Ahhh....At last.....

I don’t hate the chairs.

I adore the chairs! 

They are perfection.

I don’t want to sit on them. I just want to look at ‘em. 

Of course, now that table has to go.  At least the glass top.  Maybe a round marble top on the same base.  Maybe this little World Market metal and wood table. 

Who knows?

Now Lovey hates the idea of the big brown leather chair where it is.  Has he no vision?  That is going to be our "reading nook".  Doesn't everyone need a reading nook?

This is a story of a chair.....

Well, we bought a house. And while I have many stories about that particular venture, let’s talk about the reason I’m so excited today!

My chairs are coming! The most perfectest chairs in this entire wide world. And it only took me four months to find them. Yeesh.

Back in August, I visited the TJ Maxx in my widdle hometown. There I saw the most perfect chair. Linen. Simple lines. Silver nailhead trim. Swoon……but only one. Of course, there was only one. Naturally. Because I? Wanted two. I took a picture of the chair and the tag. Because this is how I shopped when we were in house-buying-spending-freeze mode.

I formulated a plan to find the second one. First, I dropped a check by my mom’s office. This way she could buy the first chair when (how optimistic) I found the second one at one of the Charleston TJs. Second, I called my friend ReRe who lives in Mt. Pleasant. She would visit their Marshall Superstore and TJ to see if they had a match. I would go to Summerville, North Charleston and West Ashley to check those stores.

None of the stores had a second chair – none were even close. Heart. Broken. I googled as many terms as I could to find the chair. Come on It’s google! If you can’t find it on google……well, I couldn’t find it on google. The only close match was in Australia and way out of my price range. If I hadn’t taken a picture of the chair, I’d swear I’d dreamed it.

Over the last few months, I’d case the random TJ to see if by chance the chair was there. (Of course, the first chair was long gone by then). So, I kind of gave up.

Lovey had been online shopping for new outdoor lights for our house for a few weeks. On Black Friday, he showed me a picture of a chair on one of the home sites he had been looking at to see if I liked it. It was nice, but it wasn’t My Chair. Friday night, he was watching some action movie I had zero interest in. I settled in with my laptop and googled My Chair again. Nuthin’. I went to Overstock.com and started looking through chairs just to have something to do. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

WAIT! Back up! I grabbed my phone and found the picture of My Chair. I looked from the phone to the computer about a dozen times. I showed it to Lovey and asked if it was the same chair. It was!!!! I double-checked the dimensions of the chair to the tag I had luckily taken a picture of. The same exact dimensions. The linen color looks to be just a little lighter than the one I originally saw. After a quick measurement of where I wanted them in the greatroom, I ordered them. And! Extra 10% off for Black Friday, $55 coupon for first order and free shipping. Merry Christmas to me!

They will be here today. This afternoon,  I will scotchguard the poo out of them. I will probably rub up against them in disbelief that they are mine. I hope I don't hate them.

There'll Never Be Another Duffy

We lost Duffy a week and two days ago. 

It's weird that such a little dog can leave such a large hole in our lives.  Lovey rescued Blanca and Duffy when we had only been dating about six months.  Duffy was seven; Blanca was six.  They were neglected by their previous owners.  I still cannot fathom someone not loving those little guys to death like we did.

Although Blanca seemed much more affected by the neglect, Duffy was always such a chill little guy.  He rarely barked.  Mainly to express his happiness when we came home at night.  There was never a cuddler as cuddly as our Duff boy.

Even though he was almost nineteen, he only showed his age by a stiff back leg.  So when he got a cough a few weeks ago, it was noticeable that he wasn't feeling well.  Trouble breathing led us to believe that he may have congestive heart failure like Baby Girl did.  We thought we'd take him to the vet, get some meds and problem solved.  He'd be fine.

Monday morning, Lovey took Duffy to the vet.  Thirty minutes later, I got the call that Duffy's heart was fine.  He was much worse off than we imagined.  Fluid had built up in his body which was pressing against his lungs.  This was causing his breathing problems. In addition, his kidneys were only functioning at 15%.  He was in pain. 

Lovey and I had to make the worst decision of our lives.  We needed to put Duffy to sleep.  We just couldn't let him suffer.  We stayed with him,  We stoked his head and told him how much we loved him. A few short minutes later, he went into a peaceful sleep and then he was gone. It all went so fast.  

For such a quiet little dog, his absence in this house is deafening. I find myself looking for him a dozen times a day. 

There will be another bichon in our future.  We've discovered we cannot live without a little white dog in our lives.  But there will never be another Duffy.  None will even come close.

Wedges

The angst of working for an antiquated company which prohibits open-toe shoes. Especially when Target has such cute wedges right now.

Where Have I Been?

Head on over to The Green Room and find out!