No Mo' Mo

Some of you saw this on Facebook last week and were worried, so I thought I would post about it!! :)

If you've been reading here at the old blogaroo for any length of time, you know two things about us. First, we tend to name our belongings (perils of not having children) and secondly, we have a couch named Mo. Let me tell you about Mo.

Back when I lived in Marion (which encompasses the first sixteen years of my adult life), I had the most awkward living room setup known to mankind. The house (though beloved) was old and designed before long couches and big TVs were staples in living rooms. There was one wall on which you could center a long couch, and other than that - full couches simply didn't fit. After trying (in vain) to make them fit, I gave up and bought my first from-a-furniture-store pieces. I got a fluffy loveseat and an oversized chair that I promptly named "The Fat Chair." That event took place just over eleven years ago now. I can hardly believe it! (You can read about my first grownup furniture purchase here.)

I still have both of those pieces. We still have both of those pieces. The fat chair is still holding up well, but the loveseat has reached a point in life where he really only has a future in a youth room or Goodwill showroom. He's lost most of his fluffiness, has water stains from dripped drinks, has a few pawprints from Phoebe and Braeya, and when you sit on him, you roll decidedly to the middle.

So about a year ago, we knew we needed to start thinking about replacing him in some way.

I'll pause that story so I can weave in the presence of Mo.

Also back in the Marion house, we didn't have a really good guest room. (Or to be fair, a guest room at all.) On our second anniversary trip (to Chicago) we entered our first IKEA and found this adorable couch that became a bed and was such as size and shape that we thought maybe...just maybe...it would work in our weirdly shaped living room.

It really was revolutionary. The couch was named the Moheda, and right there in the store, we took all the measurements so we could see if he would work in our living room.

And he did.

So we put up for sale the couch and loveseat of Ryan's that we'd squeezed into a spare room at our house, and a couple of months later, we piled in a truck with Ryan's mom and drove to the IKEA in the Cincinnati area to pick up our beloved Mo - which is short for Moheda. The next day, Ryan assembled Mo, and for the last four years, he has served us so well.

We moved him with us from Marion to our new home in Kokomo, and he fit in really well here in this living room of ours.

Until.

We started entertaining more. See, when we lived in Marion and commuted everywhere to work, we rarely had time to invite people over to our house. We were never at our house. The furniture needs we had were pretty much for the two of us and the occasional guest. But at our new house and in our new life-schedule, we enjoy having people over. In fact, we host small group at our house now. That means we have a living room full of a dozen or so for every meeting, and that's when we began to realize our need for different furniture.

I mean, there was our loveseat that was embarrassing to look at, and we tried not to think about the water stains and paw prints. And then the dear couple from our group who always sits on it would come in, sit down, and promptly roll into one another. Sigh.

And at this house, we have a proper guest room, so we didn't really need the pull-out bed part of Mo anymore. We almost always pulled him out on Sunday just for our own naps, but we didn't need him for a guest room. And we learned that while he's comfortable for our lounging purposes, he's not the most comfy small group lounging couch. Only about 3 people could easily sit on him, and they couldn't really sink in and sit back.

So over a year ago, we started visiting stores in search of something that might be a better fit for our house and current uses. We started saving up and looking for a deal.

Easier. Said. Than. Done. We sat on literally dozens (over a hundred?) couches and it was like being a live part of the Goldilocks and the three bears cast. Nothing felt right/looked right/seemed right. It was far too big a purchase to make without fully and totally loving the pieces, so we just kept looking (while we watched our friends continue to roll into each other every small group meeting).

Finally, around Valentine's Day, we found a couch we loved. It was a super comfy sectional, and we thought it would fit.

And right after that, Ryan's mom entered her last days of life, and things like living room furniture didn't really matter so much.

At the end of April, right after we got home from our cruise, Ryan had a couple of additional days off work, so we decided to go back to the furniture store and see how we felt about the couch.

Guess what?

They had some new inventory since our last visit, and we found something we liked even better. So with a very amused furniture-store-man watching on from a distance, we bounced around the store sitting, reclining, scrunching in...seeing how we felt. And at last, we found a sectional piece that fits our living room corner perfectly and should be a good fit for both our daily life with two and our entertaining life with multiple guests.

We're exhausted.

I put Mo up for sale (with an appropriate amount of fond sadness) but didn't expect the shocked response from some who weren't expecting him to go to a new home!!

Many people loved him, it turned out, and he is going to a new home very soon, where I'm assured he will retain his identity and be WELL loved. He'll get to be a couch and guest bed again. Our sad little roly poly loveseat will be donated, and in the meantime...we have moved in our new couch!!

He arrived on Friday, and we are absolutely in love with him. He feels like a blanket, and once again, Ryan and I can comfortably sit side-by-side to watch TV.

It took us over a year to find him, but he's so worth the wait.

OH! And by the way. His name is Al. Welcome home, Al.