Upgrade...

When I had the party at my house a few weeks ago, a neighbor loaned me her backyard patio furniture to put on my porch for the weekend.  Until that time, I had consistently said I didn't want furniture out there -- I wanted a wide open space with a big rug on it because I am a floor person.  I just love sitting on the floor.   But her wicker loveseat was just so cozy... and cushion-y... and, well...  I'm apparently not quite as much of a floor person as I thought, because that 48 hour period changed my mind.

The hunt was on last week for inexpensive furniture.  Inexpensive, because I'm not totally sure it's not going to get stolen off my porch...  the shrubs sort of hide it from full on view, and I think I'm going to loosely tether it down just to make it a little more difficult to cart away.

There was a matching table available at the store too, but it was rectangular, and a little too large.  And it was more expensive than the love seat!  So my two tree stumps are once again repurposed, and now they are earthy ottomans.  Perfect!

After unloading the truck, unwrapping the furniture and cutting off approximately 200 paper tags, my neighbors and I immediately began lounging yesterday afternoon -- we sat out there laughed and carried on while we admired our shopping skills.*  And then another neighbor showed up with home made finger sandwiches, scones, and this marvelous fig spread (she was all set up for a small person tea party and had extra sandwiches -- divine --and how generous!)  And then a while later Red stopped by and as he put his feet up, he gave his whole-hearted approval of the new set up.  I'm just going to say... it is amazingly comfortable.  I'm going to be living out there.

* And by skills, I include a strong cardio-vascular system.  I bought the set at Garden Ridge (which my neighbor constantly calls "Garden City" so appropriate that it makes me laugh -- a store I normally steer clear of because it is just too huge -- and wow -- let's talk about store organization: 

The patio furniture and the cushions are sold separately -- not even the display set of the furniture had cushions on it -- and they are separated by about a quarter of a mile of mass produced merchandise.  Aisle after aisle after aisle of a craptastic (to borrow a favorite phrase from a friend of mine) extravaganza.   

Once we were through making a cushion selection, we could have added a couple of miles to our daily cardio tally.**    I'll give Garden Ridge snaps because there was a plethora of fabrics and shapes to choose from.  When we were done, several discarded cushions were on the display set and golly gee, if people weren't stopping and trying them out!  Seems like we should get some type of commission for their upcoming sales, don't you think?

** Additionally, to help the cashier at checkout, and to prevent a mass revolt by all the people in line behind us, at one point I ran the full length of the store carrying a wicker chair over my head.  Considering that I was dressed for weeding in my yard and not shopping in public, undoubtedly that was a sight to behold.  I wish I could say that explains why my fellow shoppers cleared a path for me, but they were completely oblivious to what was happening around them.