That La Kid

First of all, relative to what I was saying yesterday, *HEADDESK!*

I feel like they must be trolling, and making that up.

AND WHOA!  145 PEOPLE LIKE IT?!

“Spelt.”  It seems in this person’s world, everything is “spelt” uniquely.  Nikki Davidson and I came up with a term for people like this, “Certified Moron.”

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And second, a love story:

Baby Daddy promised me the best chair on God’s green Earth.  That was his contribution to this whole baby thing (well, that and half the genes).  We got a cheap crib, cheap furniture – but I wanted a really great chair for rocking our little fella.  Those wooden gliders with padding don’t do it for me either.  I wanted a real rocking chair.

Tom and I went to Buy Buy Baby and found a cute navy chair for about $600.  The cushion on the back was high.  It felt soft.  I sank into it.  Here’s the chair in some kid named Caden’s room.

It takes 8-16 weeks for delivery.  Wow.  Little Happy could be pretty old by the time that thing finds its way into his room sometime between November 8 and January 3.  So, I went home and began frantically searching for the Little Castle Treasure from an online retailer.  I found some things that were close.  If we’re just getting a navy chair, maybe i can find something I like at a furniture store, a store without the word “baby” in the name.  Fortunately for us, Charlotte is some kind of furniture epicenter.

We started at Good’s.  I discovered that we aren’t shopping for a rocking chair.  We are actually shopping for a rocker recliner or swivel rocker or swivel glider.  Good’s had some good stuff, but good God!  The chairs I liked were upwards of $800 – and same deal with delivery, about 8 weeks – and I’ll bet delivery’s not free.  We weren’t hounded by employees, but someone did approach us after a while.  Tom might have gone to get the guy.  I forget.

After Good’s, we went to Thomasville.  We did a lap around the store.  Didn’t see anything that swiveled or glided or rocked AND we didn’t see a single employee.  It was just us, so we were in and out in about 3 minutes.  Moving on!

The next stop on the road of furniture stores was La-Z-Boy.  I don’t really want a La-Z-Boy.  They are generally unattractive, but isn’t what’s her name… ugh… dated Michael jackson way back… shoot… BROOKE SHIELDS!  Isn’t Brooke Shields on their commercials talking about how stylish they are?  Okay.  We can take a look.  We were approached right away – no me gusta.  I like to just have the freedom to look around.

“Can I help you find anything?”

“Gliders, or rockers?”   The lady looked right at my stomach, “Oh, OHHH!  Yes!  Let me show you what we have!”

The sales pitch actually wasn’t bad at all.  It was nice to have a tour guide because each rocker/glider/swiveler is in a different model living room in the store.  We learned the difference between glide and rock – and learned that I’m a rocker girl, myself.  We learned any glider or rocker can be made into a swiveler, and because it’s La-Z-Boy, they ALL recline.  We looked at some very pretty designy chairs, but as it turned out the softest and most comfy was another plain navy blue chair like the Buy Buy Baby chair.  It was $649.98 (the tag said, “was $850” but you and I both know no one has ever paid that), and it was huge – significantly bigger than the BBB chair.  We told her we needed to sleep on it before we made a decision and we also needed to measure.  She mentioned “the chair sale” started tomorrow (which is now today) but couldn’t elaborate.  It’s two great chairs for one great price – but no idea what the price would be.  She also dropped a hint about a “private sale” in passing.  Later in the conversation, Tom asked about that and she said she was allowed to give out 3 passes to her personal customers, but she had someone drop out.  You either get 10%, 15% or 20% off based on how much you spend, and while she has existing customers that she could invite, we have a whooooole house to furnish, so she was thinking that’d be a solid investment on her part.

The sales lady challenged us to compare La-Z-Boy’s stand-by-their-product ethic to other stores.  I told her we were pretty much done shopping, that I loved the chair.  But then when we left, we saw that Rooms To Go was right next door.  My parents bought at Rooms To Go when we lived in Florida.  (Actually, saw Mom’s current couch and super stylish giant round chair thing when we walked in.)  The rooms at Rooms To Go are awfully pretty.

An employee approached us right away.  “Can I help you find anything?”

I expected her to have the same insight as the La-Z-Boy lady.  “Rockers?”  Cue hand on my giant stomach.

“Oh,” she said, “Like for a baby’s room?  We don’t have those we only have the rocker-recliners like in a living room set.  Maybe try Target or Babies ‘R’ Us down the street.”  I was so irritated at being dismissed that I didn’t press the issue.  If I had tried, it would have been too late.  She was walking away, back to the cluster of employees just chillin’ in some model living room, but Tom and I had an awkward look around anyway.  Didn’t see much that we liked as far as rockers, actually we didn’t see anything.  Geez, if only an employee had been on hand to show us the rocker-recliners…  Their loss.  As we did our lap I said, “Wow. She basically just sold the La-Z-Boy chair.”  Look, maybe that wooden job with the pad is okay for YOU and your baby, or maybe that’s the only thing that will fit in YOUR nursery, but I’m in the market for serious comfort.

We have a rule in our little family, if it’s over $100, we have to sleep on the decision.  (Thank you, Pastor Lon Solomon.)  Take yourself out of the showroom.  Get away from the salesman.  Relax.  Take a step back and try to avoid Toad’s Motorcar Fever.

Well, as far as sleeping on it, it is the most comfortable.  I mean, not that we slept on it… although we could.  But as far as making a list of pros and cons:

• It’s more expensive.
• It’s bigger.  (For better or worse.)
• It not only rocks and swivels, but also reclines.  I keep forgetting that part.
• La-Z-Boy is THE relaxing chair.  They are basically the gold standard of recliners, and I think we can trust the integrity of a rocker from La-Z-Boy more than some baby furniture company.
• It was supremely comfortable.  I said I wanted THE BEST chair and this is THE BEST.  My favorite, if that counts for anything, and the one I found most comfortable – which was what Tom said he was going to buy in the first place.
• Lots of warranties, although IMHO warranties are complete bullsh*t.

Tom came home for lunch today and we went back to the La-Z-Boy store.  The chair sale actually brought the price down to $629.98.  The private sale took off another 10%.  Adding a swivel costs $150, and there is delivery and fabric protection… the only thing I think we really could have gone without is the fabric protection, but whatever… baby’s going to throw up who knows what on the chair, so we might as well go for it.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my new La-Z-Boy.

It’s actually darker blue in person.  More navy blue… but anyway.  We are the proud owners of a La-Z-Boy to be delivered on SEPTEMBER 20.  It’s nice the chair will be delivered before baby boy.