Let's dance - the happy dance! We're switching from our gabillion pound, 35" TV to a flat screen. The deal DH and I made was this: if he would be willing to get rid of the surround sound that I absolutely despise, I'd be willing to have a TV that was honkin' big and the first thing you see when you enter our family room. He bit - fast. When we married I was in love with country blue, wooden ducks and floppy-eared bunnies, all over the place. He liked leather furniture, with chrome accents. And yes we really believed we were perfect for each other, felt exactly the same way about every single thing in life and would never have a 'heated discussion'. Ever.

I hate, hate surround sound, because - it surrounds you. All the way into the kitchen, with the family room doors closed. I think that's the same reason men love it - all that power coming through the sub-woofer speaker and if Rambo or Terminator is playing on the tube, all the better. So we've been talking awhile, like several years because it takes engineers and OCD people quite awhile to decide anything, about switching to the techy look. Which of course he's had a deep down, long abiding love for, all these past 28 years.

The country blue and bunny stage is over, I've moved on to, I hardly believe it myself, a leather sofa and recliner and ebony black accent tables, i.e. the Pottery Barn look. (Still not the chrome, but I wouldn't be saying 'never' at this point.) So we've nailed down a TV, after going to about ninety-nine six different places. We printed out fascinating articles from the web on LCD vs. Plasma, 720 vs 1080, viewing angles, and after starting with the idea of a 42" TV, we settled on a 46", because sometimes with men it really is about size, and if we'd started with a 50" we'd have ended up with a 60" and unless there's movie popcorn being served, I think 46" is big enough! Sometimes it really is all about manipulation compromise. We've just about sold all our current equipment on good ole Craig's List, hip hip hoorah! As much as that 35" TV weighs, I'm amazed we didn't have to pay someone to take it off our hands. When I got the email asking how much it weighed, I said "a lot. Bring at least three people to get it out of our home." And still they want it. But that's not the point of this post - here's what is.

We found a table for this TV at our favorite furniture store in town, for what I considered a decent price. It would be here in less than a week, good too, since the TV will be sitting on the floor otherwise, and with the two hairy beasts who live here, that's just not a great idea. I'm confident we'd be eating dog meatloaf if one of them broke the new techy toy, while doing their nightly head-gnawing thing. When we decided to shop, I emailed several girlfriends who had recently switched to flat screens and one of them told me where she got her cabinet. On a last minute whim, after looking at this table, taking a photo of it on my cell phone and emailing it to DH who said it was just fine and a good price, I stopped in this other store. There sat the EXACT SAME TABLE, for $80 less, and I could have the floor model today. All I had to do was call up our son-in-law, promise him pizza and a beer, and he'll run over and pick it up with DH tonight. Right after that, someone in our town is coming over to buy our surround sound (good, before DH renigs on his part of the bargain!), and Monday someone else is coming to pick up the old, monster TV and cabinet.

So hip hip hoorah for Craig's List, hip hip hoorah for girlfriends who save you money, and hip hip hoorah for big, strong son-in-laws who can easily be bought with $20 worth of Pizza Hut pizza. I figure we're still $60 ahead of the game. We should be all set up in time for 08-08-08, Summer Olympics, one of my very favorite things to watch on TV, sans surround sound, because really I don't need to hear the water in the pool that close, or all those grunts and groans from the male gymnasts. But I bet DH would like it better if we did.

Labels: Lighthearted