So Russ asks me to go shopping with him …..apparently for the rest of our lives, (there was actually NEVER a proposal or a “yes”) so after the party…some people call it the wedding…(how can I though, he never proposed) we start combining households. That was a nightmare and disaster. I brought a fully packed 3 bdrm, 2 1/2 baths home with a two car garage and full basement of my eBay warehouse into his FULLY packed 4 bdrm, 2 1/2 baths with fully furnished basement and 2 car garage, home. It took 18 months to accomplish this feat. We had to rent a huge dumpster, we made 3,592 trips to DAV with donations. We had 5 bdrm sets between us. We had 8 TV’s, 3 vcrs…….and in the kitchen, what he had 3 of, I had 5 of. We gave furniture away, we sold some on Craigslist and finally I went into the booth business at 2 antique malls. Total exhaustion and madness ensued, it seemed like forever.
In the midst of this chaos, we decided that because we had a new life, we should #remodel the house. We had things piled to the ceilings and paths going here and there. Room by room we tore out carpets, light fixtures, floors, on and on….and it seemed like what we were doing was just reshuffling stuff. Eventually after two more years the house became a home. I changed the living room into the 3 season room, the dining room became his office,,,the living room became the dining room, another office became his dressing room and the basement became my eBay warehouse. We had 5 vehicles between us and we narrowed that to 3. Then he lost his garage to me for my antique mall furniture and stock storage and workshop. I was most gracious as I wrote before, taping off a section with blue masking tape for his utv which he will tell you I charge him rent!
I pulled into the parking lot of the antique mall and another dealer was unloading the green set of lockers. They were going to be $75, however she had a sale running and right there IN the parking lot we 2 women loaded that huge hummer into my truck and I ended up paying $51 ! ! ! ! ! It was gray overall and red in bare spots that were not rusted. I choose not to write about the moment I arrived home and presented this chore of unloading to Dufus. After 9 cans of camo green spray paint I made him set it up in the DINING ROOM, of course. He said he never imagined in all his life he would have a set of high school lockers in HIS dining room. I dare not tell you what else is in that dining room right now, but that story is coming.
Within 6 months that man had completely taken over HIS lockers with his coats and baseball caps and golf balls. I thought that was a good thing, so one day I called him from the antique mall and asked him to run over with the truck. That was the skinny ORANGE stack of tiny door lockers which took 6 cans of white spray paint and those became a cabinet permanently installed in the master bath. And girls, there is nothing more fun then having ALL my makeup at hand level…hair sprays, shampoos…nail polish..etc. etc. etc. These were so gorgeous I paid the 3X price and never looked back.
So now 6 year old who shaves is getting more comfortably settled into “going shopping’ with Sparkle Plenty. He doesn’t seem so blindsighted by me, so it was with a great calmness that he arrived with a smile to the antique mall a few days ago……with the truck…. bringing me some furniture for my booth…… and I showed him a couple of things….I started small with an absolute bargain of a heavy $45 candelabra and then…AND THEN…what does he think of these of these beautiful lockers that JUST came in the day before? “Where are they going?” Talking very fast I told him the guest bdrm where I could put in my scarves….winter gloves….hats and purses, AND very boldly I mentioned I was NOT going to paint them but leave them splotchy and rusted. I stood my ground! He loaded everything into the truck and came back in and paid for them with HIS money. He left for home and I stayed behind to finish working my walking shift, My girlfriend, Mary Jo, from whom I bought those lockers sez to me “oh he’s such a good man”. Well true…but I told her “somethings going on here……something I don’t know about”
Yup, I was right. He confessed a few days later when I asked him what HE had bought. Yes, a new toy, just hadn’t arrived yet…….
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