new sofa and clementine

Hello from moody, windy Illinois. Today's view of the maple tree across the street...

There are so many fallen leaves right now. Brian's already cleaned out our gutters twice. He'll have to do it two or three more times before the trees are stripped bare. Today looks like it'll be the last warm day for a loong time. The extended forecast shows temps dropping into the low 50's and even one day where it will only be a high of 48F. And lots of rain. Cue the sobbing. And the start of Seasonal Affective Disorder. 

After waiting six weeks for our Crate and Barrel Willow sofa to be made and delivered to us...it's finally here! We love it. It is comfortable and cozy, perfect for lounging, yet firm enough to have good support. We are super impressed with the quality of the sofa itself and the slipcover, which is washable.

I decided to put the new sofa on an angle instead of up against the wall under the opening where the old sofa was. More photos coming up, but first let me tell you that getting this new sofa and putting it in a new spot got the snowball effect rolling. The black ladder bookshelf and floor lamp do not look good behind the sofa. My cousin, who is a designer, told me I need a higher bookshelf, that the proportions are off. I agree. I might try a tall corner bookshelf. We also need an arc floor lamp so it comes over the couch for reading. And, of course, we need artwork for the walls.

This "cheap" IKEA chair you see to the side will also eventually be replaced with something a little nicer. And my grandma's coffee table, which I love but is too big and angular for the room, will be going into the downstairs family room. I'll be looking for a smaller round or oval coffee table, probably with a glass top to make the room look more open and airy. No hurry on any of these things though. I am taking my time looking on Facebook Marketplace plus online sales.

This is the view across from the sofa. The sofa now faces the fireplace, which is on a diagonal. And we moved the TV from Brian's office into the living room. Neither of us ever watched TV in Brian's office so it was useless in there. And yet another thing I'm looking for: a console TV stand, preferably one with shelves or glass-front cabinets so I can display some books and my vintage pottery.

Thank you for all the kind and helpful comments in my last post about Clementine and her receiving subcutaneous fluids. She received her first treatment this past Monday. The two young, sweet, caring vet techs let me in the room with her so I was able to pet her and talk to her while she was receiving her treatment. She did flinch and let out a little meow when the needle first went in, but then she immediately settled down and was fine the entire time. Watching the tech do the procedure convinced me I cannot do this on my own. 

The techs told me that the vet wants Clementine to have these treatments twice/week for at least three weeks. We then might be able to go down to once/week. How they will determine that, I have no idea. I'm going to ask again tomorrow when I take her in again. 

They also told me (and I was aware from reading online ahead of time) that the fluid doesn't get absorbed all at once, that it can take hours for the body to do so. The fluid accumulates under the skin and forms a "bubble" and can travel down to the torso. You can see the fluid bubble at the bottom of her tummy, near her leg. You can also see where she chews her skin...see how her fur is ragged on the left leg and there's a pink spot? She's been excessively barbering for a couple of years now. Long story short, she sees a vet dermatologist for this and they have done tests and tried four different meds and changing her diet and nothing works. Her regular vet and I agree: it's most likely anxiety. The thing is, she can't be on any anti-anxiety medication because it would affect her kidneys. 

One small blessing that came our way Monday at the vet...when I was checking out, the amount I was charged was 40% less than what I was originally quoted over email. So the cost of bringing Clementine in for these fluids is not as terrible as we had feared.

Have a wonderful week and stay safe.

💓

still in summer mode

Here we are in September already. While I'm not in any way ready for fall and technically it doesn't start for almost another three weeks, I see the signs all around me. Dry leaves are falling to the ground and crunching underfoot. The morning light is softer and filtered in the way it falls across the front yard.

 One of my favorite plants this summer has been this black and blue salvia. I am endlessly fascinated by the color of the flowers. I see hummingbirds on the flowers at least ten times a day. Of course, bees love it, too.

Just this morning as I was sitting on the front porch with my coffee, a dragonfly came to visit on the salvia.

My son who now lives out-of-state, was just here visiting for a few days. I dropped him of at the airport a couple of days ago and when I got back home, I saw this in the guest room. An empty, messy bed. Made my mama heart break a little bit.

Because, of course, this is what my heart always sees and feels...even though he's now 29 years old. 

I haven't read as much this summer as I usually do. According to my Goodreads reading goal, I'm nine books behind schedule. (Quit judging me, Goodreads!) This is the book I'm in the middle of reading right now. You might recognize the author's name...she's most famous for "The Secret Life of Bees", "The Mermaid Chair" and "The Invention of Wings". She's also written some non-fiction: "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter" and "When the Heart Waits". I've read all her books and loved them. So far, this story ranks up there with all her other books. It's historical fiction from the days of Jesus told by a female perspective. Kidd's brilliant writing pulls you right into the story and there's an amazing connection to the characters because she brings them to life.

I discovered Tieghan from Half Baked Harvest on Instagram and have been obsessed with her recipes. Literally everything she makes looks so good. I've tried a few of her recipes and they're as good as they look. When I saw that she had a new cookbook out, I got it from my local library to check it out before buying it online. I ended up putting sticky tabs on so many pages, that I knew I had to buy this cookbook. This cookbook basically covers everything: Breakfast and Brunch, Appetizers and Sides, Salad and Soup, Pizza and Pasta, Vegetarian, Poultry and Pork, Beef and Lamb, Seafood and Fish and Dessert.

 I'm seeing people all over Instagram talking about fall decorating already. I can't even go there. It is still summer!!

I'm leaving my cheery, bright, light decor up for at least another two weeks.

All too soon, I won't even hear the beautiful chirping of little birdies all around my yard. This pretty, colorful pillow will be replaced with one with stupid pumpkins muted colors.

The big change that will be coming to my living room in October is...
a new sofa!

Finally. 

This 15-year old one is long past its prime. We'd been looking for over a year in stores and online. 

We finally decided on an off-white slipcovered sofa from Crate and Barrel. I have to say that the saleswomen at the Crate and Barrel store were very helpful with working with our needs (color, length, material, style). The bonus was that C&B was having their annual sofa sale, so we saved some money. The sofa is being made in North Carolina so that's why it'll take awhile to get here. I guess there'll be one good thing to look forward to this fall. 😉

front door and decisions, decisions

Oh, hello.

I recently ordered this decal for my front door from an etsy shop called Lighthouse Decals. Something fun; a bit of whimsy. Something we all need these days. 

I've been spending a lot of time online looking for certain needed things for our home: patio cushions and pillows, a rug and chair for Brian's office, a welcome mat for the front porch, an odd-sized frame for a print, a bench or banquette for the kitchen table. It's not pleasant ~ at least not for me. There's too many choices and I end up falling down that internet rabbit hole. Other times, I've bookmarked things I've liked but I'm not completely sure on, or I want to show Brian first. And when I go back to them, they're out-of-stock.

One thing I will not order online is a sofa. Or couch. (Whatever you want to call it.) Too risky. I have to see it in person and sit on it and even lie down on it. When you're spending that much money and it's something non-returnable, no way. We'd looked in person for a sofa at several furniture stores in the past year. We never found anything we were 100% sure about, so we didn't buy. But now that I'm stuck in the house and I stare at our old sofa more than I used to, it's really bothering me.  Side note: excuse the small plate of berries and almonds; I was eating breakfast and thinking about a blog post and got up to take a photo. No staging, just real life.

This sofa is 14 years old. It is worn out. The cushions sink all the way down when you sit on them. There is no support. I can't sit on this sofa for more than 10 minutes without my back killing me. Not to mention, it's permanently discolored despite being professionally cleaned. 

And, my cats used to use the arms of the couch as a scratching post. I have a post by this arm of the sofa now and that's really helped. But the damage is done. We obviously can't go to stores now and sofa shop, so here's what I'm wavering on...

We have an IKEA sofa in the basement family room. It's about eight years old, but hardly used. As empty nesters, Brian and I never use this space in the basement. We have a ranch-style house so everything we need is on the first floor ~ kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathrooms.

Going down the stairs into the basement, you can see how we have the sofa facing the TV. Which we never watch. Unless we're under a tornado warning and are camped out in the basement, or I'm on the treadmill. Both not frequent events. 😉

One reason we chose this IKEA sofa for the basement was because it came in pieces in a box. There was no way a regular sofa would fit around a corner and through a doorway going down into our basement. So we were able to assemble the sofa from the box right there in the basement.

Can you see where I'm going with this? I was thinking...

We could disassemble this sofa and bring upstairs to put in the living room to temporarily replace the ugly, old tan sofa. After all, even though this sofa is a cheap one, it certainly looks a lot better than what we have in the living room right now. 

But here's the cons: 

• I'd have to have Brian and our next door neighbor move the living room sofa to....where? Out by the curb and hope that someone picks it up with a day or two? What if they don't? We'd have to put the sofa in the garage and leave my car out on the driveway. For a long time.

• The disassembling and reassembling of the IKEA sofa is going to be a real pain-in-the-tush.

• That leaves us without a sofa in the basement and it's going to look weird down there without one. (I know, I know...we don't use this space. It's just an aesthetics thing to me.) And then once we are finally able to furniture shop again and do find a sofa for the living room, the IKEA sofa would once again have to be disassembled, carried back down to the family room, and reassembled.
  
  
  Whaddya think? Would you go for it? Or just leave things be until you could finally go sofa shopping in person again?