Weekend Adventures

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to get to spend time with family again, starting with my mom. We had made plans to go yard sailing and then visit her antique mall booth, but when I woke up on Saturday it was already 10am. I called to let her know I was running late and she gave me the upsetting news that she'd either lost her wallet or it was stolen. She had been yard sailing all morning and spent all the cash in it so if someone took it they wouldn't get far, but the important documents that were in there (her EMT certification, DL and SS card, etc) would be a pain to replace. She was pretty sure she'd just left it on the top of her car and driven away, but she'd also given a ride to a hitch-hiker and offered him breakfast, only to discover she had no wallet to pay with.
Well, I was fortunate enough to be in the green zone, so I drove up to meet her at the antique mall anyway and we got lunch and I gave her some cash to last the weekend until she could get to the bank today. We cleaned up her booth and ate at this crazy diner that felt like we were back in the 70s. Mom said she'd been there 20 years ago and I thought about how it might be 20 years until I return! It was a lovely place though. While she dusted and sorted the booth I called the sheriff's department to check if anyone had turned in her wallet and gave them some info to get it back in case anyone did return it.
When I got home, Gavin and I got packed up to go to Charlotte and visit his parents, kissed the pups and cats goodbye and hit the road. My friend Allison would be by to feed, water and take the dogs out later on.
The drive to Charlotte was a smooth one. Other than my butt falling asleep, we had no problems. It only took us two and a half hours and on the way down, I got prodded from the inside by little baby Maxfield!
We spent Saturday night out in the backyard around the fire pit, conversing about fireworks, wedding photos, baby things and the new house. I didn't get to sleep until close to 2am but I have to say, sleeping in a feathery-soft bed thats high up off the floor and has a ceiling fan above, no dogs crowding me and the A/C set at a comfortable 65f was like sleeping in heaven. I woke up feeling very refreshed and got an uninterrupted nine hours of sleep. Not even a full bladder could get this lil mama out of bed!
Sunday was spent checking out the Goodwills of Charlotte (which, by the way, are like going to the mall because it's still really nice stuff that people just decided to get nicer versions of), and then we went to...


drum roll


IKEA! :D :D :D

I had never been to IKEA so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was amazing! I was hangry (hungry + angry because of said hunger) so I demanded we eat at the Ikea restaurant first. I got swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy and the best tomato and feta soup ever. I felt like a balloon when I got up to put my dishes in the bins. But it was so worth it.
We followed the map provided and made our way through all of Ikea, stopping at the beds and mattresses to pick out a frame for the guest room and a new mattress for our bed. They had some $70 mattresses that were less comfortable than concrete and some $700 ones that felt equally terrible, but we found a ~$300 mattress that felt perfect. I can't remember which bed frame we settled on, but since I wont be using it, I don't think it matters, haha.
The best part of Ikea, I think, is pretending that each of the "rooms" they have set up, are apartments. Everything on display, basically, is for sale and they have some prop electronics to make things look homey. They're all empty inside. The toilets on display have paper glued over the openings so no one decides to be funny and pee or god forbid POO in the toilets.
We ended up actually purchasing a nursing chair with cushion, a rug with polka dots, a bamboo salad bowl and can opener and a box of band-aids and a little stuffed white rat. The total was only $112 but they have a deal where if you spend over $100 in store they take off your meal purchase from the total, so since Gavin, his brother and I all ate, we ended up spending only $86! Well worth it.
My hunger was sated and I was no longer grumpy, but walking around that HUGE store left my feet swollen and sore so we decided to get on the road after Ikea. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Apex.
The ride home was much more turbulent. There was rain from outside of Charlotte all the way to Apex and for some reason, a lot of people didn't have their lights on. My wipers decided to cut out every few minutes and I realized I haven't driven in night rain in forever. I guess I don't really go out at night? And we haven't had a lot of rain until recently.
We finally made it back home and all the animals were super excited to see us. It felt good to be home even though a little mini-vacation was much-needed.

Oh yeah! And my mom texted me when we got back to say someone HAD turned in her wallet and nothing was missing! She'd already cancelled her debit card and ordered a new ID but at least she didn't have to get a new social security card. :)