Thursday, October 18, 2007

Beds, Old Wood, Pit Arm Hair and a Black Sheep

BEDS

Last week I was on my way to meet my friend, Cristie, for lunch when Todd called. The words he said were enough to instill fear in even the stoutest of hearts.

I'm about to make an executive decision and you're not going to like it. But I think you'll eventually love me for it.

What do you say to that? All I could think of was a very hesitant, "okaaaay..."

Our original plan had been to move Taylor's futon down to the basement, move the guest bed into his room and then purchase a new guest bed. While he was in the mattress store, however, he was struck with a case of momentary brilliance. Instead of buying a new guest bed he bought a new bed for us. And not just any bed. A Tempur-Pedic with the elevating head, feet and a massage feature.

He was right. I didn't like the decision because it's a lot of money. He was also right, though, that after one night of sleeping on it I love him for it. The next morning was the first morning in as long as I can remember that my hips and lower back didn't hurt. And I've gone more than a week, now, without the pain I had come to expect.

The jury is still out on the elevating and massage features - just seem like extra nonsense to me. I don't let that stop me from using them, though!

OLD WOOD AND PIT ARM* HAIR

Now that I'm making my own money I have to decide what to do with it. It's not a fortune I'm making and it's fixin' (I'm embracing my Southern roots) to be even less because I will be going to two days a week. But it's my money and I can do whatever I want with it.

Here's my dilemma. I want an old red barn door or old red gate for over my sofa in the living room and then I plan to hang black and white photos I've taken of barns on it. Todd can't imagine why I would want to put scrap wood in a nice room. Now that I have my own money I can buy the perfect piece when I find it without any guilt. And not just a junky section of a demolished structure, but any decorating pieces for the house.

I also want to have laser hair removal on my underarms. Since I had lymph nodes removed with my mastectomy two-and-a-half years ago I can't ever shave the left underarm so I use Veet. I find it to be a great inconvenience and would like to just get the hair removed permanently so I don't have to worry about it. Right now I'd fit in great on the Riviera, except I'd be wearing a bathing suit complete with top and full coverage bottom.

What to do, what to do...

BLACK SHEEP

I'm sure by now you all have heard of the familial link between Dick Cheney and Barack Obama. Yesterday morning on Good Morning America Chris Cuomo said that would make Dick Cheney the black sheep of the family. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*****

*I do realize "pit arm" is not an actual word. When I was little I always got my words mixed up and said "pit arm" instead of "arm pit".

Labels: interior decorating, random

Mused by Jenster :: 7:00 AM :: 22 People musing:

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

May I Present...

THE Table:



The sideboard:

Labels: interior decorating

Mused by Jenster :: 9:42 PM :: 29 People musing:

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---------------oOo--------------- A Gripe and a Praise

GRIPE

Todd was watching The Unit last night and in the show a chemical weapon was stolen from the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. This piqued my interest because Todd used to work at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in a civilian contract capacity.

The men in the show talked about the age of these weapons - some from WWII - and how unstable they are. Todd sat here and shook his head in agreement. Then the men go to Pine Bluff and I was anxious to see a little bit of almost home. (Almost because PB is about 60 miles from where we lived.)

I was appalled! Obviously they filmed the arsenal scenes in California. It looked like they were somewhere around Camp Pendelton and looked nothing like Arkansas. I wouldn't have been surprised to see the ocean in the background!

Also, the local sheriff didn't have a Southern accent. He didn't have to sound like a "Good Ol' Boy", but he should have had a little bit of a drawl.

*sigh*

I should just give up TV all together. Except for Lost. And Desperate Housewives. Though I've got a problem with DH, too. How come all the houses are always perfect? Nobody's house is ever messy. There are never dishes in the sink (I say as I look at the overflowing basin in my kitchen); the counters are never cluttered (I say as I look through the mess to see said basin); the coffee table and end tables are always perfect (I say as... well, you get the idea.)

At least Lost is all SciFi so anything goes. Except they are awfully clean for living on an island. Hm. Maybe it's part of the magic of the island. I dunno.

PRAISE

It's getting cool again!! Yea!!

OTHER

I'll take a picture of the new dinette - along with the sideboard it goes so nicely with - this afternoon. Promise!

Labels: interior decorating, TV, weather

Mused by Jenster :: 7:24 AM :: 12 People musing:

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Eureka!!!

Or Topeka!!! if you're Tigger. We are now the proud owners of a five-piece dinette. It's the perfect size, the perfect color, the perfect style and more than the perfect price.

The wood pieces in our family room and kitchen area are Mission style in a warm honey oak. It seems like most of the small tables we found in the right color were more of a farm style with turned legs and I didn't think that would work well with the simple style of the Mission furniture.

Here's a synopsis of our search for the elusive dinette set:

Table at local furniture store - Right size. Decent price ($350.00). Good style. Color questionable. (Two toned with a warm oak top and antique white legs. Also the chairs were antique white arrowback chairs. Cute set, but not what I had in mind for this area.)

Table at Snyder's Furniture in Lancaster - Right size. Right style. Pretty good color. Un-good price ($1,850.00) 'nuff said.

Internet Searches:

Sears - Right size. Right style. Color looked good. Decent price ($275.00), but chairs weren't included. Couldn't even find the chairs on-line.

Ikea - Right size. Right style. Excellent price ($119.00). Totally wrong color. (Very light oak.)

Furniture XO - Right size. Right style. Seems to be right color. Price a little higher. ($590.00)

I must have browsed through ten or so internet sites looking for a simple little table. I tried Penny's, HomeDecorators, Boscov's, Target, Walmart, and a whole host of others to no avail. Until I checked K-Mart. There it was. The perfect size. The perfect style. The perfect color. The perfect price of $159.00. And they only wanted $115.00 to ship it to me. (Is it just me or does that seem like an outrageous sum to anyone else?)

After writing down the information I started calling the local K-Marts to see if they had it. And really, I wanted to actually see it and touch it and jiggle it before I bought it because it was K-Mart. Know what I mean?? I was informed that the stores don't necessarily have the same stock as on-line and the numbers I had were different than the in store products. But I might want to check the store in Exton.

So after a wild day of cleaning yesterday, the family loaded up into The Beast (Todd's truck) and headed to Exton - about a 30 minute drive or so. We started out by eating an early dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise where Todd and I successfully grossed out our children by our sassy banter with slightly inappropriate undertones and "those" kinds of glances. Then we ran across the street to K-Mart and they had the table on the floor, but not in stock. At least we were able to see the table and it wasn't flimsy like we anticipated. I was also able to write down the box number they use for stocking so I could call the other K-Marts in the area and better determine if they had it or not.

After that we went to a nice outdoor shopping center and walked around before leaving to come home. Since we'd had an early dinner we decided to stop for ice cream on our way home. The kids got to choose where to stop and they picked Handel's - basically on the way home, though off the beaten path.

We ate our yummy ice cream and then headed for home again. Instead of getting back to the freeway the way we'd come, we went a different way. And passed a K-Mart. Todd flipped the truck around, he and I ran in and they had two stacks of boxes. AND instead of the $159.99 that was advertised, it was actually on sale for $127.99!

So now I can stop dreaming about dinette tables. The size is perfect. The style is perfect. The color is perfect. And the price was even more perfect than we at first thought.

And that's the story of the kitchen table adventure.

Labels: interior decorating

Mused by Jenster :: 2:39 PM :: 22 People musing:

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