Television Died. Thus: Remodeling.

It turns out that our television was not haunted by my dad but was instead on the way to obscurity.  We were watching a movie and *blink* off it went.  Not to be turned on again. Ever.

Perfect timing, I might say, two days after returning from our trip.  However, we didn't spend as much as usual so we had a little change left over.  Also, perfect timing in the sense that everything, especially televisions, are on sale right now.

In the youngest-child like way, we headed into town even though Kevin had plans in an hour-and-a-half.   I did a brief internet search before we left though.  Four sites, five minutes, and we were out the door. (the frugal amongst you just groaned, I heard you.)

Believe it or not, we went to Best Buy even after the two nightmares we have had.  Partially because they eventually resolved the issues we had and they also had the consistently lowest prices.

Strangely, we managed to get the store manager as our salesperson.  The strange part being that he had the same name as my eldest brother and no one has that name under the age of 75.  Even then, it's the kind of name that old people flinch at.

He was very patient with us old people.  This is the first time that I've honestly felt old in a situation.  Technology changes so quickly and I've never been one to keep up with it until I have to.  Then to add insult to injury, a woman in her sixties asked Kevin a question then proceeded to know two times more than we did.

A few minutes later and off we went with a new 46" LED television.  It was on sale at about 30% off so well done us, considering our impulsiveness.

Again, Kevin had plans so I dropped  him off with his brother then I went home to the broken television, with a new television that I can do eff-all with. So I watched Glee while sitting on our bed and eating pumpkin pie, as is reasonable.

The next morning, Kevin and I woke up, got coffee then proceeded to join the current century. Kevin went out to get the television from the van then came in from outside and said "Dad is coming over."
"I expected as much. No problem." I say.
"...and Mom is coming too."
EFF.

His mom is sweet but tends to wander.  Wander as in wander into the master bathroom because "I don't remember what it looked like."

I sat her in Kevin's recliner with their snorty, overweight, annoying, "little" dog and a photo album. My work here is done!

We set up the television, which went relatively smoothly, until it didn't. More on that in a minute.

But first:
Kevin arranged our furniture when we moved in about six years ago.  We've exchanged a love seat, at least one recliner, and added the world's ugliest table.  (I'll try to take a picture. It kind of defies photography in its awfulness)  Despite the furniture swapping mostly everything is where we put it when we moved.

We have an entertainment center with an attached bookcase that Kevin's dad built.  It was built specifically for our old television so the new one wouldn't fit.  This makes Kevin happy as he has been itching to be done with the entertainment center. In his defense, it does take up a lot of room.  But it's a corner unit so *shrug*.  And it has a bookcase.  Bookcase. No need for further discussion. Bookcase.

An hour later and we've rearranged the bookcase part of the unit so it can stay, exiled the big uncomfortable recliner that I only sit in if I have broken bones, and scooched every piece of furniture inches this way and that.  Decluttering also occurred along the way.  Kevin gets to hang more pictures! His favorite (shaking my head, not so much)

Now the room feels too big and the television feels like we have a Broadway show in the living room.  The dog is very appreciative of having more space in which to distribute her never-ending shedding.

We sat down to enjoy the movie theatre and whilst playing with television settings we noticed that the sound kept disappearing.  Because it's new technology, we pushed buttons and frowned. Turned it off and on. Pushed more buttons. Frowned more. 

Finally I went on the interwebs and GUESS WHAT!  The television has a hardware issue that includes disappearing sound.

SIGH.

4:00 pm on Sunday and we disassembled everything, loaded it into the van, then returned to the store.  We didn't even bother changing out of our track pants & hoodies, that's how dejected we were. We were willing to go full redneck.  At least we wore sneakers.

Our new best friend the manager with the old-as-Moses-name exchanged the television with no hesitation whatsoever. With A Better Television at the same price so that's good, I guess.  All said and done, we were back within the HOUR.  It's a twenty-minute-one-way drive so Us=winners, other than the whole defective television thing.

I guess this is one way to remodel, get rid of your 36" monolith of a television and viola! living room transformed like a Jetsons episode.

Thanks, Dad (?) (you never know)