A Really, Really Big Day

On Saturday, Kylie had opening day for her very first softball team. She is playing in an 8U (8 and under) coach-pitch league. There are 13 girls on her team. 7 of them showed up for opening ceremonies at 8:30am.

This is Kylie with six of her teammates, and their coach, Coach Rick. Coach Rick is pretty awesome. I keep getting lucky with city league coaches. He reminds me of another guy that both Danni and Shannon played for. He is so patient, a great teacher, and always has a positive comment for everything. Good try, great swing, you're doing a great job. Every little kid should have a coach like this.

In case you were wondering, Kylie is the very small, very white child on the left. At 6 1/2, there are actually three girls on the team that are younger than she is. Two of them just turned six, and one is still five. Kylie is still the smallest, though.

I also would like to mention that three of the girls on the team (and also in the picture) are the coach's daughters. They are eight, seven, and six years old. The little one just turned six. All I can think of is that in about six years, they are going to have girls that are 14, 13, and 12. There's not enough wine, rum and Xanax in the world, people. I debated with myself over whether or not to warn their mother what she's in for. I decided against it. Why terrify the poor woman? If I were her, though, I'd have my bags packed for...somewhere really far away.


Sparky, the ASU Sun Devil mascot, attended the opening ceremonies. They had all the girls there gather around the pitching circle as Sparky threw out the first pitch of the season.





I grabbed Sparky to take a picture with Kylie and her teammates. I have no idea why Kylie is always standing apart from everyone.



At 11:25am, the girls had to be back for team pictures. I'm glad all 13 girls came for pictures.



Then at 1:15pm, they had their first game. They won, 17-3. They all just played amazing. Remember how I was all kicking myself for not putting Kylie in t-ball? Well. She got up to bat three times, and she hit the ball all three times. I am officially done punishing myself for that decision. She did great.



I wish I had some pictures from the game, but I don't. You see, each team has to have an official scorekeeper. Since I am the team mom, Rick asked me to find a scorekeeper/keepers. Because I know how to keep score and have done it a gazillion times before, I decided to just do it myself. That means I have to pay close attention, and I couldn't take any pictures. But boy, did those kids have fun. And that's what it's all about. That, and the hokey pokey.



Directly after the game, my mom took Kylie to a church picnic. Because she wasn't tired enough yet. She was there for a couple of hours, and then I went to pick her up. I was greeted by this:






Yep, that's the first tooth she has lost. Did you know that the going rate for a first tooth is like five bucks? I couldn't believe it when she came in my room with five bucks the next morning. Did the tooth fairy win the Powerball? What's up with that? I only got a stinkin' quarter.



To top the day off, I was going to drag her to the ASU softball game with me. My parents have season tickets, and my dad didn't feel well, so I was going to use his ticket. But man, was that kid tired. I talked Shannon into babysitting while I went to the game. For a price, of course. Tune in either tomorrow or the next day to find out what Shannon spent part of her babysitting money on.



Today, I got picked to sit on a jury. I've been called for jury duty SEVERAL times (compared to my husband's ZERO times, but whatever, Court), but this is the first time I've actually been selected for the jury. It's a civil case, and at first I thought...YAWN. One person suing another. But it actually might get kind of juicy. It's supposed to last until Thursday. Of course I can't talk about it. Yet. :)

Paralyzed

I'm paralyzed. Not literally, but I'm sitting here and I can't move because I don't know what to do first/next/at all. This seems like a good time for a song:





I love that song. Unfortunately, I'm still sitting here.

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, you see.

As you know, we went to Colorado for spring break. We visited a perfectly nice high school that we hoped that our incoming freshman and incoming senior would attend. The incoming freshman couldn't seem to wake up and get ready in time for our 10am appointment, but that's ok. She would have just stood around, rolling her eyes the whole time anyway. We also took a tour of the school, and school is still in session for them right now. So while Danni didn't care that we were walking around with her, Shannon would have been so mortified that she would have died right on the spot. So it's probably better that she didn't go.

After the tour, we met the principal, and then talked with one of the assistant principals. Well, mostly Steve talked, while I watched my daughter getting more and more upset, but trying not to show it. She held it together pretty well until we got out of the car.

Then she said, "I just can't do this. I don't want to leave Arizona. I want to have my senior year at my High School."

Which in my opinion, is perfectly understandable. I would feel the same way.

We kicked around a new idea for a while. Kylie, Danni and I would stay in Arizona for another year. We'd move out of the house and get an apartment to save money. Shannon would go to Colorado and live with Steve so she could start her freshman year there. It took us about a day to realize that it wasn't exactly financially prudent to keep supporting two households. Especially since, you know, my job was outsourced to India.

Then we have the third option. Way back in December when we first found out about the new job and the move, my parents offered to let Danni live with them so she could stay here and finish high school. Plus, she says, she's wanted to go to ASU since she was about four years old, and if she left now, she'd no longer be a resident of AZ.

It looks like option three is what's going to happen. Danni will stay here and live with my parents for her senior year. Since they don't live within her high school boundaries, we're going to have to get a boundary exemption, which her counselor has already told me will be no problem. I should go over to the school and get that form, but I can't move.

I also need to call the family court. My parents will have to have some sort of legal guardianship, in case...something happens. Or even just to sign school forms.

I just spoke with someone in residency at ASU. He was very nice and understanding, but it seems we're in a bit of a gray area here in terms of residency. While she will be here, we...the people providing the payments...will not. However, she has lived here all her life. Her mother in an ASU alumnus. That ought to count for something. He suggested she apply online as soon as this July, just to establish that she is here, in the state. Except she hasn't taken an SAT or ACT yet. He also suggested that she keep all pay stubs from a job that she will have during her senior year. More proof that she's actually living here.

Let's forget all that for a moment. I just got my final severance payment on Friday, which equals two weeks pay. After that two weeks, my unemployment benefits should start. Should. Start. I filled out their paperwork, jumped through their hoops, got my debit card that they put the benefits on. I try to call to make sure things will work as they're supposed to. But when I call the unemployment office, I get an automated message that they are currently receiving a high volume of calls and they can't help me right now. Goodbye. I've been trying to call for three days, and I get that message every time.

Here's another issue: When my lovely former company outsourced my job to India, they had me sign a termination and release agreement. As part of this agreement, they would pay my COBRA benefits, in full (employer and employee portions) for March and April. COBRA sent me their paperwork. I filled it out and sent it back the same day. I am enrolled in their system. But guess what? My former company has not paid the benefit. How surprising.

I call COBRA. They said to get my company's agreement to pay my benefit in writing. I said, "Oh, but I have it in writing, right here." They said in that case, just fax it to them. So I did. I spoke with a woman yesterday who received my fax. However, I am still unclear as to whether or not I have benefits right now. I hope no one breaks a leg.

Then there was my great plan to have Kylie play spring softball for the first time. Coach-pitch. Never mind that Danni is playing for her high school varsity team and Shannon is getting ready to play for her jr high team, and I'm temporarily a single mom. I volunteered to be team mom. Because really, I didn't have enough going on in my head.

I am kicking myself for not putting Kylie in t-ball. I based this decision purely on two things: 1) She can already hit a pitch that's tossed to her, so I figured t-ball was a waste of time. 2) Shannon played t-ball when she was 5 and 6. When she was done, I was ecstatic that I would never have to sit through the torture of another t-ball game. Really, they are excruciatingly painful to watch.

Kylie would have been a star on the t-ball team. Instead, on the coach-pitch team, she's the smallest player, and she's out in right field watching the ladybugs in the grass. I swear, the kid has the attention span of a gnat. I know the other parents are thinking, "why the hell isn't that kid in t-ball?" In order for a glove to be big enough for a softball, it is too big for her hand. She has a hard time opening and closing the glove. Therefore, she can't really catch. She can throw, and she can hit. But I should have put her in t-ball. I'm an idiot.

I picked up the team shirts on Wednesday night and found out what color they were, so I ran all over town yesterday trying to find 13 pairs of shorts to match the shirts. Along with the help of another mom, we now have shirts, shorts, and socks to hand out at practice tonight, so at least they'll look cute for their pictures tomorrow. And maybe the other parents will forgive me for putting my kid on their team.

There is so much going on in my head that I literally can't move. I don't know what to do. It's only 10am. Somehow sitting in this chair all day seems unproductive. But I really have no idea what to do. Paralyzed by fear, uncertainty, and opening day tomorrow. For my six year-old. And losing my oldest baby a year earlier than I ever intended. She's totally fine with living here with my parents...I'm a mess. And the move. And money. Unemployment. Commission. Insurance. Pee-wee softball. Someone help me get off this chair. I need to do...something. I just don't know what.

Budding Photographer

Shannon wants to take photography in high school. What is required for beginning high school photography is an SLR camera with manual controls that actually still uses film.

Fortunately, film cameras don't cost so much anymore, since everyone is going digital. If she sticks with it, I'm sure we'll be investing in a DSLR camera at some point. But for now, she's having fun experimenting with her older model Nikon. The nice part is that instead of developing the film, you can just put the pictures on a CD. Then if you want to print any of them, you can look at them first and make sure you really want to print.

We went to the Denver Zoo this past Friday. She took a lot of pictures. Since she's still trying to figure things out with the camera, some of them were blurry, some of them were just ok, and some of them were really good.

Here are a few of the good ones:

However, when you can get a grizzly bear to pose and smile for you? I think you may have a future in photography.

Road Trip

Good morning from lovely, cool Colorado! Yesterday it was overcast and 57 degrees. I wish every day of my life was overcast and 57 degrees. I was wearing long pants and a shirt with long sleeves, and I was comfortable. I loved it. Today may be sunny and warmer. Bleh.

Steve and Shannon left around 6am this morning to meet an old friend of Steve's who is a professional photographer. She is going to give Shannon some lessons on her 35mm manual SLR camera, and then take her on a photo-shooting expedition.

Meanwhile, I am here at the apartment with the other two girls, not sleeping. Well, they are sleeping, I am not. There are many reasons why I am not sleeping here, and I'm going to share a few of them with you.

First of all, I can't sleep very well away from home. I don't sleep well in motels, hotels, other people's houses, strange beds or couches. Or anywhere except my own bed. I don't know why...it's just the way it is.

Secondly, when we rented Steve an apartment here to live by himself for a few months, we were looking for something cheap. We found something cheap. It's a perfectly nice little one-bedroom place, except for this:



That is my ugly brown van in the parking lot of the complex. And directly across the street? Is a train going by. They go by every couple of hours, all. night. long. There is a crossing just out of the frame to the left, which apparently means that the engineer is contractually obligated to obnoxiously blow the extremely loud horn right in front of the apartment complex. At midnight. And 2am. And 5am. Steve say he has learned to ignore it, but it took a month or so. Somehow, kids can sleep through it. Somehow, I can not.

On the other side of the apartment, out the living room window, we have a construction project going on that has something to do with the sewers. A very loud construction project that seems to have to begin at 6:30am. Between the backing up machinery beeping and the jackhammering and God knows what else...did I mention it was very loud? Hey you, in the yellow vest...you're killing me over here. Somehow the kids are able to sleep through this. Somehow, I am not.

This is Luke, the 5 month-old beagle puppy. He's cute, right? He's also quite rambunctious, and likes to jump on you when you're sleeping not sleeping. He also howls like a maniac when Steve leaves the apartment at 6am he doesn't get to go with him.

So, while I'm here not sleeping, I thought I'd share some pictures of the drive from hell trip up here. These are all from day two of driving, beginning at 9am in Kayenta, AZ, and ending at about 10pm in Denver. I know, right? Mapquest said that was a 7 1/2 hour drive. Mapquest doesn't have three kids, a very poor sense of direction, potty stops and a budding amateur photographer.

First, I thought I'd go all Pioneer Woman on you and take a few pictures of my horses. And by my horses, I mean someone else's horses near the side of the highway in BFE, Northern Arizona.

For all you people who think of horses and tumbleweeds when you hear the word "Arizona," or you watch NCIS, these pictures are for you.

See? We have tumbleweeds the size of a small child. They're everywhere.

This is the mandatory picture you have to take in Four Corners. As you can see, Kylie has strategically placed her left hand in New Mexico, her right hand in Arizona, her left foot in Colorado, and her right foot in Utah.

Then you have to eat authentic Navajo fry bread that you watched an authentic Navajo man fry up right in front of you. It's a law, I think. Don't ask questions, just do it. With powdered sugar and cinnamon.

I just remembered that the extra fry bread that Kylie couldn't finish is underneath the front seat of my van between two paper plates in a plastic grocery bag. I'm guessing it's a little stale by now. Hmmm. Maybe if I put in the microwave...

Yes, I took this picture of the snow capped mountains in the distance while I was driving. This is about 40 miles inside the southern border of Colorado, somewhere between Cortez and Durango. It was much prettier in person. My pictures never look as good as the real thing. I don't know why. Maybe I should try some Photoshop.

This is a pull off/scenic view thing along Wolf Creek Pass. I don't understand how the snow stays there, because despite Kylie's ski jacket, it really wasn't very cold.

Danni wanted me to take this for her boyfriend. We will discuss the boyfriend in a later post. For now let's just say, Mom approves.

Shannon had to slide down the hill. To take some pictures. Even though under all that snow somewhere, there is a river that I'm guessing would be pretty easy to step in. I mentioned this. Unsurprisingly, she didn't listen.

We knew there was a river under all that snow, because of this waterfall. It was really pretty. Take this picture, and multiply the prettiness factor by about 10, and that's how it looked.

We got to the other side of Wolf Creek pass, and then the real fun started. I was on Colorado state road 112. There was a point where that road ends, and you get onto highway 285. To do this, you have to turn either left or right. 285 North was a left turn. 285 South was a right turn. Because in my world right equals northeastish, I turned right. We went through Monte Vista, which I was sure was on my route, and kept going. As we passed through Monte Vista, there was this really funny sign about potatoes. If I hadn't been in a hurry, I would have stopped to take a picture of that sign.

When I got to Alamosa, I decided to check my directions. I discovered that Alamosa was not on my route. So between the half hour I was going the wrong way, and the half hour I had to retrace that wrong way to get to the right way, we lost about an hour. To make up for that, we had to get ice cream on our way back through Monte Vista.

Blizzards make everything better.

By this time, we were all a little punchy. When I saw the potato sign again, I had to stop.

"Who's going to stand next to the sign so I can take a picture? Someone has to stand by it!"

Danni finally said she would. I'm surprise I was able to take the picture, we were both laughing so hard.

If you don't find it hilarious beyond all reason that Colorado has a Potato Administrative Committee, then I don't know what to say to you.

After we got going in the right direction, I decided I needed to make up some time. My method of making up time was setting my cruise control on 80mph. Ok, so the speed limit was 65mph.

Details.

After about an hour of cruising along at 80mph, a white car passed me going in the other direction. I thought it was moving very slowly.

Danni said, "Mom, that was a cop!"

"No it wasn't...besides, even if it was, he can't tell how fast I was going when he was going in the opposite direction."

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Sure enough, homeboy flipped around and came after me.

When he turned his lights on, I pulled over to the side of the highway and stopped. The shoulder wasn't very big. I told Danni he would probably be coming over to her window, since if he came to my window, he'd pretty much be standing on the highway.

"Mom, he's coming to your side."

You know the drill, rolled down the window, license, registration, insurance. My insurance card was even the current one. Aren't you impressed?

"Ma'am, you were clocked at 82 in a 65."

Me, feigning surprise, while quickly subtracting 65 from 82 in my head. It's not criminal speeding unless it's like 20 or 25mph over the speed limit, right? That's only 17!

"What?"

"82 in a 65."

"Oh. Wow. Hmmmm."

Roscoe takes my license and goes back to his car to look me up in the computer of all things criminal. He takes a very long time. Seriously, how long does it take for you to find out I'm not a convicted felon on the run with my three kids? You do realize you are pretty much killing all the time I made up by doing 80, don't you?

Meanwhile, Kylie is chastising me from the backseat.

"Mom! That policeman stopped you because you were going too fast! You were going over the speed limit! You were speeding!

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

FINALLY, he starts to walk back to the van. I silently wish for him to get hit by a passing semi.

He smiles sheepishly and says,

"Well, your information isn't coming back in the computer yet, so I'm just going to let you go without a citation."

"Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. If it makes you feel any better, I've already been berated by the six year-old in the back."

She yells from the back,

"We're going to see my dad in Colorado, and she was going too fast!"

Thanks, baby...remind me never to call you as a witness on my behalf.

He chuckles, and I quickly take back my wish that he gets hit by a semi.

"Well, have a good rest of your trip, and get there safely," he says pointedly. In other words, give it a rest, Speedy Gonzales.

I almost asked him if I could take his picture and if he wanted to be on my blog, but that seemed like it was pushing it.

We get back on the road, and I set the cruise control on about 68mph, because I'm a rebel like that.

After a while, I started thinking. He said my "information" hadn't come back on the computer yet. What information, exactly? The information from your super-duper interstate traffic database? Please. In Arizona, the cities don't even talk to each other. You could have a warrant out for failing to appear in Phoenix, and yet get pulled over in Chandler a couple of times, and nothing will happen. How do I know that? Never mind, I just do. And it wasn't me.

I think he just sat in his car and played a few hands of solitaire on his computer, and then came back and graciously said he wasn't going to cite me in Colorado, when my license, registration and plate are all from Arizona. Clearly I'm just passing through, and I'm not going to be coming back in three weeks to appear in the Middle of Nowhere, Colorado. I think Barney Fife was just playing me, is what I'm saying.

We get back on the road, and it's late afternoon. We still had a long way to go. The last two hours of driving was mainly on mountain roads, one lane in each direction, in the dark. With semi-trucks coming in the other direction, and drop-off cliffs to my right. With sporadic guardrails. By the time we got to Fairplay, which is still a good 80 miles from Denver, I was a nervous, shaking mess. I thought it was just from the driving, but then I found out that Fairplay is at 9000ft. That might have had something to do with it.

Anyway, we finally made it into Denver around 10pm. Danni and I have never been so happy to see city lights in our entire lives. We laughed and giggled and marveled at how pretty the lights of Denver looked as we were coming down out of the mountains. Relief. I think that might have been the longest day of my life.

And the best thing is, I get to do it all over again on Saturday.

$9.99 For The Interwebz

And you know I'll gladly pay it. Dang second-rate Best Western with no free internet.

Anyway.

We're on our way to visit Steve in Denver. Since six year-olds do not handle 14 hour drives well, we decided to split it up into two days. We weren't planning on leaving until after Danni's softball game this afternoon, which would have put us at our motel at maybe midnight.

However, at 10:30 this morning, Danni got a call from her coach that the game was changed from 3:45pm to noon. That screwed up my carefully planned agenda, but in the long run it was better. Now we can get a good night's sleep. Also, they won the game! In the bottom of the seventh inning, 6-5! It was actually pretty exciting.

So here was the highlight of today's trip: Burger King in Flagstaff. We're sitting there, and there are Jerry's Kids crown things all over the walls. You buy them for a dollar and write your name on them. They must have been doing it a long time, because the walls are covered with crowns. Shannon is sitting across from me, and she spies this crown:

Really original, right? Except that Shannon didn't get it, so out loud she said,

"Hey...Wood...Ja...Blo...Me...",

and then she turned red and busted up laughing, as did Danni and I. I can't believe they put that up on the wall. And Kylie wanted to know why we were laughing. Try explaining that one to a six year-old.

It was 82 degrees when we left home. By the time we got to Flagstaff, around 5pm, it was a little on the chilly side. That's why Kylie is rocking her ski jacket with the shorts and flip flops. Girl's gotta have a little style, even in the BK.

Baaaa...Baaaaaa....

In like a lion, and out like a lamb? I don't know, but there's a whole lot of bleating going on here, and not a single roar. Maybe that expression doesn't include Arizona.

Since the girls and I are leaving to drive to Colorado on Monday, I thought maybe I'd better start thinking about preparing to begin ... doing something. Oooo, I know...I'll check the 10 day weather forecast to see what kind of clothes we need to bring. I just got Kylie a ski-type jacket at the thrift store. I hope the kids are going to be warm enough. We don't really have any cold-weather clothes.

We're actually going to be in the Denver area on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We're going to take two days for the drive each way, because if I tried to do it in one day, I might lose what's left of my mind, which is not much. We're going to go through Four Corners on the way up, so we can take that really cool picture of when you're in all four states at once. Seriously, that's all there is to do there. Well, that and buy some handmade Navajo jewelery and eat some yummy fry bread. So that should take about 20 minutes.

On the way home, we'll be going through the Grand Canyon. Well, not literally through the Grand Canyon, but we'll stop there. Kylie's never seen it, and the last time we were there Shannon was about five, and she says she doesn't remember. Shannon has a cool camera she got for her birthday in January, so she's looking forward to getting some nice pictures.

So back to the weather. I was hoping for good weather on the driving days, because if there's snow or anything, I'm kind of screwed. I've driven in snow maybe twice in my life, and both those times there was someone sitting next to me, telling me what to do. Which were two of the very few times that I didn't mind that. So, good weather for the drive, but while we're there, a little snow maybe? That would be really cool.

According to weather.com, this is the forecast for the coming week in the Denver area:

Mon, Mar 16
Mostly Sunny

High 68°

Low 41°
Precip - 0%


Tue, Mar 17
Sunny

High 66°

Low 40°
Precip - 0%

Ok, that's good for me for the drive. Now, let's bring on the snow!!

Wed, Mar 18
Mostly Sunny

High 59°

Low 36°
Precip - 0%


Thu, Mar 19
Partly Cloudy

High 60°

Low 38°
Precip - 10%


Fri, Mar 20
Partly Cloudy

High 61°

Low 38°
Precip - 10%

WTF, Denver? What am I supposed to do, pack shorts and t shirts? Does the warm weather like to follow me, just to torture me? Every other day, I talk to Steve, it's snowing, then it's 55, then it's 20, then it's snowing, then it's 60, then it's 34 and windy. Denver is famous for its unpredictable and ever-changing weather. So of course, what I'm going to get is 5 straight boring days of 60 degrees and sun. Denver, you are not starting off on the right foot with me.

I guess the bright side is that as soon as we blow town here, it's going to be near 90. Thankfully, we'll miss that. I'm still going to hope for a "surprise" snowstorm while we're in Colorado, though.

Four days of driving with three girls and me. Please pray for me.

Contest Winner!

Thanks to everyone who submitted names for our new puppy. After careful consideration and lots of phone calls to Denver, we have a winner! First, the runner up...the name that came in second was Toby. Steve, Danni and I all liked this name. Of course, Shannon the Dissenter said that the name reminded her of Toby Keith, and she hates country music. Well, I can't fault that logic, but I did like the name.

So, the one name the we did all agree on was Luke. Congratulations Jen! You are the winner of the two movie passes. I'll get those to you asap. :)



Hi Luke!

Steve took the dog to get neutered on Friday, so he is now refering to him as "Luke, the Nutless Wonder." I think that's mean.

So now we have our dogs Bo and Luke. When we get to CO, Shannon wants a guinea pig. I think Daisy would be a great name. And if you don't get that, you are way too young to be reading this blog.

Slipping Away

I have a folder on my desktop that's just called "Pictures." I just throw all the miscellaneous photos that land on the desktop into that folder. I was going through it just now, and I found these two shots:



I know by the background that this is the kids' old elementary school, so this is Shannon in either 5th or 6th grade. I had forgotten how cute she was. You know, without the heavy black eyeliner, the hair that's been dyed dark and straightened to within an inch of it's life, and the attitude from hell. She had the most adorable wavy curls, that she hates with a passion now. She straightens her hair obsessively, three times a day. She has some thinning shears and she thins it out all the time. It was so thick and beautiful and I was so jealous of that hair.



I had also forgotten how she used to play with Kylie. You know, instead of screaming at her. Going by Kylie's "Club Pee Wee 2006 shirt," I'm going to put their ages at 3 and 11. I know I keep using the word cute, but they really were so cute together.

I am already mourning losing Kylie, and she's only six. But I know that someday, she is going to morph from this sweet little kid she is now (most of the time) who loves to snuggle with me and kiss and hug me, into an adolescent monster. Right now she thinks I'm the most awesome person in the world. She also thinks that I know everything. And if the trend of my girls continues, she will be the worst one of all. And I don't think I can do this a third time.

Excuse me while I go cry now.

Name the New Puppy Contest

Ok, internets. We have this new puppy. Or, Steve has this new puppy with him in Colorado. The little guy needs a name and we are unable to come to a consensus. He is a 5 month old male, purebred beagle. Don't worry, we got him from a rescue, not a pet store.

I'm going to have a contest to get name suggestions. I'm giving away two AMC movie passes to the person that comes up with a cool name we can all agree on. The passes have no expiration date. The only catch is that you can't use them during the first two weeks of a new movie, i.e. Special Engagments. Other than that, there are no restrictions. They are accepted at all AMC theatres, Loews theaters, Cineplex Odeon theatres, Magic Johnson theatres and Star theatres, excluding Canadian locations.

Winner will be chosen by the girls and me, and we all have to agree. You can suggest as many names as you want...in fact, the more the better!

Come on, internets...help us out!