Today turned into an unintentional adventure. This made is a very
long day.
This morning I went with my mom and sister to the furniture store to
look at couches and beds. When we walked in we were greeted by a
young salesman. I am glad that I didn't get the older gruff
salesman. The guy I got recently graduated from college and could
relate when he asked me what I was looking for in a couch and I said
“cheap”. I then amended that to “inexpensive” when my mom
protested. I liked that the salesman kept this in mind and didn't
try to push the expensive stuff on me.
I sat on several different couches and felt a bit like Goldilocks.
There were some that were instantly wrong, either too firm or too
short, and there were others that seemed close but not quite right.
And then there was the couch I ended up buying. It is a darker gray,
really soft, and has a very relaxed feel. You can just lounge in it.
As an added bonus, it comes with pillows that are the same dark gray
on one side and have a pattern on the other side that involves a nice
green. Meant to be. I also got the matching ottoman.
Before deciding on a couch we took a break to go try beds. The
salesman steered me away from the low-end beds and went with the next
step up. A sales tactic, yes, but something I would have done anyway
because even though I didn't want to spend a lot of money, I also
knew that it was important to not go cheap. I have had my current
mattress for close to twenty years I think, it's always been way too
hard, and recently the springs have started to become noticeable. So
my bar for comfort is set pretty low. The three beds I laid on in
the brand I was going for felt pretty similar and it seemed kind of
crazy that they could charge significantly different prices for what
seemed like almost the exact same bed. But I'm not a mattress maker
so what do I know. I ended up going with the firm mattress because
it felt good and I figured it would have more room to break in, if
that's a thing. It also came with the box spring and it was only
about twenty bucks for the frame. All for less than some of the
mattresses I looked at online that didn't come with a box spring or
frame. So that was nice.
While the salesman was going to check on prices and deals I went and
tried the really expensive mattresses. They had a hybrid mattress
that when you laid down on it you could immediately feel the
difference and it felt amazing. It was hard convincing myself to get
up once I had laid down. Knowing that it would set me back more than
$3000 was a decent incentive not to get too attached. That kind of
mattress can be a long term goal. The one I ended up buying is leaps
and bounds better than my current mattress so I'm happy.
I decided on the mattress and then went back to the couches.
Specifically, the gray one. My mom made sure the pillows came with
it and then asked what kind of deal we could get if we got the couch
and the ottoman along with the bed. I knew that was part of the
furniture buying process but I probably wouldn't have done that if I
were on my own. I was glad to have her around because she has a lot
more furniture buying experience.
I scheduled to have it delivered Thursday morning and tonight I
checked my schedule and found that I actually work Thursday morning.
It is super rare for my to not close on the Thursday but I managed to
schedule something on the one morning I work. I had a feeling
something wasn't going to work when I was scheduling it too, which is
odd. I'm going to call back tomorrow and see if I can get it moved
to Wednesday morning or any time on Friday, because I work next
weekend so I'm off Friday.
After the furniture my mom had to go eat lunch with her friend so she
didn't have time to take my sister to Jo-Ann's. My sister's car is
sitting out at the body shop waiting to get fixed and she hasn't
gotten a rental car yet. So I took her to Jo-Ann's after mailing a
couple bills. She got jars for the salsa she's going to make, and I
got nothing, because even though I have a couple gift cards, I just
spent a bunch of money on furniture, and I didn't have any clear
craft projects in mind that I need supplies for.
We went to Sonic after the store and that's where the adventure
began. It started off well because I had the best breakfast toaster
I've ever had at Sonic. It was the first time in my vast experience
that the Texas toast actually resembled toast. It was thick and had
a crunch to it. Usually it is super thin and squishy with grease. I
felt like I was in a commercial or something. I also had a frozen
strawberry lemonade for the first time and it was delicious. And
there was the miracle of not having any of the strawberry chunks clog
my straw.
All of this goodness came at a price, however, which became apparent
when I tried to turn my car on. The engine didn't start and all I
got were clicks. Not good. I called my dad and a little while later
he showed up with my brother. The first couple attempts to jump it
didn't work but as that was happening I was texting my mechanic
friend. He offered a much better strategy for connecting the cables
to my battery which has recessed posts. He also suggested having my
dad keep the RPMs on his truck between 1500 and 2000 for a few
minutes. This ended up doing the trick. The plan was to take it
across town to a mechanic because my dad had called them and they
said they were busy but they would be able to at least test the
battery. My friend said I should drive it at 45mph at least, I guess
for the sake of the battery, so we drove out and around town instead
of through town. At the shop they quoted me the price of a new
battery and installation (under $200, which sounded pretty good after
the furniture) and had me leave it there so they could test the
battery.
From there we went back to my Dad's so he could get a sandwich lunch
and then we loaded up his ladder and plumbing bag and headed over to
my house. My brother hopped up on the roof and cleaned out my
gutters and then him and my dad looked at my whistling toilet. My
brother said it would be about $25 to replace the part that was
whistling. He also said he could get me a deal on a pressure
assisted toilet that was oval-shaped and ADA compliant, which means
it is taller. All selling points for me. He said he could have it
for me by Monday but I think I'll wait until my checks get here, so I
can actually write a check for it. I also might wait for my next
paycheck. I saved a lot of money over the summer but I would prefer
not having to dip to heavily into that. But now I have a toilet
goal, something that only an adult would have.
When we were done at the house we dropped the ladder off and then
headed back across town to the mechanic. I hadn't gotten a call yet
but they closed in about thirty minutes so my dad said it wouldn't
hurt to at least go check and get an update. This turned out to be a
good thing because they had checked the battery and it turned out to
be fine. The leading theory is that my running lights on my car
drained my battery while we were sitting at Sonic. I turned my car
off but forgot to take the key out of the ignition, and as long as
the key is in the ignition the lights stay on. I used to take the
keys out when I would go to Sonic with my volunteer kid but it's been
a long time since I've just sat in my car so I didn't even think
about it. Lesson learned. I'm just glad that I didn't have to buy a
new battery. At least today. We'll see if it starts in the morning.
Tonight I did laundry, watched YouTube videos, and read a little bit.
It is now midnight and I think I'll go to bed. After today, bed
sounds pretty good. I also want to wake up early enough so I can go
get my oil changed before going over to wait on the cable company to
hopefully give me internet. I'll believe it when I'm online.
No comments:
Post a Comment