New House Day!

Things we bought yesterday:

1 house
1 mattress set
2 TVs
3 basement tables
Miscellaneous TV hook-up accessories

It was a shopping kind of day, which as funny because it was the most gorgeous day we have had all spring and any other sunny, humid, warm day would have seen me decked out in my rashguard at the pool. But I spent all day yesterday under fluorescent lights a little chilly from air conditioning.

We have never bought a mattress before. Our current mattress which is on its way to the guest room (I apologize in advance for any back problems you develop staying with us) was part of the furniture I bought when I was in grad school at Miami of Ohio. Furniture I ordered sight unseen and totally untested from a catalogue. It's a basic Sealy, and it has been okay, really, for the past 10 years. But 10 years is about all you can expect to get from a basic mattress that gets slept on every night. So we found ourselves lying on a bunch of sample beds in 4 different mattress and furniture stores yesterday.

I almost freaked out when we were seconds from a memory foam purchase because while the guy was checking the delivery date, I did a quick Google search on my phone about mattress toxicity. OMFG. Ben was super pissed because he loved him some memory foam, but I couldn't handle it. Finally, we found a really awesome mattress that felt like a firm, supportive, contoured cloud. In mattress speak. Never having shopped for a mattress before, I was skeptical that we'd be able to tell if we liked one from lying on it in a store, but after sampling tons of mattresses- at least 2 dozen (SCABIES!)-- we were able to clearly identify the one we liked and know that it felt different than any other model from any other store. We WANTED to like this other, cheaper mattress better, but we just couldn't.

Mattress shopping was kind of gross, though. I just couldn't stop thinking of all the people who lad laid down on it (and the pillows) before me. Blech.

Then we picked the kids up at school (Ben actually had to leave me at the Best Buy check out lane, run to pick them up, and then come back to get me and electronics because that's how much we shopped)(thank you, summer preschool for having flexible openings!) and took them to the new house where they ran around like crazy and hid in all the closets and just generally delighted in the fact that they could wear shoes in the house. (But not after today because today, I am cleaning the new house which makes me so happy. And yes, the builder had a cleaning crew, but it is not white glove clean by any means, but it WILL be after today-- I LOVE to clean).

Jack tried to break in through the front door after no one answered his ring (because we were all outside trying to program the garage door entry pad thing which was harder than you'd think).

They didn't ever smile together, but still, they sat next to each other

They love jumping off the giant landscaping boulders in the side yard:


This is me tickling Harry. I include it because of the dumpster-- it used to be in our front yard, but the builders working on the house next door moved it just exactly inches off our lot. Thanks, guys. We were worried it would be an eye sore or something. (Actually, even though it is an eye sore, it might be really nice to have a dumpster outside when we move in for things like TV boxes and other huge garbage) (Also, Harry is super, super, super ticklish-- he melts into a giggle puddle-- it;s hard to not tickle him).

After we finally figured out the garage door opener, we took the kids to Toys R Us, where they had so much fun picking out Power Ranger Samurai zords (?) and Star Wars guys with their gift cards from Bomma and grandpa Jack (thanks! and happy 91st birthday!). Here they are posing on a bench after dinner.


I would say that after tomorrow's binge I will never shop again, but I am actually headed to Target to buy an obscene amount of crap in just a little bit. Ah, moving.