With Bear out of town I’ve been trying to take advantage of the time as best I can by doing all the things I love to do that he doesn’t. I love to go thrift store shopping, but Bear hates it beyond all reason, so I’ve been checking out little resale shops and boutiques all week. I walked into one yesterday that looked like the Golden Girls’ closet. I swear I saw clothes that Blanche would have been wearing as she seduced some silver fox out on the lanai. Everything had sequins on it, everything screamed, “Sassy Granny out on the Town.” The clothes were all long sleeved, long skirted, with shoulderpads. And then there were the feather boas.
Last Saturday Bear was a very good sport and came with me to nearly every thrift store in town while I went on a mission to find a ring with a big fat stone (I’m talking like 2″ tall) that I could pop out to reuse the setting. I found absolutely nothing for my ring hunt, but I found some amazing furniture that I’m still sitting here pining away over.
One was this low buffet dresser that needed some love but had the coolest bones. I could just see it painted a glossy black and my heart sang. Plus, it was only 50$. 50$! For a solid wood nine-drawer buffet. I nearly died. But, we don’t even have a house in escrow yet, so buying furniture is getting a little ahead of myself.
Then at a different store I found this armoire that was gloriously 70’s modern, real wood, but instead of having an open cavity for an entertainment center or closet, this one had all kinds of cubbies and drawers. As soon as I opened the door I had visions of it full of fabric and yarn. Oh it was dreamy. It was 350, but recently marked down to 250. It broke my heart to walk away from it.
I kept trying to come up with a way that I could acquire this great stuff. We could rent a truck, we could ask Bear’s brother-in-law to help get it up the stairs to our apartment, even if the current house we’re bidding on doesn’t work, we could use the furniture *somewhere*.
Bear hasn’t gone for any of my arguments, and it’s probably a good thing. Here we are in an alleged buyers market, and we’re now bidding on our third house. It’s driving me absolutely crackers. The first two houses had the same problem: their owners were on crack and wanted way too dang much money. House #1 I could walk away from OK, I was sad, but whatever. House #2 really hurt. It had the perfect layout for us right now. 3 bedrooms and a loft for my studio. Plus a fantastic kitchen, modern architecture, and everything needed to be redone so I could get what I wanted instead of paying for somebody else’s choice. There are five houses for sale in this tiny little gated community, so you’d think the owners would want to cooperate, but apparently they are either independently wealthy or just dumb. House #3 is their next door neighbor. He seems to be fairly motivated, so we’re crossing our fingers and hoping this one takes.
In the meantime, my studio is still all packed up so every time I want to make something I have to ask myself, “Is it worth taking apart the wall ‘o boxes?” Other than my quilting class, the answer has been no.
