Sunday, June 22, 2014

In love with half my sectional!

More sectional drama.

Where we left off:  I'd emailed inquiring about when I could expect our sectional to arrive since it had been several days past the expected 10.  Found out it was on back order and they were hoping to receive it the following week.

I had emailed back to the customer service rep and he told me that actually, the sectional had arrived to their store that morning and I would be hearing from them soon to schedule the delivery.  That was Tuesday.  On Friday I still hadn't gotten that call, so we asked if we could just pick it up ourselves.  I mean, why have it just sitting there so close, yet so far away?  It could be "just sitting" right here in my house! ;-)  (We learned they intended to schedule the delivery for this Wednesday, over a WEEK after they got it and more than a MONTH after we purchased it!  And since I won't be home, it would have been put off even later!) So yesterday Brian picked it up, he and I painstakingly got the pieces into the house...  and as it turns out they don't both fit.  They both have a corner piece on one end.

I know, right?


What happened is... to get a symmetrical sectional you need a sofa and a one-armed loveseat.  We wanted the asymmetrical version, so our salesguy ordered 2 sofas.  That would create the correct number of seats, but the manufacturer doesn't make the sectional like that.  What they make is a sofa and loveseat, and additionally an armless chair you can place between, if desired.

Wait!  This won't work!

Aah, there it is
That's right ya'll, I totally created these graphics.  I SO rock!

Anyway, it's being sorted out.  In another 11+ days we'll get the correct pieces.  In the mean time I'm trying to keep my kids from bouncing on the sofa we're giving back.  We're not super happy customers, but I also understand that these things happen.  Backorders, ordering mistakes, etc.  It's just a teensy bit annoying that it's ALL happening to us.




But we LOVE the piece that works!

Have you ever made up your mind about certain qualities you absolutely DON'T want... then fall in love with something that has those qualities anyway?  Like, I'd always decided that I could marry anyone from anywhere, EXCEPT an Idahoan. (My reasoning was I did NOT want a pokey potato farmer.  I mean, what if he wanted me to live on a farm in Idaho?!?!?!)

In this case, I knew what I wanted: Tight back, fabric (not leather), modern but not "contemporary",...  And what I definitely no matter what didn't want: Rolled arms, brown in color, microfiber or leather, pillow back to eventually look sloppy, (at the very least NO DETACHED for my kids to throw around the room.)...

What I bought: A brown, microfiber, - that looks like leather - rolled arm sectional with a pillow back.  (But they are attached at least :-) )  I dunno what happened.  But we just fell in love.  It's not the microfiber that you can write in.  You know when it's a different shade depending on which direction you move the fibers?  I can't remember what that's called.  Anyway, this doesn't do that.  It looks like leather suede, but as microfiber is easier to clean.  I can live with brown, I think. I wasn't sure I could learn to love the rolled arms, but it's really growing on me.  And after purchasing I learned that there are hidden zippers in the attached back pillows for adding stuffing.  Sweet!

Anyway, I just think it's funny that I ended up with everything I definitely didn't want.  Lol.  That is SO me.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

The Chouches


Back in December I randomly ran across a sectional on Craigslist that I LOVED!  It was the furniture item I never realized I NEEDED!  Lol.  Unfortunately we were beyond poor at the time and just starting a new job - still temporary.  The sectional went off CL and I was devestated and dreampt (literally) that it miraculously showed up on Craiglist again.  Like, maybe the ad had just expired and wasn't really sold????  A girl could hope, couldn't she?

That got me browsing Craigslist every day in some fanatical obsession or something.  I was looking for something similar and for as good a deal.  One day weeks later I was browsing and there was that original sectional, marked down $350 less than their original asking price! And at the time we had the two job overlaping and tax returns coming any day.  I about had a heart attack.  This was surely meant to be!  I mean, why else did the impractical and unlikely desire of my heart come true?  So you can bet your sweet bippy I contacted the seller immediately.  

If you're unfamiliar with Craigslist posting, its default setting is to post chronologically, newest at the top.  So if I'm checking it regularly, I only need to browse the top new ones until I get in to the old ones I've already looked at.  Well what happened was that this sectional had been posted the second time, but then a bunch of other people renewed their posts which means that the top of the page was all "old stuff" I'd already seen so I hadn't looked further.  When I cam across my  beloved sectional it was the next day aaaaaaaaaaand it had SOLD!  Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

I'm still so sad about it.  It was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  It's been 7 months and I still have the pictures of it I'd copied and saved from the ad.  I look at them and cry a little inside every now and then.  *sigh*

Anyway, just a little story from my life.
But it brings me to...

All that looking at sectionals for the last 6 months had me pretty sold on getting a sectional in general.  The way that our living room is set up our sitting furniture can really only be arranged in an L-shape anyway, no matter what type of furniture it is.  And with our family being a family-of-six, not to mention it's our only living/family room, well the additional seating in a sectional seems like a good plus.  My last justification is that currently the corner of the "L" attracts toys, mail garbage, and all sorts of junk.  So to keep it cleaner I'd rather stick a seat there.  Hahaha.  

I searched craigslist relentlessly for months getting an idea of likelihood of what I wanted showing up. I researched brands, I waited, I pondered. I visited furniture stores for the first time in my life.  I figured Memorial Weekend would have good deals so I held off for that.  That Monday, armed with printed pictures and my husband, we hit the shops.  And we did it!  We bought our very first NEW item of furniture.  We've never owned anything brand new except for our technology devices.  I'm all growed up!  Only 31 and married 10 1/2 years and already buying my first new piece of furniture! 

We were given an estimate of 10 days for arrival, so 5 days later at the yard sale I sold our other couch.  While we waited for the sectional I brought in our lawn chairs.  The kids were quite enthralled.  We call them our "chouches" (chair-couch).  So come on over and have a seat on our chouch, ya'll. 

*


Unfortunately, two weeks later the sectional still hadn't arrived.  Contacting the company I found out that the manufacturer had oversold over the Memorial weekend so my sectional will be later in coming.  Hopefully next week (3 1/2 weeks after purchase).  Ugh.  I'm starting to loose my mind without a sofa to lounge on.  These outside chairs are not terribly comfortable, and one of them even broke from so much use. *Life*

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Post Catch-Up

Brennan and his legos

Awww, the poor little guy tuckered out mid-Lego-play.  With a lamp shining into his face and everything.

the three

A month ago we had an awesome Carnival Ward Party.  This was the one picture I took, and because of sun reflection I couldn’t even see how it turned out at the time.  But later another Mom in the ward got a couple more pictures of Hollyn.  Don’t you like this one below?

Hollyn First words out of Hollyn’s mouth in the mornings: “I wanna go to Sawyer’s house, Mom.”  The feeling must be mutual because Sawyer tries to take “walks” over to here frequently as well.DSCN0506DSCN0508DSCN0509IMG_20140605_115433446_HDR

We’re all allergy sufferers over here, but not usually until we’re a little older.  In fact my pediatrician told me that they don’t typically consider kids younger than 5 having hayfever.  Hollyn is in a minority I guess because her eyes have been suffering SO bad for the last few weeks.

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The day she slept in until 11am

IMG_20140601_185759501_HDRWhere/how Hollyn spends her nap times.  Usually the curtain is closed and she plays behind it.  whenever any of us go outside she calls “hi” and waves.

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Yard Sale over Memorial Weekend.  The day when all the neighborhood kids sell each other their junk and they all come home with as many toys as we got rid of and having spent all their allowance.

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She’s moved on from cocoa powder and now gets into my makeup.  Lipstick art, anyone?

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Paging Dr. McConnell…

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Music Performance Season.  Hopefully in an upcoming post I’ll get up some video of the concerts.

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Posing for Mom while she plays with camera settings. (After MONTHS of foggy pictures from Hollyn fingering my camera’s lens, I finally gave it the best cleaning I could last night.  Hopefully future pictures will be better.)

DSCN0396DSCN0408DSCN0416DSCN0417DSCN0430DSCN0433DSCN0438DSCN0440DSCN0441DSCN0442DSCN0449DSCN0450IMG_20140519_175306044IMG_20140519_175350475IMG_20140516_105942196DSCN0358DSCN0360DSCN0365DSCN0367DSCN0381Asher holds his snake

Same night as Brennan, he ALSO fell asleep with a toy in his hand.  Clearly they had WAY too much fun at that ward carnival.

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This girl.  She LOVES wearing this hat, always and everywhere.  And she loves her umbrella as well.

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There’s about a trillion shots like this on my phone from that night.

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So grown up!

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Front row, 4th on the left.  His first school concert. Smile

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Happy First Birthday Kieran!

Well it's almost a week late, but Kieran is ONE!  Oh my heart. :-(  We had a nice little celebration though with my parents who joined us for dinner, dessert, and present time.  Then I jetted off to the Young Women Mutual activity.  It was a busy day.

Kieran, you are SO amazing!  You make your Mom and Dad's hearts absolutely melt.  You're so patient and calm, so easygoing.  Your siblings adore you like nobody's business.  We love what you bring to this family and thank Heavenly Father for sending you us daily. ♥



I got all of two pictures and some video. :-)