manager is super nice, I feel the pressure to do well. I feel very rusty on my journalism skills.

Overall, the interview went well. I asked some good questions and the manger didn't follow up with any so I must have covered all the bases she wanted. She only piped in a few times when she thought something said should definitely be covered in the article. Phew. Only 4 more to get through and a rough draft by Wednesday. Wish me luck!

The rest of the day was pretty standard. I did get a Sam's Club membership today and I'm so excited about how much I got for less! Granted, you need to know your prices. Luckily I'm a savvy shopper and managed to get some great deals for us. We were completely out of food (no time to shop) but now I feel we'll be in good shape for at least three weeks before we're out again =)

Louie's New Love

In March Mike's mother sent him one of his old stuffed animals - Snorky the pig. Mike remembers it fondly so I didn't stuff it in a closest right way (with all my old stuffed animals and other sentimental things). I decided to put the pig on our bed as a bed as a decoration, so to speak. Well shortly after doing this, the pig started disappearing. He would move from the bed to the floor... then down the hall... then in the bathroom.. then even downstairs. Last week the pig finally ended up all the way in the basement, under the computer desk, hiding in the wires.


What on earth could be moving him? Well, turns out he's Louie's favorite new toy. Louie will pick him up (which is hilarious since the pig is the same size as Louis) and drag him about the house. At first I thought it was just he liked stuffed animals so I bought him a cheap stuffed animal from Meijer so wouldn't damage an "heirloom". Unfortunately he wasn't interested in it at all. So began the Louie/Snorky relationship. In order to show Lois (Mike's mom) how loved the pig is in our household, I videotaped Louie with his favorite toy. Warning - the video is disturbing but I promise there is no nudity.

Recovery Day

Sunday, April 12th

Finally Easter Sunday! Even though the weekend went quickly Mike and I were ready to return our borrowed child =) Luckily my trick with the Easter Bunny bucket worked. I stood for a good five minutes the night before making sure the even breathing wasn't fake before I snuck in and stole the bucket back. I was able to fill it with the candy/gifts and hide it behind a curtain in the living room. I was still concerned I had blown this Easter illusion for J.T. so I went one step farther and spread hay from our back door all the way up to J.T.'s room and back down the stairs trailing it to the hidden bucket. I went to bed annoyed I had left my house a "mess" but it was worth the annoyance the next morning.

Mike and I woke up J.T. at 8:00 a.m. with horror at the mess on our floor and excitement over the missing bucket. J.T. bought it and was so excited to see evidence of the bunny's arrival. He was able to find his bucket with ease (thanks to my trail of hay I think) and he loved all he got. After the hunt was over, I promptly got out my vacuum and mumbled to myself over how difficult hay is to suck up. Thank goodness for my Dyson!

After a quick breakfast we left for church. J.T. was great during the service and the church was packed! We left as soon as the service was over to head over to my mom's for Easter lunch. Mom always does a great job of having a large spread and organizing the meal well. Mike and I ate until we felt like bursting and after that we ate some pie and cookies. We stayed for about four hours talking with family before we decided it was time to take our leave.

We came straight home and took a nap. We woke up when we got a call from Bruco asking about our evening plans. We drug ourselves out of bed and met up with them for a snack and drink at Burdick's. We relayed our exciting weekend and by the end of it I was so not ready to go to work the next day. I managed to convince Mike it would be the ultimate end of a great weekend if we took off on Monday. He wasn't sure at first but eventually gave in and we both arranged to take off Monday for a "Mental" day.

Monday, April 13th

What a great day... Mike and I slept in and when we woke up we had cereal in the living room wrapped in blankets and watching TV. I surfed the web for awhile and Mike watched this awful series called "Eastbound and Down." It's totally a guy show and even though I'm sure Mike wasn't thrilled with it, he laughed at several parts anyway and kept watching. Around 11 a.m. the unthinkable happened and we lost power. Kind of random since it wasn't storming or anything. We decided to take a long nap since there wasn't anything else to go. Eventually the power came back on around 1 and we started watching "Changeling". Kind of a weird show... not horrible but I'm not sure I would rush out and buy it.

We eventually made it to the gym in the afternoon and then StirMax for dinner. We figured it cancelled out each other to work out and then eat buffet. Obviously we're lying to ourselves just to feel better =P

Mike has a business trip to Chicago again tomorrow so we're taking it easy. Always the last minute person, Mike is making his travel arrangements right now. Luckily it's just coordinating the train/subway schedules but he's going to be dragging tomorrow since he has to leave at 4 a.m.!

Easter Egg... scramble.

Saturday, April 10th

This morning went well. I woke up three times to make sure J.T. was still sleeping and thanked the stars he slept in until 8:30 a.m. Once he was up we made our way downstairs to start breakfast. Actually I started breakfast and J.T. tried to figure out our cable set up. Luckily he was able to find something he wanted to watch on Saturday morning cartoons. Mike got up soon after us and came down to watch T.V. with J.T. I made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. I haven't made breakfast in a long time (we usually go out but we thought a home cooked meal would be better for J.T. Probably true but certainly more work for me!) so it was a bit of a struggle to get everything ready at the same time.

After breakfast we rushed to get ready to make our 10 a.m. deadline for the Easter Egg Hunt downtown. We were late - as usual - and didn't make it there until 10:30. Luckily we weren't too late for the actual hunt. When we arrived at the event we scoped out the different activities. They had fire trucks, safety trailers and ID tables to help keep kids safe and educated. Then they also had face painting and raffle drawings for various prizes. We were too late the for raffle but we did get J.T.'s face painted. He originally wanted an egg on one side and a white bunny on the other but once the egg was on his face he lost patience and decided to go with just one cheek.

Overall the Egg Hunt was pretty neat for a free event. We were a little surprised to see it wasn't really a hunt so much as a race-to-get-as-many-eggs-as-you-can-from-a-giant-area. They had it set up in three stages - first the 0-3 go, then 3-6, and finally 7-9. J.T. was in the 7-9 and when he had the go, he raced with the rest to get the most eggs. When it was all over, we were shocked to see all the eggs were empty. What a jip. Then we realized they were giving away goody bags instead. It was a little disappointing not to have the prize in the egg but while we were in line to get the goody bag, we discovered why.

As we were complaining about the lack of prizes in the eggs, the lady behind us said the reason it's done this way now is because last year during the egg hunt it wasn't fair for every kid. Some kids would get 20 eggs and some would get 6 making the prize range very far apart. Plus, Mike saw some kid steal an egg from J.T.'s basket when he wasn't looking. He couldn't stop the kid soon enough but I imagine if that happened last year too with the prizes in the egg it would have been crushing to the kids. I'm glad they had the bags and that we had a better explanation for the system.

Once the egg hunt was over and J.T. had egg on his face (har-har!), we decided to take off. Well, actually Mike took off with J.T. and I had to attend my friend Kristen's bridal shower across town.

The shower was really fun. They had some original games and lots of food. I was so upset I left my camera with Mike after the egg hunt. My friend Kim took some photos so I'll have to post them then. I had lunch and a cupcake and visited with several people. Kristen received a lot of very cool gifts and probably 30 people showed. We played three games: First game Kristen had to answer questions about her fiance like shoe size, their first date, his favorite this or that, etc and if she guessed wrong she had to chew a stick of bazooka gum. She wasn't doing well although all her answers were close if not right on. She had a huge wad of gum by the end of the game. Second game we had to break into teams and put make up and a veil/tiara on a mannequin head! It was chaos but the end result was fun. The third game was really just a raffle but the prizes were pretty cool. Unfortunately I did not win but Kim won something! Oh, there was also this neat mad lib we did for her too but I can't remember all the libs we came up with...

I was there several hours so I took off as soon as it was polite to do so. I had to make a quick run to the store to help out the Easter Bunny tomorrow with his misplaced child staying with us over night.

While I was gone Mike manned little J.T. with great responsibility. From the sounds of it, they had a great time while I was gone. First, they played four different sports in our backyard. I think they said Frisbee, basketball, and I guess two others but I don't remember what. They raced each other, took breaks and ate J.T.'s goodies from his goody bags, Mike made a Mac and Cheese lunch (from scratch and all by himself), competed very meanly at the game "Perfection" and finally watched cartoons together. By the time I got home, Mike was pretty spent. I tried to quietly bring in the Easter Bunny treats but Eagle-eye J.T. saw my spiderman bucket purchase. I decided I would have to think of a VERY good excuse for why that happened... later. Instead I ignored the cry and took the bags upstairs.

Once I came back downstairs, J.T. was on me reminding me I promised we would decorate Easter Eggs. He was correct and we specifically bought a Sponge Bob egg dye set the night before at the store. We got together a bunch of mugs and the hard boiled eggs and went to work. J.T. made some very creative eggs and decorated them all with stickers or cardboard decorations. After we were finished, I let Mike rest for about an hour before we took J.T. bowling.

Bowling turned out to be really fun. We had the bumpers up for J.T. so that also greatly improved my game. Mike tried a few times to help J.T. with his bowling technique but I think J.T. was more interested in just chucking the ball as hard as he could. Overall we had a pretty good game. We played two games and Mike won both, I came in second but J.T. wasn't far behind.


After bowling I get a call from Kristen letting me know the person who is buying my fish tank wants to come pick it up. I had not yet cleaned said fish tank so I rushed home and had Mike help me get it down to clean it quickly. Luckily I did about 90% of it before they came. It's a bittersweet moment to sell the fish tank. I always had dreams we'd refill it but after sitting empty almost 3 years, I'm finally admitting it's not going to happen. It has found a great home with Kristen's friend who is very excited to set up his new tank set.

Okay, now the fish tank is gone and I vacuum up my cleaning mess. Mike goes out to warm up the grill and J.T. follows. I work on getting the rest of dinner ready and cleaning up the mess from breakfast and lunch. Luckily this all goes smoothly and soon we're eating dinner. During dinner Mike puts on the movie "Beverly Hill Chihuahua." Both are excited - again for different reasons and yes, it is another talking animal movie. Half way through J.T. is so tired I decide to put him to bed. He gets in the shower and I come up with a great excuse for why there was a spiderman bucket in my bag today.

When J.T. is in his PJs and going to bed, I bring him the spiderman bucket. I explain the Easter Bunny was not aware until just today that he would not be at his parents house. Therefore, I had to help him out by getting said bucket so he has somewhere to put the goodies - like a Christmas stocking. J.T. seems to buy the idea and we put the bucket by his doorway. Now Aunt Debbie needs to quietly as possible get it back tonight... maybe not such a great idea if J.T. is a light sleeper =P

J.T. Arrives

Wednesday, April 8th & Thursday April 9th


Two pretty unexciting days. Thursday was a bit more exciting because I went over to my friend Kristen's house to help her with her wedding invitations. She lives under the illusion I have nice hand writing =) I wouldn't say it's great but it's better than most. I was able to help her complete most of the invitations but I wrote kind of slanted on some... I was upset about it but Kristen took it in stride. She's a very laid-back bride - wish I could say I was the same during my wedding!


Thursday night after Kristen's house Mike was working late and I watched an Independent Film called "Once." It was kind of interesting. It was about two people living in Dublin, Ireland who randomly meet and decide to make an album together. I thought it would be a romance movie but it turned out to be something different. I still enjoyed it though. Independent films are always a toss up.


Friday, April 10th


Today we were very excited to travel to Indiana to pick up my nephew J.T. for a weekend with us. We picked him up around noon and returned to Michigan for a busy afternoon. First we made a stop at McDonalds for lunch. After eating J.T. played around in the McDonald's playground for a while before it got boring. There weren't any other kids in the building which was very odd so I think playing alone wasn't fun. Obviously Mike and I are too busy to play in the playground with him so we had to leave early.


After getting back to Kalamazoo we made a quick stop at home before taking off to watch "Monster's vs. Aliens" in 3D. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Not to say I expected it to be terrible but there weren't a lot of choices at the theater this weekend and J.T. had zero interest in Hannah Montana. "That's a girl's movie!" I believe was his exact expression =) However, it ended up turning out well because J.T. said he never watched a movie in 3D before and the show was a lot funnier than Mike and I expected.


After the movie we made a quick stop to the grocery store and picked up a pizza for dinner. J.T. was super patient with us while we shopped and ran a few errands. At home we ate pizza and watched the end of "Star Wars" the cartoon version. Currently Mike and J.T are watching "Underdog." It's the best of both worlds - J.T. likes the show because it's geared toward kids and Mike is loving it because it has talking animals (those who know Mike understand his strange love of talking animals like Babe, that cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc).


Pretty soon we're going to get ready for bed. We have a very full day tomorrow starting off with an Easter Egg Hunt at 10. Mike and I are not completely old yet... 10 a.m. seems ridiculously early for such events. That means we need to be dressed, fed and out the door by 9:30... on a Saturday!

Spring Snow

Monday, April 6th


Today we woke up to a very irritating snow fall. The wonderful days of 50 degrees or higher had suddenly changed to low 30s. I understand this is a common Michigan thing but I'm not sure I like it. I would like my spring days back - especially since it's Easter this weekend!




While at work today I received a phone call from mom. My parents are having Easter at their house this year and in a sudden burst of inspiration, my parents decided they wanted a more comfortable couch and a bigger TV. The joys of being retired to just decide to do something and get it done =) Anyways, my mother called because they had bought the couch and had it delivered but the TV was another story. They needed Mike and my help to set up the new TV.


After work Mike and I made the trip to Battle Creek to help them out. It was an interesting time for us all =) Mike is green with envy over the new 42" flat screen TV and new DVD system. It wasn't the easiest to set up but eventually Mike figured out all the cords and we got everything set up how Mom and Dad wanted it.



After it was all set up Mike did a quick tutorial run on all the new remotes and set ups for Mom and Dad. Unfortunately we were running short on time so we couldn't program the remotes to work under one universal one so we had to show them how to work all three (TV, DVD & Cable). It was a bit complicated so I had mom label the remotes and put down what settings they needed on the back. I hope the new system works out for them! We'll see this this weekend to finish setting up the new equipment and troubleshoot any issues.




For those of you who remember G.B. (Grill Baby Bird), I took a photo of him while we were there. I tried to get him talking on camera but he shut up the instant I had the camera on record. He's quite the chatterbox whistling like my mom, saying he's a pretty bird, smart bird, calls for "Momma" and I'm sure a number of other things I can't remember right now =) It's really doing well for a wild bird turned domestic! =)

June 2008



July 2008


April 6th

Tuesday, April 7th

Today Mike left very early for a business trip to Chicago. I went to work as usual and had a pretty productive day. I was so into the projects I'm working on that when I looked up to see what time it was, it was after 6! Luckily I make my own schedule so I left right away =)

After work I had to make a trip to Meijer for odds and ends. Right now Mike and I are watching American Idol (Go Matt!!!) and will probably follow that up with our DVR of House.

Oh, I do have an updated photo of Anya as well. I think her fur is growing back very nicely! We are so happy she's finally better!

Roughly 1 year ago....

Today!!! =)

We are far too social...

Thursday, April 2nd

Today was a pretty neat day. I'm currently looking at my future at Stryker and despite the dire economy, I've had great support from my boss and finally, HR. My new HR advisor suggested I try job shadowing in a few new departments (i.e. ones I haven't looked at before). My first shadow was today with a Marketing Communications Manager. I didn't even know Stryker had a MarCom area. Basically Sally, the lady I met with, does everything but travel with Marketing. She's responsible for the brochures, local and national advertising for the various divisions within Instruments and any media for products. I followed her around to some meetings and her job is just so busy and exciting. By the time the day was over, I didn't want to go back to my job =) Not that my job is bad but just that I really liked this new area.

Unfortunately there are no open positions within the department yet but it's growing so I'm very hopeful something will turn up. Since I have capped at my current job, my bosses are very supportive of a future move. It's better there isn't a position now anyways because my boss is pregnant and I need to help out with her position until she comes back in August. At least things seem to be lining up well =) Wish me luck!

Thursday night Mike and I went out with some of my coworkers to celebrate the birthday of one and the official hire of a temp at Stryker. We all ate, drank and were merry until pretty late. Then Mike and I took off for an exciting rest of the night of cleaning cat boxes and putting away laundry. Chores...

Friday, April 3rd

Friday was another typical day at work although I felt like I accomplished a lot. Friday night was pretty low key. I did some shopping and Mike worked late.

Saturday, April 4th

Today Mike and I had another appointment for Anya. She's doing so well. We're really hopeful this it the last visit we have to make to check her dosage of medicine. We think this is it but then again, we thought that last time. They took blood from Anya and will send it out Monday. We'll hear back on Tuesday how she did. Cross your fingers... Mike and I are just as tired as Anya of these monthly trips to the vet.

Saturday night we had a housewarming/keg party at a friend's house. We brought a dish to pass and ate way too much of the potluck food. Our friends have a lovely home and have done a lot of work to it. We all watched a college basketball game and Mike was excited Michigan State won because he now won a pretty big pool at work. He's planning to use the money for his birthday later this month at the casino.

One funny part of the evening was when we tired to make smores. Our friends had bought an environmentally friendly log that was supposed to burn for 3 hours but wasn't really warm... Forgetting the fact it probably wasn't safe to roast marshmallows with some a chemically constructed log, it was almost impossible to get them brown. We did manage though and were able to make some pretty tasty smores. Our other friend, Nishit from India (although I would have guessed he was British how well he speaks English and with his accent) had never had a smore before. We were all shocked so I made sure to get some great photos of this pivotal moment in his history. After tasting the smore he said, "This is good...This is fabulous, actually." We all laughed at this description.

We continued to roast some marshmallows until Mike and I decided it was too cold and went back inside. I did get some great shots of Nishit and Brent blowing out the marshmallows on fire. I also got some humorous shots of Brent trying to heat up our fire by sawing wood with a 6 inch saw and a huge log. It was an impossible task so he soon gave up and decided to let the wood burn through by placing the log straight on the fire pit. Not sure if that tricked worked or not because we left soon afterwards.

After the housewarming party we met up with Melanie and Bruco for a quick drink at the Hanger in Kalamazoo. I've never been there before but I wasn't very impressed. It was a very smokey bar atmosphere and all the waitresses worse Daisy-Duke shorts. Very tacky.

Sunday, April 4th

Today was cleaning day. I spent the entire day doing laundry, picking up, and trying to get the house back to normal. We've been out of town or busy so much lately the house really suffered. I also gave the cats a bath because their constant shedding is really killing my allergies. They all did very well. Anya and Bo are used it but Louis acted like I was trying to kill him through most of the process. After their baths, Anya and Bo had the right idea and immediately started bathing themselves to smooth out the ruffles. Louis did no such thing. He was upset at being wet but made no effort to clean himself up. He's currently drying with tufts of hair stuck together. I will have to brush him well later so he will at least look normal.

Tonight Mike and I plan to watch some Wallstreet movie he got from Netflix. It should be a pretty boring night but I'm kind of looking forward to it =)

Mike is my hero!

In a string of bad luck, I have had the worst people sitting behind me at just about every movie, theater show and even dinner out lately. It's more than depressing and has even started to make me question whether or not I want to go out. What have I done to make Karma punish me so harshly?

Well, tonight Mike suggested we go to the movies to see "Knowing." I wasn't crazy about the idea because one I heard it was a terrible movie and two I had a feeling I would find the same bad luck as before and sit in front of rude people. Being a Wednesday, however, I thought the chances of having a crowded theater were pretty low so I agreed to go. We arrived at the theater and found great seats in a relatively empty theater. The movie started at 7:00 p.m. and at the beginning of the movie, there were only three other people in the theater besides us and everyone was evenly spaced. Thank the Lord!

My excitement was short lived when at precisely 7:05, four teenagers paraded into the theater with dramatic flare. Lots of giggling and stomping up the stairs and falling over each other to sit in their chosen seats - directly behind Mike and I but thankfully about 10 seats down. At first, they were kind of quiet. Then my luck returned and one of them spilled a bag of skittles. Oh they giggled and laughed and used their phones to light up the area so they could push them away from their feet. After this distraction I thought they would calm down. Oh no... we had more skittles in the bag which just happened to spill all over the floor - again. This time we laughed harder and started texting our friends to let them know how "stupid" so and so was to spill the candy all over the floor.

Throughout all the giggles and distractions, I held my cool. Even when the boys started tickling the girls and the girls started kicking the seats in front of them (my row, mind you) quite hard, and my seat shook a little, I kept my cool. I think what really made me lose my cool was during a particularly intense point of the movie they started giggling and making fun of the show - loudly. Umm, okay, don't like the movie but SHUT UP about it. That was strike number one for me. Strike number two came almost immediately later when they continued their peanut gallery comments and in unison started using the row in front of them (still MY frigging row) as a dancing floor and my seat was shaking continuously through two scenes of the movie.

My patience was thin and the constant string of bad luck had finally caught up with me. I turned to Mike said, quite seriously and not at a whisper, "I am going to shoot them!" Mike thankfully stopped a possibly bad situation involving myself and an altercation with 13 year olds by firmly but politely telling the said delinquents to quiet down and stop disturbing the rest of the theater. I was stunned speechless. I was so impressed I wanted to cry tears of joy. He may not have armor or ride away on a white horse (that's a funny thought though, isn't it =) ), but tonight, Mike is my hero and I'm so happy to be married to him!