It’s always interesting to me how one event leads to another and you can end up someplace totally different than where you started out, or where you thought you’d go.

I went into Talsi the other day. i was doing some research on something & Andis was helping me with it. The person we had to talk to wasn’t in, which left me with some free time in Talsi. We were walking down the street when Andis decided to get something to drink… not from the big store but from the little convenience store around the corner. Ok, whatever. We walked over and I discovered it was next to a certain second-hand shop. When he saw it, he suggested we go in. You never now what you’re going to find in shops like this around here… sometimes you score big and sometimes you strike out. We went in and I was quite thrilled that I found a cute little summer shirt (still be in the 90s here… grr…) for less than $4. When we were done, I mentioned I wanted to go upstairs because they often have furniture there. All of the furniture in our apartment, except for the bed, came with the apartment. Much of it is old, not very good condition and it’s fairly sparse. I thought maybe I could find a cheap table or something… you never know. One thing I have learned here is that if you see something you like, in second-hand shops or regular stores, and you can afford it, buy it. Don’t wait. It will be gone.

I’ve wanted a couch or something for some time now. We have one, which is terribly uncomfortable, and since it’s made to slide out to make a bed, it will often do that without your consent. The springs are starting to poke through and, well, I’ve been on the look out. The hard part is that couches here are very different than our comfy couches in America. They’re much more utilitarian here, and comfort is not a priority. And, even if I could find one that I could tolerate, they’re horribly expensive. When people come over, we only have the 1 couch, no chairs or anything else, so someone always ends up sitting on the floor.

We walked upstairs and all I saw was a bunch of old, faded, ugly, eastern European couches. Ugh. Then something caught my eye back in the far corner. I made a bee-line and couldn’t believe my eyes. There before me was a matching couch and loveseat… full & comfortable. I was so surprised at such an American style in a store like this! I started looking it over, and when I picked up the middle cushion, there it was… the tag that said “Made in Hartford, CT.” NO WAY! The price wasn’t the greatest, but not too bad & they were in excellent shape. I sat there on the couch while Andis sat on the loveseat and I called Chris. Then I made another call. It was so funny as Andis sat there looking at me with a dumbfounded look. “Who are you calling now?” “The owner of the store,” I said. “He’s a friend of mine.” Raitis, who owns the store, is on staff with us here with YWAM Latvia. I talked to him (he was in Norway) and worked out a payment deal and as we walked out, we stopped and let the salesman know to put a “Reserved” sign on it per Raitis, and we’d be back on Monday to pick it up. :-) Andis was a bit freaked out that I would be so spontaneous, but… I totally blame him… if he hadn’t wanted a Coke from that little store…. :-)

Since then I’ve been trying to figure out the possibility of doing some updating to our living room as well. Our ceiling was leaking this winter, and now that it’s fixed there’s a chance that we could do some repairs on the room. I am a bit afraid to rip the wall paper off the ceiling for fear of mold up there, but maybe it needs to be done. My American home-improvement mind kicks in thinking, “Hey, a couple cans of paint and we’re good to go.” If only it were so easy here. Re-enter Andis. His dad happens to work in home repairs and remodeling and Andis often helps him. Go figure. After a trip to the “Home Improvement store” (not as big as Lowes but at least it’s something!), we did some figuring and measuring. It’s going to be a bit more than we thought, so I’m not sure where we are on that now. It’s a toss up. If there is mold up there, I want to get it out of here! But, can we afford to do it? I mean, sure, we’re only talking about $150 to fix & finish the ceiling and paint or paper the walls… but that’s about 15% of our monthly “salary”. Might have to wait a little longer on that. But, at least we’ll have comfy couches that won’t hurt our backs anymore, and we can have people over and we can all sit and have a conversation looking at each other, rather than all in a row on the couch! Simple pleasures!