Gloggity Glogg

Remember camcorder buddy? Our next-door neighbor that gave us his old camcorder when he bought a new one? The guy that later quizzed us when we were on our way out the door to go to my company barbeque and asked why we weren’t taking it with us? Well as it turns out, he’s one of the maintenance people for the entire apartment complex. One day Jon’s chatting with him about life in general, and the next thing we know, we’ve got all new fixtures, lights, blinds, ceiling fans, faucets, and a new fridge. Hooray! Between all that, and a recent trip to the Phoenix IKEA, we’ve pretty much got a brand new house.

Here’s what our apartment looked like two years ago, when we first moved to Tucson.

And here’s what it looks like now.

No, I did not tell Penny to lay in the picture. She always figures out how to best be in your way, then she plops down right there. Folding blankets; she tries to lay on them. Adjusting the rug; she stands right in front of your face. Speaking of adjusting the rug, just forget about how it doesn't quite lay flat in the picture. I pulled the ottoman over and apparently forgot to smooth out the wrinkle I created.

The couches are old news, I know. But the blue rug isn’t. And fancy that – matching end tables! Who knew they could bring me so much joy? We almost got a new coffee table, too, but I decided I wasn’t ready to part with old one yet. My mom got it the week I was born, and I’ve spent many-an-hour running in circles around that thing, flipping the sides up and down. As it is, we always leave them down, and I have no idea why you'd ever flip them up, but I like to have the option.

Among the other things we bought at IKEA:

WHAT?! Who knew you could buy these things?? The best part is that on the side of the carton, a caption explains, "Silently Traps and Kills Prey". Good thing, too, because that silly plant saying "Hello Lunch!" is pretty misleading.

We passed a huge display of this stuff while waiting in the checkout line. First we started out making fun of it (GLOGG) but a few minutes later, after casting many pining looks behind him, Jon requested that I “Go grab some glogg” for him. We haven’t tried it yet, but apparently it’s supposed to be served warm with nuts and raisins.

In conclusion, please tell me if this math adds up.

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PS – I’m very grateful to Camcorder Buddy for the upgrades: HOWEVER :: He’s kind of an oddball. As in, he talked the entire time about how he’s the best person EVER at replacing towel racks and the like. (“I don’t even need the instructions.” Fifteen minutes later: “See that? That would have taken anyone else another hour.” Twenty minutes after that: “You know Harold? It takes him TWO DAYS to do what I’m doing here”). Also, there was an awkward moment when he and I were outside cleaning up the mess from the packaging on the new fridge. His dirty baby was crawling around in the gravel with crap all over his face, and this guy starts talking about how heavy the kid is, then to prove his point, he scooped the baby up out of the dirt and flung him at me. (“…OH...um…hi baby. Yep, he’s heavy…” [trying to hand it back..no luck…set it on the ground]). Does anyone else think this is weird? First time meeting this guy, and he forces me to hold his filthy baby? We’re definitely not at that point in our relationship.

PSS – Jon has been in town for FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKENDS!!!!