When Caleb and I were engaged and we were doing the long-distance thing, (I was in Lethbridge, he was in Halifax) I flew out to Halifax for the weekend to visit and so we could try to furnish our new apartment. I had been doing a lot of research on Kijiji and had found some good deals for us. Caleb rented a van, and drove it to the airport to pick me up. ( I flew in to Halifax at about 4am my time) As soon as I got there we were off picking up furniture. It was a crazy weekend, and we were just moving things the entire time. We had almost everything we needed, but were having a hard time finding a couch. We found a big blue chair that seats two for free to the first person to get there. So we instantly went over and picked it up. You'll see it in the picture below. It's great and we love it! We also found and picked up a free couch for Caleb's office at school. But we still needed a larger couch.
So after a very long day of moving we got into our pj's and were about to watch a movie together and relax...but Caleb decided to check Kijiji one last time for anymore free items that had come up...and they did. An ad for a beautiful beige sectional had just been posted 15 mins earlier. The ad said the couch was on the curb, and the first people there, could claim it. We were exhausted! But in our pj's and all we set out to find the address. It was actually only a couple blocks away from where we were, so we were extatic! We loaded it into the van, and were so happy. We noticed that it smelled a bit, but nothing a little febreeze couldn't handle.
We drove around the next day for a bit with the couch in the back of the van and began to notice that it smelled A LOT more than we had thought. I honestly don't know WHO owned these couches...but they smelled AWFUL! Caleb desribes the smell as someone owning ten dogs, but one of them has no legs, and lives on the couch, and is constantly peeing on it....all day. And that was a pretty accurate desription.We had to drive around with the windows all down...we could barely take it. But surely it would be ok right? We got it to the apartment along with our newly purchased febreeze and thought that would take care of it. So we left it there, Caleb wouldn't be moving in for a few weeks so we thought it would air out and be fine.
When Caleb moved in, bless his heart, he said the smell was still so bad that he had to go into the bedroom, and close the door whenever he was in the apartment. He would barely venture out to the living room the stench was so bad. WHO OWNED THESE THINGS?? So in order to save our couches, Caleb rented a steam cleaner...and cleaned it three times. He also religiously sprayed it with febreeze every night, and dusted it with baking soda. He also put the cushions inside plastic bags and then put the pillow covers over them so the stench couldn't leak out! Poor guy. When he left in December to come back to Lethbridge for the wedding, he worried everyday about the couches, and what would await us when we got home.
So we had a month away from our furniture and when we returned the smell was really not that bad anymore, even liveable. We were both very happy with them...except for one thing...we wouldn't sit in them. We would sit on the other side of the room, and I had a hard time even putting things on them. They just seemed so gross now that we knew what we had gone through to make them liveable. So one day I finally got the courage to sit on them. I figured we would have to get over it sometime right? So Caleb and I sat in the couches for a bit. While we were sitting there I felt something on my arm...I looked down, and I had not one, but two little black bugs on my arm....I calmly showed them to Caleb and asked him what they were....we had fleas...our couch actually had fleas! From then on I felt like I had fleas on me all the time, and so did Caleb. It was so gross! So off to wal-mart we went to get some delousing spray and I sprayed the entire house. It did the trick, but surely we couldn't get rid of our couches? They were such a good deal, and where would we find another one? But now we definitely couldn't sit in them.
So we kept our stinky flea couches for a few more weeks. Caleb and I stopped in at the Salvation Army behind our house one night to look for scrabble and maybe an iron. While we were there we took a look at the furniture and saw an adorable dark green love seat for sale, in very good condition. And I should tell you that while we were there Caleb made me smell every couch in the place! And as an added bonus, the green love seat didn't smell at all. It had no price tag on it, so we asked an employee for a price...$30.00. So we had a difficult decision ahead of us. Do we keep our dog couches and save all the money and effort we put into reviving them? Or do we buy this little loveseat, and put our stinky couches and their fleas behind us? The decision was easy.....
We bought the loveseat. So that night we borrowed a dolly from the Salvation Army and carted our green loveseat through the ice and snow all the way home. We then loaded up our stinky couches back on the dolly and carted them back to the Salvation Army, we were pretty much running with them down the street...it was hilarious. I actually feel kind of bad donating them to Sally Anne. I wanted to set them on fire and throw them off our balcony...but Caleb wouldn't let me. They were so happy to have them. They look like great couches...only we know their dark secrets.
So on my way to the grocery store tonight I stopped in at the Salvation Army curious to see how much they are selling them for. $129.99! Someone will now end up with some great couches that smell slightly....what they don't know can't hurt them right?
ps pictures to follow
Well Caleb has. He is away for the weekend which leaves me at home lonely and bored...so naturally a lot of cleaning gets done. I found a gap bag hidden away in our front closet, so I pulled it out, looked inside, and saw a pair of gray men's dress pants. My first thoughts were:
