What's better than a cheap date?

A free one.

One might think that because The Husband and I live within 10 minutes of his parents and mine, that we would have access to free babysitting all the time.  However, if one thought that, one would be wrong.  You see, as much as the grandparents adore seeing their beloved granddaughters, they have lives of their own.  I know!  You're like, "Shut UP!  They don't drop everything to provide free babysitting service?!"  But it's true.

However, because we are so blessed to have them so nearby, going out is a lot less stressful for us.  And not as costly.

Especially since our date nights usually begin with this conversation:

HIM: So where do you want to go?

ME:  I don't know.  Somewhere with food.

HIM: What do we have coupons for?

I don't remember the last time we went out that didn't include gift cards or coupons.  That's just how we roll.

Sunday night was date night.  I told The Husband we had a coupon for Red Lobster, and then I remembered that Chili's -- in response to my e-mail about the waitress that assumed I was leaving my change as her tip -- had sent me $10.  The Husband said Chili's sounded great, plus we have a coupon card thing from a school fundraiser that gets us free chips and salsa.  Free appetizer and $10 off the bill -- score.  So with those things in hand, plus the two free movie passes I won at the ladies' night last month, we were off.

We were seated right away at Chili's, and then the strangest thing happened.

We turned invisible.

That's the only way I can explain how every single server that walked in the area we were seated in managed to avoid us entirely.  They didn't even make eye contact.

After at least 10 minutes of just sitting there looking pretty, we decided we'd go somewhere else.  Even if it meant paying full price.  On our way out, we stopped to hand our still-wrapped utensils to the person at the front.  (That was my idea.  I'm dramatic like that.)  We explained what had happened and he awkwardly said, "Oh. Uh. Sorry."  The Husband and I walked through the front doors and looked at each other.  I know we had the exact same thought at the exact same time.  "We should tell someone else."

We walked back in and the host that sat us was there.  When he heard the situation, he apologized profusely and asked to seat us in another area.  The Husband started to say we were just going to go elsewhere, but the host asked if he could get his manager.  As soon as he relayed everything to his manager, his manager said, "Please stay and have a meal on me."

Of course we stayed. 

The host took our drink order and then brought chips and salsa with them.  The server took our food order, and while we were waiting she brought us some queso.  Our drinks barely got halfway down before there were full glasses placed on the table.  We were offered dessert.  When our server brought out boxes for our leftovers, she also brought a bag of chips and a container of salsa.  And while I was powdering my nose and The Husband was waiting (after he left a nice tip), the server brought out 2 gigantic To Go cups.

Not only did they bend over backwards to make sure they had won us over, they did it with kindness.  They weren't doing it through gritted teeth and they weren't phony about it.  They handled it with class, and we were impressed.

After dinner, we headed to the movies and I looked at the movie passes.  Unfortunately I'd missed the restrictions, including the one about not being valid for movies that have been out less than 14 days.  I had wanted to see The Bounty Hunter.  It was released March 19th.  I'm not that great at math, but I could subtract 19 from 28 and figure out the answer was not 14.

When we got up to the register, I held up the passes and said, "We can't use these for..." and the young man said, "You can use those for any movie."  My eyes lit up.  "Even The Bounty Hunter?"  He nodded.  I handed him the passes before he could change his mind or a manager could appear and correct him and said, "Two for The Bounty Hunter, please!"  Then The Husband got a snack and I may or may not have pouted about not getting suggested a drink, so he ordered me a small beverage (because at the movies, small = bladder buster), and the cashier said something about me being a humble date because I accepted a small, but for some reason I got giddy because he referred to me as The Husband's date.

Because, to me, that meant The Husband and I were not acting like an 'old married couple'.  And, to me, somehow that means he thought we were younger than we are, too.  Or at least I was.  And I don't really care if that doesn't quite make sense, it works in my brain so I'm running with it.

And the movie was a lot of fun!

When we got home, Grandma had the girls in bed and they were actually asleep.  And they'd had baths.

And that cheap date night just might be one for the record books.