Our Spontaneous Furniture Decision

We have lived in this little house of ours for almost 13 years now. As the first couple of years passed by, we picked up bits and pieces of furniture to furnish this place. Quite honestly, we were *THE* poster family for Goodwill, March of Dimes, or really, roadside diggers - you know, the ones that drive around by day to scope out the good stuff during heavy garbage pickup, and then returning at night to pick it up so no one would actually see you taking it; although no matter how dark or late it is, there is NO getting around it when someone comes into your home and says "Hey! We had that SAME chair - with the same mark on it", and all the silent awkwardness surrounding it when 1) WE realize that it WAS their yard we took it from and 2) THEY realize we took it from their yard.

We DID buy our living room furniture, albeit second hand (it was about 6 years old when we bought it), from a co-worker of mine. It was a horrific dark green with various shades of pink, blue and green flowers. YES . . . it *IS* that ugly, BUT . . . it was a sturdy, well maintained (I don't think anyone ever even sat on it - I think the woman was pretty uptight about anyone being in her living room), and it matched. At least our living room was 'somewhat' presentable. This my friends, is the same set we still have, although we are minus a loveseat (it met it's tragic end in a daycare accident). It is worn (was WELL loved in our home); uncomfy and well, ugly. It's almost 20 years old. In furniture years, that's WAY beyond it's expiry date. If we didn't have tennis balls on the bottoms of all the chairs and tables in our house, it would be a HUGE conversation piece (because that couch is W-A-Y ugly). Fortunately, *MY* uptight tendencies (thus the reason for the balls still on the chairs - because I sure as hell don't want to have to redo those damn hardwood floors again anytime soon (any idea how labour intensive and DUSTY refinishing hardwood floors are?!) has prevented people from focusing on my "lovely" livingroom set.

Our family room (in the basement) has a sectional. Except it's old, and REALLY worn out, and it was NEVER comfortable. And I mean NEVER. If you look close enough, the entire outline of my body is 'worn' into the 'prime' seat (I spent YEARS sitting there feeding and cuddling babies). Now I can't sit there at all . . . it hurts my back THAT much. Sometime last fall, it broke, leaving the sectional in 2 pieces. We were able to push it together, and as long as no one jumped on it or 'abused' it, it was functionable. Every so often I'd have to pull a kid or myself out of the crack, but it was working. Until Saturday. I was vacuuming and dusting and needed to pull the said couch out so I could vacuum behind it; and then got REALLY pissed off when I couldn't get it together again without leaving a 4" crack between the 2 pieces. Absolutely not good. SO . . . I stood and really looked at that pathetic couch. It has MUCH wear; some tears at the edges; the freakin' remotes get lost in it ALL the time; it doesn't fit together, and it's been pissed on more times than I can count (seriously . . . in the past 3 months, that couch has been cleaned with my little green machine more than it ever was in the other 10 years we've had it - and I *AM* anal and uptight about that kind of stuff). So, I decided right then that we needed to replace that couch; and I very mission-orientedly stalked up those stairs into the living room and declared to dh that we needed to replace it. Plain and simple.

To back peddle a bit, I had quickly drafted a loose script in my head about how to convince him (and right now my friend Lisa will be nodding her head saying "uh huh. I know EXACTLY how YOU were going to convince him"; and honestly, it would have elicited an INSTANT yes from him, so she's not wrong, but I did NOT have to table that (although I *DID* consider that I might have very well needed to turn to *that* as a last resort)). I waltzed into that living room and announced that we needed to replace the family room couch; and much to my glee (and yes, it WAS glee that I felt), he agreed. No argument; disagreement; nothing. He just outright agreed. Then . . . I pushed my luck. I pointed out that since we are painting the interior of the house (literally top to bottom - save for the main bathroom - because it was just totally renovated 2 years ago and I still love it), we should put some nice 'new' furniture in the living room - because I mean, how terrible would it be to put that old flowery green shit back in that nice freshly painted room, I mean really, it would be defiling the room, wouldn't it?! I also pointed out that we've never 'bought' anything for the house like this (hell, painting it is a HUGE deal - we've got the painter come to quote tomorrow). AND . . . just as I was about to offer up sexual favours, he said yes. No fight, no argument, no irritation, nothing. He just agreed. He's such a good boy . . .

SO . . . while he took Imp to the ski hills for his ski lesson; and Teen 'overlooked' Banshee's gymnastic's practise, this Momma Bear was set loose in the furniture store. I'm no virgin to furniture browsing . . . I've been doing it for years (it's like a closet obsession of mine) - hell, up until about 2 hours ago, I had all the furniture stores bookmarked in my favourites list. Prior to me flocking to the store, I perused the sites and showed my other half some options. Thankfully we have the same outlook (we can't get anything 'upscale' - I still do daycare and no matter how you look at it, kids are rough on furniture so I don't want anything that will devastate me when someone does something to it) and taste (which is odd because, really, we are SO unlike . . . we are the absolute picture of the expression "opposites attract"), and we quickly came up with a list. I hauled ass to the store; showed the gal the list and she set me up. Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. I was in and out in less than an hour. The sales lady commented that she never made a sale that fast. I ran around that store like I've been there a million times (oh wait . . . that's because I HAVE been there a million times. Hell, one of the sales guys knows me by name. Yeah, did I mention furniture 'browsing' was an obsession of mine?!). I even scored a few extra's through it all. In the end, we are outfitting BOTH the family and living room, AND . . . I scored a new mattress for Teen's bed (she's going to have the most enviable bed in the house - it is a SWEET mattress).

I paid for my purchases, set up a delivery date; and floated out of that store (oh and for those that live near me and have probably figured out which furniture store I went to - did you know that we are getting a Toys R Us in the old Fabricland store?! We are. For real. Too bad my kids are basically beyond Toys R Us . . . it would have been helpful about 14 years ago). Want to know how I KNOW it was the right decision for us to replace all this stuff?! I don't have buyers remorse at all. In fact I'm excited about it. Beyond belief. Sad isn't it?! It's a little 'something' to know that I've reached a point in my life where appliances and furniture excite me. I mean I used to look at clothes and my heart would race and pound as I fumbled with the price tag, and if it was 'reasonablish', then I would fumble with the tags looking for my size, and then I'd scramble to try it on and then thrill of buying that piece of clothing was almost too much; and then wearing it?! WOW! What a rush. Now? Clothes are the least of my buying priorities . . . as long as it fits my ass, it's all that matters. Now it's the microwaves; the stoves; the fridges; the dryers; the freakin' rice cookers; blenders and cast-iron pots that excite me. Yeah, I think I've just figured out what the 'something' is.

Pathetic. Sad.

But true.

Anyway, I am about to get my house painted (top to bottom) AND . . . *I* don't have to do any of the work. I've decided LONG ago that I don't like painting. Not at all. Unfortunately, my other half doesn't either. THAT is not a good pairing. Because of that, our house is pretty 'boring' and plain. The reality is, I really am not into fancy-pants stuff. I just want to have a house that feels 'homey' and can be lived in. Then . . . when the painting is finshed, I'll be able to move some fancy new furniture, pictures and such in. Oh yeah . . . I'm excited!!! I won't even know this place. I'm already warning the kids about how there will be no food or drinks in these rooms (kind of like the new car thing . . . no drinks or food in the new car - until Mom spills something first (which incidentally was probably about a month into our van ownership).

And then?

We'll probably up and move. Because that seems to be how we work. FINALLY get things done to our liking, and bam, we'll decide to move on. Actually . . . probably not. I hate moving; WAY more than painting . . .

AND . . . if I moved . . . I'd need new appliances and new bedroom furniture for everyone. Yeah, the new living room and dining room stuff is good enough - downright 'cheap' compared to the alternative.