George and I are going shopping for a new dining room set. The one we have is a hand me down, and the chairs are wobbly and we are tired of it. Finding one we like has proven more difficult that we thought. This is a very nice house, but it has small rooms, and the dining room is the opposite of baronial. The dining room table can be regular sized, but neither of us like the Queen Anne formal designs. We went to Gardner, Massachusetts, home of the fine furniture makers of the past, and now home to furniture outlets. We looked at some beautiful tables with price tags to match. As we lounged around in the chairs trying them out for size, we added up the price tags...$4100, $3800, $4500. Soon it became like Las Vegas, when a very high price seemed paltry. We needed to get out of there. Since then I have seen ads for furniture nearby our home in "regular" stores, and it seems we are going out again tonight to see what we can see. I am not buying this for posterity or to hand down to my grandchildren. I just want to seat guests at a nice table without worrying about their safety.
The next project is that I have hired housecleaners to come in and help us do some of the heavy lifting of the housework so that I can concentrate on putting stuff away. Loving crafts and flowers, and protecting my knitting time at all costs, puts a strain on the housework. I'd much rather create something than clean house. (Mom, don't listen to this.) It has been a problem of mine since I was small. I just see so many opportunities to use my day in better ways than pushing a mob or a dustrag around. The house is not a disaster area, it is just in need of a good thorough housecleaning. Preferably not by me. Certainly not by George. By George. So, the "crew" is coming on Thursday and...as Mike says, I have a lot of house cleaning to do before the housecleaners get here.
Having small rooms is a challenge to packrats like us. George drempt last night that we were moving into a condo. I'm sure that we have at least enough extra stuff to furnish another condo, but I assured him that I am not going anywhere and he can relax. Somehow I have to manage to get all this done without scaring him half to death. He doesn't like change much.
I am going to buy a recliner for George for Christmas. I am looking to Mike to help me move furniture around and make sure the TV and stereo stays hooked up while we do that. Maybe Mike will have to go furniture shopping with me. I'm sure that will be a thrill for him. Not. We will see. Preparations for Thanksgiving and Christmas begin....and making it FUN is the challenge!
This is fun, right?
