A Big Day of Shopping and a Little Ingenuity for My Mother-in-Law

I spent a good portion of the day with my mother-in-law on Sunday. I picked her up early afternoon and joined my husband, step-daughter, and grandson for lunch. We enjoyed a hearty meal before the real adventure began.

We started at a large national mattress chain that carries high-end merchandise. She was cute walking around and pushing down on mattresses with her hand. I explained that she really couldn’t know their comfort level until she’d lay down on them.

She was hesitant, but she finally capitulated once I flopped down on one. She still pushed down on them first. If a mattress interested her, she would try it out. I could tell when she really liked one because she’d roll over on her side and tell me she always sleeps that way.

I took her to an unassuming furniture store when we were finished looking the expensive high-end name brands. The mattresses at this place were displayed in a haphazard way, but they were half the price. As a bonus I was able to check out some new couches and loveseats.

By the end of our adventure, we had pictures of 12 contenders. My husband will take her to purchase one in a few days after she’s had a chance to think about her options. Buying a mattress is a huge decision and shouldn’t be rushed.

Once we returned to her house, I noticed the knob on her storm door was loose. It’s an easy exercise to tighted it if you have a hex key. Unfortunately, I didn’t have one with me. I searched her toolbox for something that might work such as a small standard screwdriver, but nothing was quite right.

I’m not one to give up. I opened my purse and started searching for something that would fit into the hex screw. On a whim I grabbed my keys and tried several in the opening. I actually did a happy dance when I discovered the tip of one of my keys was a perfect fit. I was able to fix the problem in about three minutes once I found the right key.

You should have seen the look on her face when I started toward her storm door with my huge ring of keys. I told her I was going to try to fix her door knob with my keys. She looked at me like I’d taken leave of all my senses. My mother-in-law thinking I’m nuts is nothing new, but she humored me.

It was a good day. By the time I left, she was happily tuckered out and ready to settle down to watch her favorite baseball team kick a little butt on TV, and I felt like I’d accomplished something.

It doesn’t always take a grand gesture to make someone’s day. Sometimes, you just need to look at furniture and make a small home repair.

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