Furniture!

We got our furniture today! That is, we got a couch and loveseat :)



We have been "looking" for furniture almost since the day we moved in, in September - that's of 2009 :(. There were soooo many hurdles!

First, you have to find furniture stores - but how? The "yellow pages" in Costa Rica are not really very useful - there are not very many entries, and not many people use them. It's a vicious cycle. So, you ask around, and you keep your eyes open.

Then, you have to get to the stores - this is a bit difficult without a car. You have to have more exact directions, since you don't want to walk for miles in fruitless search of that "recommended" store that is "somewhere near the National Theatre" (hah!). I think our record was getting to 3 different stores in one day. The "other" record was walking for 15 blocks without finding that recommended store :-(.

Next, you have to separate out the wheat from the chaff (as always). We started out with one idea of what we wanted, and marched right through the spectrum of choices, clear to the other side! We knew comfort was important, but it turned out it was the single most important element for us - who knew? Everything else took a back seat. Fortunately, our apartment has large enough rooms that it can accommodate the big, fluffy stuff that have parts that stick out. I'm talking about overstuffed recliners...

Normally (that should probably be in quotes), this wouldn't take months and months, right? Well, lucky us (especially Rick), Rick twisted his ankle pretty badly in October, and so he was housebound for several months. We learned a looooong time ago not to make major household purchases without *both* of us being very involved. So, we put the whole furniture-shopping experience on hold. We did decide that we needed some rocking chairs, and knew that the leather and wood folding kind would work for us, so I went to Sarchi one day and got a couple. We were able to get back out looking for the serious furniture this past month. It took several more forays, but then - yesterday - we (yay!) found what we needed!

And they delivered it **TODAY!**