Or should I say "Challenge number One"....Try to get up off the half deflated air mattress. The ole' bones just can't take the air mattress anymore, camping used to be fun....yeah, like 20+ years ago. Our goal today was to go out and buy a new mattress. We have two mattresses coming in our household goods shipment, but...1) they are not here yet and 2) we were going to toss one anyway.
So, before we started our adventure it was only proper to nourish our bodies before venturing out in to the cruel, cruel world of sales. Here's our free-range eggs, last night's left over "so called Japanese" rice and some delicious melon slices. Sorry, when you have spent as much time in Japan as I have, then you have a right to criticize what some people try to pass off as authentic Japanese food.
Chris will tell you that I am not a big fan of dealing with pushy sales people. OK, they are trying to feed their families, but when I say "no" or I seem disinterested in your product, then get a clue and stop hassling me. It is not OK to come back at me and try to sell me the same product with a different slant on the same crappy product I don't want to buy.
So, off we go to the first mattress store, actually we had gone to this store awhile back and had some quotes on a mattress, frame and delivery...it was just more than we were willing to pay and the salesman wasn't offering us a good deal. And I thought with this struggling economy folks would be falling all over you when you stepped in the door. Anyway, we had come to the point that we absolutely had to get a mattress today, otherwise both of us may have ended up not being able to get up off the floor tomorrow morning. You know, another version of the "I have fallen and can't get up" saga, only with a slightly different twist to the story. Something like, "Honey, I can't reach the pump to inflate the mattress, let's call for help". Well, as dumb luck would have it, this first mattress store didn't have the one mattress that we wanted in stock so we ended up leaving.
Tired from our first adventure and on the run since hitting the ground in the US, we decided that we just couldn't handle any more "errands, must-do's"....Let's do something fun and decided to head downtown. OK, so what is fun? Well, good question and we often struggle with this, but generally for us, it is window shopping, trying new restaurants or just meandering around different parts of the area we are in. So after doing some browsing for "house stuff" at the Habitat for Humanity store, we ended up at this neat Coffee/Pastry shop with a cool rendition of an Edward Hopper painting on the wall.
And of course the people watching is always fun for us...
Ah, and our reward for the day. A nice cup of Latte, an oatmeal raisin cookie and a pistachio biscotti.
After that we went for a walk around Asheville and here is a shot of St. Lawrence's Basilica.
Here is one of our interesting finds along our route. This sculpture is representing the "Flat Iron" Architecture of the surrounding area.
And as always we are looking at different styles of houses. Here is one of the many "Craftsman" style houses around town.
And now what we all have been waiting for....drum roll, please.
After we had all but given up on finding a mattress today we stumbled into this futon shop. I was reluctant, but Chris insisted. OK, just a quick look. Well, after meeting a really laid back, not pushy salesman (read: not in your face), who knew his product and let the product sell itself, we walked out with this in our possession. We felt like we got a deal, saved on delivery and got this mattress for 300 bucks less than what we were going to spend at the first store.
Chris' apartment complex has these handy dandy fire engine red carts for use by the tenants..cool, huh!
OK, now we are back to the steps....
Step 1: Bend over gracefully and rip the heck out of the cardboard.
Step 2: OK, now how do I get the darn thing out of the box???
Step 3: Can you say vacuumed packed????
Step 4: Attempt to cut the plastic off without damage to mattress or self...
Step 4: Attempt to cut the plastic off without damage to mattress or self...
Step 5: Remove those white "thingamajigiis"....
Step 6: Ahhhh, let the mattress breathe and try not to trip over the plastic....
Waaalaa....finished product. And comfy! We are now the proud owners of what Chris has called a "Hippy mattress".
Step 6: Ahhhh, let the mattress breathe and try not to trip over the plastic....
Waaalaa....finished product. And comfy! We are now the proud owners of what Chris has called a "Hippy mattress".
And just for kicks....I'll let the video speak for itself...
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