Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 18: Mitchmas (29), Part 3: Elizabeth’s B-day

  Mitchmas (29), Part 3: Elizabeth’s B-day

On Thursday, September 3rd 2026, after my coworker Elizabeth had left for the day, our other coworkers, Kaylee and Emily, and a couple others, decorated Elizabeth's classroom for her 37th birthday. We had accidentally gotten 50th birthday branded stuff and so we decided to commit to the bit. Immediately after we had finished I went down to the studio to get my car checked out (it would not be enough as you will see in the following installment), and then I went to Kroger to get a cake.

Paige and my refrigerator is not big enough for the cake and the rest of our necessities, so I drove to Emily's apartment. When I got there I said hi to all three of Emily's kids, two of whom I had met before. Before I left, the youngest one, who I had never met before, gave me a kiss on the cheek which was really cute! The next day, Elizabeth's birthday, after work I recorded Bad Days 2, and then drove to Emily's girlfriend, Kira’s house. Emily, Kaylee, Kira and I hung out for about 30 minutes, before it was time for us to drive to Smash Park (which I hilariously thought was a rage room). The day before I had asked Emily for the address for Smash Park before I asked for her address. I ended up being 15 minutes late because I drove to Emily's apartment instead of Smash Park, because it was the last address in our text thread.

When I arrived at Smash Park, I was greeted by Elizabeth, her two kids, and her boyfriend Joel. Afterwards we found a table and ordered our dinner. Everyone laughed when I got ready to order because I had to order off the kids menu. Seriously, it needs to be the kids AND the ‘tism menu! Anyway, the workers saw the cake that we brought in and gave her a second dessert so we sang happy birthday twice. 

The second time, with the cake I brought we put a 50 candle on the cake. “ WHATS WITH ALL THE 50s?” She exclaimed. 

“Oh,” I said, “50 years ago was when the vampire bit you!” Yeah I’m fully convinced Elizabeth is a vampire, but that’s another story. 

After dinner we went to the arcade. Everybody got those Photo Booth strips with Elizabeth individually. After we played the arcade games we went outside and played a couple of different games. I played ping pong with Elizabeth and I was really really bad at it. Then I played that ring toss game with the little metal rings on the strings with the hooks on the wall. I, of course, broke the string by accident.

This Mitchmas 3 parter has functioned a little differently than previous years. There is one reason that will not be important until next year, but presently, I wrote them like this for a separate reason. As I’ve mentioned before for obvious reasons, Covid-19, had lasting ramifications outside of the actual pandemic. The biggest impact on my life was that my “sisters” and I got stuck in this weird limbo between our childhood and our adulthood. And almost as soon as life unpaused,  August got pregnant Arden and Marshall got engaged/married and I started dating Paige. In other words, because of the speed at which everything happened, it felt like three years of character development happened in basically the course of six months (if you count, Arden and Marshall’s engagement and private elopement as a singular event) and that put a lot of strain on our friend group. 

While everything with the Andersons has leveled out (and honestly things are better with them than they ever have been), my confidence growing up was tethered to my relationship with them. We're still tight, but we're now able to have our own lives. And because we are not around each other  as much as we used to be, for the last few years I have not been able to unlock my full confidence unless I'm around the Anderson women, Paige, Noah, recently Elena, and my family. 

Another thing that was a little stunted by Covid was my mission to make friends. I met Noah at the end of 2019 and while Noah is one of my best friends in the entire world now, at the time the intention was for him to be a starting point. Not that I wouldn't pursue our friendship to the fullest, but I would use our friendship as a template for making friends post Arden’s initial move to Colorado. When Covid hit Noah and I (and yes, we have talked about this) got comfortable in our friendship. Which isn’t a bad thing; again I love Noah. But I have still wanted a friend group (and ideally more than one) so that my confidence can be more consistent across the board. What I’m saying is that as we celebrated Elizabeth’s birthday, I thought about how thankful I am for this group and all the people that make my life greattastic! 

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 17: Mitchmas (29), Part 2: A Quick Trip To Orlando

 Mitchmas (29), Part 2: A Quick Trip To Orlando

Key: In this installment, Paige B is my cousin Paige and Austin B is her husband.

My grandma on my dad’s side turned 80 on July 27th. The following week my parents, Grandma, and my grandpa Joe went to Belize. Pop-pop’s 80th birthday was on August 24. All things being equal, my family decided to take a quick trip down to Orlando to celebrate his birthday.

I got home on Friday August 21st at 4:20, and as soon as I walked in, I realized Paige had gotten a haircut. We left the apartment at 4:45, and 20 minutes later we were at Kobolt. We flew on Breeze, which is the replacement budget airline after Spirit went under. It was about the same expense. We got to Eva and Zach’s at close to midnight that night, and after we hung out with them and I cleaned my finger (I was still recovering from the events of Bad Days 2), we went to bed. 

The next day, we spent the morning setting up Eva’s house for Pop-pop’s party. Eva, Mom, Dad, Paige, and I set up these little paper flowers and other decorations. Zach, Ryan, and Luke got food and photos, while Josh did lawn work, and then we all hung the photos up. 

Around 3:45, Pop-pop and Sara arrived, and the party started at 4:00. The people who I knew at the party were some of Dad‘s cousins, Martin and Pam and Martin’s parents, my Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul, Alexander, Austin, Paige and Austin B, their kids, Bentley and Piper, and one of Pop-pop’s old friends, Deb, who visited Columbus with Pop-pop shortly after Ryan was born. Everyone else (excluding Sara‘s children and grandchildren), was from about 3 different friend groups Pop-pop is part of, and most of them had never met each other

People started leaving around 6:30, shortly after Paige B took the kids home to bed. The only people left were Eva & Zach, my parents and brothers, Pop-pop, Sara, Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul, Austin, and obviously Paige. Everyone went into the pool for a late-night swim. 

As we swam, Pop-pop put his mouth on the end of his pool noodle and shot water out of the other end at Dad. This started an all-out brawl. As I got out of the pool, because the water was too much for my finger, I looked at my family. I think we tend to have a lot of fun when we are together, but it was amazing to see my 80-year-old grandpa playing with my dad and my siblings and having the time of his life.

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 16.5: Visitors At Work

 Visitors At Work

On Thursday, August 20th, 2026, after I picked Paige up from work, Mom called me. She was checking on how we were doing with packing for a trip we were going on the next day. In the middle of that phone call, Arden called me. For obvious reasons, I ignored the phone call, but then I forgot to call her afterward because I had to finish packing.

The next morning, I texted her to say I was sorry I missed the call, and she said it was okay. She also told me her parents, Rich and Barbara, were in town and trying to get a wedding gift for Paige and me, to us. Our flight was at 6:15, so we had to be at the airport by 5:00. With that in mind, I told them I probably couldn’t get it that day. 

At 12:20, I got a message from one of the front desk ladies. I got switched out of my classroom and went up to the lobby. As I walked into the lobby, I saw Rich and Barbara walking towards the entrance. The last time I saw them was last Thanksgiving (False Safety or Right Where We Left Off (Refresher). And while it took me a week to actually open the present, it was really nice to see them (even if it was just for two minutes) 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 16: Mitchmas (29), Part 1: The Stuff Of Legend

 Mitchmas (29), Part 1: The Stuff Of Legend  

At the end of my meeting with Elana on July 21st, she started asking me about my birthday plans. I was planning on going on a peddle wagon downtown, and initially I had been planning on inviting Elana. Since she had told me she was pregnant 20 minutes before this and she wouldn’t be able to drink, I knew she wouldn’t have fun. Noah always comes to my family birthday dinner, but this year he was out of town. Since I wanted to reconnect with Elana’s boyfriend, Leo, anyway, to fill the void left by Noah, I invited Elana and Leo to dinner.

As you may recall last year, I got a venti-sized version of my Starbucks drink and immediately spilled it in the New Story parking lot. On Tuesday, August 18, 2026, after I picked Paige up from work, she walked over to Giant Eagle and bought me a canned Starbucks coffee so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. 

The next day, I called Mom after work to talk about dinner for that night, and then I ordered the free birthday coffee from Starbucks. I got home at 4:00, put the coffee in the fridge, and then, at about 5:45, Paige and I got in the car. We drove to Barnes & Noble as we did last year. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I have been listening to audiobooks because if I’m not reading something that I’ve written, I feel like I’m being lazy. I’m going to Barnes & Noble constantly to fill up my physical book collection. I only got 1 book this year. It’s called The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens. It’s the first book in a duology, and it’s about a journalist who interviews a convicted killer who was released from prison because he is about to die of old age anyway. After the duology, there is a robust spinoff series following a pretty major supporting character, which I also really enjoyed (though after doing research for this installment, I realized I have not finished the entire series). 

After we got the book, we drove right across the parking lot to a restaurant called Bravo. Paige and I arrived first, then Elana and Leo, followed by my brothers, and finally, Mom and Dad. After dinner, we went to my parents' house for cake and some gifts. 

As I’ve said before, since 2021 (Season 4), I have written a version of this installment every year (except for 2022). It’s always about my family going out to dinner with Noah. As Paige, Elana, Leo, and I walked out of my parents' house, Elana turned to me. “Are you writing about this?” She asked 

“Of course,” I exclaimed.

“WOW, so I get to be Noah this time!” She smiled. 

“Yeah, I guess,” I laughed. 

“It’s just kinda crazy. I’ve been listening to you talk about this dinner for years,” Elana explained, “and now that I’m here, I feel like I’m the stuff of legend!” 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 15: Shane‘s Bachelor Party

 Shane’s Bachelor Party

One night in October of 2021, I was on a cart shift at Kroger. My partner on this cart shift was Shane (this was before he became my roommate). None of our shifts had lined up since I got the restraining order on my crazy ex, Ishana, so I was catching him up on my time in court and the verdict. I had met Shane the previous August, when Ishana was actively stalking me, and on Shane and my second shift working together, she showed up at Kroger. All this to say, my relationship drama dominated Shane and my early conversations. As I finished the story and was able to step away from this traumatic situation, a thought occurred to me. “Shane,” I asked, “are you in a relationship?” Shane immediately smiled and said, “Yes! I’m dating a girl named Jessica…” He paused, brought up his ring finger, pointed at it, and continued, “and soon she’s going to be more than just my girlfriend.” 

On Saturday, August 15th, 2026, I dropped Paige off with my cousins (they had invited us to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day), and I drove to a place called Put Hut. 

I got to Put Hut at 6:30 and walked in after I found parking. Put Hut (from what I can tell) had two major features. Firstly, it had a full putt-putt course. Secondly and more interestingly, the center of the building was dedicated to… well, it was like if a bowling alley and Topgolf had a baby. It had all these “ bowling lanes,” and you would hit the golf ball down the lane, and there were different Topgolf-esque games you could play.  I met all of the groom's party, which included Shane’s best man (Jesse), 2 of Shane’s other groomsmen (Matthew- who I believe is Jessica's brother-in-law- and a friend of Shane’s named Henry, though the relationships could be swapped). I was also reintroduced to Jessica’s brother Nick, who I met when Shane and Jessica got engaged (he will be officiating the wedding). We played a few rounds of the bowling Topgolf fusion game before we decided to go to Dave & Buster’s for dinner and to play some more games. 

After dinner, we played in the arcade for like 4 hours. The whole time I couldn’t stop staring at Shane. See, Shane and Jessica got engaged back in 2022 (Proposal On Gleason Road). Since then, there have been a handful of false starts with planning the wedding. I have always loved weddings, even before my own. Ever since Shane told me he was planning on proposing to Jessica back in October of 2021, and even more so since I helped them actually get engaged, I have been really looking forward to their wedding. I spent the night of Shane’s bachelor party in awe and excitement that the wedding is finally happening! 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 14: Bad Days 2

 Bad Days 2

Before we get into this installment, I need to tell you about my bad habit of biting my nails. I’ve been wanting to stop, and Paige REALLY wants me to, but I still haven't been able to kick the habit.

I returned to work for the 2026-27 school year on Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, and in the two weeks between that and Nicole’s wedding, not much happened because Paige and I spent most of those two weeks recovering from our summer-long honeymoon. In other words, I was ready for school to start. Another reason is that New Story started a mentorship program. The idea is that veteran staff members mentor incoming staff. I am a mentor, and I was looking forward to that new role. 

In the two weeks before the kiddos showed up, we were told that this year we are having some teachers from Kenya come into the school. With those teachers, we became fully staffed. Unfortunately, there was an issue, and now they will be starting sporadically throughout the first month and a half of school. The classroom I support was assigned a teacher from Kenya, so it was my and my coworker Lexi’s responsibility to get the classroom set up for the start-of-year open house. 

On the day of the open house, Thursday, August 13th, Lexi and I were a little behind because we didn’t have the help we usually get from a teacher in the room. A ton of people came together to help us get ready, and during that time the principal came in and told me our teacher would be starting the following Tuesday (the 18th), and that she would be fully trained the week after. In the meantime, I would be running the classroom! I was honored that my boss trusted me enough to give me this temporary promotion, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little anxious about it. 

Shortly after my boss told me the news, my wedding ring started bothering me; it just felt really tight. Now, at this point, Paige and I had been married for only 3 months, and most of that was our honeymoon, so my anxiety was relatively low. Therefore, I assumed my sudden aversion to the ring was due to sensory overload as a result of anxiety… boy was I wrong.

That night, I struggled to get my ring off my finger before bed, and I only managed it because I used some soap; I also noticed the tip of my finger was a bit swollen. I woke up at 1:00 a.m. in excruciating pain, and the only way I was able to get back to sleep was by using my thighs to apply pressure to my hand. When I woke the next morning, I couldn’t fit the ring back on even with soap. When I got to work, my coworkers, Joel and Elizabeth, gave me ibuprofen and told me to see the nurse. The nurse then told me that my finger was infected. 

I scheduled an appointment for 4:10 at the CVS Minute Clinic by the school. They were running behind, so I finally got in around 4:30. I had a lot of recording to do (I had fallen a bit behind with the honeymoon content), so I ordered my prescription (an antibiotic and an ointment) to a Walgreens in my area. When I walked in at 5:30, I went right to the pharmacy and they said that they didn’t have the prescription!

I called the CVS, and they said they were closed (which I knew they weren’t). I drove all the way back up there, and when I explained the situation to the cashier, he told me, “You need to make another appointment!”

I knew that wasn't a thing, so I started arguing with the cashier. When the cashier wouldn't budge, I caved and scheduled another appointment. After 20 more minutes of waiting, I realized I wasn't going to make it to Walgreens before they closed, so I went to the CVS pharmacy and explained the situation. 

“You didn't have to make another appointment,” the pharmacist said.

“That's what I said,” I growled, as the ibuprofen Joel had given me had completely worn off at this point. The pharmacist called the Doctor, and I waited the 20 minutes before she was done with her current patient so we could get the prescriptions sent to this Pharmacy. After we had figured it out, I got more ibuprofen and waited for the prescription to get filled.

3 hours later, I was still waiting! At that time, Paige had gotten off work and walked to Luke and Josh’s house. When Josh finally drove Paige home, she called me and asked what was going on. At her prompting, I went to the pharmacy again. The pharmacist said,  “So your antibiotic is here, but we're waiting on the ointment.”

“When is the ointment going to be ready?” I asked hesitantly.

“Monday afternoon,” she said matter-of-factly. 

“Can I have the antibiotic,” I said through gritted teeth, “And then come back for the ointment?”

“Sure!” She said, smiling.

I was very frustrated because they hadn't called me up, but at least I knew I was on the road to recovery… Or so I thought. The next day was Shane's bachelor party (which is worthy of an installment in and of itself), and while it was fun, my finger was bugging me the entire time. The day after that, it looked way too disgusting for me to describe to you. I went to Paige's parents' house to pick up some stuff, and my sister-in-law Yvanna was there. She's a PA. When she saw my finger, she told me to keep an eye on it, and if the inflammation moved any further down my finger, then I would “need to get it lanced.” 

On Monday, August 17th, 2026, I was recording Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 4: Nicole’s Wedding. After recording the paragraph about the bridal party entering the reception, I stood up to get a drink of water and hit my hand really hard on the side of my desk, and I could see that there was some internal bleeding. I FaceTimed Yvanna, and she confirmed that it needed to be lanced. I called Mom, and she said to meet at their house so she could come with me, as Paige was at work. 

I won't describe this procedure. It was incredibly gross to see and even more painful! I was given a different antibiotic and a wrap that I had to wear from this point through Mitchmas (29) Part 1: The Stuff Of Legend, Visitors At Work, and Mitchmas (29) Part 2: A Quick Trip To Orlando. And the kicker was that the only pharmacy open was that same CVS that I had been stuck at the beginning of this ordeal! 

As we drove to the CVS, I thought back to the events of Bad Days 1. As a refresher, in the fall of 2024, within a 30-hour period, a guy ran a red light and hit me; I popped my tire; independently of the car crash, I got pink eye; had to Lyft to the minute clinic, and my phone died while I was waiting for the prescription to get filled, so I couldn’t Lyft back home. At the end of that event, I couldn’t help but laugh at how stupidly horrible it had been. While this situation was a lot more straightforward, it was way more painful. And yet, I still couldn’t help but laugh. Life’s too short to not find comedy in painful moments. 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 13: #FreeArden

 Season 10 Blog 13: #FreeArden

If you recall, The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life, happened approximately a month after Paige and my wedding and Nicole's wedding was about a month after that. In that month, Arden and I, (and Paige as much as her schedule allowed), hung out a lot. We spent a lot of time at Metro Parks, and she and Marshall actually came to the Red White & Boom party. But the craziest thing that happened, happened within her first 2 weeks. On Monday, June 15th, as Paige and I drove to go out to dinner for our 1 month wedding anniversary, Kid and Arden spent one last night hanging out. The next day (Tuesday, June 16th), Kid officially left for her big road trip. While I am planning on catching you up with Kid later, she spent the majority of her first month on the road staying with August and Emerald.

Feeling sad that Kid was now heading to Colorado (oh, how the tables have turned), Arden texted me and asked if I wanted to meet her at the Park of Roses. I said yes and I drove to meet her. Arden and I spent a lot of time there hanging out, and we got dinner with Paige one of the nights that week. 

During this time, Arden told me about some of the weird occurrences that were happening with the person who owned the Airbnb she was staying at. 

Now I am not here to expose this woman as what was going on, in and of itself, was not important to the story. Within the first few days, Arden got a weird sense of foreboding whenever she was there. Despite having this Columbus job, on the weekends Arden would return home to Cincinnati. On Thursday, June 25th, (which for continuity was the day before the last day of summer school), Arden and I were hanging out once again. In the three nights since she had been back in town, that feeling of foreboding had intensified. While still protecting this woman's and Arden’s privacy, basically she was invading some of Arden's boundaries. 

“I don't want to make her feel bad by just leaving,” Arden said trying to be kind, “But I just…” 

“Don't feel comfortable,” I interrupted. “And I don't feel comfortable for you.”

“What should I do?” She asked.

“You should move out right now!” I said.

“What if there's a confrontation!” she exclaimed.

“Well, then, I'll go with you!” I said.

Unfortunately for Arden, as we headed to our cars to go get her stuff I started chanting “#freearden,” which only exacerbated her anxiety. We drove to this Airbnb, and when we arrived, Arden told me to wait outside and she walked in. I don't know what we were expecting. We definitely weren't planning on getting into a fist fight with this woman, but we assumed that she would at least yell at Arden. Almost as soon as Arden walked into the house, Arden walked back outside and began laughing.

“Mitchell,” she said, “She's asleep!” 

I covered my mouth because I knew if I started laughing, I would have woken this lady up. I couldn't help but think the climax of this made it somehow better. Like the way we amped it up so much in our heads that the idea that she could be asleep didn't even cross our minds. And I thought that was hilarious! 

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT