I’ve been away too long. A few comments on some old posts asked about how my Home Reserve furniture had been holding up.

Here’s the answer: I don’t know because it’s gone.

We had the furniture for about 6 months. It held up great and still looked about the same when we got rid of it. At the time, I wanted to keep the chair, but it would just not go with our new Ikea furniture.

We got rid of it mainly because of the couch. It was comfortable — enough so even for people who slept on it — but it was just not deep enough. I constantly felt like I was sitting on the edge, even though I wasn’t. You definitely need an ottoman to make it worth it. This would be GREAT, however, for a dorm, kid’s room, or other “play room” where you have other options or price is the #1 concern. However, for us, it was our only couch and it had to function as occasional bed and constant TV-viewing seat.

The chair, however, I loved. I thought it was the perfect size and comfort level and I LOVED the pattern. I still sort of miss it and think wistfully back to the days that Dylan and I would sink into its cushy-ness.

Overall, I give the chair an A+ and I think it would have held up for MUCH longer than 6 months had we given it the chance. The couch was just not right for us. I hope that helps.

Jazz and I closed on our house on Monday. It went really, really smoothly. We went to our bank to get our large check, then found out our check was too large and we got money BACK! Seriously! It took a little more than an hour to sign the next 30 years of our life away.

Then I called my mom (you know, the diabetic) to give her the good news, and her sugar levels were low. I thought it when she answered and then it became desperately apparent during our 10 minute conversation when she kept telling me, over and over again, that her Cocker Spaniel wasn’t around. So it took about 10 minutes to call some of my relatives and find someone who could run over to my parent’s house and give her a Snickers bar or something, because she was too far gone to do it on her own.

So after *that* excitement, Jazz and I went over to the house. I ran through all of the rooms with my arms outstretched. It’s so strange. Two years ago, we couldn’t even afford a condo in the D.C. area. The economy is bad, and I do feel a twinge of guilt that so many people are losing their homes and jobs… but somebody needs to buy.

The townhouse we bought has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2 half-baths (or, as Jazz cutely puts it, “powder rooms”). It also has a basement, which will become our theater room. (Note: it is not a “man cave” and anybody who calls it that will be charged double for a matinee showing.)

For the months leading up to the move, Jazz and I saved like crazy. The good part about this is that we over-saved, and now we have a few month’s worth of mortgage payments saved up. Also, I got promoted (yay!), so now we actually have a little disposable income.

(And if anyone knows how to dispose of income, it’s Jazz and I.)

We’ve been buying lots of new stuff for the house… “good stuff.” Stuff I wouldn’t have bought for the apartment. When we lived in the apartment, I really didn’t think about quality of anything. I just saw something, it was cheap, and so I bought it. We’re going to try not to do that anymore.

I’ve fallen in love with Etsy. Have you ever gone to Etsy? If you haven’t, I recommend it. Etsy is a website where you can open up a store and sell hand-made items for others to purchase. I don’t have a store, because I don’t make stuff, but I know someone who does.

We recently bought some Star Trek prints from a seller called nonobjective. They are amazing! We just need to frame them.

We also bought an absolutely amazing print of Boba Fett from underthekitchensink that should arrive here (from Scotland!) next week or so:

Boba Fett

These will be good additions to the Universal Monsters (Dracula, Wolf Man, Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein) prints I bought Jazz for Christmas from strongstuffshop.