Chris goes shopping...

Chris did a fantastic job of putting some finishing touches on the house, such as hanging pictures. The place looked great when I got home on Friday (he'd taken the day off). His labors made him decide it was time to buy stools for our kitchen counter, so we can start eating there.

The same store where I had bought the sofa was having a warehouse sale this weekend, and since I had seen some nice stools in their showroom, suggested we give that a try.

So this morning, we set out in the Fit, figuring we could put a couple of stools in there. Just at the point where we were supposed to make the left hand turn down the road, we see cars parked all over on both sides. But being in the shopping mood that we were, we kept going closer towards the warehouse and a helpful guy wearing a store T-shirt waved us into a parking lot.

As we got out of the car, we followed a line of people walking towards a warehouse. There was also a line of vehicles, apparently waiting to pick up. This didn't look good, but we kept walking.

When we got to the entrance, we went inside, to find a mob of people just standing there clogging up the front space, all waiting to pay. There were no organized queues, just people everywhere. Big people, fat people, skinny people, old people, young'uns, babies in strollers, and most looked confused and a bit put out.

I said to Chris, "I'd rather pay full price than put up this apocalyptic movie scene." He agreed completely, so we left. On the way out, as we pushed our way upstream, we saw two perfect counter stools, for $99.

But no way were we waiting in that. On the way out, the same helpful guy made us stop and wait to allow some folks to turn left. I muttered, "I guess he knows we didn't buy anything."

Even so, we were still in a furniture buying mood, so we headed out for the actual showroom. BestBuy was on the way, so we stopped there first to buy Chris' mom's Christmas present, one of those digital frames. As I'm typing, he's putting pictures on it for her (they don't have a computer or ever read the internet, so unless one of you tells, the gift secret is safe...)

Then we went to the showroom and walked around. We found a sale section, found a stool that we liked, but when we measured it, it was going to be too tall, so we found another one, also on sale. The salesman said he could give us new ones for the same price, so we took that deal. We looked around for a coffee table, and found a rectangular glass table with chrome legs and a wavy edge, and arranged for them all to be delivered in about 10 days.

While we were hanging out at the counter waiting for the paperwork, we heard someone else talking about the warehouse sale and that people were waiting in line two hours just to pay.

By then, it was lunchtime, so we went to Arby's. Good ol' Arby's. Then we went to HomeWorld, also nearby, to look for bedroom furniture. We have our lovely sleighbed, but Chris is still using an upside down cardboard china crate as his bedside table, so we wanted some things that would coordinate well with our bed.

We found a nice media armoire, so we can stick the TV in that, and we found bedside tables. We're a little nervous about how well the color will match, but at least those items will match each other even if the bed is a little different.

And, we found another coffee table. I'd had my eye on that table before. It was also glass-topped with a beveled edge, round, and had a really pretty light colored stone base. It will look great with our beige leather sofa and travertine marble tile floor. I could tell when Chris saw it, that he had a reaction to it, but couldn't tell if it was good or bad. He shrugged. "I like this one better. I've always liked round tables."

I liked it better, too, and it was a little cheaper than the other one. "I'll just call the other store and cancel the other table."

"No, no, don't do that. We've already paid for it."

"But it's not like they're on the way to the house with it."

But Chris shook his head and we went off to find a salesman to buy the bedroom stuff. Then I said, "we're buying a coffee table, too." Chris got a Look on his face, and I said, "You don't have to call them; I'll do it. We're going to have to live with it every day so it might as well be something we both like the best."

We finished our shopping afternoon by buying gas at Costco, now down to $2.40 a gallon here. "Normal" gas stations are around 2.87. (My mom tells me it's down to $1.88 there in Tennessee.) So, yes, we waiting in line 15 minutes to save about $5. But at least we were sitting comfortably in our car and not in a crush of strange people...

Once we got home, I called the other store and canceled the coffee table. "Did they yell at you?" Chris asked. And no, the guy was very polite. I'm sure we're not the first people to call and change our minds...

It was a lot of fun buying our stuff together and I hope we like it when it gets here! In a couple of weeks, when the furniture is delivered, I'll post more pictures.

Er, and in the meanwhile, is anyone out there using the pseudonym "Helen Doyle"? A lovely gift arrived from the "Slate Lady" and the only clue we have is the shipping label, which had my name and "gift from Helen Doyle" in parentheses. There's no card inside.

Oh, and another reason it's a good Saturday is Tennessee has an off week. So at least they can't lose!