Aunt Mildred's Sofa

...First off, let me apologize if you have an Aunt Mildred...it was the first "grandmotherly" type name that popped in my head and is in no way a reflection on my feelings of the name Mildred.

So, I can remember in my younger years driving around some of the fancier neighborhoods in town and longing to live in one of those big houses. There was one neighborhood in particular that several of my friends lived in and I always told my mom that I wanted to live there. I can remember one day she looked at me and said, "Ashley, those big fancy houses may be nice, but those people probably don't have any furniture in there. They spent all their money on their house and they can't furnish it."
Now, I am pretty certain that wasn't the case in most of those houses, in fact, most that I went in had nice fancy big furniture in them too.
Now, fast forward almost 25 years later. Here the hubs and I reside in a pretty nice house. And you know what?
We have an empty room.
And it drives me crazy.
I keep going over in my head that conversation mom and I had long ago. And then I tell myself that all the mom's of the 10 year-olds that drive by are telling their kids the same thing my mom told me. Only they are right.
Don't get me wrong, it is no big deal really. But we have lived here 4 years.
And this is a main living area.
That you see when you first walk in the house.
There are some pro's to this though:
-The kids really can ride their bikes in the house.
-There is a lot less to dust.
-It provides a great echo which entertains the kids for hours...er, minutes.
-There is nothing to child proof in there, great when you have a 14 month old.

This poor room even housed a Christmas tree...for 8 months.
Yes.
8 months.
It was sort of a year-round type tree. You see, really the tree helped. Instead of people talking about the empty living room they talked about the fact we had a Christmas tree up in May. It was like we were Hobby Lobby.

Well, I am here to tell ya. That room is empty no more. We are on our way to having an (almost) furnished room. Last week I spotted a friend's couch on Facebook that she was selling. It was a steal and practically brand new! I gingerly approached the hub and luckily he took the bait. Look out 10 year-olds...don't let your Momma fool ya...this house has PLENTY of furniture...

Now. The couch is perfect. But the 3 dogs we have....not so perfect. So the brand new pretty couch? Yeah, it looks like Aunt Mildred's sofa.
It has sheets on it.
Star Wars sheets.
They're blue.
Bright Blue.
With Jedis on them.

Wonder what the neighborhood Moms are telling their kids now....

***Doesn't the suit jacket over the back make a nice throw...the other problem with having furniture is that the hubs likes to turn everything into a place to throw his junk...