So finally after a few years of living in what we probably plan to be the last house we ever buy, we decided to take a plunge and pitch all the mismatched, hand-me-down furniture we had accumulated over the years, and purchase a bunch of stuff that matched and looked good in the house. After only a moment of basking in its glory, my satisfaction was snatched away not only by what I saw happening on the new furniture, but by what I would have sworn was my parents’ words coming out of my own mouth.
It has been a long time since I cared about what anyone or anything did to our couches, but here I was in a room full of nice new things, and there were two cats up on the leather sofa, very nonchalantly walking on it, giving it their thoroughly unimpressed inspection, there were two dogs looking very much like they wanted to assume comparable positions on the new couch as they previously enjoyed on the old one, a 3-year-old jumping on the back of the sofa, and a 1-year-old starting to cry because she managed to get herself wedged between the couch and coffee table. And as much as I hate to admit it, I really did say: “Hey, how many times have I told you not to jump on the back of the sofa?”
Having addressed the 3-year-old offender, I simultaneously rescued the 1-year-old and scolded the cats to get off the new furniture and warned the dogs to not even think about it. I found myself putting a hand on the couch cushions to see if they were warm every time I was gone for a little while, paranoid that the dogs were laying on it behind my back, conspiracy-style. They were especially offended when we blocked them off from the room with the furniture entirely, Monday, when we were both at work – one of my dogs proceeded to lay under a desk pouting for the rest of the evening. You may find the timing of a furniture purchase to be foolish when you have four indoor animals and two toddlers, but not as dumb as the timing the first time we bought a living room set.
Excited to be out of apartments and in our first house in Hopkins, we brought home a new puppy (the very one that pouted for hours after being confined from this latest purchase). We also had two living rooms for the first time, so off to the furniture store we went. A blue sofa, loveseat, chair, and ottoman looked like it would work well, so we brought that home as well. It was a pretty picture: new house, new furniture, new puppy, happy wife, the whole nine yards. I believe I was out of town when I got the call from my wife, four days after the furniture was delivered: “Your dog is lucky it’s still alive … when I was gone at work she ripped the skirts off all the new furniture.”
New furniture take 2 – with pets
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