Again?!

It's happened again. Our credit card has been compromised. It seems like we have to get a new one every six months or so. And what a pain entering our new number into all the places it has been saved. Which, by the way, is probably not how the number was stolen. Most likely, it is a clerk we handed it to who had a reader in their pocket or some other discreet place. But who knows? Theives are often some of the smartest people around and work hard on outsmarting the system. We're waiting for the new one to be mailed. At least, that's going to cut down on our spending for the week or so that it takes for it to arrive. :)

But before our credit card number was stolen, we bought new furniture with it. We got two sofas and a loveseat. This is the most furniture we have ever bought at one time, and we approached the shopping in a whole different way. Instead of agonizing over whether we were choosing the right one, we chose what seemed reasonable. We went to the clearance room of a couple of decent furniture stores and chose what was in stock and marked down. No gnashing teeth over picking the "right" fabric. Good enough was good enough.

The new sofa

However, this was a very difficult exercise for us, especially me. But I kept thinking about what a friend told me years ago. She doesn't worry too much about whether she is getting the very best quality or style when she buys a sofa or other furniture because, in 10 years or so, she will be tired of it and want something new. And if she had spent a lot of money on it, she wouldn't feel like she was able to do that. But even with that philosophy, I know us. We will probably have these new sofas for decades to come. At least, that's our history.

The main sofa we sat on was 30+ years old. The fabric was worn through, and the springs were popping up. They had been for years. We got a cover for it and put a piece of plywood under the cushions to help. Then, it just felt like we were sitting on a board. Ward finally said enough is enough. We had been waiting until we didn't have cats anymore, but we are fortunate to have some very long-lived ones. However, Annie is old enough that she is not able to do most of the furniture-destroying things cats do, so we decided to take the plunge.

And the sofa shuffle went something like this. The very old sofa in the family room is gone. The sofa that was in the living room was moved to the family room. It's in good shape except for the sides that the cats shred. A good cover has taken care of that. The sofa and loveseat that were in the basement were Theo's are now in his new place. Those have been replaced with a new sofa and loveseat. Which, BTW, are the same as the living room sofa. We have the option of switching things around if we want. 

New furniture that's not beat up or uncomfortable is a wonderful luxury to have, and we are enjoying the newness of it all.

There. I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know about our furniture when I could have just said, "We got a new sofa." And "Our credit card was compromised."

But unfortunately for you, you had to read to the end to get the shortened version. :)

Until next time...

New Chairs

We got two new chairs this weekend. They are replacing two blue chairs in our living room that most often seated visitors. That made us ponder about how our old chairs got in such bad shape.

Our old blue chairs

Could it be that they are over twenty years old? They were some of the first furniture Ward and I bought and part of the right of passage to “finally, we have enough money to buy new furniture.” No more hand-me-down stuff unless we really want it.

Could it be that the chairs coexisted with two active boys? Wally and Theodore just didn't put their feet on the chairs. They jumped on them and they jumped off of them. They hid behind them and and made forts with them. They turned them upside down and drug them into other rooms. And occasionally, they even read in them with their shoes on the seat.

Could it be that the chairs have been a playground for six different cats that have resided with us over the years? It seems as soon as we got one of them trained to properly use a scratching post, another one would have a relapse and use the chairs to sharpen their claws. That's not to mention all of the wild chasing they did across them.

So when I reflect on the old chairs, I could become a bit nostalgic. The chairs were there when Ward and I were starting our lives together. They were there as Wally and Theodore were learning to explore their young world. They were there as we were bringing each new cat into our family.

The new chairs that we hope will fare better with the cats.

But I say, ”Out with the old, and in with the new.” The charity truck is picking them up Monday. I've got plenty of other things in bad shape to use if I want to reminisce. Also, I just found out that Ward never liked them anyway.