Sitting has never made me so tired

The big spacious basket-ball court of a living room finally has something in it. One thing. We finally decided on a couch.

Let me walk you through what buying living room furniture has been like for us so far:

We arrived. We unpacked. The living room was empty. We decided it needed to be filled. He wanted leather, I liked the idea of leather as long as my living room didn't turn into a man-cave. I didn't want black leather. Brown. Comfortable. He wanted modern. I hate modern. He hates traditional. We agreed it would be something in-between. 2 couches? A couch and a loveseat? chairs? 'Well, if you know what you Don't want...can you tell me what you DO want?' I have a picture in my head of a comfy, yet classy living room with enough seating for guests that doesn't look like a furniture store, but it's hard to describe. So...we went to the beach.

Fortunately, while at the beach, someone told us that Laz-y-Boy and Leon's were having a big sale that weekend. So after the beach, we hit up Laz-y-boy and The Brick, with plans to go to Sears and Leon's as well. We took the whole afternoon at Laz-y-Boy and The Brick. Furniture is expensive!

Back out in the evening after dinner to check out Leon's and Sears, and UFW. We went to UFW first...and stayed there all evening. Picked out a ton of furniture (living room sectional, a bed, mattress, 2 dressers, 2 night-stands) and put a $20 deposit so we could go home and think...plus, we hadn't made it to Leon's and Sears.

Side note: I hate furniture shopping...I've decided. I hate that the price isn't 'the price'. "Oh, that's the original price, but it's on sale for this price...but I could give it to you for this price." "So and so has it for this price." "Oh, I could beat that." "But you said 'this' was the price?" "I could beat it." Can the price just be the price please?

Next day, Leon's and Sears. We loved a couch at Leon's...and considered getting two. Is it black or brown though? It's brown, says the salesperson. It looks black. It's brown. Ok. Plus, it's genuine leather...high quality. Other people may have been showing you bonded leather. That's cheap. Basically they take vinyl and spray leather bits onto it. It wears off. Did you know that? I did not know that. I've never bought leather furniture before. So, was the stuff we liked at UFW and The Brick bonded leather? I can't remember.

No trip to Sears.

Next day...Sears. Nothing we liked.

The next day is Sunday. The people who told us about the sale tell us that they bought some couches at Leon's the day before and that Leon's was the best in their opinion. What did you guys get? Nothing yet. Still looking.

Another day...Back to Laz-y-Boy...back to The Brick. Bonded leather. a-ha! Pretty sure UFW will be the same.

(are you exhausted reading this...I'm exhausted typing it...and I already lived it).

I'm pretty sure we'll get the ones at Leon's. But we have the design lady coming from Laz-Y-Boy on Thursday afternoon, so let's just wait and see what she says. Maybe she'll have a different idea for the space that we haven't thought of yet.

So all morning Thursday morning I clean and tidy and get ready for my visit from the Laz-y-Boy lady. We're not buying furniture from them because they're way too expensive, but we'd like her opinion. We'll get the 2 couches from Leon's after she's done. My appointment is for 2pm. At 1pm, they call and say they're not coming because she's sick. Nice. So we get in the car and head to Leon's.

My kid's have a love-hate relationship with furniture stores now. It's awesome to run around and play hide-and-seek in a warehouse-sized living room and Leon's has little kid's recliners that are oh so cool to sit in. But seriously, another furniture store? I think we're going mental. On our way to Leon's we stop at some random furniture store. The kid's and I stay in the car while Tyler runs in to see if there is anything worthwhile. 15 minutes. Not worthwhile.

Next store (another no-name random furniture store). We wait in the car...20 minutes. At this time Max has slapped his sister in the face a few times and Logan has screamed....I can't count anymore. Not worth it.

Leon's. Tyler...you do your thing and negotiate. The kid's and I will play with mini-recliners and bedroom furniture. Oh, and be quick, because Logan's supposed to have a nap in 15 minutes...and our house is 20 minutes away.

Oh, and did I mention that we have spent our evenings for the last week at Canadian Tire, Loews, Home Depot and Rona checking out Patio furniture? Yup...we have.

Two 'brown' leather couches purchased. One to be delivered the next morning (Friday) and another in a week or so. Done. We will settle on a rug and chairs another time. Two couches will do for now. I'm satisfied. He's satisfied. The kid's are spent. Let's go.

Oh, and how do you punctuate 2 weeks of furniture shopping? By having one of your crazy kids push the handle on the emergency exit door while Dad is 'doing his thing...negotiating', setting off the fire alarm. Bells and whistles...lots of tears, "I didn't know what it was!!!" and a big fire truck racing into the parking lot...guys in full gear. Max (as if you didn't know already that it was him), had to give apologies to a lot of people.

I hope this was worth it!

But having an empty living room has been fun:

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Attic

What do you do on a rainy day?

You watch out, so you don't get 'lighteninged' on.

You splash in puddles. (Because it's still 26 degrees, even though it's pouring out)




You collect rain in a bucket and make up songs while dancing with an umbrella.


You dry off and play ring-toss in the garage while your baby brother is sleeping.



Sadly, you discover rain spots on the ceiling of your dining room...and bathroom.

Saturday Surprise

On Saturday, we had determined that we would sit around and stare each other...all day. Get's very boring. We were waiting for the cable guy to show up and hook up our phone, cable and internet. They gave us the very specific time of 'somewhere between 9am and 5pm. Thanks. So we stayed home. We had a pancake breakfast, but there's no reason to rush breakfast when you have nowhere to be. I think there was a branch activity at the church from 10-12 for Pioneer Day. No cable guy....no activity.

We hung out all morning. No cable guy.

We had taquitos for lunch. No cable guy.

At about 1:30, there was a ring-a-ding of the doorbell. Hooray! Maybe we'll be able to salvage the afternoon still.

Tyler went to answer the door and was surprised to see a 50-year-old brunette at the door in biker gear. Not your typical cable guy.

"Hi!...Trevor?" (this is hilarious because for our entire relationship, Tyler has been called Trevor by a number of different people - aka my Grandma - and he has worked REALLY hard to get her to like him, and know his real name).

"Tyler."

"Oh Tyler! It's Linda."

???

"Rosemary's sister...?"

"OH! Hey Heather...come here." (Why do I need to meet the cable guy?)

"AHHHHH!!!" It was my Aunt Linda (my mom's sister) and her boyfriend Bert, his brother Pierre and Pierre's wife Jocelyne. They had come to Kingston for the day (from East of Ottawa) for a bike show and to stop by and pay a visit. It was so great to see family. I haven't seen her in about 3 years, since the last time she came to Calgary to have a million sleepovers with my mom. They're both in their 50s and they would stay up late in their jammies and giggle.

We offered them a cold drink, but couldn't even offer them a seat, because we have no furniture.

We sat outside while Pierre talked Tyler's ear off about him (Tyler) being in medicine...asking a million questions. Apparently he's a talker. The kid's and I checked out the cool motorbikes, and Max and Logan even took a turn sitting on it.

Linda and I chatted about planning a family reunion with the rest of my mom's family when my parent's come for a visit and how fun it will be. We talked about how great it is to finally be living in a house and she took tons of pictures of us and our new house. She chastised her company for swearing in our presence and told them they were not allowed to do that at this house. Pierre joked that he would have nothing to say then!

Then, just as quickly as they came, they left for their bike-ride home. Engines roared and helmets were donned. As they drove away, Tyler said, "Well, our reputation on this street just changed...nobody's going to mess with the family who's friends with the bikers!"

Cable guy showed up around 3:00. We were glad he came late in the day, so we were able to be home when Linda payed her surprise visit.

Home is like a Holiday

(pictures of my yard)


Since we moved in we've been filling our time with lazing around and enjoying the heat. We went for dinner at a friend's house on Sunday evening, along with the Elders. It was great. We're pretty used to having family around on Sunday, so it was nice to spend time with people.

The plan was to go the beach Monday morning, but the forecast wasn't great, so we hung out instead. Went to Walmart, bought laundry baskets and garbage bins. I also managed to do something to my back, so I've been a little down-and-out for the week.
We went to the park on Tuesday (there's a park within WALKING distance of my house!!) It was so hot out that we spent most of the time in the shade of a tree and then we walked home to have freezies.



Wednesday we went to Canadian Tire in the morning and bought a kiddie pool and slip'n'slide, so we could spend the entire hot hot day outside. It was great! We've been BBQing for dinner and just hanging out. The idea of the slip'n'slide was so the kids could play and I could lay down on the deck and rest my back (and hopefully get a tan), but setting up 3 kids on a slip'n'slide and kiddie pool for the first time is hardly relaxing.



I think I laid down for 20 minutes in 3 hours. Had to set up the slide, had to hook up the hose (I bought a cheap one and it's pretty short), had to blow up the kiddie pool, had to FILL the kiddie pool, get toys, bathing suits, sunscreen, lunch...Oh well. We have it now. Lucy laid in her towel for a while to warm up, and I went to join her, only to see that my towel had been stollen!







That night, we went for a walk downtown by Lake Ontario to check out the boats. We ended up spending most of our time checking out ducks instead, but it was a good time. I spent most of the time pushing Logan in the stroller because it gave me something to hang on to....it's like a walker. What an old lady I am.




Thursday morning we went to the beach. We went at about 10am because it gets way to hot (and busy) in the afternoon to be at the beach. It was gorgeous and fun. All 3 of the kids loved it.




Splashing, swimming (with new water wings), and building sand castles. We came home with sand in EVERYTHING, and big smiles on our faces.

That afternoon we spent furniture shopping...It was way to hot to be outside anymore. 41 degrees in the shade! Holy. We looked at SO many different couches, that they're all running together a bit. Oh well. We'll choose something eventually.

The funniest part of the week was on the way home from furniture shopping that evening. We had promised the kids an ice-cream cone for being so good, so we decided to stop at the McDs (kind of by our house, but a few minutes drive) to get a couple of cones. We were still in the rental car, so we decided that I would hold the cones until we got home, and then the kids could eat them. Good thinking. I didn't have the cones in my hands for even 2 minutes before they started dripping like a soft-serve shower all over me. Of course, I was trying to spare the rental car and the outrageous cleaning bill, so I just let them drip all over my shorts...Tyler quickly tossed his cone out the window on the highway, because he couldn't drive and save the dripping cone at the same time. We ended up pulling over on the highway and letting the kids suck down as much ice-cream as they could before it melted away. It was seriously ridiculous. But probably something we'll remember for a long time.

It feels a little bit like we're on vacation. We've skyped with family a few times, which is fun, but not the same. This past Sunday we didn't have any plans and so we stayed home and watched Netflicks (Beethoven - my kid's loved it), and ate chili. I felt it a little that day. I love living here. Love it. But I miss people.

Today I cleaned my house. That makes it feel a little more real. I felt a little excited about cleaning my house today. I'm sure that will pass.

Settling In

Our stuff arrived early. 9:30am. The missionaries, and a few other members of the Elder's Quorum joined us at 10 to help us unload.

We hired professional movers to help with the piano, and they also helped with the other stuff as well...since the Piano was the first thing we loaded (First in, last out). Unfortunately the professionals were the only ones who did any damage to our house (dents in the wall going down to the basement), and for a few days we couldn't find the box that had the Blu-Ray player, X-Box and Wii...and we were worried about our questionable help...but we found it...in Logan's room, labelled as baby clothes. Phew!

Everything was out of the POD and into our garage or elsewhere by 11. That's when everyone shook hands and said goodbye. The Elders stayed ALL day...literally...ALL day, to help us set stuff up. We fed them lunch AND dinner. They helped set up beds, chairs, dining room table, all the dining chairs (which we had completely taken apart to fit into the POD), the train table, shelves, cupboards, high-chairs...and even at 5pm when we were completely exhausted they were still asking what they could do to help.

At one point I was in the garage and heard the jingle-jangle of the ice-cream truck and ran outside to flag him down. My kids have never experienced an ice-cream truck before. But I was too late. Super-Elders to the rescue. They both took off down the street and chased down the ice-cream truck. He followed them back to our house, and we each got a treat.

(Yes, I look like I've been moving all day in crazy heat).
My kids are so unaware of life in a city. We've been on a farm for 5 years. Logan wants to wander whenever and wherever all the time.
We headed to Loblaws to get some groceries and get even MORE settled in before the Sabbath was upon us. We went home and let the kids have a quick dip in our soaker tub, since Logan had been fascinated with it's hugeness all day. And then it was off to bed so we could actually TRY to be on time for our new branch. (We weren't).