Tuesday - When in Doubt, Go Where You've Had Success Before!

I woke up refreshed and ready for the challenge of purchasing a dresser for Lulu, dropping it off at her house, and heading off for my mini-vacation in Maine. I was having my coffee in the (newly renovated) Marriott dining room, when a man in a suit, looking somewhat official, passed by. I said “Oh, are you the manager by any chance?” He said “Why yes I am”. I said “Well I think you’ve done such a nice job in redesigning this hotel. And by the way, do you know where I can buy a dresser – a fully assembled dresser – in the next ½ hour?” He says, “Why T.J. Maxx Home Store of course. Did you know nearby Natick is the headquarters of T.J. Maxx, and thus their store is simply spectacular?”

Having been to T.J. Maxx in LA I knew it could be hit or miss, but this was advice definitely worth pursuing, as I remembered there were about 3 different malls out that direction, and one had in it my absolute favorite store on Cape Cod, The Christmas Tree Shops. Not being able to help myself, I went there first, just for a quick look around (Oh Colleen, you may think Newbury Street is where it’s at, but you haven’t been inside The Christmas Tree Shops yet…). As I neared the back of the store, away from all the wonderful Halloween decorations, scarecrows, and huge plastic pumpkins that normally would hold my attention (and has in the past caused me to purchase an additional suitcase from K-Mart), what did I see but the perfect dresser all ready to go! I found the store manager and asked if he could carry it up to the front for me, as due to my bad knee I couldn’t do so myself. “I’m sorry” he says, “That is the floor model and therefore it’s not for sale”. I said “If I bought a new dresser that WAS for sale, would...I...have...to...assemble anything?” “Oh yes, it requires assembly. But it’s so easy!” he says. As he starts to move away, I plant my body in front of him “My daughter spent 7 hours trying to assemble a dresser from Target. I know we should have come here first, but Target was closer to Boston College, where she goes to school”. The manager pauses, he glances this way and that, then hands me a sales slip for $89.00 “I went to Boston College. The dresser is yours”. As I paid up front the lady at the cashier says, “Oh I see there is a nick in the dresser…if I gave you 20% off would you still buy it?” Oh Happy Day!!

But all this took longer than I planned and by now it was almost noon. I headed across the street to visit T.J. Maxx which today was definitely a HIT, purchased a few lovely pieces of decorative art for the walls and two chairs which would go great with the living room décor, and headed back to Lulu’s house. She said she’d meet me on the front steps after her morning class. I only got lost twice getting there, and as I parked the car I saw she had a frown on her face.

The landlord had given the girls strict instructions to always be safe and lock the door as they left for school. Lulu did so, but now her key would not re-open the door. We called her roommate out of class and she came over and her key would not unlock it. They called the landlord, and he said “Oh I forgot to tell you. I gave you all the wrong key yesterday. I’ll be by in 2 hours to give you the right one!” So I sat on her front steps guarding all my recent purchases and needlepointing away, while Lulu went off to class. Finally the landlord showed up and unlocked the door and we moved everything in. Of course I had to hang all the pictures so everything looked just right, and then I gave loads of kisses to lovely Lulu who was busy putting her clothes away, and off I went up 95 North to Camden, Maine.


I had various estimates depending on who I talked to about how long the drive would be. It ended up longer than I thought, about 5 hours. It was mostly dark outside the whole way so I couldn’t see any of the beautiful scenery, but I did make out a Burger King at a truck stop about half way outside Portland. I listened to an interesting radio interview with a Pulitzer Prize author of a book about the Palestian terrorists that was made into a movie premiering on HBO tonight. It did help the time go by.



I’m in my room now at The Inn at Ocean’s Edge where I have a king size 4 poster bed, a fireplace that turns on with a light switch, and a huge Jacuzzi which I could easily fall into if I’m not careful in the middle of the night. And, I think there’s a ghost. Breakfast is served at 8am, so tomorrow I’m sleeping in late…I think I deserve it!