More dollars than sense

No packing was done this week, but it was relatively busy (and spendy) just the same. As I mentioned, on Saturday, my son and I went mattress/bed frame shopping. We went to The Brick, because I'd done some comparison shopping a couple of weeks earlier and the mattresses I was most interested in were on sale (then). 

We were met at the door by a salesman - obviously the store wasn't very busy. I headed to the section with mattresses and surprise, surprise, the mattresses were no longer on sale. In fact the price was nearly $200 each higher than they had been. After a bit of discussion, the salesman headed off to verify with his manager that they could sell them to me for the earlier sale price. Score 1 for our side. Has anyone else noticed that what we used to pay for a mattress and box spring is now the cost of a mattress only?  

Thus, we decided we'd look at bed frames. We looked at the ones that the previous salesman and I had looked at two weeks earlier. But something I hadn't done was get down on the floor and check the construction. C did look and noted that the legs were bare wood, and merely stapled to the base. Uh, no thanks! We then looked a frame made of metal and wood and C was satisfied with the way it was constructed - though he'll have to put the pieces together. Even better, they were on sale. Score 2 for our side.

The store was having a scratch and save as well. We went to the main desk where a washing machine was set-up. The salesman started the machine, sans water, and after a turn of the drum stopped it. I reached in and scratched off a savings of 5%. Again, not a surprise - I would doubt more than one or two of the cards had a higher scratch value. No worries, I'll take the 5% discount.

Here's where the hiccup happened. The order was placed, I received a copy of the paperwork, and then the salesman turned to me and said, "I need to be transparent with you. The bed frames you ordered will need to be picked up or delivered right away as we have only four in stock in Calgary." Uh no, that wasn't what we agreed to - the mattresses and bedframes are to be delivered on Nov. 6th to C's house. Now, my son worked in various retail warehouses for close to 10 years, so the discussion that ensued was interesting to listen to from my perspective. The salesman kept saying that nothing could be done, suggesting if the product wasn't picked up/delivered the retailer could sell them to someone else. At this point, I did say to the salesman, perhaps we should just cancel this sale and go elsewhere. Suddenly, something could be done, funny that! The clerk behind the counter split the sale and we were assured the frames would be available at the same time as the mattresses. Can I score this as a win for our side too? I guess I won't know for certain for another ten days or so.

Monday was a lazy day, while Tuesday was busy. I had an early appointment at the optometrist's office. It's been just about 2 1/2 years since my last appointment and I was due.  My cataracts (now three) are still considered mild, but my vision had changed in my right eye enough that new lens were needed. I ended up ordering a new pair of frames as well, as the pair I'm now wearing will work as a back-up if needed. I wear tri-focals and have a prism in one lens as well - it always costs a fortune and this time was no different, though I did go with a pair of the least expensive frames. I went home and immediately sent off the paperwork to my insurance company. Sadly, the coverage is miniscule - just $200 for frames and lens, with a deductible of $40. I have no idea how long ago that would have covered the cost of glasses...it certainly comes nowhere near close now.

That evening was book club. We met at East Side Mario's, just a short drive from my house. I had selected the book to read, "Three Sisters" by Heather Morris. Ms. Morris is also the author of the "Tattoist of Auschwitz". I've not read that book, nor seen the movie but will try to find a copy at some point. It was a wonderful evening, with lots of discussion about the book, past travels and current travel plans, and the food was great too.

Wednesday was supposed to be a house work day. But it was gray and overcast, and my son was home ill from work. So I just relaxed for the morning, and went out to stitch and chat in the afternoon. We were a group of four, C, B, Io, and I. S wasn't feeling well, but did drop in (masked) about 20 minutes before the end of the program, as she had a quilt to send south with B. It was both C and B's last meeting until next spring as they both leave for Arizona next week. S has decided to wait until January, so most weeks it will be two or three of us.  

I did get some housework done on Thursday, some by choice and some by necessity.  Sometime during the night, Saku had been sick on my bed (mostly water). Normally I would have heard him, but I didn't. That meant washing sheets and blankets - might as well do the rest of my laundry too. I'd settled into my chair to read blogs and eat breakfast, when that darned cat came to check out what I was eating. I pushed him away, and as I did so, the full cup of tea was knocked over.  Out came the mop and bucket, and I washed the floor - might as well do the rest of the main floor as well. I had already planned to sweep and vacuum, and needed to pick up a few groceries.  The morning was far busier than originally planned!

Thursday also meant another evening out. I met my friends K and J at Ginger Garlic Nepalese for dinner, then we headed to the Center of the Arts for a comedy show. The tickets were courteous of the financial services company we use. 

On Friday, I made a trip to visit with my daughter and grandson. D woke up feeling ill on Monday, so I postponed my trip to later in the week. I'm not entirely self less - I didn't want to catch whatever she might be experiencing. I loaded up the car with plant containers (empty), bags of garden and potting soil, as well as some items I'd purchased for her and Eli. They were away from the house when I arrived, and by the time they returned I had everything unloaded.

We puttered around the house for much of the day, but did take a walk over to the nearby park. Eli was home from school with the tail end of a cold (he was still snotty) and we spent about an hour there while he climbed and played. As you can see he was a pirate, and boy can he climb!

I left early this morning for the drive back home. There is a football game in Regina today (a must win, but unlikely to happen) and I wanted to avoid the traffic. It was an uneventful drive, and I was back at the house ten minutes before today's curling games started. :) You know what I'll be doing for the remainder of the weekend.

Have a great week ahead everyone!