Suprisingly great end to a so-so Saturday

Our big mission in recent months is to find a stroller. We've been to every shop, every store, every sale, read every review, test drove every brand and still we have no decision on what we're going to use. Yesterday, like the troopers we are, we went to a big sale hoping to find a stroller that was affordable (this is the most expensive item we're buying if you can believe it!), drivable and store-able in our car. We got an ad in the mail about this huge baby warehouse that was having a gigantor sale in Hilversum (about 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam). We got our directions from the internet and went on our way.

As usual the directions were wrong. We spent a good part of a half hour driving in circles and asking every passerby if they could help us find this street. We finally arrived at the "warehouse" and were less than impressed. It was a small store, 3 stories high jam packed with crap. How dare they call themselves a warehouse! Even before we went in we were defeated. You couldn't even walk side by side down an aisle it was so small and this big "sale" they were boasting about was on select strollers in select (read: ugly) colors. We were in and out of there in 15 minutes tops and that was after lingering about hoping the ad was a big joke and there really was a warehouse tucked away inside there somewhere.

We decided not to let that sna-fu bring us down. We'd go to another shopping center back in Amsterdam and check out stuff there. Another wrong exit, another bout of driving around aimlessly but eventually we made it. By this time it was 2:30 and we'd managed to piss the better half of the day away. This shopping center didn't prove to be any better than the first place we trudged through and once again we headed out empty handed.

We went to the grocery store which is a compete and utter madhouse on Saturdays and always sends me into a foul mood. We came home and I called my Mom just to see what was going on around there. We were supposed to book her flight to come visit us in September, after Sadie's arrival. Well she him-hawed around a little bit until I finally drug it out of her that she hadn't put the money in my account yet to book her flight and she was going to do it later in the week and just have my brother book them for her. I couldn't hide my disappointment, even over the phone, as I was dying to get her booked and I wanted to "be there" when she did it. We hung up shortly thereafter.

In the course of ten minutes I already had it worked out in my head that she wasn't going to come after all. She'd changed her mind and just didn't want to tell me. You know how your mind wanders and works in it's evil way (okay so at least mine does). After such a bummer morning and afternoon this didn't perk up my mood any. Dare I say I was a wee bit bitchy? Yeah.

When low and behold the phone rang again...it was my Mom.

"I just ran to the bank and put the money in, you can book my ticket."

me: (flabbergasted) "what? You put the money in my account? Won't it take a while to actually be on there?"

"No, they said it's in there already, let's book the flight!"

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! Within 30 minutes she was booked! My Mom is actually coming here! She really didn't want to blow me off. She doesn't really hate my guts! She's really really coming to see me! AWESOME!

I was pretty much on cloud nine the rest of the day. I had a 'date' with Marco in the evening. We went and saw The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson which was such a beautiful movie. Then after we went to our favorite ice cream shop for a sweet wrap up to our day.

Today is my mother in law's birthday celebration. We still have to go buy her a card and a gift (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) and then it's just the two of us hanging out for the rest of the afternoon. My favorite way to spend a lazy Sunday!

Hope you all are having wonderful weekends!