Our Couches

We bought new leather couches when we moved to Mexico back in 2009.  But after a couple years of enjoying our "leather" couches, we realized they weren't real leather.  The "leather" started cracking and peeling off and it was obvious that we got ripped off.

We bought them at a pretty big furniture store in Monterrey and the couches were advertised as leather, and our receipt even said "leather" on it.  So thanks to my good filing skills, I still had the receipt 3 years later and Checo called the company and told them about our couches.  They basically said there was nothing they could do because it had been over a year, and there were no returns.  Checo kept telling them that it didn't matter that it had been 3 years; they lied about what they sold us- they told us they were selling us leather couches and it turned out they weren't leather.  They didn't budge.  But Checo didn't give up- he kept calling and emailing the manager.  Checo was even nice about it and gave them options.....either refund us the full price we paid for the couches, exchange them for real leather couches, or have them re-upholstered with leather.  We weren't getting any answers and it was obvious they weren't going to do anything.

Then one day when we were visiting Monterrey, Checo and his dad took the couches to the store and walked them up to the show room and left them there.  They told the manager that they weren't going to take them away until they refunded our money or did one of those other options I mentioned above.  The manager was a little flustered and told them they couldn't just leave the couches, but they did it anyways.  They walked out of the store and left the couches there!  I told Checo I wished I could have been there to see that action happening!  So a few days later, the manager emailed Checo and told him they couldn't have them re-upholstered, but if Checo got an estimate for how much it would cost from an upholstering company, they would see how much they could give us toward that.

So, in order to save you some time reading all the details, we ended up getting money from the furniture company (almost the full amount of what we paid for them) to have them re-upholstered.  We were happy because we really didn't know if we would get anything out of them. Checo's persistence paid off!

And now the moment you've been waiting for.......


BEFORE

It sure wasn't fun vacuuming up little pieces of fake leather everyday.  Ok, I didn't do it everyday, but I should have.

AFTER

The colors didn't turn out very good in this picture, but it's a dark brown with a green and cream stripes.

We only had the love seat re-done for now.  Only because after being couch less for about 2 months while we tried to get the company to give our money back, I really wanted to have a couch to sit on instead of waiting another month to have it re-upholstered.  So Checo brought back the full size couch in September and the love seat just came back with Checo yesterday! So I am still vacuuming up little pieces of fake leather in case you were wondering.  

Here it is...the big one in our living room today.  Sammy was my couch model.   I know you can just ignore the mess all over the floor.  I thought about cleaning it all up before I took the picture (or at least throwing it off to the side), but then I figured I'd let you see the "real life" of what it looks like around here most days.  Aren't you happy you get to see our messes?

So here's my lesson learned in all this couch fiasco.  It's been over a year that we've had just the love seat to sit on, and at times, no couches at all.  And you would be surprised at how frustrated I've been at times.  I've complained too many times to Checo that I just want a place to sit that's comfy.  But when I stop and think about how much I really have, compared to how much most people around the world have, I have NOTHING to complain about.  Yeah, it might be uncomfortable sitting on the floor in the living room, but there are people that don't even have a living room.  There are people we know that only have a mattress in their one room houses- their living room is also their bedroom and their dining room.  It's easy for me to get caught up in material things, but that isn't what really matters, those things just distract me from the most important things, which are people and God.  None of the things we have here on earth will go with us when we die, so it's important that we invest in the most important things and not get caught up in what we have and don't have.  

P.S. Checo: Since I know how much you love carting our couches back and forth between Texas and Mexico, do you want to take our big couch back next time you go and get it re-upholstered?  

A Few Pictures

Here are some random pictures for you to see.  Just day-to-day stuff in our lives!

Sammy is a great eater.  He eats pretty much everything (and in huge amounts)!  Here he is eating lentil lemon soup with bread.  He ate 10 of those little pieces of bread that he has in his hand!

Emma showing her ballet shoes.  She wouldn't let me get a picture of her face.  She kept saying, "Don't get my eyes".  

Sammy won these "cool" glasses at a little fair that was at a park to support the public library.  Isn't it amazing how kids love the cheap little prizes they get at those things?  They don't need fancy electronic toys, just give them a bag of little fair toys and they are happy !

Emma with her "teddy baby".  For a few days she was carrying this teddy bear around with her everywhere.  The teddy is swaddled in a sheet.  Emma is over it now....teddy was last seen on the floor of the van.  Emma moves on pretty quickly.

Doing print painting with a sponge.  The kids loved making these little turtles.  I love the little face Sammy drew for his turtle.

Our Evening

No one even knows that I started this blog yet.  Since no one knows, I don't even have to feel guilty that it's been 10 days since my last post.  Well, hopefully tonight I'll send out an email letting you all know about it.  

After dinner Sammy and Emma always get really wild and most of the time I'm breaking up fights or consoling a crying child.  But tonight, this was not the case, thanks to a huge piece of paper Checo brought home from work last night.  By the way, Checo works until 8pm, so that's why it's just me with the kids after dinner.  Sammy and Emma sat on the kitchen floor for about 1 hour drawing on this huge paper.  It was a success!

Even though it's still in the 80's here during the day, Wassail sounded delicious to me.  I threw the ingredients in a pot, and I've been drinking it all evening!  Side note: I never use the word "evening" and I just wrote it twice in one post.

About 6 months ago, I decided to try to make my own dishwasher detergent.  I was trying to be frugal, and I thought I'd give it a try.  I found a recipe online that had great reviews, and the person that wrote it says it's all they use.  So I tried and it was a huge disappointment.  I kept trying it, thinking that I just needed to give it a few more tries.  Over time, I convinced myself that it worked.  But it didn't work...our dishes came out cloudy, and sometimes with food chunks still on them.  I finally admitted to myself that it wasn't working and I went back to buying detergent.  Well, fast forward to today.....I ran out of dishwasher detergent.  I had just went to the store and forgot to buy it, so there was no way I was going back.  I still have all the ingredients from my "homemade fail".  So I decided to make a batch....I know the dishes will come out cloudy, and with a few leftover chunks, but I figured it was better than having the huge pile of dirty dishes sitting in my sink for another day.  The dishwasher is going right now...

My homemade dishwasher detergent

That's all for tonight!

A New Blog

I finally started a new blog!  I've been meaning to do it for awhile now, actually about a year, but it's been low on my priority list.  Many of you know how sporadic I was at updating the last blog, and I'm not making any promises that I'm going to be any better. But here is my attempt at keeping family and friends updated on our life in Texas.  

Sammy loves t-ball.  He is on a team and they have practice once a week and a game each Saturday.  

This picture is from the summer.  Sammy and Emma love all the spash pads here- unfortunately they all closed at the end of August.  We will have to wait until next May until they open again.

I will write more updates on our life later.  That's all for now!