The first stop was easy. Heilig-Meyers had a hutch that we'd both really liked. The plan was to go in, buy the thing, and if the delivery charge was too high (more than about $50) we'd arrange to have my dad help us pick it up and move it to the house.
The delivery charge was only $35, which was a relief, because I'd much rather the store's people did the moving, really - that way, if they broke it, they'd have to replace it. My mom and I spent some time Sunday afternoon talking about when I was going to pick up my china and silver (she's been holding her mother's things for me) and she told me she was planning to give me my grandmother's crystal as well. Matt wasn't sure what we needed crystal for - "We have perfectly good wine glasses!" - but I'm excited.
We were a little disappointed to realize the sale we'd encountered last week had been much better (for us, at least) - our hutch cost about $300 more than if we'd bought it a week ago. Oh, well; them's the breaks.
Then we went to the sofa outlet.
We'd agreed this was the place to get our sofa. They had a wide selection of styles, an even wider selection of fabrics (for which the only charge was a price differential if you selected a higher grade fabric than the sofa in the store), and free delivery.
You know, after you've sat on thirty or fifty sofas, they all start to feel the same. Well, not the same, but they do tend to blur together a bit. Matt and I finally decided on a model of sofa. We had a ten minute discussion on what other pieces to get.
(I want to make it absolutely clear here that this was my fault. I had insisted since before we moved into the house that we had plenty of room for a loveseat in addition to a couch and chair. Matt was dubious, but folded under my pressure. Then, faced with the prospect of buying the damn thing, I suddenly waffled. Sure, it would technically fit, but I wasn't sure it wouldn't make the room appear unbearably smaller...)
We settled on a couch and two chairs as a sort of compromise. We found the manager/saleslady who'd been helping us (sortof - another point in favor of this place was that it was zero pressure) and told her what we wanted. She led us into one of the showcase rooms. "That wall, and that one," she said, pointing. Hanging from what looked almost like lingerie hangers, in three tiers along both walls were what had to be two or three thousand different fabrics.
Of course, most of them we could dismiss out of hand because of the color. But Matt and I must have spent over an hour comparing colors and designs and fabrics of the rest. We narrowed it down to about a dozen we liked. I eliminated one on the grounds that I liked it less than the rest.
Matt pointed to one, a dark blue fabric with small flowery designs in tan. "I like this one," he announced. Well, if he was going to make a stand, that settled it, didn't it?
Except that I like contrasting pillows on couches. And I didn't want all three pieces done in the same fabric. We had another discussion about which pieces should match, and which should be different, and decided to have the couch done in the fabric Matt chose, and the two chairs in something else. I settled on a fabric striped with pale olive green, salmon, and tan for the chairs.
Then I agonized over whether the couch's throw pillows should be done in the same fabric as the chairs, or yet another entirely different fabric.
At this point, Matt pretty much gave up entirely. We'd been shopping for almost three hours at this point, and while he'd been interested at the start, he was now tired and hungry and ready to just take the blue-checkered pattern that was already in the store. I finally decided, and we ordered the couch.
So Thursday one of us has to stay home to accept delivery of the hutch, and we'll have our living room furniture in 4 - 6 weeks. I'm excited, but I think Matt is just tired.
Matt and Jeremy and Braz have decided to play Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of people over at the college on Sunday evenings. They've been encouraged, because it's good exercise for them, and lets Kris and Elizabeth and I get together to do "girlie" stuff like watch chick flicks and talk about houses and furniture and stuff.
So last night Kris and Elizabeth and I were settled down in the Brandt bedroom, watching Ever After and eating diet desserts, when Matt came in. "I told you we'd have to pick a movie it was okay to interrupt," I said. We got up and went out into the hall to meet "the boys."
Except it was just Matt.
"Braz accidently hit Jeremy in the face," he said, "and Jeremy has a little cut under his eye, and Braz's arm was a little sore, so just to be safe they went to the hospital, and Jeremy needs his insurance card out of his wallet."
I eyed Matt suspiciously. Jeremy and Braz are both pretty stubborn about not going to the doctor. And Matt had that look he gets when he's not telling the entire truth. I suspected something a little more serious than a small cut and a strained wrist. But if he was underemphasizing things, it was in the hopes that Kris and Elizabeth wouldn't panic, so I didn't say anything. Elizabeth got Jeremy's wallet and we piled into my car and drove to the hospital.
When we arrived, they'd just taken Braz into triage. Jeremy had two cuts, a half inch or so both above and below his eye, where Braz's arm had smashed his glasses into his face. Braz was cradling his arm on an ice-pack and didn't want to touch or move it. Jeremy seemed in relatively high spirits, though Braz was pretty grumpy. I loaned Jeremy my eyeglasses repair kit so he could fix his glasses, and we stood around chatting until they called Jeremy back as well.
That left Matt and I sitting in the waiting room. Kris and Elizabeth, of course, were with Braz and Jeremy. We were bored for a while. We watched some cartoons, which were amusing even if we couldn't hear them. I pulled out my Palm and we played a little Scrabble. Kris came out once to tell us Braz definitely had a broken arm - a nightstick fracture running most of the length of his forearm - and that Jeremy was being given stitches.
Two hours later, at 10:15, Braz and Kris emerged with Braz wearing a hospital gown and a cast. Ten minutes later, Jeremy came out with stitches and tape around his eye, which was beginning to swell a bit. They hadn't given him any pain medication, though, and his eye wasn't swollen shut, so he thought he'd be all right to drive. (Which was a relief, because both Brandt vehicles, my car, and Jeremy's were all stick shifts, Braz couldn't drive, and Matt and Elizabeth don't know how to drive stick, leaving Kris and I doing strange maneuvers to get everyone home if Jeremy was incapacitated.)
I think we finally got to bed close to midnight, and this morning my head feels like it's packed with cotton wool. I'm considering skipping the Hall tonight to go to bed early - we're running secondary characters anyway, since the primaries are off playing K.T.'s plot. I'll get my Hall fix later in the week when we have the wrap-up session for that.
Word of the Day: -
We're not having a Word of the Day today. Not because I've decided to do away with it, but because when I got to work this morning, I discovered I can't log into my computer normally. I managed to log in as administrator, but the way they've got the mail system set up, I can't check my mail. So until I can log in correctly, I can't check my mail. And until I can check my mail, I can't get the Word of the Day.
Oh, sure, I could probably get it from the website, but I'm feeling lazy and tired. You can get it yourself if you're really interested, right?
To console you, you get a poll. Especially since I promised Braz a bigger edit field for comments. Of course, with only one hand he'll be writing them much slower, but he needs some kind of control, don't you think?
- River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
Current Projects:
- waking up
Diet Progress: 5 lbs lost
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