Shop like a man

As I think I've written before, the previous owners of our house had a 1980s meets Americana thing going on. Worked for them, but not really for me.

Our mailbox had one of those weird wrap/cover things on it; this one looked like a vintage American flag. See, there's the Americana thing again. I took it off at one point but realized that the mailbox underneath was rusty. While the cover wasn't my favorite, it stayed on longer than originally planned since it was serving a functional purpose of oxidation disguise.

As with most purchases I attempt to make, I felt the need to research mailboxes (almost ad nauseam, I might add) before heading out to shop. What I realized during online browsing was that I wasn't quite ready to commit to a crazy, non-standard mailbox resembling a dog, airplane, or other such randomness. Something simple and straightforward was going to do the trick.

I went to our local Ace Hardware in search of a mailbox. (Note to self: Write posting about how Ace Hardware is a wonderful example of a quasi-locally owned business. I am not sure exactly how the franchising for Ace works, so maybe they are working for some giant corporate office after all, but it feels like a local business!) Their staff is great, and within a few minutes of my entering the store, I was offered assistance. I said, "yes, actually, I am looking for a mailbox". The sales guy led me to the correct aisle and pointed out distinguishing features of various mailboxes.

After he finished showing me Ace's mailbox stock, he stood there and waited for me to say something. I thought, "oh, apparently this is where I am supposed to choose one and take it to the register." It was odd. I remembered hearing that when men shop, they go into a store with the intention of walking out with a purchase. This was obviously what the Ace guy was expecting me to do. I wanted to leave, visit 5 other stores, go back to the internet, do more research.....but Ace guy was so helpful...could I really let him down?

So I did it. I bought a black mailbox. (Ace guy was even nice enough to give my mailbox to the cashier to hold while I wandered around the store looking at paint.) 15 minutes, in and out of the store. The next day it rained. But the day after that, I installed my new mailbox. Done.

As an aside, there is a part of our old mailbox remains. It never would have occurred to me that a slide out mailbox caddy would be a so helpful. It looks like this. Ours has found a new home, thanks to the Ace guy.

A blank slate no more

At the beginning of April, we celebrated our one year house-a-versary. Perhaps "celebrated" is a bit of an overstatement. In the midst of work, life, and everything else, we realized a few days into April that we had been in the house for a year. See? "Celebrated" sounds much more interesting.

At the one year mark, we realized how sad it was to still have an empty front room, with just a coffee table. The cat loved the mostly empty room, because he was able to slide across the hardwood free of obstructions. For the humans of the house, a largely empty room was a huge waste of space.

I'll admit that part of the hesitation at buying furniture was the inability to form any sort of plan. Interior decorating is intimidating! In the end, we decided on blue! Blue couch! It looks like we will be keeping the walls white (or light) to go with the blue.

For a while now, my husband has talked about wanting a leather recliner. While this wasn't my first choice, I agreed to at least look in the leather section. Some of the recliners reminded me of "Chairry" on Pee Wee's Playhouse, and some were so big that my feet didn't touch the ground. This one seemed to work when we found it in the showroom, and it works well in the room, I think. As a bonus, we purchased a floor sample and saved a few bucks. 

Wow, what a difference. It's like we've instantly added on another room to the house. The front of the house faces west, so this space will be particularly nice for after work beverages. :)

Next up: some sort of area rug and devise a new plan for the old coffee table....

Look a plane! or 2?

I've never been into planes or aerospace, but maybe today was the day to become a fan. Like many in the DC area, I was able to see the space shuttle Discovery's final (piggyback) flight to Dulles airport this morning.

Last year, I was in a plane on the way to Orlando during Discovery's final real mission. Our pilot kept making announcements related to the changing status of the liftoff, and finally he announced that Discovery was in fact going to launch while we were in the air. Half the passengers ran to the plane windows and starting screaming (happily) at seeing the shuttle from the air, but I unfortunately was on the wrong side of the plane. Argh. I'm surprised that (insert least favorite airline here) hasn't started pricing seats based on the likelihood of seeing NASA aircraft. Argh again. I probably just gave them a good idea.

That tiny dot is much larger in real life.

Today, however, was different. I had honestly forgotten about Discovery until I heard a coworker randomly yelling this morning. After her second or third scream I realized what was causing the hysteria. At this point, my brain began working in slow motion....look out window.....find camera....in phone...oh no... I can never remember how to use the camera phone under pressure...no time to ask for help...? Fortunately I did remember how to take a picture in those few seconds. Discovery, to its credit, looked exactly like the news said - like 2 planes on top of each other. Cool, but also kind of strange.

Slightly better.

I realized later that my photo was so blurry that it looked a little fake. Since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, I decided to write about it and see if I could come close to equalizing the effects of bad photography. If nothing else, this post allowed me to laugh again at myself, at my successful quick reaction to a weird photo op and to the slight irony of a second chance to see a final flight.