Scratched and dented

Went to the Country's Largest Furniture store today. No, really. It's here in Omaha. Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Anyway, the last few times I went there, I was less than impressed with their new appliance selection. Particularly the gas stoves. There was a bit of a cost "gap" right where I was ready to spend money. I love Maria, but I don't love her $2,000 stove enough. I also routinely check the returned stuff, and there's never a fridge in my price range or a matching set of washer and dryer.

Except today.

Today I walked in there and spotted a fabulous GE washer. And its matching dryer. Front load, and get this -- pedestals included. Let me say that again -- pedestals included.

For those of you who have lusted over front load washer and dryer units, you understand what a rip those pedestals are. I was ready to splurge on the units and build my own pedestals. Maybe it doesn't look as good. Maybe they're flimsy. Maybe they don't have storage. But at least they're not like, $180 each.

So score on the washer and dryer. Then I walk around a bit more past the $4,000 fridges. And the $2,000 ones. And find ... one in my price range. Another GE! Two small dents on the front. I'm sure Asim will trump those, so add that to the list.

No gas ranges in sight, so I head out with the saleslady, and she points me to a rather nice model -- GE that's right in the price range. But then I think about how much I love my wife and how much I hate buying jewelry (ha!) so I look at the range to the left, see a marginal price premium and say, yep, toss that on the order, too.

You see, the issue is that the appliances we have now in our swank downtown loft are pretty nice. I've never had a gas range before, but I've noticed that, quite simply, the more btus per burner, the better. So I went for the most btus I could get. Plus everything sort of matches. After another year or three I'll stainless steel up the dishwasher -- it's white.

I think I spent more time waiting for the saleslady to enter the order than it took me to pick the stuff out. But hey, I went back online after work, put everything in "brand new," and found out that I saved at least $800. So I was happy.

This evening I bought a remote control for the garage door opener. And it works! I programmed it and whatnot. I also noticed the other night the total lack of outdoor lights. Like, none. Nothing on the ground, nothing on the exterior. Fortunately, the garage isn't finished, so it looks like mounting them on the outside of the garage should be fairly simple. And those lights should do the front up really nice.

Tomorrow I'm borrowing a buddy's truck, so the big ticket items will be on their way. The wagon is still doing a great job hauling the smaller stuff.