Just buying stuff

Ever since getting home from our epic van trip about 3 weeks ago, I’ve been doing nothing but ordering stuff online! It’s been very nerve wracking (I’ve never really enjoyed shopping, although I do like having nice stuff).

We’re not able to completely up and fully move everything to Tucson, because we need to maintain a presence in New Mexico for John’s job. So I’m trying to split all our stuff in half. What a confusing endeavor! Does it stay or does it go? How many do I have? How many do I need? Where do I need them?

I’ve resorted to spreadsheets and I’m still confused. For example, my top priority is having the Tucson house comfortable for visitors by mid-winter or early spring or whenever we all start feeling safe to travel again.

That means beds, comforters, sheets, towels, pillows, and ugh! It’s all so expensive! Some people would just buy a bunch of linens and hope for the best. But not me. I’m working the details. THIS comforter goes with THAT bed, these four pillows, this set of sheets, and oh wait, darn, that comforter doesn’t match those pillows. Ok, try again. This OTHER comforter goes with – no wait, why do I have so many Queen sheets and almost no King size? Oh and pool towels! We’re going to need pool towels. And I spent far too much on that pair of pillows from Amazon, what was I thinking? I need to send them back and order more from IKEA, even though they charge for shipping…

Adding to the confusion, there is a general shortage of household items right now because of covid. It’s a combination of supply delays from China due to closed factories, and the fact that so many people are trying to improve their homes because we’re all just HOME now. Houses that used to be empty all day long now contain adults trying to work from home plus kids supposedly learning something from home, and everyone is trying to adjust to being home. Bigger refrigerators, outdoor play equipment, desks, desks, and more desks…

Therefore, everything good is selling out! For example, I got my order in for my new washer and dryer as soon as I could, but it still isn’t going to arrive until mid-November and there’s a big warning notice on my contract that the delivery date is likely to be further delayed. So instead of waiting to order things when we get to Tucson, I’m trying to get it all ordered now because I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. A month and a half to get a laundry set! Yay, I can’t wait to go to the laundromat in Tucson, with a $2,000 washer and dryer sitting on order…indefinitely. (Yes, prices are insane right now.)

The refrigerator I want is simply unavailable. Luckily we have an old garage refrigerator that we can bring. It’s ugly but it works fine. And we’ve realized we are not going to have the time to remodel the kitchen this year anyway, so our grungy old refrigerator plugged into the wall and blocking some cabinets will just have to be good enough – you may remember, there’s not even a built-in slot for a refrigerator in that kitchen. The previous owners had their refrigerator in the next room! I’ll deal with all that sometime next year. Just getting the house functional is a big enough goal for now. Beautiful will have to wait for some other year.

I also completely struck out when looking at new couches. Everything’s full price, and most things are out of stock. No way am I going to spend $2,000 for a couch set that I don’t even like. So instead, I spent $200 for a used one on Craigslist. It’s a bit raggedy, but at least it’s comfortable.

I also failed to find a traditional wooden dining room table and chairs. But I did find a gorgeous round hammered-copper table with a natural patina, that would typically be placed outside in a grand courtyard at a fancy hacienda. Of course I don’t have a huge, beautiful Spanish courtyard, but nonetheless, I had to have that table. I just had to. John was like, where are you going to put that? And I was like, inside or outside or anywhere. I would put this table in any room in the house! (Except it’s too big for the bathroom, lol!) So we don’t know where we’re going to put it, but I’m just glad we’re going to have it, ready and waiting in the garage in New Mexico.

Sorry this blurry close-up picture does not remotely do it justice. I just wanted you to see what I meant by hammered copper patina. I don’t blame you if you don’t like it. It’s sort of a speciality thing. Come visit and you can see it in all of it’s genuine glory.

Of course the amazing table didn’t come with chairs. What kind of chairs would even match it? I saw some copper-tone chairs that would go well with it in Taos, but they cost something like $300 apiece. And I want 6 of them. And I already spent a ton for the table.

So instead, I found southwest style chairs for vastly cheaper, online at Target. And they weren’t sold out! I was so excited that I ordered 6 of them, sight unseen, and didn’t wait to check with John about it. They arrive next week. He’s going to be…surprised? Well now he knows because he reads this blog. I hope the Target chairs aren’t awful. It’s a style that’s fairly common here, but not as common elsewhere. If they turn out to be terrible, we’ll put them in the back of the pickup and drive them to Target and return them. But then what would I do for chairs?

Ideally John and I would also buy a nice new bedroom set for Tucson, but there’s the same issue with exorbitant prices and very little being available. So instead, we’ve bought just a mattress and frame (no headboard). And we’re going to bring out the dresser drawers and wardrobe from the guest room in Albuquerque. We figure guests don’t need dresser drawers, they just need a good bed, and ideally, a pair of nightstands with lamps.

In Tucson our guests are going to get a very nice, nearly new California-King size mattress and frame, which is coming out of the master bedroom in Albuquerque. So what’s John and I going to sleep on in Albuquerque? Good question! I’m currently prioritizing Tucson, so initially Albuquerque is only going to have the existing Queen bed in the guest room and no bed in our room. Our room will have a headboard and dresser drawers, but no frame or mattress, lol. Eventually I’ll need to buy another bed!

Confused yet? That makes 2 of us! Oh, and I never mentioned the van. Yes, even the van is on my spreadsheet, because our two best pillows and most of our pillow cases somehow ended up in the van (I guess something to do with our epic van trip last month).

I wanted to get a lot of things ordered ahead of time, partially because of shortages, and partially because I dreaded ending up in Tucson with nothing but random stuff, missing stuff, and chaos. Problem is, that means I’m accumulating an entire second house worth of stuff here at this house as I prep. The garage is full, the office is full, and the living room is piled high.

I was trying to avoid chaos, but chaos found me anyway.

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