Round 1: Check!

We started the day with a huge breakfast: eggs with cheese, bacon, hash browns, toast, orange juice and coffee. After eating fast food on the run for the past two days, it certainly hit the spot.

We then decided to swing by TJMaxx to see if they had the small console table Mark had spotted at another store the day before. Amazingly, we found it, but this location was celebrating its grand opening. It was mobbed. We’re talking wall to wall people queued from the front checkout, down the entire length of the shopping floor and along the back wall. We did not relish standing in line for an hour with a mere $30 purchase. So we returned to the other store to buy it there. Yes, you guessed it. It was nowhere to be found. Repeat after me, “You see it, you like it, you buy it!” We finally surmised that because the table at the new store had identical decorative distressing to the one we had first seen, it was likely the same piece and had simply travelled between stores.

But why deviate from what had become a pattern for weekend? There was one more TJMaxx in Toledo—on the opposite end of town—and we were on a mission to find that table. But of course, we were yet again sidetracked.

Mark’s new couch is definitely manly and ginormous. After all the other furniture was in place, and the boxes and bags discarded, he decided the living room was much more spacious than he thought it to be. Now he wanted the cocktail ottoman which matched the couch. You know, the one I originally told him to buy in lieu of a coffee table. Yes, it is at this point where I loudly declared, “I told you so!” And I’m sure the sales people wondered what we had been smoking after stopping by yet again. You think they’d believe me if I told them I was only there to listen to the great retro music they played in their store?

Back on task we once again head for TJMaxx. Mark thought he knew where this third store was located, but searched for the address on Bernice just to be safe. Um, yeah. She directed us to an empty storefront. He evidently needs to update his GPS on a more frequent basis. We stopped to ask for directions and discovered the store was exactly where Mark originally thought it would be. Even though they didn’t have the table, he discovered another which actually proved to be a better fit for his new décor. The final piece to the furniture puzzle works beautifully in the entry hall! By the way, if you ever need to know where a Kohl’s, Target, TJMaxx, Meijer, Lowe’s, Dollar Tree, Furniture Row, or Bed, Bath and Beyond is located in the Toledo area, chances are we can tell you. We criss-crossed the city and visited just about all of them in the last three days. Twice.

Back at Mark’s place we hung a mirror, washed a load of cleaning rags, discarded empty bags, boxes and leftover Chinese food, and called it good. We worked hard this weekend, but kicked some serious butt and it all fell into place. Aside from moving a smattering of things he has left in Grand Rapids, Mark should be able to slide right into his new digs in Perrysburg in two weeks. After that is accomplished, you can bet my next visit will be spent playing instead of working.

For the record, and even though you probably never thought you’d hear me say this, I am sick of shopping!