Out With the Old and In With the New!

When Dan and I were newlyweds we used to go to the local furniture store, RC Willey, on Saturdays because they had free hotdogs and soda for lunch. After eating our free meal we would wander the showroom and I would dream about what I would buy if we weren't starving college kids while Dan tried to figure out how to get me out of that store. I fell in love with this off-white sofa with big oversized pillows for its back. It was priced way out of our league, but I would visit my "dream couch" whenever there was free hotdog Saturday. One Saturday it was gone... sold-out, discontinued, whatever, but it was gone. I was really sad. Well, we did our round through the store and wandered to the upstairs portion where mismatched furniture, damaged goods, and floor models were sold at discounted prices. There it was... my dream couch... only the floor model remained and now it was priced within our budget. Within a few days it was in our apartment! I had rules for my couch- no eating on it, no bare skin touching the upholstry, no laying down on it either. I wanted my baby to stay new looking forever.

Fast forward 16 years, 3 kids, and one cat later... it was time to replace the couch. The upholstry on the corners of the cushions was worn out. The cat's claws weren't contributing to the overall appearance of the couch, and it just didn't look so "new" anymore. Time to start looking for a replacement. Between Christmas and New Years we started looking. Dan and I returned to a branch of our old haunt... the RC Willey Clearance Center in Provo (where we have taken the kids to get free hotdogs and soda on Saturdays). There wasn't anything there we were interested in. On New Years Day, we were up in Sandy for dinner and afterwards I coercise Dan into going to the RC Willey Clearance Center up there. They had lots of furniture... most of it was really ugly, but there, on the third row by the wall, was my new couch. It was sage green suede with big pillows for the back. I went over to it... sat down...nice firm cushions! Loved the pillows for the back. Looked at the price...
almost loved it too! The price tag was confusing... One place said that it was marked down to $559; another place on the tag said it was $499. We were sold on the $499 price (plus everything was an additional 25 % off the lowest marked price). I went to find a salesman to find out what the real price was. He looked in the computer and was confused. He called his boss and explained the situation to him. His boss told him to sell the couch to us for $209! Done deal! We have a new couch! Dan drove back to Sandy the next day to haul the new couch home in the truck! Yea!

But now, what to do with the old favorite "dream couch"? I didn't want it to go to the dump. I thought about DI or freecycling it, but then Aly came up with a great solution... see if Leslie and the Pie-man want it! Newlyweds (and newlyweds-to-be) are usually stoked to get free stuff. I called Leslie- she said yes! They'd take it. I told her about it's overly-loved spots and emailed her pictures of those areas... they still want it. So now my "dream couch", which served me wonderfully for 16 years, is living in Aly's basement, waiting for Leslie and the Pie-man to get married and move to Utah and become its rightful owners. I wonder if they'll let me come over and sleep on my old couch?