Sunday arrived and it was the day I had long been waiting for! Today was the day that we were going to devote our entire day to finding decor items for the apartment. Tom did a great job in getting the basics down before I arrived, but now this place needed a little woman's touch. I had decided I wanted orange things in the kitchen, and teal and white in the bathroom. I couldn't even think about the bedroom just yet, but I wanted to keep my eyes open in case something grabbed me. So, off we went to HomeGoods, one of my favorite decorating places. Tom grabbed a cart as we arrived, and I quickly reached for a beautiful white ceramic vase, thinking surely I could find some use for this in the bathroom. I hold the piece up to Tom as if to ask him what he thinks. He responds, "So, what is the use for that?" Oh my.....this was going to be a long day.
I perused the store for much longer than I probably needed to without really finding anything that I loved, at least for the right price. I had easily forgotten how expensive it is to set up a room! After HomeGoods we went next door to World Market. There weren't many good sales in there, either, so we decided we should probably head to Wal-Mart and Target and start there. Tom was uber-patient and assured me that we could always come back. We had better luck at Wal Mart and Target. We were able to secure simple night stands, towels, etc at these places. Still, I could not find any dishes that I liked. As we were leaving Wal Mart, we passed a display of plastic cups. Wouldn't you know it? Orange cups! Tom thought we had just hit the jackpot. "See? Orange! These will be perfect!" Oy......
Somehow we decided to start looking for lamps at Target. There is no light in the bedroom so a lamp would be very beneficial. Tom did a lovely job on picking out the lamp for the bedroom. I loved it, he loved it, so we bought it. Win-win! However, before we left, Tom thought he'd be funny by bringing out a Captain America lamp and asking if that would work for the bedroom. I just stared at him. "Are you serious?" I asked. He chuckled, and said, "Well, if I don't ask then the answer is an automatic no. It was worth a shot. May as well try....why not??" "Well, because you're not five," I plainly responded. He laughed and put it back in the aisle. But, first....a picture.
Then, we went back to HomeGoods. Yes, this day seemed to be going on and on forever. It takes forever to get anywhere here in a car, it seems. It's not as simple as it is in Oregon. Obviously, there is much more traffic and things are spread out way more. By the time we returned to HomeGoods they no longer had the piece I had wanted previously, and this started the royal meltdown of July 2014. At this point, those of you who have been shopping with me will just laugh. For those of you who haven't been shopping with me, be thankful. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of shopping I'm doing, by the end of it, I will be in tears. I have traumatized many with my methods, and many no longer will shop with me because of it. This may have been Tom's first exposure to such a disastrous fit. I'll be the first to admit it is not a pleasant state. He handled it like a champ, as always. He tried to fix it the best he could. But, the thing is, when I get in that state of mind there is no fixing it. Nothing can be done. The game is over. In his attempt to appease me, he hustled me over to Bed Bath and Beyond, only to realize it had just closed. This sent me into a rapid downward spiral. My worries became overwhelming. We weren't going to be able to get the apartment completed, we hadn't gotten enough accomplished during the day, we were never going to be able to get everything done, and on and on and on. Tom listened patiently, then put me in the car, and whisked us away to get something to eat. Of course, I insisted I didn't want anything to eat. And, I didn't really. I just wanted to go to bed and not deal with any of this anymore. However, I knew he would probably get me something and expect me to eat it later. He stopped at our favorite Middle Eastern place and got a couple of sandwiches and brought me home. We hauled everything upstairs and then I laid down on the bed. Tom came in to talk to me because I was worrying him so. I expressed my strong dislike of being back here, and that after today, I knew I could never live here and that I had hoped I'd come out here and see that it wasn't so bad and that I could live out here, but today made me think that I couldn't. In only the way Tom can do, he reassured me he didn't want me to move out here because he knows I would hate it, and he explained that finding the perfect things for this apartment wasn't a priority because this wasn't our forever home. He commiserated with me until I felt better. Then, I was ready to eat. We sat and had our sandwiches and then got to work on putting the house together. It felt so much better to actually be doing it. This allowed me to see what more needs to be done and what had been accomplished. In the end, I think things came together pretty nicely.
Bathroom Before:
Bathroom After....
Bedroom Before:
Bedroom After...
The kitchen and living area spaces are still being beautified and constructed. Stay tuned!
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