1) The saga of my dining room table. Did you know that I’m still waiting for my dining room table to be delivered? I ordered it in August and while I was understanding that my delivery would be delayed due to COVID, it started to get a bit ridiculous. First, I was told my dining room table would be delivered in early October. That date changed to late October, then early November, then mid-November… until I called the furniture store last week to find out the new date was mid-February. SIX MONTHS AFTER I HAD ORDERED IT! So I canceled the order. I’m not too sad about it because I had a tiny bit of buyer’s remorse about the purchase. (Which I didn’t want to admit to anyone, ha. But I definitely wasn’t super excited about the dining room table.) Instead, I found a gorgeous dining room set on Wayfair that will be here in early December and I treated myself to a professional installation. (A lot of the reviews said it took a long time to put it together, and I would just prefer to not deal with that.) The bad news is, I still do not have a dining room table. The good news is, I will have one in a matter of weeks—and I don’t have to install it myself!
2) A new bookshelf. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my big, beautiful IKEA bookcase this week. As much as I loved that bookshelf and the aesthetic it provided, it just wasn’t very functional for me. The backing was constantly moving out of place and the shelves weren’t sturdy enough to hold my books. After three of the four shelves collapsed on me while I was trying to decorate the bookcase for Christmas, I was done. It was time for something new. So, I bought a cube bookcase! I already have one of these bookcases (it serves as my TV stand and holds most of my Book of the Month books) and it definitely seems sturdy enough to handle my book collection. (It’s also incredibly easy to put together—it takes, like, 20 minutes tops.) As you can see from the below picture, this bookcase is already full (mostly filled with books I haven’t read and favorites that I want to keep) so I’ll probably buy another cube bookcase soon to hold more books and other odds and ends.
3) Hurricane/Tropical Storm Eta. Last week was a bit of a doozy! I woke up on Wednesday morning to all these crazy weather alerts and the real possibility that we could get hit by a hurricane by the end of the day. Thankfully, Eta shifted north and all we got was a ton of rain and wind, but I don’t think I got anything done that day work-wise! I was spending time panic-scrolling through my phone, getting constant weather alerts about tornados and storm surges, and trying to make a plan for what to do if I needed to evacuate quickly. (My apartment is located in the first evacuation zone.) It made me realize that I need to have an actual plan for evacuating with my cats! Like, I’m not going to actually carry their huge litter boxes with me, right? (I panic-bought disposable litter boxes on Wednesday morning when things were looking bad, lol.) It’s time to put together a hurricane prep kit so if I do have to evacuate quickly, I’ll have everything I need. (You’d think I, a Florida native, would have a hurricane prep kit but I most assuredly do not.)
4) Christmas. I started decorating for Christmas last weekend, which is the earliest I have ever decorated! I used to be a very strict “no Christmas until after Thanksgiving” person, but I just needed the cheery energy in my home. I bought a fake, pre-lit Christmas tree this weekend and it makes me so happy to see it all lit up at night. I started putting out all of my decorations, and I have even more than usual since I brought home the Christmas decorations I kept at work (I used to decorate my desk every December). I’m also planning on putting lights on my balcony and around my windows. I bought the Balsam Fir candle from Bath & Body Works this weekend (their three-wick candles were $10 off!) and have been lighting it every evening so it’s definitely cheery around these parts!
Oh, and how are the girls handling the Christmas tree? They were very curious about it when I brought it home and I’ve found Eloise climbing up the inner pole of the tree a few times, but they mostly leave it alone. Sometimes they’ll nap under the tree and use it to hide from each other when they’re playing, but so far, no ornaments have been destroyed. Of course, anything breakable is up high and I think I’ll add a few “soft” ornaments (stuff they could play with) at the bottom so they can indulge in their biggest cat fantasies, hehe. So far, so good, though!
5) Weekend plans. My weekend should be a lot less hectic than the last few weekends have been. I haven’t even had time for napping! Tonight, my friend is taking me out for a pre-birthday date. We scheduled a 30-minute in-person shopping visit at one of our local indie bookstores and then we’ll go out to eat somewhere nearby. I’ve been meaning to visit this bookstore but just never got around to it so I’m excited to spend time in a bookstore. (And try my best to adhere to my spending limit.) Saturday, I have my writing date and not much else, which is just what I want. And Sunday is for watching football with the fam!
Have you decorated for Christmas? What are you up to this weekend?
It seems like a lot of people are decorating earlier than usual this year. I think we all need some extra brightness and coziness in our homes right now. I am glad we decorated last weekend because I have a painful flare in my hand right now so decorating would not be happening this weekend. 🙁
Glad you got a different DR table. That is a crazy delay! 6 months? C’mon! We have had good luck w/ Wayfair in terms of deliveries and such. Good idea to splurge and have it assembled. I ordered a desk and chair from Wayfair this week as our company gave us $500 to buy things for our home offices which was really nice. Phil will assemble them for me – lucky guy. Ha!
We have no plans this weekend. We got covid tests on Wed am as Paul and I have runny noses/sore throats. It’s most likely a cold but given how bad our numbers are here, it’s better to know for sure. The last 2 times we got our results in 10-14 hours. It’s been 48 hours and we are still waiting for results which makes me so anxious. Gah. So Paul has been home with us since Wednesday and we will keep him home through my delivery. It’s going to be a tough 2.5 weeks of juggling work and him. Our original plan was to keep him in daycare until next Tuesday and then isolate for the week before surgery but we decided (mostly me!) to just keep him home and reduce our chances of getting covid before my c section. I think in total, he will have missed 12+ weeks of daycare this year that still paid for. Fun fun.
I love it that you already decorated for Christmas. I usually wait until Thanksgiving too (and I have not yet decorated), but I totally endorse doing it early this year. We need all the positive energy and holiday spirit that we can get!
Ugh, that’s ridiculous that your dining room set delivery was delayed and delayed and delayed again…. I would have canceled, too. The new set that you picked out is gorgeous!
SIX MONTHS FOR A TABLE?! WAS IT MADE OF GOLD???? Wow. That’s wild.
Re: Christmas decorating. My strict rule is not decorating until after Remembrance Day…so that means I literally put things up on November 12 haha. I love the holiday season so much so I like to enjoy my decorations as long as possible! I am very jealous your cats leave your tree alone — when we used to put up a big tree, we couldn’t put anything near the bottom because Nala is crazy. Our current place is too small for a big tree, so we have a smaller one in the living room (…which has been up for two years LOL. It’s a Christmas tree but it’s not…aggressively Christmas? So we leave it up all year for a splash of green in the living room).
Weekend plans…nothing real exciting. We’ll do the usual errands, maybe get out for a walk. Might go to Costco? But that’s about it haha.
How great that the dining room table was canceled and you got one you like better! That is great! I love the ash color and can’t wait to see it in your place.
Your new bookcase looks great! What do you have in that corner of your place now? Is it there? Or is that where the new table will go?
I am glad Eta did not hit you hard. And I bet most people do not have an emergency kit! Everyone should have one, for any reason they need to leave their house! I always wonder how I’d get all three cats out, if I needed to. (and we need to get one of those ladders for our second floor balcony for us)
You are making me want to put a tree up just because I love the lights and how much the cats enjoy it! Ahh!!! 😀
I hope you had a fun time at the bookstore!
Hurricanes. Another reason I could never live in Florida, or really anywhere along the Gulf Coast. (Texas is totally out, too…) On the other hand, the heat is really appealing to someone who is always cold…
I cannot believe the saga of the table. What. The. Heck. It sounds like they were making it from wood harvested under the full moon in a remote area of Siberia. Sheesh. I’m so glad you cancelled it and got one that you think you’ll REALLY like. Clearly, you were not intended to have the original one!
Oh, that’s so cool about reserving time in the bookstore! What an awesome idea! Another blogger I read had a date night with their spouse in a bookstore that had teamed up with a restaurant to provide a private dinner + bookstore browsing. I love the creativity … and I hope it helps sustain these small businesses.