Gak! Guests!

This year's family reunion is going to be a little different than last year.  Last year, my mother and her two sisters (and husbands) got together in a rented house for a week.  This year it's only one sister (and husband), and it's at MY house.  Gak!  Thankfully, it's for only a few days.  (I mean, I love them and all and am thrilled to see them.  But hosts don't relax. At least I mostly don't. Then again, I don't often ever relax.  When I was married, we lived in a huge, 5 bedroom house and we had guests over all the time.  Lots and lots of them.  I remember an easter dinner where we served 26.)  As the years passed since my divorce, I've lived in smaller places and hosted fewer folks.  I looked in my towel closet the other day and realized that I don't have enough towels to be a proper host for even the three people I expect in a few days.  It's been that long since I've had a house full of life.  Even towels, those long-lived things, have disappeared somewhere along the way from 1998 to now.

Mom and I picked up the new/old sofa and chair yesterday (after taking the old sofa to the transfer station Saturday), so here's what the front room looks like now.  Much better than before!  Muy bonita!

This sofa and chair look like some offered by Pottery Barn (the Manhattan collection, designed to resemble furniture used in Manhattan nightclubs of the 1930s).  Their catalog shows that this set would cost $4400.  This ersatz leather stuff cost me about 3% of that.  Ho ho, hee hee, ha ha!  Of course, the true test is how long it will look this good under that onslaught of furry, muddy paws.  I'm happy to report that Maggie has shown exactly zero interest in laying on this, when given the option of the more comfortable (for her) stripey thing near the windows.