5 On 3-Days-Past Friday: December 1st, 2008

1) Our new furniture finally came, after 9 long weeks of waiting. Or was it 10 weeks? I've lost count. Anyways...we're still waiting for window coverings, BUT, without further ado, here are some pics:






And here's a crazy story about our new coffee table/ottoman. We knew we wanted an ottoman/table hybrid, and we wanted to make sure we shopped around to find the perfect one, and not just buy the first one we found. So we went to Home Outfitters, Kincaid Furniture, Lazy Boy, Home Sense, Sears Home and Pier 1. Found a few 'close' ones, but nothing we were ready to commit to. Our last attempt that day was the good 'ole Consignment Gallery. This is one of our FAVORITE furniture stores. It's all consignment, so the inventory is constantly changing and you can find really unique pieces there. We've already purchased our hutch, pub table, British phone booth DVD rack, and a myriad of other items from there. It's always hit & miss when we go, so we weren't holding out much hope after the unsuccessful shopping day we'd had already.

Luckily, we found one we were ready to buy. Then, on the way to the till, HIDDEN behind a couch, was THE ONE. It was a double ottoman style, and each ottoman flipped independently to be a tray. So you could have one side as a cushy ottoman, and the other side a tray for your coffee. Or both as ottomans, or both as trays! And that's not even the cool part. It was in the EXACT SAME FABRIC as our newly arrived CUSTOM couches. Together in our living room (as you can clearly see from the pics) you would assume they all arrived together. It's creepy. It's moments like those that make me wonder about coincidence and fate and crap like that. Like - why we decided to try that store, and why I bothered looking at that couch - especially when we'd already decided on another one. Just weird.


2) One thing I very much dislike about my job: the RED LIGHT on my phone. The one that means I have a message(s). It glares at me - right after a trip to the washroom, or a nice relaxing lunch. It sits there, glowing, mocking me. Every time I see that damn light I get a pit in my stomach and think "which vendor hasn't been paid now" or "what emergency request has come down the pipes this time?" A while ago our company introduced this odd technology where your voicemail can be forwarded to your email. So, instead of listening to messages on your phone, you get an email with an attachment and when you click the attachment the voice message plays off of your computer speakers. At first I thought this was cool, but then quickly discovered that it makes it very difficult to ignore messages. I much prefer IGNORING that evil red light for a few minutes before succumbing to it's evil vortex of mystery.


3) I have this embarrassing habit of chewing my hair when I'm deep in thought or concentrating on something. Most of the time no one is around to see me, so when it becomes embarrassing is when a Director or VP sneaks up on me at my desk, deep in thought, chewing on my hair. I can only IMAGINE what this looks like to other people. I must look like a bearded lady.


4) Only 3 more weekends until Christmas, and they're filling up quickly. Why does December feel like SHORTEST month of the year? Also - the short days are MURDERING me. I am the most useless SACK in the evenings, because it's so dark by the time I leave work I could swear it was 11pm. And who wants to cook or clean or Christmas shop at 11pm?


5) Finally, a shout out to our Sweet Angus, who left us a year ago today. He was a precious soul we never expected to love the way we did. That's the best kind of love. Through surgeries and exploded tumors and a failing spine he showed us what it means to beat the odds and live a better life. As promised last year, we (well, Warren) drank a shot of the Springbank Scotch in his honor. Cheers - to ANGUS.