Real live grown-ups

This was a big weekend for us, in the scheme of continuing to live in the 700 square feet we call home. Since the arrival of Jack, we had tossed around many different ideas for making it feasible for two to become three in this space. We could move downstairs to the two-bedroom apartment, but then we sacrifice the rental income that pays two-thirds of our mortgage. We could put the kid in the Harry Potter closet, but then the state might take him away from us (even though my grandma looked at said closet and remarked, "well, that's bigger than the room I shared with my two sisters!"). We could knock down some walls and create another bedroom, but gee that's expensive.

Enter the American Leather Comfort Sleeper. A few weeks ago we got sucked into our local furniture store by a cute couch in the window that we could not afford, and we chatted with the saleslady about the last time we'd been in there a couple years ago looking at a couch we could even less afford. "But it was the most comfortable thing I'd ever laid down on," I told her. "You're not talking about the American Leather Comfort Sleeper, are you?" she asked. (Why yes, we were.) "Because they've started making them in microfiber now and the price has come way down. And we just happen to be having a huge sale right now..." Then she asked if we wanted to lie down on it again, and when I did, I thought, wait a second, not only is this comfortable for a pull-out, it's comfortable for a bed, especially compared to our bed. "Hon, we could get rid of our bed and just sleep on this," I told Danny, and another saleslady who'd been listening chimed in "That's what I do!" Who knows if she was serious. (She had made a comment earlier about how Jack was so cute she just wanted to "eat him up", so she was obviously predisposed to hyperbole. Also, gross! Why do people say that?) We, however, were very serious. We started imagining how much space getting rid of the bed would free up and what we could do with that space. Like get an actual desk and reclaim our dining room table for eating. And set up the big beautiful crib our neighbors gave us so Jack could actually have some space of his own. We got so excited imagining the possibilities that we started talking about it to anyone who'd listen. Nobody else really got it. "So, you're going to move into your living room...?" they'd ask. Or, "No, I totally understand. I sleep on a futon." No, you totally don't understand if you think the American Leather Comfort Sleeper is like a futon. (I don't know why I keep calling it by its full name, considering ours isn't even leather. But it's still such a special guest in our house, I feel I owe it that courtesy.) So we did it. And be skeptical if you must, but look how great our 700 square feet looks now. We're like real live grown-ups. Is it weird that fancy furniture makes me feel that way more than having a baby?

So the American Leather Comfort Sleeper arrived on Friday and then we got a little carried away at the used furniture outlet yesterday. We meant to just buy a desk and wound up getting dining room chairs and living room chairs as well. But the living room chairs were a steal and used to belong to the British Consulate in San Francisco! How can you turn that down? I feel like our house just had a kind of Cinderella transformation. Except that it was a little more arduous than bippity boppity booing, and we had to enlist the help of our friends Carrie and Jeremy-- who, twelve hours into their doing us a favor, probably questioned the worth of our friendship. I'm not sure us buying them pizza at the end of it was quite a fair trade. Especially after Jeremy set the 300 pound desk down on his foot. Twice. So we might owe them a few more favors. Or a few hundred. Carrie said we could pay them back by offering them our first born. They did seem rather taken with him.