R.I.P. Couch

“Are you sure you want to keep that?” “Where do you expect we will put this?” “Don’t we already have three of these?” In David’s case, he keeps everything (as does my father), in my case, I try to get rid of things—or as my mother would say, “pitch it.”

I knew this about David when we moved in together. I was aware.

(the packing process)

Me: I slam a box full of crap into the car and get in the passenger seat.

David: Looks at me with complete disdain. “Do you even know what was in the box under the one you just slammed on top of it?

Me: “Um. It’s fine.”

David: “No. It’s not,” he says, as he points to the now de-spiked figure of a Japanese dragon his parents brought us from Japan last summer.

Me: Yikes.

Relationship conversation ensues.

David: Be more careful.

Me: Don’t be so uptight.

Then, there was the couch.

We loved our couch. We did. Apparently, people these days don’t need couches. People are all set with couches. So, after a month of posting on Craigslist, one potential scammer, two price reductions, and several emails with slightly interested buyers, we decided to give it away.

Easy.

Wrong.

I called Salvation Army. They didn’t have room for a couch. I called the Hoboken homeless shelter. They told me to call social services. I called social services. They told me to call Salvation Army. This 9ft beast was starting to get to me. By this time, the girl who moved into our room sent us an email and told us to quit being “ignorant” and get the couch out of the apartment. Wonderful.

Monday. We decided to do what any self -respecting citizen would do. Put it on the curb and drive away quickly. It was pouring, but David was going to pick me up from work and we were going to carry it outside. David got into a car accident leaving Newark, so… This made the week..stressful. He’s okay…the car isn’t.

Tuesday. I recruit three of my co-workers, and as we try to get this beast out of our old apartment my old landlord knocks on the door. Wonderful. We scratched the wood. We scratched the floors. We barely got it out the door. We set it in front of the strip of stores next to our old building and….walked away very quickly.

I am happy to say we are fully moved in. We are bumming it around Park Slope finally feeling like our apartment is ours.

I don’t want to move for a long time.

As promised, here are some pics of the process. Don't the shelves look a-mazing?? More to come.

Below is a recipe from Ellie Krieger, one of my new favorite cookbook authors. I saw this magazine (goodbye Jersey City A&P) in the grocery store and ended up shopping for ingredients for the recipes right then and there. It's easy and low fat, as are most of Ellie's recipes. woo. Bikini season.