How to Spend All Day Moving a Couch
July 10, 2008
Here’s some background:
–Moving in, we had one minor glitch…the stairway to our bedroom was too narrow for our box springs to fit. It just wouldn’t bend around the tight corner it needed to if it was going to support our cushy mattress while we slept soundly in our new home. The stairs to our basement are identical. Keep that in mind.
–Our basement is quite large & pretty well finished, so we decided we’d get our TV out of the main living space & put it down there. This meant we needed another (cheap) couch.
–Our first Sunday here, we visited a church we’d heard about from some friends. During the post-worship social time, I overhear someone mention that a family recently moved away & left their couch & loveseat in the church’s basement for anyone who might want them. Hmmm. "Anyone?" I ask. Sure enough, anyone. And they even met with Emily’s approval. Score! Two free couches! And the big one is even a sleeper, so we get additional sleeping space for nephews!
And now the story really gets good.
I ask around, and find a new friend with a truck. Wouldn’t you know, he’s even a Texan! So last Saturday, our schedules align & he agrees to help me move these couches into our basement. The loveseat goes in without a hitch, but thinking back to the box springs fiasco, I wisely measure the back stairway into the basement & realize that won’t work. I also measure the main basement stairs, and it’s tight, but I think it’ll fit.
Let me tell you, carrying that sleeper sofa through the four doorways & the hall between our front porch & the basement was a nice warmup for the basement stairs. And, you know what, I was right…it was a tight fit down those stairs. Too tight. That bend was killing me.
And here is where the Faulkner in me kicked in.
I think, "If we just take it back up and out of two doorways and back down the hall, we can flip it 180º, and that might just do it." So I say to my new friend (who I’ve know for all of a combined eight hours), "If we just take it back up and out of two doorways and back down the hall…, are you game?" I think because we met at church, and he knows he’ll have to see me again almost every Sunday, he agreed.
So we lifted it back up the stairs, out two doorways, down the hall, turned it 180º, took it back down the hall, through those same two doorways and started down the stairs again (did I mention it’s a sleeper sofa? Man those things are heavy!). Halfway through that process, Emily says, "You know, it might not be worth it." "It’ll fit," I replied confidently foolishly.
It didn’t fit…almost, but not quite. I mean just barely, and I was so sure it would, and it was free, and we’re going to have to move it back to the church, and then we’re going to have to pay for a couch…so I yanked on it, hard. And this is the result:
And I? Well, I head to the garage for my toolbox, and start making plans for how on earth I’m going to unlodge a 75 lb., dark blue sleeper sofa from my stairway.
Over the next several hours, I pulled staples, peeled back upholstery, pried up nail plates, and removed the board that runs along the front of the couch. All this while Brenna and Joseph periodically sat at the top of the basement stairs and asked questions like, "What are you doing?" and "Why is there a couch on our basement stairs?" An excellent, infuriating, humiliting question.
Fortunately, the only cussing was in my head.
Here’s a before & after shot of the joints.
And here’re our two new, free couches just waiting for the family movie night we had planned!
Posted by C.W. at 2:03pm
1 Comment »
Photos
July 10, 2008
Story time with Daddy…
Funny girl
Here she is revving her engines like a motorcycle. Such a delicate little princess…
Posted by Emily at 1:55pm
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Milestone day
July 07, 2008
Joseph said Brenna’s name for the first time. He has been calling her Ra-ra for a while now, but today he looked at her all of the sudden, like it had just occurred to him and said ‘Brenna’. Complete with the r.
And Brenna, drew a picture of a tree and attempted to color inside the lines. Yes, these are firsts for her. She has never been much of a table time girl. She generally would rather be playing chase, or hide and go seek, or any number of pretend games.
It was a big day.
Posted by Emily at 8:23pm
2 Comments »
encouragement
July 07, 2008
I am horrible with maps. I can look on the map and see what street to turn on and what direction, but then I look up over the steering wheel and it just doesn’t transfer.
So, moving to a new city for me means learning with some amount of trial and error. Brenna, who gets a backseat view of much of the process has picked up on the ‘error’ part of the process.
Like the many u-turns or me muttering "Baxter street? How did I get onto Baxter street?" Anyhow, lately, whenever we pull up to our desired location Brenna has taken to saying things like "momma, you found Target! Good job!"
I will take whatever encouragement I can get. Thank you.
Posted by Emily at 12:14pm
2 Comments »
Clever title
July 05, 2008
Our house. We love our house. Have I said that already? I really love it. I feel over the top blessed.
This is a picture taken standing by the front door into the dining room. I thought about picking up the books before I took the picture, but that really wouldn’t be what my living room usually looks like, and you wouldn’t be getting an accurate picture. I am all about accuracy.
(Brittney, will you please come visit so that you can fix these pictures around the arch way. I think they look funny.)
The sink. This is our funny old farm sink. (I guess it is a farm sink. Sounds good, anyway.) No dishwasher here so I am getting in the swing of washing by hand. If you are going to do it, this is not a bad sink to have, with all the space on either side to use as drying space. I thought about putting away these clean dishes first but, you know, accuracy.
And that pile of green there on the right side? Basil grown in my back yard. Yummo.
Oh, and (for my mother) I did bleach the inside of the sink right after we moved in and it was considerably whiter for about 24 hours before it became this color again.
I though that this relish that I made was pretty enough to take a picture. It was tasty too. We ate with grilled Salmon.
Posted by Emily at 6:41am
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Most ironic thing heard in our home yesterday….
July 05, 2008
Brenna saying, "Joseph, you can stop asking ‘why’ now."
Posted by Emily at 6:27am
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joseph turns 2
June 26, 2008
The Menu: hot dogs, mac ‘n’ cheese, broccoli. (three of Joseph’s favs)
Reaching for the hot dogs.
Did I mention that there was chocolate cake?
Old enough to blow out his own candles.
So, now that he is two, do I cut his hair? It is well past his collar and over his ears, but it’s curly. The curls. That is what stops me. What do y’all think?
Posted by Emily at 1:34pm
6 Comments »
the stars were aligned just right, i guess
June 20, 2008
My sister and I have a history of having weird or cheesy pictures of us together. I think that I name this photo "the best picture of my sister and I together ever taken". Thanks Heather.
Posted by Emily at 2:37pm
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Three year olds say funny things: Episode 2
June 20, 2008
It was raining.
Brenna: Oh, Momma, I don’t want it to rain.
Momma: Well, Brenna, it is God who decides when it rains, not me.
Brenna: (sudden gasp of dismay, and then spoken with great concern) If it rains, Jesus’s crown will get wet and be ruined!
Hmmm…do you think C.W. has been teaching her some sketchy theology when I am not around?
Posted by Emily at 8:12am
1 Comment »
Spending too much time with Preschoolers…
June 18, 2008
The other day I spoke these words to Brenna:
"Don’t drag Joseph around. Let him get his ownself around."
Please someone call me and save me with some adult conversation.
Posted by Emily at 7:09am
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