The Zany Hillbillies

We have been on the look out for a set of barstools to put under our island in the kitchen since September. In our search, we have found quite a few we liked but refused to pay $150+ per chair. Upon a suggestion by a friend, we went to Mathis Brother’s furniture store to look in their clearance room for the barstools of our dreams.

We walk in and were immediately approached by a vulture, I mean a sales person. I’m sure she was irritated that she had picked us to come up to after we informed her we were looking for the clearance room. The two strollers with dirty babies in them should have tipped her off that we were not in the market for a whole set of new furniture. I’m guessing she was a newbie! She takes us to the clearance room which took 10 minutes as we navigated our way around the maze of furniture, then waited for the elevator. On the way up she told us that they rarely had a matching set in the clearance section, I suppose trying to put a damper on our mission. We got to the room and there glowing in the back was a matching set of barstools! When we approached the beauties Papa Z and I almost did a happy dance as we realized they were under $50 each! We immediately said we’d take them and went through the purchasing process.

We went to the loading dock and two young men were anxiously waiting to load our loot! They put the first chair in and after much puzzle playing they realized that the second one would not fit. They told us we could either come back to get the second one or they could strap it to the roof of our RAV-4. We decided on the latter and watched apprehensively as they tied it to the roof of our car. It was 108 degrees and we were going to be gone all day, so they used some cardboard to cover and protect the chair. While we waited I tried to get Papa Z to give me a high five for our $49 chairs, but he refused stating, “Our $49 chair might turn into a multi-million dollar chair if it were to fall off on the interstate”. Way to put a damper on our moral, but he’s always been the sensible one. Several other workers approached our car looking at the handy work with an amused look on their face. Papa Z questioned if it was even legal to have a chair tied to the roof of your car . Once they were done Papa Z again asked if it was safe and informed him that we would be going on the interstate. The young guy assured us that we could do 85 MPH and the chair wouldn’t come off the top, what did he have to lose? We had just signed a waiver stating it was loaded at our own risk.

“So we loaded up the family and we drove to Beverly…Hills that is” Well, not exactly Beverly Hills but we did go to a birthday party in Orange County and we felt like the Beverly Hillbillies driving up to the house. Papa Z even parked on a side street in hopes that we wouldn’t make a spectacle.

I’m happy to say we made it home safely and even remembered not to park in the garage with the chair on our roof. Relieved to be home we got out and looked up at our new possession and realized that the cardboard that the chair had been wrapped in proudly stated HOOKER in big blue letters! Oh, well, it just added a touch of class to our day!

And here are the beauties in all their glory! Now Wacky Zacky has access to everything on the island! :)

Zany thought of the day: Have you ever thought how tightly people secure things when they haul them? After our experience I think I’ll drive further behind vehicles that are hauling things or avoid them all together!