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Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Sunny and chair: A shopping adventure

One thing you discover when you sell a house and buy a new one, is that one of those quantum physic's formulas kicks in:

h1-WP(2 dump 4)=(h2+FS4)*$+/H1 E

Translation: h1 or the house you are selling-WP or Worldly Possessions (taken to the dump in four trips)=(h2 or the house you are buying + FS4 or at least four trips to furniture stores)* $+ or major big bucks/H1E or all of the equity you have from selling the first house.

We spent much of the weekend walking through furniture stores trying to decide what to buy for our new house since we threw most of my old stuff away and nothing we have left really goes with the brand new house. And we have all of these rooms. Plus we have all of that equity from selling the house even after putting down a major down payment.

Fortunately, Tess and I see eye to eye on what types of furniture we like. She didn't roll her eyes anyway when I started looking at big screen tv's. And I managed to look at dining room sets without ripping out my eyes from the sockets.

But I have to tell you that furniture stores are a trip. We went to one called the Old Cannery in Sumner, Wash (go to their site and take the virtual tour...it's worth the download). It is called the Old Cannery because, coincidently, it is housed in what used to be...you guessed it...an old cannery. But the Old Cannery is to furniture what jam is to Knotts Berry Farm. Because the Old Cannery doesn't just sell furniture, they sell fun.

Case in point, you walk into the Old Cannery and you would think you were walking into a carnival midway. Large train sets run overhead. There is a snack bar and a booth that sells fudge (something I know I always get a hankering for when I'm looking at dining room sets). And scattered throughout the acres of furniture are talking mannequins and stuffed animals. A stuffed rooster squawks at you as you walk into the men's room and tells you about the great deals you'll find throughout the Old Cannery (I think it also reminds you to wash your hands).

One room is called Recliner World. For some reason a mannequin in a small airplane hangs from the ceiling and shouts at you about amazing furniture deals. Then there is the Crab Room where a giant crab hangs from the ceiling overlooking dining room sets. And of course the classic room houses 50s style memorabilia including a lifesized fiberglass...you guessed it Elvis.

In all honesty, if you can avoid being distracted by a talking rooster, the Old Cannery does have some pretty good furniture deals. We will very likely buy our dining room and bedroom sets there. But we had to go to Macy's Furniture Showcase to find our living room furniture.

Macy's had none of the Old Cannery's carnival atmosphere. Instead of talking mannequins, it had hordes of roving sales people that were obviously hungry people ready to eat novice furnture buyers for dinner. We walked in the door and several immediately swooped down on us, but Felcia got to us first:

Hi, have you heard about our no tax sale? (No, but you are going to tell us about it aren't you...she did)
What are you looking for? (Uhh...furniture? )
I don't like to bug people while they are looking. (Then why are you?)
I'll just leave you two alone, but you let me know if you need some help...my name is Felcia, what's yours? (Tim and Tess)
How cute! T& T: dynamite! (We've never heard that one...please leave us alone, I can't restrain Tess much longer).
I won't bother you any more.

Felcia finally left us alone and chased after another couple. I could hear her shouting, "Have you heard about our no tax sale?" as she scurried away. Tess and I quickly ducked around the corner and spent the next 45 minutes telling sale people we knew about the no tax sale and didn't need any questions answered about European leather versus vinyl.

We did end up buyin a leather couch, loveseat, chair and ottoman. We even had Felcia ring us up. She was in ecstasy, especially when we bought the extended care plan in case I went berzerk one night and slashed the couch with a butcher knife. Apparently all we have to do is call Macy's and they'll come out an fix it.

At least we'll have something to sit on in the new house. But we're going to have to go back to the Old Cannery soon, or we'll be sleeping and eating on leather couches. Plus I have an urge for some fudge.

Buying a new house is so much fun.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big fun in the Northwest. Sounds like you've planted the big screen tv seed. You've gotta keep working that. It's worth it. I have been very pleased with mine.

Time said...

Oh, we will buy a big screen tv. The dilemma now is what kind: LCD, Plasma, projection, wide format, HD ready? So many tv's, so little money.

Anonymous said...

I can personally recommend the sony grand wega. I have the 42" model, hd ready w/ widescreen. I was concerned that the widescreen format might distort regular format shows but have not found that to be the case. The picture is great. My father has the 60" model and is similarly impressed. You should be able to get the 42" for around $2500. Of course I'm just some guy on the internet so it's possible that I work for sony or something. You'll just have to take your chances.

Time said...

Thanks for the recommendation. It's a dangerous course you have set for me Lights, but if I can't trust you, who can I trust. I found a 50" model on line at Dr. Plasma's for $1689 plus shipping. I'll keep you posted.

Anonymous said...

My wife has learned to warn me a half hour before her programs come on so I can find something to do in another room with the door closed.

One lucky day the "good" television died. I diagnosed the failure and ordered the required replacement part. After the part came I drug my heels for a month or so hoping that maybe, just maybe the household could get by with only one small television. I marveled to myself that it might be a small step towards a home without television altogether.

My wife threatened to go out and buy a new, larger, television. The thought of wasting money on a television provided enough motivation for me to complete the repair - I heated up the soldering iron and got to work.

R.

Time said...

R.

A life without television is a life immersed in self-absorbion and misery. Expand your horizons and get TIVO. You'll be standing on a street corner with a satellite receiver manual screaming the praises and calling upon others to walk into the light.

Netflix is divinely inspired as well.

Anonymous said...

tim-elvis:

"A life without television is a life immersed in self-absorbion and misery."

I've observed that some people use the television as a surrogate "tribe" turning it on for the human noise in the background. Others use the television as escapism and a means to dull the misery generated by having a worthless life. I have a bookshelf full of science fiction which accomplishes all those things - sans commercials.

"Expand your horizons and get TIVO."

I've deliberated over TIVO. The verdict is that for the money I simply wouldn't get enough pleasure out of it. I find most programs are predictable, polluted by commercials (even if you can fast forward past the usual 30 second comercials I find product placements to be very distracting) or have too little content in too large of a timeframe.

"Netflix is divinely inspired as well"

We did the math on that and figured it wasn't worth the money since we only watch one or two movies a month. For netflix to be of reasonable value we would have to watch 3 movies a week. My wife buys her movies used and resells after viewing. Total cost per movie is about $1-2 (shipping ends up causing a net loss) and 10 minutes of time to sell and package.

Different strokes different folks, eh? I'm off to the bookstore to buy some more television in a book.

R.

Time said...

Young R.

Of course there are different strokes for different folks. I was merely baiting you. I am a master at that...ha, ha.

When I was young, it was a treat to go to the movies during the summer and slip into an air condition, dark theater and escape into cinema. Television is like that for me. I primarily watch movies. So I don't use TIVO to skip through commercials. I use it to record movies.

And I do watch at least three netflix movies a week. It's vastly cheaper than a theater, much cheaper than Blockbuster and very convenient. They pay for the postage. Plus I get access to movies and documentaries I might have missed.

But, them's my corn and my hogs as my daddy (and your grand daddy) used to say.

Naughti Biscotti said...

My name is Shandi...and..I hate to interupt two men when they're talking about big screen T.Vs ... so I'll be right over here in case you need me.

The cannery sounds like a blast. Wish we had something like that here in Bakersfield.

Anonymous said...

Not only did I threaten a larger television, I threatened a plasma television. :)

If we had cable or the like, we'd have a TIVO, but they're not really worth it for normal, broadcast television, though.

Time said...

I salute you wife of R. May you be blessed with cable and a big screen tv. TIVO probably wouldn't be as mindbending without cable. But at least you could fastforward through the commercials.

BTW. When is R's birthday? I know I am a terrible uncle for not knowing, but I was pretty sure he is a Leo so it should be around this time of year.