Tag Archives: shopping

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Blinded… by the price.

40 Comments

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We have cellular shades in our living room and dining area.

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We put them up a while back when we had the new windows installed. They’re lightweight, light filtering and the perfect color.

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So of course, the largest one just died.

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It’s stuck in this position. And no matter how many times my husband took it apart and tried to fix it, he couldn’t.

Now, you might say… so what?

That 6 inch gap isn’t a big deal.

But after the sun moves to the front of the house and we want to open the blinds?

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We have to stand on the couch and manually fold it up double and balance it on the top rail.

This is not a look I’m willing to live with.

So we went shopping for its replacement…. which no longer exists because the company changed all the colors and materials. We searched everywhere, in every store, in person and online.

Nada.

I even contacted the Levelor company directly. No dice.

My husband was all for buying one blind of another brand that didn’t match, but was “close enough”… but even the sales guy looked at him like he was color blind. It wasn’t close. It wasn’t even in the same family.

So as much as I hate the thought, we’re going to have to replace five blinds instead of one.

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I found these, which are very similar.

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Woodland taupe.

Perfect.

What wasn’t so perfect? The price.

For 5 lousy cellular shades!

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I gulped.

My husband choked.

Damn. Are they dipping these things in gold dust now?

😩

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Antiquing, part two. Where I said, please don’t buy that! more than I thought humanly possible.

25 Comments

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I talked him out of buying old wooden hangers.

I talked him out of buying old advertising yard sticks.

I talked him out of buying old light bulbs.

And yes, I even talked him out of buying this …

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But only because we already have two 12 foot vintage tree trimmers.

Sigh.

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Bad taxidermy aside, this antique store did have a sense of humor.

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And you know my husband didn’t come home empty handed.

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We’re now the proud (or not, depending on who you talk to) owners of a vintage table top pinball game.

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I can feel your jealousy from here.

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Did we need this?

No.

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But when did that ever stop my spouse?

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He paid $25 and was a happy camper.

Me?

I added a few classics to my vinyl collection.

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The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, Neil Young and James Taylor.

😊

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Narrowing down the search.

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Yes, there are still bare wires sprouting from our wall because the husband and I can’t agree on a choice of new sconces.

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I really liked this one…

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But it’s almost 13 inches wide and wouldn’t fit. .

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Please note blogger Brian Lageose’s hilarious book Peppered Fruit to the right, nestled above Stephen King.

I got you brother.

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I thought this mission light fixture would work…

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Since our hutch…

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And front door are the same style…. but the husband hated it.

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The husband liked this one, but it looked too much like a library reading lamp to me.

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So we ordered this one.

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Which can be mounted either way.

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And these.

For two totally different feels, and will return whichever pair doesn’t work.

Or both if we hate them equally and will curse all the brick and mortar light fixture stores that closed in our area for forcing me to shop online where I can’t gauge quality.

🥴

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Newport – Day 7…. husband’s choice, antiquing in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

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On our last full day of vacation I threw the husband a bone and let him choose our destination and activities.

Big mistake.

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Naturally he picked a giant antique mall in the neighboring state of Massachusetts.

It was a ratty looking old place and after an hours drive, we hit the rest rooms upon arrival.

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I was not impressed.

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But the husband was in treasure heaven.

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He adores these places and examines every item fully.

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There were a few interesting dealers and pieces.

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But after the first three hours?

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I was ready to drop the plunger on that detonator.

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And out of all the items in this massive space?

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My guy picked out old wooden yard sticks.

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Jesus wept.

He shopped, and shopped.

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And shopped….

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And I seriously regretted throwing him that bone.

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I don’t mind looking at vintage things. For a while. But antique shopping with my husband is a marathon event.

To pass the time I usually end up flipping through albums.

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This caught my eye.

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And this made me chuckle.

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And then I lost the husband to a clearance sale booth.

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After 4 hours, he wasn’t ready to go but I insisted on a lunch break.

He bought yard sticks, a giant glass water bottle, old advertising wooden hangers and some military ephemera.

I walked out with one thing.

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Jefferson Airplane’s last album with the original lineup, 1969.

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Controversial in its day for anti war lyrics and political content, Jerry Garcia made a guest appearance.

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A classic counter culture piece of vinyl history to add to my collection. .

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I hope we love it.

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After multiple stores, extensive research and an extremely aggravated husband…

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A mattress has been chosen.

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An Aireloom night stars luxury firm.

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It will be hard to say goodbye to our old mattress that’s served us well for an unbelievable 39 years.

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But stretching out on this handmade beauty was almost a spiritual experience.

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Firm, but soft… if that makes sense.

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And while I know this one won’t last nearly as long as our first..

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I’m looking forward to the change.

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And though the furniture store hopping drove my less than patient husband nuts, it paid off in the end as I found a family run store that was celebrating its 70th anniversary with a 25% off sale on mattresses.

Delivery in 3 weeks.

😊

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We’re getting closer to a decision.

22 Comments

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I liked this bed, my husband didn’t.

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He liked this bed, but I didn’t.

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I liked this bed, the husband didn’t.

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He liked this bed, but I didn’t.

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Neither of us liked this bed, but Lord Dudley Mountcatten would have loved to scratch and shred it.

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Basically the decision we made is to just buy a mattress and keep our old bedroom furniture for now.

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And to be honest, that will probably cost more than our entire room of solid mahogany furniture we bought (many, many) years ago.

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So as much as my menopausal night sweats cried out for this icy cold pillow?

I couldn’t justify the $300 price tag.

$300.

For a pillow.

😳

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He tries. He really does…

48 Comments

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My husband is always on the road, always out and about. Since he’s newly retired and bored out of his mind? He runs errands. The other day he told me he was going to stop at the grocery store on the way home and asked if I wanted anything.

I requested one item… Panera’s Everything Bagels. Simple enough, but I made sure to describe them fully and wrote the name on a post it note because I’ve received a lot of items I didn’t want in the past by not being specific.

A few hours later, he came home with this.

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When he saw my face and realized that wasn’t what I’d asked for, he explained he ran into an old friend in the parking lot, talked for half an hour (shocking, I know) and forgot to take the post it into the store with him… but he remembered I said it has seeds on the top.

He tried.

❤️

The next day he had a dentist appointment and stopped at the grocery store afterwards.

He came home with this:

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Better – they were bagels, and the right brand but plain not everything.

He tried.

❤️

A few days after that I’d forgotten I even wanted bagels, but he came home from breakfast with this :

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Right brand, right seasoning, wrong shape.

Bless his heart… you should have seen his face when he realized that wasn’t quite right either. “I give up” he said.

0 for 3.

But he tries.

He really does.

❤️

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Miscellaneous nonsense.

34 Comments

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A visit to the Salvation Army thrift store is always interesting. You never know what you’ll find.

This furniture set had me scratching my head…

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Rocking dining chairs?

That would make eating spaghetti a hazardous experience.

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Harbinger of doom?

Considering the election results, I’d say he’s a little late.

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We still have one tree with turning leaves.

Just one, everything else is bare.

Our Bradford Pear is always the final holdout of the season and never wants to let go.

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Nature is a beautiful thing.

The husband took me to one of our favorite high end artsy fartsy stores the other day because he likes to gauge my reaction to possible birthday and Christmas gifts. Usually jewelry, sometimes lamps or sculpture.

This time?

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It was benches.

Made from ax handles and pitchforks.

Whaaaaat?

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He was totally enamored.

But for a few thousand dollars each I made sure he knew it was a giant no for me.

🥴

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Dead or alive ?

18 Comments

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I was walking down the personal care aisle at Market Basket the other day looking for bar soap.

Scanning the shelves, my eye caught this –

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Oddly enough I read this as dead sea mud.

As in the sea mud was dead… versus alive.

For a split second I thought, how strange. Why would I want to bathe in anything dead?

🤣

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Do you Stonewall?

31 Comments

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The husband and I made a trip to York recently to visit the Stonewall Kitchen mothership.

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It’s a huge store with a cafe that offers cooking classes as well.

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I’ve always wanted to go because I love their products and this is the only place you can find their entire line in one place. The tasting stations are a helpful way to avoid buying things you don’t like and since the holidays are approaching there were decorations scattered throughout.

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Who knew Santa liked martinis?

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I admit the husband wasn’t as thrilled with the excursion as I was.

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But he’s enjoying the results all the same.

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Do you Stonewall?

https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/

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