Have you watched the musical Hairspray? In the newest version, Queen Latifah sings a song called "Big, Blonde and Beautiful." A couple of months ago, I saw this beautiful black wooden monstrosity at Hobby Lobby and my head instantly began singing the tune with a slight change in words... "Big, black, and beautiful." As a scrapbooker, this piece of furniture was singing out to me, even though I already have a pretty nice scrappin' center. Of course, I knew who would love this craft-it-all setup more than myself... my sister-in-law! I snapped a picture with that handy, dandy, iPhone and emailed it to her right away.
Just as I had suspected, she fell in love with it. However, my brother was not in love with the price tag. I can't say that I blame him one bit. At $999, it was definitely a bigger chunk of change than I had laying around. Hearts were broken, and every time one of us walked into Hobby Lobby we removed a tear before it trickled down our cheeks. Okay, not my brother, by my sister-in-law and I certainly did.
About a week ago, my husband and I were lucky enough to get a sitter for the evening. -- YAY! Thanks Mom! -- Hobby Lobby had scrapbooking adhesives on sale so we had to make a stop. With a few other errands to run, we went to the HL that was closest to our destination. When we walked through the door, there it was again in all it's glory. Only this time... wait! What does the extra price tag tacked on to it say? It's on closeout for $339?!? Not possible! I snapped a photo of the price tag and promised I'd be making a phone call as soon as we left the store.
Upon exiting HL, I made good on my promise. A voicemail was left. I jokingly told my husband that my brother would delete it before my sister-in-law heard it. He did try, but she happened to catch a tiny bit of the message. Little did she know what he had up his sleeve.
While I was on my way home, from a quick trip to the store with my oldest son, I received a phone call from my brother. His work involves travel, being a pilot usually does, so he was currently out of the state. My mission, should I choose to accept it, was to verify the price and availability of the furniture in question. I did my research and discovered that the one I saw would be our only chance at that price. Apparently there was some "damage" to it that caused the knock down in the amount. Lucky for us it was still available, but unable to be put on hold. I reported back and we decided that when he arrived we would meet at the rendezvous point and further assess the situation.
The next day, I waited for my brother's call. I was very anxious to determine the damage to the piece, and even more so to secure my sister-in-law's dream scrapbooking center. At the suspected time, my phone rang and the mission was a go. I rounded up my troops, and their commander, and headed out to the location.
When we arrived, my family piled out of the car and headed into the store. My sons were on lookout for their favorite uncle and were oblivious to the actual mission at hand. I inspected the furniture, having my husband look up higher where I was unable to see, and found nothing unfixable for my tool wielding brother. I felt relief that my sister-in-law would finally get this wonderful scrapbooking center that she so desired. Before long, my brother arrived and agreed with my assessment.
He got everything taken care of and was ready to load the heavy furniture into the back of his truck. Two male Hobby Lobby workers were giving the assist, my husband handled the kids, and I grabbed my camera to document the momentous occasion for my soon to be surprised sis-in-law. Scrap that sis! Of course, things don't always go according to plan and the tailgate got stuck. After a frustrating amount of time, for my brother that is, it was opened. I got the assist on that one. Yay me! Then it was loaded up and strapped in.
To me, it felt like Christmas. I love giving gifts that people love getting. Finding those special things that make someone smile, are entirely thoughtful, or the "just what I always wanted" kind. This was one of those times when I knew the reaction would be great. I let my brother know that I'd be calling later to hear all about it. Then we said our see you later's and went our separate ways.
I never had the chance to call my brother's home tonight, because my sister-in-law called me first! She was so excited that she just screamed. Not on the phone, but when she saw it. Happy doesn't describe how her voice sounded. Ecstatic is more like it! She teased me about keeping a secret from her and thanked me for helping my brother out. I let her know that I was just entirely excited and happy for her and that I wanted photos when it was all set up. I promised to pass along the photos I took, of it being loaded, on to her soon so she could scrap them. I didn't have to be there to see the smile on her face... ear to ear!
Congrats to my sister-in-law on the great scrapbook center! Kudos to my big brother for being a super husband! I love you both!
I just love surprises like these! Don't you?
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