Well, we did go furniture shopping today, but not early, as I had hoped, in fact we actually didn’t set out until almost lunch time! Forward thinking and methodical as usual, I went through the Vermont South floor plan, room by room, working out, with Julian’s input, what furniture was going to be needed for each. Good, now we had a list, so that we wouldn’t be darting holus-bolus around the furniture shops, exclaiming over pieces of furniture that looked fantastic, but wouldn’t be what we wanted or needed. Several days ago, about last Wednesday, when we were deciding whether or not we wanted to buy some of the Vendor’s furniture, and Julian vetoed the idea, blah, blah, blah – I told you all about it at the time, remember? (if you don’t remember, go back and read all of last week’s blogs and refresh your memories! That can be your punishment for forgetting something that I told you! 😉 Only kidding… 🙂 ) When he said that we shouldn’t buy any of their furniture, I said “Right! Fine! Then we’re going to need measurements, so that we know what size of tables and lounge suites we’re going to need! Ask “Julian-the-Agent” if we can have the measurements of (and Winter proceeds to read out a long list of furniture and sundry items that we were going to need the dimensions of)” “my-Julian” of course, scoffed at such a request: “We can work out the sizes and dimensions from the room measurements and the photos!”, said he, brazenly! I shrugged… “Suit yourself”, said I, but added, sotto-voce “but you will need those measurements, anyway!” Today, I was proved right. We went to only two furniture places before he realised that I’d been right. We had no idea of the size of the kitchen table – all we knew was that it fitted three chairs down each side, and one on each end. We looked at all the tables that had three chairs down each side, and which would have fitted another one on each end… and they were all different ruddy sizes! Some were obviously far too long, some looked too short, and others, well, we just couldn’t tell! The same with the lounge suites – some looked small enough to fit in the corner of the Family room, but were uncomfortable, and looked “mingy” – some were really comfortable, but looked as though they might have been too big, and some were nice enough, and might have been the right size, but only came in cloth, not leather (we prefer leather because cats don’t scratch leather lounge suites as much as they do the cloth ones) In the end Julian sat there glumly, saying “We need the measurements! 😦 ” I was very magnanimous – I refrained from saying “I told you so!” out aloud (but as we’d just been talking to the salesman about whether or not we’d need the measurements of the things we’d just been looking at, I couldn’t help but smirk at said salesman, which was very mean of me, but after all, I do have a reputation for being a little “harsh” sometimes! 😉 ) So at about 2.15pm, we packed it in and came home to a late lunch, a cup of coffee, and a quick email to “Julian-the-Agent” requesting either a supervised visit to the place to take measurements, or for the Vendors to send us the measurements, via “Julian-the-Agent” – as we’d proved today that even armed with a specific list and photos of the types of items we wanted, shopping for household furniture without measurements is pretty pointless… After lunch I did a bit of Rifting – and (*gulp*) I created yet another male character – a Dwarven Mage this time, called “Grumblegruff” – isn’t that a good name for a crusty old Dwarf?! 🙂 He’s as short as I could make him, and he has lovely ox-blood coloured hair with bright blue tips! I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes…
We ended up not going to Office Works, either, so I didn’t even get my pencil sharpener 😦 Julian wanted to get some boxes from the Storage place in Mitcham where we still have (far too much!) stuff from our 2007 move to Doncaster stored, because we don’t have any more room for them here – we bought 20 “Archive” boxes because they were on “Special”. Unfortunately we haven’t received the “detailed list” from Sharron the Stylist, about what to move out and what to leave on show yet, so we don’t know what to start packing, or what not to pack. We’re meeting up with Carmen at her office again at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon – maybe she’ll have heard from Sharron… I just want to start things happening – this morning, although it proved a valuable lesson in some ways, was otherwise a waste of time – and we didn’t even see anything that we really liked! We didn’t specifically look, but I kept a sharp eye out for bedroom furniture – and it was all horrible! Most of what I saw I wouldn’t put in a derelict, condemned building, let alone in our own bedroom! For goodness sake – what’s happened to good taste these days? “Shabby Chic”? The “Distressed” Look? Just seeing it in a shop “distresses” me! And as for the “Retro” look, believe me, when you’ve grown up with it, you never want to see it again – let alone in your own house! Whatever happened to “elegance”? Whatever happened to harmonious lines, a “pleasing” colour, and… good craftsmanship?! All too much of today’s furniture and clothing can be summed up in four little words: “shoddy look, shoddy craftsmanship”! 
But, tomorrow is another day – let’s see what Carmen, and hopefully by then, Sharron, have to say….
Weigh-in this morning. I think… I think… that the Big Bounce Back has started “nibbling around my edges”… Actually, that’s the wrong terminology. If the BBB was “nibbling around my edges”, I’d be getting smaller and lighter, wouldn’t I? However, I think it’s starting to edge a little closer to me – I went up one point today, from 84.3kg to 84.4kg. The beginning of the end…. of my downward course, especially considering that I go back on the “fluid pills” the day after tomorrow! *sigh*
Julian is in here with me, constructing “Archive” boxes (they come as a flat piece of pre-cut heavy cardboard) and I just asked him what was happening tomorrow, apart from our appointment with Carmen. He suggests “packing up”, so I guess the move could be said to be officially underway, with the Den rapidly filling up with newly constructed (but still empty) boxes! I think I’ll start on my drawers here in the Den tomorrow, and then move on to my bathroom – I also know that we’re going to need a lot of rubbish bin liners, if we’re not going to pack anything that we’re not taking with us! Later on, when Julian starts advertising the furniture and other things we’re going to be selling, I’ll post the links to those items here as well, so that if anyone’s interested, you can go and have a look to see if you want anything. But for now, that’s about it for me – drop by again tomorrow night to see how my weight went, whether it went up a bit more, a lot more, stayed the same, or went down again… Find out if we received Sharron’s “”detailed list”, and what the lovely Carmen had to say. I’ll be able to fill you in on all our packing up processes, and whether we found things that we’d thought lost forever (like my ever famous Recipe Book, which has now, thankfully, been found!) But whatever happens tomorrow, you know there’ll be heaps of news and interesting tidbits here to amuse you all, so until then, please bee good, remember that advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn’t. Don’t forget to keep warm, to drive carefully, and to look after yourselves… but most importantly… remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 