You'll Sink

The big 'moving home' date is looming closer and there is still so much to do. There are so many things left to buy. So many things left to make decisions about. And, as usual, we crossed as many of those things off the list as possible over the weekend. Fire recovery gives new meaning to weekend warriors.

We visited an eclectic little store and picked up a new waterbed mattress, liner, and heater. Yes, I said waterbed. Yes, we still owned a waterbed. Yes, they still make those. They are hard to come by though. We have desperately missed our waterbed mattress and I'm quite sure that old bed has missed us too. I can't wait to reunite. Our rented bed is better than the hotel bed, but a waterbed it is not.

The salesman at the shop asked if we wanted the baffled support mattress. No, we said. We want the good ol' free-flow mattress. He took a good look at us and said "you know you'll sink."

Of course what he was really thinking was "you do know your fat, right?" Yeah...we were aware of that when we walked in the store. And, we've been sleeping on a waterbed together for over 20 years. And, contrary to this man's thought, we don't lay on the plywood bottom of the bed. I said "we balance each other." Ha! I tried to busy myself looking at incense and yoga mats so I wouldn't crack up or start antagonizing the misguided if well-intentioned salesman.  So, waterbed mattress shopping was perhaps the most entertaining outing we've had since the weed box excursion.

While visiting the fifth lighting center we finally fell in love with and purchased light fixtures for the dining room and kitchen. That was quite an accomplishment. We have found lights we might be able to live with and lights that caught his interest but didn't fly with me and lights that I liked but he could live without, but not lights that we both loved.  

These, we LOVE.

Quoizel 2010-2011 Catalog, Naturals Onyx

The set above will hang above the dining room table. The set below will serve as task lighting over the kitchen island.

Quoizel 2010-2011 Catalog, Naturals Onyx

From the Quoizel Arts & Crafts collection, imperial bronze with butterscotch onyx glass...gorgeous! All those words and the catalog pics just don't do them justice. They look so good lit up! They will look fabulous with the dining room table and the new cabinets. Soon, I will show you pics of the real deal, hung up in my home over the table with paint on the walls...soon. (As soon as we get walls.)

For now...just take a closer look and know that I LOVE them. 

I had an amazing chandelier over my dining room table...that I hated. That's right. Hated. Funny thing is, everyone else loved it. We had so many people tell us they loved it that we teased about auctioning it off when we finally bought a new one. Well, too bad folks. It went into the dumpster with everything else. The kitchen lighting was nice, but the previous owner had personalized it with pink paint. The pink tinge on the glass drove me nuts but I was still crushed when I saw a firefighter throw it out onto a tarp on the front lawn. 

The remains of the kitchen ceiling. 

Rebuilding the entire house after a fire is not exactly how I figured I'd be replacing those ugly light fixtures, but hey...I'm flexible. We had to get the lights picked out this week because the electrician is starting this week and he had to know what to wire in.

Did you hear that?! The electrician is starting! 

We have plumbing. We have HVAC. We have garage doors. We have a roof. And now, we shall have electrical wiring! Oh for joy!

Soon, very soon, I will see my house put back together. And none too soon. Until then, I'll just keep staring at color samples and dreaming of my waterbed. 

My favorite samples.