Being ill sucks! (and an urgent purchase of a carpet cleaner at Home Depot).

Sorry bloggers - I have been sick for pretty much the whole month of January so I haven't been blogging.  Here's the lowdown of my month so far:  (Cautionary Note:  If you are squeam·ish [skwee-mish] Adjective 1. (of a person) Easily made to feel sick, faint, or disgusted  then don't read this!!)

January 1 - woke up with a sore throat and hurting all over - uggh, it has started...  Sick for the first week of January with a throat infection/body aches/chills.  January 8 - I start to feel better but energy is still zapped.  January 11 - begin to feel almost 100%.  January 17 - I get sick again with the same thing!!  Can this really be happening?  To me - YES!  Sleep for 4 days straight with throat infection/body aches/chills/absolutely zero energy.  January 18 - Our youngest boy gets it but only for 2 days - thank goodness!  January 20 - My oldest boy gets 'it' too!  January 28 -  This past Friday my youngest begins complaining of a headache and his cheeks are really red and he feels 'tired'. Ohhh nooo....I knew that he was coming down with something.  This is my son who is never tired!  (Unlike my 16 year old who can sleep until 1pm in the afternoon!!)  So I get him to lie down with a cold cloth on his forehead in his bed and tell him to sleep a little bit.  Half hour later he comes downstairs to tell me he puked, barfed, threw up in bed.  Uggh.   And its everywhere!!!  (he had eaten lasagna for lunch ...you can imagine the rest!!)  On the walls, carpet, bed and sheets!  Poor little guy.  My husband, oldest boy and I attack the situation with buckets, paper towel and empy trash bags.  My husband and I had been comtemplating buying a carpet cleaner for a while and this sealed the deal.  I ran out to Home Depot and bought the Hoover SteamVac Spin Scrub Extractor:

Ran home and fired it up.  It worked great!  January 24th - I finally come out of my second sick haze and slowly my energy returns - so I hit the gym again.  January 29th - I decide to get all keen and take an aerobics class for the first time in about 2 years (I will expand on that one in another post!!).  And I threw my lower back out with the first 15 minutes!!  Gosh - I feel sooo broken!!  But being the trooper that I am I stuck it out and didn't leave the class.  Came home and took some tylenol and basically I have been shuffling around since!!!  So the month of January has completely sucked at our house - can't wait to turn the calendar on the fridge over to February!!  Has anyone else out there in blogland been hit with the sickmonster?
I do have some upcoming projects to post - please check back to see!!!


P.S.  Big props to my husband for looking after us and making meals.  He completely ROCKS!

Heather

My new Office Chair (The Reveal)!!!

I have been looking for a while now for a new office chair.  After much searching I finally found it and I love it!!  Here it is, the Metropolitan Loft Office Chair:

Source:  Sam's Club (no kidding!)  Price: $149.68 (for true!).  Reasons why I love this chair:

• it's leather (mmmm...)
• its contempary (love the chrome and black combination - very sophisticated)
• its so comfortable (the back is an ergonomic design)
• beautiful arm rests - for more comfort
• lots of adjustability: the height adjusts, it tilts backward and it swivels.  Love lotsa options!!
• 5 year warranty
• under my $200.00 maximum budget I had set for myself.

Of course I did some comparison shopping before choosing this chair.  These were the other contenders on my list:

West Elm Swivel Leather Desk Chair

This baby is made in Italy and looks manifico!  However the price doesn't : $399.00 plus shipping (10%) = $438.90.  Yikes!!! Waaaay over my $200.00 budget.   Plus, I am looking for a chair with more padding for the comfort factor.  I sat in a chair very similar to this in TJ Max ($140.00ish) and it was very stiff and uncomfortable.  (The one in TJ Max had a lot of scuffs and marks on it as well - so I didn't buy it).  So this chair gets ruled out.

West Elm Wrap Office Chair

OK - so this one has the looks!!    WOW - love the wingback silhouette!  However being a comfort girl - this one has no padding on the seat or back- its a veneer plywood seat.  I'm thinking ouch!!!  No 'cush for the tush'!   On the plus side, the price is more reasonable than the previous chair. This one is $199.00 + $21.00 shipping= $210.00.  But I still wanted to keep my budget to $200 max.  So I ruled this one out too.   (But it does look hot!!)

So moving on, lets get to the final two comparison chairs!  Both of these seem soooo similar in looks to my Metropolitan Loft Sam's Club chair; I am talking 'knock-off similar':
 

Z Gallerie Wyatt High-Back Office Chair





Ok...first thing I have to ask... doesn't this look pretty darn close to my Metropolitan Loft chair below? Right?:

Ok.  Now to compare details.  Price of Z gallerie's chair: $349 + $85 special handling charge= $434.  Yikes again!!  Over budget (Sam's version is a whopping $284.32 cheaper!  Gah!).  And its not even real leather - it's faux.  It does look comfy but it only has a one year warranty as well, so Sam's Club you score on top again.

And now for the McDreamy Chair!!!:

Room and Board Eames® Aluminum Soft Pad Executive Chair by Herman Miller®

This looks GORGEOUS!!!  (salivating).  This is a real beauty - and it just screams quality and luxury!!  However the price was waaaaay above my budget.  Price:  $2749 + $229 shipping =  $2978.  Whoah!  But I bet it would be worth every penny - how can you go wrong with an Eames??  Seriously?? It also comes in a total of twelve yummy colours and of course it is real leather.  I looked on the website for warranty info but all I could find under "Our Garantee" is the statement "we will work with you to make it right".  Ummm how many years warranty is that?  But like I said, its an Eames - a style icon that has stood the test of time to be sure.  Although not an Eames, my Metropolitan Loft chair looks pretty darn close to it (for my purposes), so Sam's Club you win the final round!!

Heather