And the new couch proves comfy.

I woke up at 4 am and I struggled to get back to sleep.

I tried my usual trick…. put an episode of Futurama on my phone, turn it over, and fall asleep listening to it. Futurama has been my go to sleeping method for years. Almost never fails me. I’ve gone from falling asleep watching an episode, turn just hearing an episode and falling asleep. Sam struggles to fall asleep to noise or people talking…. I kind of need it. Sam needs dark, I can fall asleep with whatever. So our compromise is that I put Futurama on my my phone, flip the phone over so its dark still, and wear headphone while falling asleep. It’s sounds elaborate typed out, but its not. Sam never really complained about the light or noise, I just know she gets to sleep faster without it.

But while I fell alseep great last night. I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t get back to work with Futurama on my phone. So I tried sleeping trick number two: move locations. I went out to the living room to lay back down and try to fall asleep. It worked. It worked perfectly. Within minutes of laying down I got back to sleep.

I put that on new couch and his amazingness.

Of course I had a weird dream that I woke up at 7:59 and it was still dark outside. It was really vivid too. In my dream my alarms didn’t go off, and I kept checking my phone and it kept saying 7:59. It was dark outside and my alarms had never gone off. In my dream I grabbed Sam’s computer off the coffee table and it too said 7:59 (strange because Sam’s computer is on the coffee table this morning).

I blame that dream on the Scotchy Scotch Scotch I ate last night.

Sam bought me a pint of it and I may have eaten the whole pint in one sitting. It was fantastic and I couldn’t resist.

When I actually did wake up it was 5:36 am, 4 minutes before my alarm. Which still sucks, but at least I won’t be late for work.

New Couch

April 28, 2014April 28, 2014 meisajDaily Life

Up until now, the only couch I had in my adult life was an old, old, floral patterned couch that a roommate had bought when I first moved to Buffalo at 23 years old. It was at least 10 – 20 years old then, and was already in bad shape. But they had gotten a couch for $20. Not bad.

Old Couch was comfortable. Reg lived on it for almost the whole year we lived together. It was a great napping couch. But this last year really pushed the limit on its life span. The cushions had started splitting, sheet I threw over it to keep it looking nice no longer made much of a difference. You knew what was under there. The couch had no legs, due to a screw snapping when I moved from Buffalo to Cleveland.

So it had to go. It was the kind of furniture I had an attachment too after having it for twelve years and 6 different apartments. For this period of my life, everywhere I went, this couch went too. But it was time to part ways, and I knew what I wanted to replace it.

Three years ago when Sam and I moved in together we took a trip to Ikea. I instantly fell in love with their Kivik sofa series. I knew it was the couch for me, but we weren’t in a place to buy a couch then, and in all honesty I was still good with our set up. We had a couch and a futon in our living room. You think it would have been crowded, but it wasn’t. They both had a wall to be against, and we had gotten to each having our own couch nightly to sprawl on while unwinding.

But I wanted the Kivik. And this year I had, admit-tingly, gone on about wanting to buy the Kivik. When Sam said yes lets do it, I was all in. So Saturday we drove to the Canton, Michigan Ikea. Checking stock at the Pittsburgh Ikea showed that they were out. It had been an ongoing dread of mine that they would cancel the Kivik series before I got one, thankfully that didn’t happen.

A quick trip to Ikea Canton (there is nothing quick about a 2.5 hour drive or a trip to Ikea, although we kept our visit to under 2 hours…. a personal Ikea record for us) and we were back home hauling 100 pound boxes up three flights of stairs to our apartment.

I had taken apart the futon couch the night before, and we were giving it to one of Sam’s friends. And old couch had been upended to be moved to the dumpster afterwards. It took the two of us about an hour and half to get both the Couch and Chaise together. Ikea only sent us one defective part (not bad Ikea, not bad). It was a part to attach the Chaise to the Couch as one unit, but we decided we like them separate for now and will most likely keep it that way when Ikea sends us the replacement part.

Angelo has instantly taken to loving both the chaise and the couch. He moves back and forth between them every half hour or so. He was extremely intimidated by the unpacking and the assembly process, but the soft cushions eventually won his love. Yesterday was our first full day with them. It was busy day…. cleaning, couch moving, recycling of copious amounts of cardboard, rearranging that comes with new furniture… all that jazz. But at the end of the day, man the couch and chaise were comfortable and worth it. First brand new couch of my adult life…. positive experience.

Room of Living

March 27, 2013 meisajDaily Life

We spent a good deal Sunday rearranging our living room. Not to any great lengths, but I wanted to move my trainer out of the living room (even though it was pushed to the far side) and replace it with our second couch that had been in the office.

This is a miracle couch. It’s been in my possession for a decade or so, since my first post-college roommate, Alena, bought it for our apartment off of a neighbor from where she grew up. The print shows it true age of 30 – 40 years old. I’d say at least my age.

When Alena got she hand-made a fitted cover for it. She also made cushion covers with zippers so they could be washed regularly. Sadly on the move out to Cleveland the fitted cover was lost (It had been stuffed into a garbage bag and accidentally got tossed in the garbage instead of the U-haul. Also on the move one of the legs was broken (a thick screw broke, so it would have to be placed in the spot instead of held in spot). So for the last five years of its Cleveland life it has sat low to the ground instead of up on legs. Another plus.

Since then its been in my bedroom, in my living room and in the office. It got replaced by the futon couch for practical reasons. The futon couch was larger, so it was easier to move this couch out of the way. It currently is covered by sheets and pillow cases for the back cushions, but doesn’t look bad.

BUT my dream of a two couch living room, and of the supreme comfort this amazing couch provides (Reggie can attest to that) has never left my mind. This is the kind of couch you would want in a garage or basement. A crash couch of epic comfort.

So Sunday it made its way into to our living room. A deep cleaning and some febreeze (for everything in our apartment since its still cold and preventing windows from being open) and its home in its new spot.

I love it. The couches frame our living room without taking away any space. It has allowed us to keep the middle of the room free and open, given us a couch that is more suited for laying back on (the futon couch has an angle that is great for sitting on, but tough to lay on for longer periods of time) and is directly under a window for sun.

I’d call that a success.