Not All Who Wander Are Lost

It's hard not to like any weekend that begins with the circus, even if you have to get up early to drive into Boston for it. And it makes things easier if your three-year-old throws up in the car on the way to the circus, thus making room for an entire bag of cotton candy plus a purple sno cone in a plastic elephant --watching that come up would have been much worse; this way, it was easier to help her pace the sugar intake appropriately, and she got to wear clean clothes throughout.

The circus was...the circus, I guess. Darcie and I went a bunch of years ago, mostly because she had never gone; though it was the real Barnumandbaileyringlingbrothers deal, and though the kids seemed awed by the whole experience, something about the surprising thinness of the matinee crowd, maybe the glare of the sunshine seeping in through our psyches, kept it a bit off-edge. The smiles seemed more forced than usual, maybe. The too-sleepy lions and their tamer tried a few halfhearted tricks and gave up mid-performance, though my favorite act (motorcycles in a cage) is always pretty spectacular.

Gotta admit, though -- when your six month old infant wakes up during the smashbang spectacular that is the circus finale, looks around in wonder at the whole suddenlychanged universe of chaos, thinks a moment, and then lights up grinning like a jackolantern, it kind of vindicates the whole parenthood thing.

Spent the rest of the weekend shopping for furniture all across the greater Boston area with Darcie and baby while the 'rents hung with their only grandchild old enough to talk. The head spinds with hardwood. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping, truly -- but you'd think there's be more than a dozen total possible table configurations on the market. It't frustrating when you can describe exactly what you want -- a basic block-legs-with-leaf table, under seven feet, out of wood, not veneer -- and not find it anywhere.

Funny how I didn't realize how much I am absolutely, positively emotionally done with the whole shopping phase of our homeownership until I began that paragraph. I mean, gee, but it's great to be back home.

Pretty cool to be able to say "home" and mean it, too, even though, a month after moving, we're still living in boxes.

Yeah, the place is a mess, but there's hope on the horizon: with a few choice finds (bed, table and chairs, library chairs and an AV cabinet for the corner) this weekend's furniture shopping filled the last hardwood gaps in our theoretical from-scratch redesign, came in around budget targets, and thus promises to be the last gasp in what has become a month-long mission to get our life up off the floor and out of all these damn bozes.

In the meantime, the pellet stove blazes merrily while the dishwasher drycycle steams the air. A newly opened box reveals heretofore forgotten dress shirts and khakis, thus allowing me to blog and iron, and leave laundry for another day. The kids cuddle upstairs, resting up for another wild day in a world where anything can happen. Life is good. And it's getting better all the time.

Comments:

It't frustrating when you can describe exactly what you want -- a basic block-legs-with-leaf table, under seven feet, out of wood, not veneer -- and not find it anywhere.

We totally had this same problem. We wanted a good dining room table. I even found on online that I would love. It goes from a tiny round 2-4 person table to like 108" that seats like 10! Great simple legs, multiple leaves...$2000 price tag (before chairs).

We ended up with one from a friend's yard sale, $250 (birthday and christmas cash), 2 leaves. Doesn't fold down quite as small as I would like, but close enough.

Good luck with the shopping.

# posted by

Lady Strathconn : 4:01 PM, October 18, 2005