It could only be better with everything bagels (I used Hawaiian) and red onion!
A whole lotta yum.
Category Archives: Shopping
DANGER! DANGER!
Crumbl!!
So after seeing Crumbl cornbread cookies mentioned TWICE yesterday on my Facebook feed, when Heidi and I found ourselves right down the street from one (by Costco in Kenosha), we had to try it. Some other choices jumped in the box, too.
Of course we dug into them as soon as we got to the car. And um, holy shit. The cornbread cookies are TO DIE FOR! They suggest eating them warm and I can agree wholeheartedly. The churro was good but REALLY sweet.
I posted on Facebook and guess what? I learned that Gurnee is getting a Crumbl, too! This could be dangerous!!
If anyone wants to check it out, grab the app!
The TOTALLY unbelievable ottoman saga.
It started waaaay back in July. We ordered two pieces from The Roomstore on July 3 with delivery on July 10. Easy, right?
Except that the ottoman was damaged—it had a cracked foot (that fell apart when unwrapped) and a badly ripped corner.
Okay. Crap happens, we get it. So we scheduled another attempt—just thankful they had more in stock since in-stock furniture is hard to come by. So they attempted again on July 13 (#2) and…it was ripped on an edge.
Our friends told us to just cancel it but it’s soooo pretty—it’s the perfect color and perfect size, plus it’s a storage ottoman. We asked for a discount and they refused, saying they’ll just exchange it.
On July 16 they attempted again (#3) and this time we made them unwrap it before they even brought it in the house. Nope. Two of the “squares” were so unbelievably discolored it was ridiculous that anyone looking at it for a second would assume it was good to deliver. I don’t have a photo of this one.
The next exchange (#4) was scheduled for July 20. This one was actually the least damaged of them all but the colors were off. Again. Not as bad as the first one but still unfit to accept.
SURPRISE SURPRISE—delivery attempt #5 on July 23 was a fail. Damaged. The inside edge was really scratched. It wasn’t visible, but the piece was expensive, so we figure it should be perfect to start with. Right? But we told the customer service person that we would accept it at a big discount and she offered us $50. On a $1100 ottoman. Um, no.
They told us it would be another month for delivery because they are getting one straight from the manufacturer to hopefully avoid any issues. UGH. At this point I really just wanted to be done with them, but it’s the perfect color, shape, size, etc.
Previous to this, Tom had talked to managers a few times and they assured him that we would be getting white glove service—that someone would be in the warehouse and looking it over first before it got loaded on the truck. Yeah no. That never happened. As evidenced by the continued arrival of damaged ottomans.
But then! We got a call saying they were going to deliver again. How? What happened to getting one straight from the manufacturer? Honestly at this point I don’t remember all the lies but I do know that they cancelled a few attempts because they discovered before or while loading it that it was damaged. I have texts from 7/28, 7/31, 8/11, 8/12, and 8/19—all of which I think were attempts that got cancelled. So maybe now a manager was actually checking them?!
So, fast forward through almost a month of attempts and cancellations and reschedules and talks with Customer Service (and Tweets!) that accomplished exactly nothing. (Oh wait! Tom had talked to customer service a few more times and they ended up giving us a $75 store credit and another time they refunded our $199 delivery fees. They then turned the store credit into an actual $75 credit but we never saw it on our account.)
8/19 — No idea what actual delivery attempt, but it was a FAIL. The outside had had packing tape on it, so when they ripped it off… OMFG… the color ripped off.
Tom tried to get store managers and it proved to be near impossible. He did finally get one and they basically told him they’d just keep trying. I want to give up but I want this damn ottoman because I haven’t found anything else this size or color or with storage in my search (and I’ve been searching)!
8/25 — Surprise surprise. Ottoman delivery attempt FAIL. It was scratched in two places and when the delivery guys went to try leather conditioner to fix it, it took the color off!
We decided enough was enough and even though it was a perfect size/shape/color, we couldn’t have something that got ruined that easily. (We had also noticed that we were scratching it just in daily use.) So we decided that we wanted to send both pieces from them back. Why both? Well, we bought them together (to go together) and if we couldn’t have one, we didn’t want either. Also? The loveseat turned out to be really crappy and was already getting deformed. We technically don’t need it since we found our real one elsewhere (after) and are just waiting for it to come in.
Well of course they fought it. Tom said if they refuse we will tell them we expect an ottoman delivery every Saturday from here on out until we’re happy…or they take both pieces. It was just ridiculous. Had they just given us a respectable discount to keep a less-damaged one, we would have been done with this in July. I mean, how much time and money did they waste attempting delivery of like nine ottomans?
After like 10 minutes on hold, the manager came back and said they will pick up both pieces! YAY! But also boo because I loved this ottoman. So now we are on the hunt.
So I finally took pictures of most of the newly redesigned house.
FYI We have had a few changes since these pics—that teal ottoman and gray loveseat are gone (long and sordid story that ends with us telling you to avoid Roomplace like the plague) and we have a leather loveseat on order. Missing rooms are the dining room and front room because we’ll need to rearrange that furniture again. I finally got around to taking the pics specifically because the ottoman was going away.
My friend Jodi Van Leer (J Van Leer Designs) was amazing in helping us figure out what we wanted, shopping for things, and pulling everything together. We trusted her implicitly and we couldn’t be happier!
Tom got to play woodworker and built:
- the walnut mantle surrounds
- the cabinet doors
- the birch forest (using trees we brought home from my parent’s house in the upper peninsula!)
- the stacked wood wall in the bar (my Pinterest idea)
- and new built-in shelves for the liquor in the bar (so now he finally has his “me room” (and not just a me wall!)—which we’ve named Ground Control)!
Other changes include:
- a new ceiling fan in the living room and a huge chandelier in foyer
- new fixtures to replace contractor-grade boob lights
- a new dining room fixture
- a new foyer table coming this weekend
- new bar footrails
- and a new fireplace tile surround and flooring…
We absolutely love everything and when it’s picked up and free of kid shit it’s freaking amazeballs. It was a shit ton of work and expense and we pretty much got it all done in two months to be ready for the big party! But we finally have our forever home that looks put together and adult!!
P.S. Here’s a Before and After!
I love shopping for prizes!
Birthday shopping trip!
Katie got a birthday check from Gramma but she wanted to spend it in person…
From Gramma Jean: We went to Dollar Tree tonight before dinner and she wanted a basket to shop! Got two pair of flip flops and some other stuff, spent $12. I told her I would give her the balance so she had to get pencil and paper and figure out how much that would be. I said she could take the rest to granny’s and she said, not to be mean but shopping there is worse than here! (Choices of stores & options) I’ll give her the balance in an envelope. She’s funny. I pretty much let her choose what she was going to buy. She carefully thought about each one. Cute.
Tom’s looking at trucks!
David recently got a new truck and the boys are just totally geeking out over it. It has totally refreshed Tom’s want of a truck and he’s been researching so when he’s ready, he’ll know what he wants.
Well we were out today and drove by a dealership so I made him stop. And I had to take a picture of me next to the bed to show just how ridiculous the size of this thing is.
This thing is so high it has running boards that pop down when you unlock it—except the battery was dead so it didn’t work so I had to practically pole vault to get in. Still being in recovery I probably shouldn’t even have tried but I thought I could do it easy.
Ha ha. Ha ha ha. What a joke. I barely pulled myself up and crashed into the seat. I just can’t imagine having a vehicle that high and hard to get into (I know it would have running boards but still—yikes). So time will tell.
We both forgot a key store.
Backstory:
So Tom and I had been to what felt like every decent furniture store in a pretty wide radius trying to find the exact last piece we needed—and just couldn’t find anything. We finally found something that was comfortable and about the right color (we thought) but we got it home and meh—not it. (It clashed with the other gray couch since they were different tones.) So we decided it was a temporary piece and we could take our time finding exactly what we wanted and maybe even get something made.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
We were chatting today and someone said something about La-Z Boy. And I was like wait, whaaaaat?
Yes, we’d forgotten about the huge furniture store in town. UGHHHHH. So we decided we had to go just to say we did—and surprise—we found a perfect piece. BECAUSE OF COURSE.
So good news…we found something we like a lot better. Bad news? We’ll need to sell the other couch when this one comes in in September. But at least we have good seating in the meantime!
The Ottoman Saga
The first one they tried to deliver had a cracked foot and a really ripped corner. The foot actually totally split and fell off in our house. We didn’t accept it.
The second one had a ripped corner. The third one had leather squares that were totally different colors (I sadly didn’t get a photo of that).
Today was their fourth attempt and it had a little bit of discoloration again but not as bad as the last try—but the interior (when you lift the lid) was all scratched up. So we had to send it back again.
This one was actually the least ruined of them all so far and we told the customer service person that we would accept it at a discount and she offered us $50. On a $1500 ottoman. Ummm no. But sure, let’s keep messing around.
So now we get to wait two weeks for the next attempt because they are getting some new ones direct from the manufacturer in the hopes of getting an acceptable one. With all the prior attempts it was generally 3-4 days.
Our fingers are crossed but we really don’t think it’s gonna happen until number eight or nine.
Kitchen table shake up!
Someone on Nextdoor was getting rid of household stuff soAnna grabbed a TV and sound bar…and together we grabbed the kitchen table and chairs—Anna wanted the table and I liked the chairs! So they got our old chairs and we had to do a switcheroo. They also took our old recliner that no longer matches anything in our house.
Of course this happens to us.
We got delivery of our gorgeous ottoman today. Or should I say attempted delivery! One of the wooden feet was completely cracked—and there was a huge rip on the corner. So they are taking it back and bringing us another. Thankfully they said they had like 8 in stock.
This is what it looks like (at the store). That’s also the temporary loveseat we bought. (It doesn’t really match the other couch at all but we needed something until we can find/order what we really want. Furniture is really backed up just like everything else due to Covid.)
A new kitchen table!
Yes, we’ve been through a few kitchen tables since we moved into this house—we were waiting to find just the right one. This one checked most of the boxes. The only weird thing to get used to is we moved from a counter height to a regular height table. And for as long as the table is, it still only seats four. But we can put chairs on the ends if we need to.
Finding furniture we want is a bitch.
So the hardest part of this living room redesign is finding the last piece of furniture. We have specific designer-mandated rules to follow on what can fit in the space…plus we know what we want…and it’s impossible.
Oh! The other problem is…due to Covid, the wait times on ordering furniture can be up to eight months. So we were also looking for something that was in stock.
I really really loved our sectional because it gave me a super comfy corner piece where I always sat. With the new furniture, I don’t have that anymore. The room looks big enough to get what we want, but in reality, we do not have that much space.
We found the exact thing that I wanted—called a Cuddler Couch—but it was waaaaaay too big for the remaining space.
So we kept looking, hoping to find that same thing but in a smaller form factor. It didn’t exist.
We ended up looking at chair and a halfs (they had more of the cushy feel I wanted but only gave us one more seat) or loveseats (which gave us seating for potentially 2-3, but didn’t have the same cushy feel I wanted) and were excited to find this:
It had the cushy feel, could easily fit three, was in stock, fit all the design parameters…but we measured it and it was too long. I just couldn’t believe it so we actually taped out the floor at home.
And I just about cried because it didn’t fit. We even tried switching places with the other couch and that was actually worse.
So the hunt continues…
Tile shopping!
We are also going to be replacing the marble fireplace surround with tile…so we took a quick spin around the flooring store today and picked some to show our designer!
We hired an Interior Designer!
I’ve always wanted to hire a designer so I can end up with a put together room/house…and it finally happened! A friend is an interior designer and came over to give us some guidance! We figured since this is our forever house, we’re ready!
We talked about what we wanted, what we liked, what we didn’t want —and decided on a color scheme, the curtains and rods, the mantle (Tom will build it), and carpet size.
So she sent us to look at furniture and we found a bunch of things we liked right away at the first store—a couch, leather glider chair (to replace Tom’s recliner that will no longer match), a new chair for the front room, a lamp, and an end table!
That night I searched online for the perfect rug and found it! So we have a good start!
Told you we’re the same person.
So on our souvenir shopping trip (while the men and kids were fishing)…of course we both picked up the same sale jacket unbeknownst to each other until checkout.
I was excited for a hot second.
Anna and I went shopping in Copper Harbor and while she ran back into a store I looked down and saw my odometer said 9999.9 and I was suuuuuper excited that I caught it! So I was taking pics of it so I’d remember where we were… And then realized that that was the TRIP odometer and the actual odometer was already past 10,000. Lordy.
I mean, they had a star.
We were at Costco and saw that Tom’s and David’s favorite whiskey had a * on the price tag—which means they aren’t going to be carrying it anymore. It’s legit $10 less a bottle here so we picked up a few extra bottles.
We got Katie’s Halloween costume.
This T-Rex costume has made me laugh out loud every time I’ve seen it while we’ve been trick-or-treating the past few years. So when I got the chance to grab one for Katie cheaply I did. It did not disappoint.
Covid teacher appreciation gifts!
Teacher appreciation week was last week but I changed my mind at the last minute and did school-colored Piper Lou tumblers instead of my usual bottle of wine. I was going to do a Binny’s [alcohol store] gift card but figured this would last a lot longer!
Owen had fun picking which one went to which teacher!
My first purchased bouquet.
Anna always has a full vase on her island (sometimes fake, sometimes real) and I love it, so I bought a cool vase and bought a bouquet at Sam’s Club.
We each went to Costco for thing.
Anna and I joked upon walking in that we were here to spend $200 on stuff we didn’t need. Because, you know, that’s what happens.
We each got a cart because we’ve learned and by the time we got to the end, this is what both our carts looked like.
The freaky thing? Our totals were only $10 difference and we had totally different stuff in our carts! We joked that we really are the same person!
Today’s rule? ALWAYS BORROW THE TRUCK.
Just like Anna and I had to learn to always get a cart…
This car is big but not THAT big. One shed barely fits (the tailgate is open) and definitely no room for the second one.
Anna and I each needed one thing at Aldi.
HAHAHAHAHA. We’ve learned our lesson over the months—always ALWAYS get a cart.
It’s crazy to shop with two enablers.
- Want a Sangria? Yes, how about a white, too? Yes.
- Bellini? Yes, of course. Six? Yes.
- How many cheese bread? 10? Sure!
- Peanut butter cups? Duh.
- The boys want a Summer Shandy. Okay I’ll get two.
We just ended up splitting the bill since we are still eating together 5-6 nights a week. We’ve both discovered that we love crowdsourcing meals!!
A Charlie pillow
I got the kids a Charlie pillow and Katie loves it and carries it everywhere and even took it to “school” today. (Yes, that’s Charlie’s bed, too. Katie still carries that around.)
I tried to get some new birch artwork.
The story of my life.
I’ve been casually looking at birch prints, saying if I ever found one I loved (and it was in budget) I’d get it. So when I saw this artist on Facebook and fell in love with the style, I searched and he had birch options! So I found one I absolutely loved and after much thought, went ahead and got it.
Aaaaaand…it looks totally different and I don’t like it. I mean it’s similar and obviously the “same” but it doesn’t have the same feel at all.
The birch trees don’t look enough like real birch trees. (The ones along the right side don’t look like birch trees at all.) The limbs on the left set of trees look like half circles instead of branches. The path is too defined. There’s too much orange and red. The style is similar but not what I wanted.
Now, caveat, these are copies of originals. As in painters copy the style of the original. But I thought it would be a much better copy.
They do have a return policy so I started that process. Their customer service is pretty good and they gave me some options:
Thank you very much for your purchase. I’m sorry that you do not like the painting. We want you to be satisfied with our services. We have the following options for you
1 – you can return with prepaid return label . After the return, we issue a full refund. Please request the return label if you wish one
2 – we can provide a replacement of the same piece/s in form of prints on canvas. This way the image of the master original will be reproduced by a machine in its original size. This option does not require return
3- Free exchange for a different painting altogether or exchange for the same painting that you will like better
For all options we will be sending images for approval prior to shipping . Only after you approve the new piece, we will proceed with the shipping.
I was debating 2 or 3 and ended up going with 3 to try again…and that piece was just as bad. I don’t think they looked at my feedback at all—they just grabbed another off the shelf and sent the pic. Nope. I’ve asked for a return label.
Just out of curiosity, I asked what Facebook thought and everyone agreed it was pretty much a shitshow. So I’m disappointed.
I love it when you find THE perfect gift!!
My mom friends have been doing ninja porch drop offs with random gifts every so often (it’s hilarious what some will do to try and avoid the Ring)!! And I’ve been wanting to return the favors but just couldn’t come up with the right thing. Then I hit on these tumblers. It took awhile to decide on the perfect saying but once I found this one I knew that was it! (Piper Lou has great stuff and great deals, BTW.)
Needless to say we’re all looking forward to using them together again this summer!
Look who’s in an Amazon listing?!
A friend found this when it was advertised as a special of the day! Just go check out this listing and then scroll through the photos!
KitchenAid in the house!
So we’ve hated the Bosch dishwasher ever since we moved in. I mean it’s a decent dishwasher but the layout just didn’t work for us. Tom jokingly told me HELL NO WE’RE NOT SPENDING MONEY ON SOMETHING THAT ISN’T BROKEN. But it was bad. And I hated it. Every single day.
We knew the brand we wanted (ever since we bought a KitchenAid for our Jacksonville house) but Tom still gave me shit. But it eventually wore him down and he finally got on board and said we could get one when it went on sale—but in the middle of Covid no one had it! It was advertised but they weren’t in stock and you couldn’t order it. So I just kept checking. And then a few months later, Costco had a really good sale so I bought it immediately. It took two weeks but it was so worth it. It’s amazing. And Tom tells me every day how much he loves it.
I love it when I’m right.
There is a little learning curve to loading it but it’s already sooooo much better than the other one!