New Chairs & New York Muscles

It’s starting to feel more like a home!

I ordered an accent cabinet and two dining chairs online – I was particularly excited about the chairs because I so desperately wanted to be able to sit at the table and have some yogurt and granola while reading The New Yorker. When I opened the chairs I was mildly disappointed because they weren’t quite the dark orange I had expected them to be. However, they were color nonetheless so I was still happy to have them. I put the first one together lickedy-split and set it near the table smiling at if I’d just really accomplished something. On to chair #2. I secured the first two legs but could NOT, for the love of all that is good in the world, screw in the second set of legs. After (what felt like) 20 minutes of trying, figuring it was operator error, I finally gave up and re-assessed the situation with a closer eye. It turns out that the metal plate that I was trying to screw the bolt into wasn’t threaded, so the darn thing was never going to catch. UGH. I seriously considered just bolting the three that worked and hoping that it would hold up, but in the end decided that desperation was not an excuse for settling. I packed the chairs back up and they are just waiting to be returned to the store.

And how fortunate for me that they weren’t right, for not two days later there was an ad on CL for four chairs in dark orange for $50 – a much better price than the $60 for two I’d paid for the previous chairs. And I pretty much love these chairs and their character. Not that I need four chairs, but I didn’t want to ask for only two and risk losing them to another lucky buyer.

I have it stuck in my head that any CL purchases are only good deals if I don’t have to get a car to transport them home, so the subway it was. I asked if I could make two trips (two chairs each time) and the owner was fine with that. My first pick up was at 8P, and I only had to get the chairs 3 long blocks to the train. Ohmigod my forearms were burning!! I had to stop four times. I realized later my mistake was wearing gloves – I didn’t have very good traction so my hands and forearms were working overtime to keep the chairs from slipping out of my hands.

I met a nice man on the train who gave me some chair refinishing ideas – so nice! He also gave me his card to come see him spin; he DJs at a local club. See, transporting random stuff on the subway is a quick way to make friends!

I had two blocks to get home from my subway stop, and by the time I got home I was thinking that I’d have to call and let them know I’d be back tomorrow for the other two. But as soon as I saw the chairs in my place, the forearm fatigue disappeared and I was out the door in a flash for round two.

It was 9:10P when I arrived for the last two chairs; the seller was impressed that I didn’t call it after the first go. This time I knew better – opting for no gloves/frozen fingers/traction in lieu of shaky forearms. My only stops this time were at the stairs before going up or down.

I wish I could have input something into my Fitbit to tell them that I deserved 1.5x my step counts because I was carrying chairs!

When I came to check out neighborhoods in September, I asked a friend how they got everything from Point A to Point B and she told me I’d get my “New York Muscles.” I am quickly learning what she was talking about! You really do have to carry everything everywhere! Some people used carts, but the “cool people” don’t. And I really want to be one of the cool people. So I carry chairs, dining tables, artwork, side tables and more, all the time unknowingly cultivating my New York Muscles.

Now I need to ask her how I can get those New York Abs…