When you're married with children, it's a good idea to do things like date nights to keep a spark. When you're broke, you look for low-cost options for entertainment. When you're both broke and married with children, you grasp around, hoping to find something out of the ordinary that would provide the opportunity for adult interaction...as well as the chance to do something without opening your wallet.

Such an opportunity presented itself 2 weeks ago.

Nathan and I really enjoy plays and concerts (and we are in a prime location for such things - even though we don't live in NY, this area lends itself to some great cultural opportunities), but we haven't been to anything like that since......well, it's been a while. I really can't count Seussical since we had a particular little boy with us. Not exactly a date night, but family entertainment.

Anyway, one of Nathan's co-workers is in the TT production of How 2 $ucceed in Business Without Really Trying. And we figured it would be a good excuse to get out of the house and have a date. But even the minimal cost of tickets - on our budget - would've been a little much.

So back to 2 weeks ago. I listen to APR at work. The classical music is calming and doesn't keep me distracted, like music with words. Anyway, as I worked, I heard something about the upcoming (above mentioned) play. I only listened with half-an-ear, but then I heard the words, "be the second caller..."

And I grabbed the phone and dialed.

As the phone rang, I wondered if I was calling about the right thing...hoping that I had been half-listening correctly. The line was picked up, and I asked if they had a winner yet. I was told that I, in fact, was the winner of 2 tickets to the night of our choice!! Either there was a lack of callers...OR, for once, I actually had fingers that were speedy enough to win! (I prefer to think the latter)

All I had to do was call and reserve the tickets for whatever night we wanted. How cool is that?!

Of course, last night was the only time that really worked for us. This is my sister's last week in town with us...so we got Iliya squared away with her, and off Nathan & I went...to a play! We had a date. And it was SO nice. Kinda strange, to ride in the car without childish chatter coming from the backseat.

But it was good for us, to have some time together to simply enjoy. And the play was very entertaining! We enjoyed ourselves immensely!

And I guess Sarah had told Iliya that mommy & daddy had gone to a play, to watch people on a stage sing & dance. Because this morning, first thing, Iliya said, "Mama? Cat/Hat?" He thought we'd gone to see Seussical without him. I assured him that, yes, we had gone to see a play, but it was not the Cat/Hat play. Dear me, we may be raising a theatre buff afterall!