bargains

Yesterday was filled with couch moving adventures, an ikea shopping spree, and a pizza buffet.

I'm moving into my new apartment next week and for some reason anytime I move I feel like I have to re-do everything about my room...furniture, bedding, color scheme. Ikea is always a good bet for bedding. I chose a blue duvet cover with white scrolling flowers that I have had my eye on for about 2 years. I will be posting pictures soon. I spent about 2 hours in ikea. It is a tiring experience. I kid you not - After walking around the entire store, I was TIRED. Worn down. I am also very indecisive, so I will see something I like, put it in the shopping cart, then 10 minutes later decide that it's not something I need or want right now, so I go back and put it where I found it. I have worked in retail myself and customers who can't walk a few yards to put an item back where they found it is quite irritating. I try to be a novel customer.

After the ikea extravaganza, it was off to Gatti Land. I treated Brian to a gourmet buffet of cold cinnamon sticks, greasy cheese bread, and a cornucopia of pizza. I don't mind being the only 2 people of caucasian descent in a restaurant. What I do mind is the madness of screaming children. Children whose parents are too passive to discipline them. That I cannot stand. Among the drooling, belligerant, and overpowering population of kids under the age of 11, Brian and I found Gatti Land to be just what the doctor ordered; pizza is the perfect way to end a day of ikea foot treking. I think we deserved the extra calories.

excitement:
I have become a frequent visitor of the local waco thrift stores. I have always been a bargain hunter, I suppose. The thought of finding something unique amidst a sea of non-unique and downright grungy items is a thrill for me. It's one thing to find something for $100 in a department store or the like. But when I find something like a Bill Clinton mug for 50 cents... that is exciting. I should probably add that I am collecting random/cute/quirky/interesting mugs as of last month. Right now my collection is at a beautiful 10 mugs. Among those ten I have some very cutesy ones with polka-dots, swirling flowers, etc. Then I also have an "I Love Jim" (from the Office) mug, the Bill Clinton mug, a gay pride mug, and a really great one with David Thoreau on it. My plan is to find some sort of display for them. Okay, I'm weird. I have always wanted some sort of thing to collect though. Never have really found anything that sparked my interest...until that fateful day in goodwill when I bought 3 mugs in one day ... and the collection started. It's been utterly riveting.

more excitement has recently come to me in the form of my first purchased piece of furniture. I'm not talking a side table or a clock ... I bought a couch. for 20 bucks. At Salvation Army. Let me just preface this by saying that this is not any ordinary Salvation Army. Kerrville has a couple of Salvation Armys, but I would not suggest walking into them without a full bottle of hand sanitizer strapped to your waist.This one, however, is quite good. It is a huge warehouse and upon walking inside, there are like 40 couches just lined up for one's viewing pleasure. Most of the furniture is in astonishingly perfect condition and is usually priced in the 60-100 range. Last Saturday I found a large couch for 24.99. It was great.

Being the indecisive person that I am, I couldn't decide if I should get the couch or just wait. The lady at the counter said that on that particular day everything in the store was 25% off...I took that as a sign and decided that I could not let the couch sit there without my claim any longer. It is now being stored in Brian's apartment until next week when I start moving in.

It's time for a cookie.