Not For the Feint of Heart

Furniture shopping. It gets me every time. I swear that my blood pressure spikes and I nearly have a heart attack when the experience is over.

Michael and I had out first "argument" over a couch. We sat in Ikea for way too long discussing the merits of a green and white striped couch and why, in my opinion, it looked like jailhouse garb. That couch is long gone, but the memories are occasionally a little too fresh.

Yesterday we took the kids (never a good idea) and went furniture shopping. We'd already been to a store earlier in the week to find a writing desk. This was a successful trip in that we were in and out of the store in under 75 minutes and that was returning a cracked chair they tried to pass off on us. But I digress.

Yesterday. The plan was to go to Costco and see if they had any furniture then hit two other stores possibly. Well, Costco had outdoor furniture, not exactly what we were looking for. We got slightly distracted when we saw a Pier 1 near Costco, but we played it smart. Michael dropped me off while he stayed in the car with the kids. Pier 1 had exactly 3 couches and none of which were what we wanted. Back to the freeway to head to store #3.

The next store was farther up the freeway and since it had the word sofa in the name, it was our best bet at finding what we were looking for. Well, I missed the off ramp and had to double back on a frontage road. It always seems like you're going much farther away from your destination when you're not sure where the next exit is. Luckily it was only a few miles... but it still was a detour that wasted precious time while shopping with the kids.

Once again, I hopped out of the car to check out the store before dragging Michael and the kids into the big black hole of a furniture store. Sofa Mart. Doesn't that sound promising? Well, it was the jackpot of sofa shopping. It had it all; fabric, leather, durahide, naugahyde, microsuede, cheap, expensive, sectionals, poofy, classic, traditional, and modern. I went back to get Michael and the kids.

Sofa Mart is smart, they set up a "kids" area with toys, vrc/movies, and a big bean bag. Just the thing to let parents shop while their kids run amuck. Michael and I started narrowing down the field. Actually this was a fairly easy process of elimination. We tend to like traditional which took out half the choices in the store. Our biggest decision was perhaps what and how many pieces to get. This is the part of the shopping trip that starts to get hairy for me. We're starting to make decisions and Lily is starting to act like the 2 year old that she is.

Lily. Sweet Lily. By now it is past naptime and she has missed that window of opportunity. She has also done a euphemism in her diaper. No fear, I have a backup diaper in the car. I get her changed and we go back in the store. Michael is wrapping things up with the saleslady and Lily starts pulling at my purse and yelling for gum. She loses it. I lose it. We head to the car.Michael heads back to the car after having closed the deal on two couches and two loveseats.

Whew, another furniture purchase for the books.