puzzling...but how DID she get that futon to the 3rd floor?!

while i was at my parent's home, we had our Christmas-and we did a couple of puzzles.

my parents weren't exactly sure what type of ninja blender i wanted, so they got creative and gave me this...and a check to get what i wanted.

this one was actually harder than it looks!

 this one was not as difficult...

until we got to the last puzzle piece

and realized it was from a different puzzle altogether! boo.

 so. i made it home from mo, and went to get a spot bot because the reviews made it sound amazing. well, it has cleaned some spots, but some spots remain.(it's the small carpet cleaner that runs itself)...

and although it isn't the cure-all, it's not bad.

and i also made a futon purchase-for visitors. i first went to target because they had one that i really liked the looks of, but then i laid on it, and it was not comfortable at all...but i was very impressed by the service phone. i lifted it and pressed the button for service and before i could even finish getting this picture, the lady was running up.to help! impressive.

i'll have to remember this for next time.

so i went to walmart to see if they had a futon selection...lo and behold, they did, and one of them was actually on sale! strangely, i looked everywhere and found no workers to help me, and there wasn't even a service phone! boo. so i sidled my cart up beside some futons that were stacked on top of each other and tried to maneuver without the cart flying off in another direction. well, another customer saw that i was struggling, and she helped me push it on top of the cart. then it was so high, i could barely see over it, so i had to pull it to the front.

the entire time i was going over in my mind about how i was going to fit this into my little car. the box itself would not fit and i knew it, so when i got out to my car, i released it from its box and along came another guy who worked for the store, and he helped me shove the cushion into the trunk and he hefted the box with the frame onto his shoulder and put it into the back seat. then we broke down the box and he took it away for me. now the only thing would be getting it up to the third floor.

i was able to carry the box to a column by the stairs, and thought it would be a bright idea to put it on top of my head and carry it up the stairs...well, since i do not have a flat head, and i wasn't wearing a turbine thingy, it was balanced precariously and i thought for sure i would have a bruise on the top of my head when all was said and done. the other thing i hadn't thought about was how to get it down off of my head. so i gingerly knelt by the top railing hoping that it was balanced enough as i rested it, because i was imagining in my mind (that's where i do most of my imagining...) how frustrating it would be if it fell over the rail all the way back to the bottom. but i was able to get it to the ground and push it to my door.

when i got it inside, i wrestled with the instructions and got it together. and one of my friends used it last night- i need to ask if it was actually comfortable or not. (later that same day) yep, it was worth the buy.

and today i finally got to go see lincoln with bmayes, and it was phenomenal. now THAT was a president! umm. when we came out, we saw some art work that needed attention. so we took some pics...this was the lady who had something to do with latino children and public schools...

i THINK the head and hands are proportionally correct..she was also know for swatting flies.

good night.
julie