Mattress Hunt

Saturday, I learn that a recliner is comfy for a couple hours nap but maybe not the whole night. I've also had the cat on my lap most of the night, nice for him, but restricting for me.

We have the u-Haul van until 3pm, so our plan for today is to source two mattresses and then use the truck to collect them before returning it. Unfortunately there had been freezing rain overnight, and the sidewalk outside the flat was a skating rink, the roads not much better, so we decided to delay our start until 10am to allow a chance for some thawing. Meantime we did some online stuff, and discovered that Beth's credit card had been blocked AGAIN, "for unusual activity". Once was OK, as she hadn't used it for ages, and not in Oregon at all, but a second time, after we had visited a branch to sort it out, was trying. We phoned from the clubhouse, and sorted that out again, this time with the casual mention that if this happens again we will be taking our business elsewhere.

10am we set out in our hire car to PetSmart, to get a cat tree for Elbie. He hasn't had one before, but we wanted give him the chance to sit and look out the window. They had a goodly selection, and we wedged one into the back of the car, and as we were close by we went back to CostCo for a proper look around, possibly for side tables and a TV stand.

Nothing much there for us in the furniture way, but we bought some food basics, including 8 tins of Clam Chowder for which I am developing a taste after first trying it in Boston in the summer of 2006. Also 3 huge bottles of Heinz Ketchup, a huge pack of paper napkins and two bottles of Parmesan cheese. Purchases of this magnitude are impossible for most people in the UK.


Then off to Sleep Country to source mattresses. Unfortunately they don't carry stock, and we would have to go to their Springfield branch to get at least one mattress, though they did have one they would sell us on the spot. We consider this, but head off to Mattress Mania on West 11th Ave to see if they had anything in stock.

No. They don't have any stock space at all, so after a quick glance through the window we got back in the car and headed home to collect the van to drive to Springfield. On the way, further up West 11th, we spotted American Mattress Manufacturing, and diving in quickly discovered that this was the place for us, they had a huge amount of stock of both beds and mattresses, and after trying a few mattresses we bought two, ready to be collected in an hour or so.

Back to the apartment complex to collect the van, and I took it back to AMM to collect our mattresses. For now we are getting two twins, as we have bedframes being shipped over from the UK that they will go on, eventually for spare bedrooms. When we have bought a house we will be getting a King size bed with all the trimmings.

Mattresses unloaded (it's good to have a strong wife who can share the carrying), and we have an hour for a late lunch before returning the van to u-Haul. I highly recommend them, it cost us just $70 for the van for the day, including $15 of gas we put in. When we haveb to move into the house we'll get a big u-Haul for the job, and possibly rope in a couple of friends to help lift and shift.

After returning the van we stopped off at the Post Office for Beth to send a package, then to Wal-Mart to get two floor lamps (we call them standard lamps in England), a couple of cheap side tables to use with our recliners, and a TV stand. The TV stand we chose is a cheap $24 design of plywood and plastic, but works very well for our current situation. We'll get an even bigger TV when we have a house, and use this one in ther bedroom, though as I've had the same 21" TV for over 17 years the 32" seems pretty big, but we are now in the land of big.

Home at last, we assemble the lamps and TV stand, stand the tables up, and then realise we have no bulbs for the lamps. D'oh, I go to Target to get those, then have a drive towards Toys'R'Us for a look at their shelves, but fog has descended, darkness has fallen, and I can't find the store! Giving up on that I stop by at Albertson's, our nearest food store, and stock up on further food items and some Oregon Ducks caps and a t-shirt.

Home after 7pm, we watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV, or most of it, because we're both too tired to see the end. By 9:30pm Beth is rolled up in her bedding on her new mattress, and within the hour I joined her.