Out with the old...

On Saturday, I watched our old couch, the one I had bought in college for $40 and hauled to my first apartment in a minivan, and then moved twice again, crunched up in a garbage truck. I'm not sure why, but I seem to have a soft spot for inadimate objects... cars, appliances, couches... I feel bad when they are destructed. After all those years of service-- they just don't seem to deserve it.

We put it out on Friday just in case someone might have driven by and decided they wanted it. I peeked out the window first thing on Saturday hoping to see it gone... taken... rescued. But, alas, it was there. So, at about 11, the truck pulled up to haul it away. The worker merely lifted one end in and pressed the button--it made this churning noise and the couch was dragged into the body of the truck, as a huge metal plate came down over the top and violently crunched it down. I did feel a tinge bit bad for it. And then I went back in and sat on my new couch.

It's nice not to feel the wood frame when you sit down or the outline of the metal coils through the cushion. We got such a great deal on this set (page 372), it was unreal. We raced up after work on Thursday to prove to ourselves it was total crap... I mean, a 3-piece set for $699 had to be, right? We were pleasantly surprised, and as we debated, the customer service lady mentioned she only had a few sets left. It was only put on sale for 8 hours... So we promptly got our ticket and marched down to rent a van and get it home. One long night, but worth it.

So we bought furniture way under the budget we were planning (the sofa we *loved* at Carson's was way more than our entire set), and a tidbit of good news late on Friday arrived... Jed got a promotion at work! He is moving from the Customer Service Department to Inside Sales for Parochial and Private Schools. It offered a 20% raise plus a decent (I'll believe it when I see it) commission plan, less hours (he's working 3 hours OT pretty much everday plus 1/2 Saturdays in the summer), but more travel... (they say 10-20%). But the department is new, we're not sure exactly what that means. So great for him, finally, to be making more and finding a position that will challenge him a bit. And great for us to feel like we had a bit more spending money to make impending purchases -- a car, for example-- a bit more comfortable.

So feeling good about that, and a bit grumpier about our computer (it, interestingly, like much of our stuff seems these days, is on its last legs.) It isn't holding a charge and is ridiculously finnicky about how and where it is plugged in. So, we decided to take another plunge and buy a new laptop. Yep, we're making the switch to Mac--with the luring deal to purchase the computer and get a free itouch, we couldn't help ourselves. I don't even know all the cool things it can do, but I'm dying to learn, just so I can whip it out at my next staff meeting to check my calendar. Mwah.

So yeah. I think we're done for this weekend. We did drive by Carmax, just to check out what we could buy, but luckily it was closed...