the million dollar dress

I've been meaning to share this particular story on my blog for several weeks now, but haven't made it to the computer very much. I currently have a small list of things I want to remember to write about, so let's start here...

At the end of May, Cal was given the opportunity to go on an awesome trip to Germany courtesy of one of the suppliers he works with in his professional life. Of course my love for Europe made me terribly jealous of his European adventure, while simultaneously being super excited and happy for him. It was a quick trip, only five days in length, so he and the other people he was traveling with really made the best of their time - rarely sleeping, and consuming as much German beer and liquor as they possibly could. I mean, how else do you experience Germany in less than a week, right?

Not altogether surprising, shopping wasn't high on their agenda over those few days. However, his hotel was conveniently located next to a children's shop, so he stopped in there on his last morning, before flying back to Toronto.

Arriving later in the evening on a Saturday, I left little Lady A with my mum to put her to bed, while I took a very excited Lady M to the airport to pick up her Daddy. After arriving home safely and on time, we returned to my parents house to pick up a happily sleeping Lady A. My mum and I naturally wanted to see the German purchases, so opened up the bag to see what Cal had chosen for the girls. In the bag was a gorgeous pink gingham dress for Lady M, and a cute Diesel top and leggings for Lady A. Great choices! However, when I pulled the bill out of the bag, I noticed he had paid 85 Euros for the three items of clothes - approximately $105 Canadian. Yowza. The majority of that bill was for the dress.

But, it's not every day you get to add a little German flare to your wardrobe, so we laughed it off and headed home.

The next day, Cal happened upon the credit card receipt for the same purchase, and to his surprise it read 185 Euros...yes, a full hundred Euros more. Uh oh. It seemed the nice lady in the children's clothing store had incorrectly input the amount and severely overcharged him for the already expensive children's clothing. He immediately called Visa who said that once the charge posted (it had only been about 24-36 hours since the purchase at this point) they could correct it.

In the meantime, I asked my Dad to check the bag we had thrown out at their house the night before for the actual receipt. He nicely dug it out for us, scanned it and sent it over. I received it to my email, as did Cal. As soon as I opened it, it was clear:

My darling husband had not spent 85 Euros on the clothing purchase; he had spent 185 Euros (approximately $230 Canadian). My sweet Lady M essentially received her prom dress, and Lady A received the most pricey leggings and t-shirt that she will own any time soon!! Cal's comment? "In my defense, I think I was still drunk when I bought them!". 

Oh well. The girls got some lovely clothes, Cal had an incredible trip that he will always remember, and we have a story that will allow us to look back at and laugh. And Lady M looked beautiful in her prom dress when she wore it to her preschool graduation a couple of weeks ago.