Old folks trying new things

We are trying new things here in our house.  The other day while I was working downstairs on a sewing project I could hear Bud upstairs running the vacuum cleaner.  I thought he was just doing a good deed but when I cam up he had rearranged the living room furniture too.  I told you in my last posting that we are planning to buy new furniture and have started shopping around for what we want.  I actually picked it out already and Bud did approve so the shopping is done except to compare prices at different stores.  

 Anyway, we have talked about a different arrangement with the new furniture, pulling the sofa in from the wall and kind of making the room look a little more cozy.  The new sofa will have a lower back so it will have its back to the window but we will still be able to enjoy the view.

 The new recliners will also have lower backs and be a bit bigger so they will look nice right where we have recliners now.

 The love seat will enclose the little arrangement around the fireplace.  It will be new too.  We haven't decided about the tables yet.  I would like a different table in the middle, probably one bigger and not so fragile.It is made of oak but the hinges are sensitive AND I have had it for almost 30 years.  We will see how the budget goes.  We also need a new table against the wall behind the love seat so it would make sense to get new pieces for both those areas and maybe side tables to match.
I am liking the new arrangement a lot.  I think we will use the sofa more often to set on, not just to take naps.  The old sofa and love seat will go to Leo and his new place.  I will try to find a cover for the love seat since I am sure that he doesn't want that mauve color of the 80s as part of his color scheme if he has one.  Maybe the tables will go to him too.
SO that is what we are doing in our little home here in N. Michigan, buying new furniture that will last the rest of our lives so that when we are gone (as Bud said) the nieces and nephews won't say, "That is the same furniture they always had since I was little."  Maybe now they will at least remember that we did have something else that didn't look like it came from the 80s.

 Today we ventured out to the world of Sam's Club.  I will admit that I have resisted joining this organization for two reasons.  First of all I do not agree with the philosophy of the 'Walmart' organization. They seem to come in to a small town and wipe out all the local stores with their lower prices that they are able to negotiate (maybe strong arm) from large companies and have a lot of imports.  Second, I have never enjoyed 'big box' stores that sell everything from bathroom fixtures to deli meats.  Third, I don't have much use for LARGE boxes of almost anything.  I don't need to store a year's supply of toilet paper in my basement so that I can save  a couple of dollars.
However, we heard that they sell the protein shakes that Bud and I use on this diet and at a much lower price than we can get them at the local grocery store.  So today we joined. Wouldn't you know it though, when we went to try and buy some of the protein shakes, they only had one box and it was the flavor that we don't like.  We didn't leave empty handed though, we managed to find some other things that we could use.  I think that is part of their philosophy too.
It was not a fun trip.  Big box stores like that make me VERY grouchy.  Bud and I never shop well together anyway and this was just too big of a place to maneuver.  We left there without buying what we went there for and with things that we hadn't intended to buy.  Isn't that the way life is though.

We DID get a free rotisserie chicken with our membership though.  Tomorrow nights dinner is all set.

I do have to tell a little snobbish tale on me though.  We were walking down this one aisle and this man asked us if we wanted a sample.  I was just irritated enough to just say "NO" without even knowing what he was pushing.  Then I though maybe I would at least ask what he had to sample.  He told me it was mini corn dogs.  With that I then added insult by saying 'especially not THAT'.  Maybe I'm just not the Sam's Club kind of woman.  At least the membership wasn't too expensive and it is only for a year and we got a free chicken.  PLUS the bonus of the ability to buy a 2 year supply of tall kitchen garbage bags.
BUT, I still had to stop at Meijer to buy some shakes on the way home.