However, since I am over 40, work for a living, and have a kid of my own, I guess I'm stuck being an adult. But now I know that I've grown up. You see, I bought a dining room set. TheHusband and I have been using my uncle's mother's old dining room set since shortly after we bought our house (almost 9 years now). It is a generic set from the early 50's with mustard colored velvety upholstery on the seats. And it is rickety. TH has tightened the screws to the bursting point, but the table still is rickety, and its instability has caused drinks to spill. For it to be functional, it would need to be reglued, and the table is not worth it. So we decided to buy a new set. Actually, I decided I wanted a new set and (somehow) convinced TheHusband that he did, too. (I'm still not sure how I managed that. Wish I did, because I'd use those secret powers to get me an iPhone, I'm telling you!)
My aunt and uncle had bought a dining table, chairs, buffet, and a bedroom set from an Amish furniture maker in central Ohio, had it delivered to NJ, and were extremely happy with the products. So (after I looked their stuff over and was duly impressed) we decided to go to the same place. Mind you, this furniture-maker is ~450 miles from our house, so it wasn't a quick jaunt to check out his stuff. It so happened that his workshop/showroom is about 1 hour from my mother-in-law's house, hence the other reason for our trip to OH (as if the baby wasn't alluring enough).
We ordered a dining table, 8 chairs, a hutch, a buffet, a new coffee table (to replace the one that is about to lose a leg), and a hall table (for mail and other stuff, right inside the front door, to replace the rickety one we found in the coat closet when we moved into the house). I did have to compromise on the choice of wood and stain color with TheHusband. Why can't he be a good husband and not have an opinion? 
We are also considering replacing our kitchen chairs. And we are paying about half what we would pay if we bought the same pieces here in suburban DC. W00t! One of my coworkers may order a bed and tag along in our shipment, thereby reducing some of the shipping cost. Anyone else in the DC area want to order some hand-made wood furniture to be delivered in late August?Are you sure this makes me all grown-up?
9 comments:
Why can't he be a good husband and not have an opinion?
Not have one or not express it?
I'd like to say that being single I'm exempt from the whole opinion thing as expressed here, but much to my chagrin, it doesn't seem to work that way. Even my daughter, bless her heart, has expressed similar sentiments to her dear ol' dad.
Sigh.
He can have an opinion and even express it. But I just don't want it to count in the decorating arena. :-)
Sorry, Doc - you're a grownup.
I, on the other hand, am not. We still don't have a dining set. But that may be because we don't have a dining room...
Crap. I don't want to be a grown-up.
Hmmm.. not to be maudlin, but B used to always have opinions about decorating choices. Uninformed, odd opinions, but definitely counted up to and including frequent veto power.
Now I can redecorate arbitrarily and unilaterally. It's not all it's cracked up to be. :/
Jeri, that isn't maudlin. B sounds a lot like TH. I've even liked some of TH's ideas. And I will probably love how the stuff turns out and be happy I compromised. Complaining about it isn't so fun right now. :-( I will always be sad that my visit was just that little bit too late...
I would tag along if I live in DC. Mm, Amish furniture.
I do hope it arrives after we leave again. I would DIE if my boys scratched things up. Or Leah, who turns out to be surprisingly destructive.
OTOH, I would like to see it in real life.
I can wrap it in bubble wrap (or something equivalent) before the horde arrives. I'd rather you see it and take my chances.
I had to look up "maudlin", how sad is that. But what a wonderful word!
Memories are like that, they pop up at all possible moments. A good friend of mine who lost her husband once told me that one of the harder things was that after some months, people expected her not to talk about her husband anymore and to toughen up and get on with her life. To her, it seemed like losing him all over again.
From what I know about your friends at (in? over? under?) the (?) UCF, they will always listen to your memories and stories. That's a good thing to have.
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