What I Buy and Didn't Buy Wednesday!

Well, we did it. We made a decision. We've been on the fence for quite a long while. It was time. Maybe long overdue. We've joined team "king bed owners"! I'm pretty excited about it. Oh the space!! 

Of course, that meant other new furniture...

We got a chest that the tv will sit on. Butch will have his stuff in the drawers. He asked me what I would do with my things. I told him that I use my closet for everything. I like having it all in one place. My dresser is basically empty anyway.

And two nightstands. That's all we need. As it is, my current nightstand looks like this: top drawer: kleenex, pen and paper (you know for those late night ideas), book light, and Blistex. The middle drawer is empty. The bottom drawer has all of my nail paraphernalia--polish and such. I don't even need that stuff since I mostly get manicures and pedicures. As I always say, you keep things if you have the space.

Oh, and we had to get a new mattress. I had no idea. I had no idea that mattresses were so darn expensive! It's been 27 years since we bought a mattress. After hearing about people near and dear to us who have made mattress mistakes, we have bought "mattress" insurance. Yes, you read that right. What else would you call it if you have to buy a $169.00 mattress pad in order to "try out" the mattress for 90 days? They tried to get us to "spring"--don't be confused, we didn't need to buy any springs--for the $269.00 mattress pad. 

I said right away, "We are not paying $269.00 for a mattress pad." To which the salesperson replied, "Well you have to have the mattress pad in order to have the 90-day warranty. You could get the basic pad." To which I asked, "Well, how much is that?" 

The salesperson snippily replied, "I don't know--it's not like I know the price of everything in the store." I guess she was mad that I was "cheaping out!" I'm pretty sure she gets a bonus for every one she sells. Apparently most people just accept the $269.00 one without question. I don't care, I was NOT paying $269.00 for a mattress pad. We did pay for the $169.00 pad. Later, I told Butch, "Really, if we had to pay the $269.00, we would have done it. With the cost of the mattress, it would have been worth it to not make a mistake." 

Next up was the "fix or replace for any reason warranty"--just another kind of insurance. We said, "No" to that---our current 27 year old furniture looks brand-spankin' new. That saved us another $600. I'm not kidding! $600!! Our salesperson had to call the store manager to allow us to take that off the contract. He was trying to convince us why we needed it. When he said the warranty would cover drink "rings" on the furniture, I piped up, "We have coasters on each of our nightstands." That's when he realized he was not going to upsell us on that insurance! We take care of our things. 

I like to tell the story about our very first bedroom set. It was cheap--- wood-looking plastic purchased in 1971 for $300.00. We sold it 10 years later for $350.00. Not too many people can say that their cheap plastic furniture appreciated in value!!

Anyway, the new furniture will not arrive until January. I'm pretty excited. I guess it's a good thing we have a few weeks. I need to arrange for Re-Nu come pick up our "old" furniture that is still like brand new.

We donate all of our furniture, bedding, rugs, artwork, and drapes--anytime we re-do something. This organization is part of the YWCA. They furnish apartments and safe homes for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. The people at Re-Nu are really good about sending me pictures of how nice our cast-offs look in their new homes.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is not having to climb steps to get into my bed!

I'm planning to sleep in our guest room for a few nights to decide whether we should swap out the mattresses. That one is older than this one. Even our mattresses look brand new--no stains at all. Re-Nu cannot take mattresses. You pretty much have to trash those. 

It's fun to get new furniture. There's nothing that freshens up a room like new furniture---except fresh paint. But, since I don't plan to replace my drapes, I think I'll stick with this color a while longer. 

And now for what I didn't buy---dinner last night!! Stephanie and Nicky took us out to dinner as a "thank you" for the safari and help with hosting Morgan and Olly's engagement party. 

They took us to a new restaurant downtown:

The food was fabulous. I had the BEST shrimp stuffed with crabmeat that I've ever had. The crab meat was thick and plentiful. So good. We shared crab-fried rice, spinach, and lobster mashed potatoes. I had never had those before. They were so good with big chunks of lobster. Thanks Steph and Nicky!!

Downtown is always "hoppin'"! It's so colorful. We had such a fun evening. A great way to "kick-off" our trip to Quebec City today!! 

Later...