New Blogger

Blogging is so much fun! I have really enjoyed helping and/or encouraging several of my friends and family to get started. The newest blogger on my list is my friend, Farrah, with her blog Light in the Sphere. Visit her blog and read her earliest post to find out how we met, and what the name of her blog means.

Welcome to the bloggy world, Farrah!

Menu Plan Monday

In my blog-hopping this past week, I found a couple of new recipes that I want to try... click on Monday and Thursday's meals to see the recipe.

Monday: Clean-the-Freezer Vegetable Cheese Soup
Tuesday: fajitas and fixin's
Wednesday: chili dogs, macaroni and cheese, fresh veggies
Thursday: Cheesy Shell Casserole
Friday: baked pork chops, rice and gravy, broccoli

Still more snow...

Let it Snow!

We took a short drive up into the mountains a ways this afternoon, just to see the snow in the sunshine. We have had close to record-breaking snowfall this winter, so good photo ops! Click on the picture above to view the "album" with a few more lovely winter landscapes.

Sunday Song

My new desk!

So... the picture is not very good... and it's not even my house. But I am so excited about my new desk that I have to "show and tell" it!

The facts are these:

Last Friday evening, my husband and I decided we should go desk-shopping on Saturday. The kids' computer desk is literally falling apart. I suggested we could give them my desk and I could get a new one. Mine is not all that old. I bought it brand-new about 2 years ago, and I do like it. However, with daily use it is beginning to show some wear. It is more of an occasional-use/typical-home-office quality. Since I sit at my desk for hours every day, I realized I needed something a little more durable. The kids don't sit at the desk nearly as much as I do, so for them it will be fine.

So. We made the rounds of all the office supply super stores on Saturday. We saw some desks that were similar in quality to what I have, but I was hoping to buy something just a notch above that. One that I thought would do didn't really have all the features I was hoping for, and it was a little higher than I was hoping to pay. At another store we found a desk/hutch set that my husband said was the quality that they used at the print shop. He thought it would hold up well, and it was a real bargain at 50% off for the floor model. I debated about it for a bit, but to be truthful, it was just ugly. For my home office, I was hoping for something a little more attractive than institutional-gray. So we went on.

Next we tried a couple of furniture stores. Beautiful hardwood desks of various styles... with prices to match. No bargains there.

Finally I decided I should just forget about "pretty" and go back for the ugly gray set. We went in to buy it and talked to the salesman. For some reason he didn't seem very eager to sell us the desk set. First he told us the price was just for the hutch, but when we pointed out that the clearance sign clearly listed the SKU numbers for both the desk and the hutch for that price, he agreed that price was right after all, and wasn't that a great bargain. Then he disappeared. After discussing it a little more we had to hunt him down to tell him we wanted it. We understood that it was the floor model that we would be taking home, and that we would need to disassemble it ourselves. No problem. But then my husband asked if he could have help loading it in the pick-up. The guy really got rude then. "No way! We can't take that risk. These floor models are really fragile and we can't be responsible if it breaks on the way out the door." My husband and I looked at each other. I said, "You know, I don't believe we want this desk after all." My husband shook his head and said, "No, I don't think we do either." The guy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fine!" and walked away. What kind of salesmanship is that anyway? It could break on the way out the door??

It was disappointing to go home without a desk, but I just decided we should save up until we had enough money to buy a nicer desk than what we could afford this week.

Last night we got to talking about it again. We browsed online a bit. My husband pulled up Craig's List and said, "Ummm..."

Now when he says, "Ummm..." it usually means something. So I went to peer over his shoulder at the picture posted above (which I filched from Craig's List to post here). It's solid oak, fine-furniture quality for the exact same price we were prepared to pay for the ugly institutional gray outfit!!! It had been posted on Sunday so we thought it might already be sold. But it wasn't!!! I am just so thrilled. I have always wanted a roll-top desk. And, yes, it's designed to be a computer desk. The flat drawer in the middle is actually a pull-out keyboard tray. I can't wait to get it set up this weekend!