Furniture buying...

...is not as much fun as I thought it might be. It's actually kind of stressful. There's the looking at things I like, the averting my eyes from the really ugly furniture, the mocking of the sofas with built-in cupholders like you're riding in a minivan in your living room, the staring, the trying to imagine furniture in the house, the trying to imagine whether I'm going to still like it two years from now, the lusting after furniture that won't fit or will not still be funky in a good way in a couple of years, the whole existential "what's my style" question to be pondered... Exhausting.

But I got, in my housemate-to-be's words, an "ass-tastic" couch. I prefer "ass-tacular." The point is, neither one of us wanted to get up off the furniture in the showroom, we were so comfortable. I hoped maybe they'd just let us sleep there on the couches last night, but apparently, they are not cool with that.

Oh, well. Pretty soon I'll be able to lie on my couch whenever I want.

The strangest part of the experience (besides the adultness)? The manager who foisted fabric protection on me by telling me A.) that the amazing protection was the whole reason she worked there (right); and B.) about her dog, Mr. Cuddles, who would have ruined everything she owns if not for the fabric protection and how she needs it on her rugs, too. Thanks, that's way more than I need to know. Mr. Cuddles's owner could not grasp the concept of "no means no." She wore me down and defeated me. And now I feel a little resentful.

Equally as strange? When the saleswoman called me "sweetie Lorena," like that was my whole name, then hugged me. It's a couch. There's no need to touch me because of it. And also, if something goes wrong with the couch, we're not going to be friends. We're not going to be hugging. She also wished me a "blessed" evening.

The paint is still an issue -- do I go with a nice neutral and just use color as accents? Or do I go bold? Can I live with it for a long time? Because I don't want to be painting every year or so. And the questions and staring begin again...