Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I don’t know exactly what happened this fall but we have been a positive whirlwind of home improvement projects. For the last several weeks I presented a list to The Saint on Saturday morning of all of the things I wanted to get done over the weekend, taking special care to highlight the things I would need his assistance on.

(An aside on the subject of lists: I love them. I love the sense of relief that comes when a large project is broken down into manageable steps. I love crossing items off the list when finished. I love the feeling of accomplishment when lists are complete.)

One nagging item keeps showing up on the list every weekend as no forward progress was being made; purchasing a mirror for my dining room. I've had the same picture and sconces over my side board for something like fifteen years. I have grown weary - WEARY I tell you- of the look and wanted a change.

People let me just say that buying a mirror was WAY harder than I anticipated. I had a good idea of shape, size, frame, etc. nevertheless I failed to execute the task.

On-line shopping was next to impossible because I could not get a good bead on either scale or color. Catalogs, while slightly better than on-line, presented other challenges including cost. Throw in shipping (mirrors are HEAVY!) and... well you get the picture. Dragging my ass through various stores hither and yon proved both exhausting and annoying while yielding no acceptable merchandise.

I began to fear in my heart that a visit to a mega store was the only solution.

(An aside on mega stores: As nearly as I can determine my residence is about a nine hour car ride from the closest IKEA store. I will wait here while those of you NOT geographically challenged vis a vis IKEA stop to weep on my behalf at the injustice of my situation. HOWEVER, what we DO have in close proximity is Nebraska Furniture Mart.Vast amounts of floor space, an army of salespeople, furniture, appliances, rugs, electronics and crowds, oh dear Lord the crowds!)

After an exhaustive search for the now elusive mirror, The Saint suggested I try Nebraska Furniture Mart. I nearly went apoplectic. Very few times have I ventured to NFM because the sheer size of the place fills me with dread and a side of panic. I came up with all sorts of reasons why it was just.too.damn.hard. Then he offered to come with me. He would shield me from the wretched refuse and huddled masses that are the other patrons. He would leave a trail of crumbs so that we would not get lost in the maze of furniture displays. He would not complain if I found something I liked but had to look at every last OTHER mirror just to be sure.

After girding our loins we set out in search of a mirror....

to be continued...