Transplanting a Seattleite

After losing four auctions on eBay, I wrestled on to the ground, and _not_ by just paying more (altho one of the auctions I lost early on was for less than what I ultimately paid, the other three were all for more).

Is it worth the $177.50 (including shipping) that I ultimately paid? I want to know, too, and I probably won't have any kind of definitive answer until, say, September or October. Or possibly later. I'm anticipating this only being useful for the first year of A.'s life, since there is some agreement in comments and reviews that bigger babies/toddlers do not fit into this thing (even using the seat, as opposed to using this as a travel system). And it isn't light.

I'm pretty sure I feel better about this than I would have if I'd bought it for, say, the commodity price ($270) or the MSRP ($350).

I'm probably going to hold off on buying a MacLaren Techno XLR. If the Britax works out well, I could buy one of the cheaper MacLarens that reclines after the kid grows out of the Britax. The odd case would be going to WDW, in which case I might want a compromise T. fits/A. fits stroller. Next up: a Buggy Board.

It's Sunday, so that must mean there are open houses to look at.

After trying to go to Sunday Brunch, where I called for a reservation yesterday and was told I did not need one (don't trust people who tell you that about Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc.), and discovered I _should_ have had one after all, we got breakfast at J. Beaner's and then went back home. T. wanted to ride around in the white car some more, so off we went with a list of properties we were really interested in (none of which were having open house) and a separate list of open houses that nominally met our shopping criteria (price range, square footage, town, etc.). I got to go through 3; R. got to see 1 (sleeping toddler and not strong enough interest). We drove by probably a dozen.

There will be more of this in our future.

In the meantime, I got to giggle at the realtor in _Harvard, MA_ who persisted in thinking that Brookline, NH was a long ways away. At first, I thought she wasn't hearing the "New Hampshire" part and was thinking the Massachusetts one (altho still a little odd). But no, she had this wacky idea that Brookline, NH was way up north in NH. As opposed to _right on the Massachusetts border_.

I also got a kick out of the next realtor, who when asked about the dry creek bed behind the house persisted in saying -- it's all dry! No wet! I was like, really? Did they dam it? No, in the spring, when the snow melts, it runs. Ah, it's vernal.

R. is uncertain, but I'm not. I'm pretty sure it counts.

The third realtor wasn't either of the agents "exclusively" listing this house (which was in the MLS *shrug*). The group _did_ produce floor plans (yay!) -- but had brochures for a different house entirely mixed up with the house I was in. Oops.