Dear Dad.

When I am relaxing in my home, I will think of you. When the snow comes tumbling down, and I'm wrapped up working in my den, warm and comfortable, I will think of you.

As I have blogged about endlessly here, I am a Craiglist fan. Why buy new furniture, when sooner or later, someone will want to find a home for theirs, at a fraction of the price. Granted, it may have a rough edge, and you have to constantly lurk on the list so as not to miss what you want. I practically lived on Craigslist when I was looking for an antique armoire (and found one, too, for $80).

I have cats. There is something painful about buying new furniture, only to have cats destroy it. Mark and I purchased two Lane recliners over time, and the cats slowly picked away at them. Of course, I wasn't as vigilant as I ought to be about training them not to scratch, either. Only our futon couch won the war against cats, because the frame is wood, not upholstery.

When my father passed away, there was a small estate split between we three girls. It was not something we expected. Most of the money I used to ensure I could keep this house so I could continue to work with cats. Some I saved for the drastic house repairs that are to come (I was up on my roof the other day. Ouch. New roof soon).

But the other day the final check arrived, I looked at it, and thought, you know? I would like to have some furniture that I picked out. I would like it to be comfortable for me. I would like it not to be a compromise with other people (either the previous owner, or a partner whose preferences and body you also need to take into consideration).

I remind myself that some people closing in on 50 don't find anything odd about buying furniture from a furniture store rather than a garage sale or Walmart. Some people actually have entire rooms where the furniture all matches. Shocking!

Two chairs needed to leave to help my house look less like Cat Lady Land. The recliner that Cricket needs to get her three-legged self up on the cat tree, and my over-sized desk chair which was a gift from friends.

The recliner was the first thing you saw when you came in the door and has suffered the ravages of cats and time. It is also pink. Well, light mauve. Yeah...it's pink.

The desk chair, while it looks comfortable, is too large for me. It will be fine at the upstairs desk, however.

So....





I'll have you know that I spent so much time agonizing over that chair, FOUR salespeople came over to help me vote on which one to buy. The place practically broke into applause when I made my decision. I don't care if it's red velvet. I think it's cool.

And yes, the desk chair is brown zebra print! It exactly matches the brown carpet. I hope my friends who know me are laughing out loud now.



My back is so happy now. The Cricket chair has a cat in it at all times, so it appears to be a hit. Neither chair has arms to scratch. Take that, cats!

But then, I moved the recliner into the den (where my desk and the new zebra chair also reside) to live with the second clawed recliner.

Uck. Cat lady furniture.

So today I went chair shopping again, to search for a chair-and-a-half. Believe it or not, the one I liked best was also on sale, and was the least expensive big chair at Sam Peter's. But it didn't fit in my truck (yes, it's THAT big) so will be delivered tomorrow.

You'll be happy to know I do have some sense. It's brown. Just brown. Well, very plushy dark brown. Ummm...EXTREMELY plushy dark brown. It's a totally sinful chair.

Oh, and I bought a few more things.

A squirt gun. THREE squirt guns, so I can always have one at hand. And three rolls of double-sided tape.