Big Purchase

Well, we're using a large chunk of our federal tax refund check for having two children on one item -- a set of bunkbeds and accompanying trundle. A store here was having a sale on the bunks and then you got either the trundle or a drawer unit free. Since we're about to have three kids, we opted for the trundle. For now, we're planning on just setting up the lower bunk for Zooey and using the trundle for Edyn. Kids aren't supposed to be on a top bunk until they are six anyway (and Zoo is only 4). Plus Edyn is climbing ladders now, and I hate to think of what predicaments she could get herself into if there was a ladder in the bedroom.

Zooey is extremely happy with the purchase, even though he knows he won't get a top bunk until he turns six. We're pretty happy with it too -- got a good price on it and it's solid wood and seems well made. It should be in town on Tuesday of next week. My next project is finding a twin mattress that will fit the trundle. We wanted to use a local mattress company (always buy local when we can), but the thinnest they have is 7" and that's about an inch and a half too thick. I also have to lay in a supply of bedding -- Zooey is still in a toddler bed with his old crib mattress right now. I use the fitted crib sheets for him, and on top, he's got one of the old flat sheets from our full-sized bed, which I cut in half and seamed to make two flat sheets for his toddler bed. And his blanket is a cotton alfghan that he adopted last winter as his own. Now I'll have to buy twin mattress covers, twin sheets and twin blankets, I guess. I will eventually make the kids each a quilt, but I doubt I can get it done before the winter's out, as limited as my time is.

Aside from bookshelves and a couple side tables from Target, this is actually only the second time my husband and I have purchased a new piece of furniture in the whole 9.5 years we've been married, if you can believe it. Our house is pretty much all decorated in Early American Cast-Off. The living room couch used to be his parents, the Big Red Chair and giant ottoman from Ethan Allen that everybody loves once belonged to the people who hired me as a nanny. The dining room set was my grandmother's, the bedroom set was my husband's great-grandfather's, and all four of the other dressers used to belong to somebody or other. Yeah, four dressers. One is the changing table with Edyn's clothing, one holds Zooey's clothes and spare towels, one sits in the living room and contains the TV, VCR, tapes and cds, and the remaining one is a series of junk drawers these days. I have this idea that I can trade in the Queen Anne dining room table & buffet and the last two dressers (also Queen Anne) for an antique Mission style dining room table, chairs and buffet, but I haven't been brave enough to try. We like Mission best and aren't really fond of Queen Anne, but I hear QA is coming back in vogue. Maybe it's possible that the desire for mission is falling off and I might find some savvy antique store owner who would jump at the chance to unload Mission in favor of QA. Then we'd all be happy.

--Sparki