they REALLY don't encourage modifying their designs

Meet Papi

Oh how i love housesitting, especially borrowing other people's pets for a little while.
The newest addition to my temporary menagerie is a black labrador retriever named Papi.
Well, he's mostly a black lab -about 75%- with a little something mixed in there, resulting in white toes on his hind paws and a fabulous white blaze on his chest. As a puppy his tremendously large and floppy ears -which he has grown into nicely - looked like they'd flap right off of his head like a butterfly or papillion in French, hence Papi.
Here are a few of Papi's usual attitudes:

I don't know what we're doing, but you have a cookie in your hand so i will play along.






Hi there! Wanna give me a cookie?







Was that the sound of someone opening the cookie jar?

When not eating cookies,
thinking about cookies,
asking for cookies
or going outside simply to convince you to give him a cookie, Papi enjoys playing tug of war and napping in a wing back chair.


Thoroughly an indoor dog  [when i took him out for a walk in the snow he was so, so, so excited to put on the leash and ran right out of the house directly to the car, assuming we were going for a ride; he stopped at every car along the street and looked at me like, Is this the car we're going in?], he does still have some genetic memory of being a retriever.

Look what i killed  for you!

Super excited to meet new people, Papi will spend 10 minutes ripping the stuffing out of a toy and then proudly present the eviscerated remains to said new person.


Papi's daddy, who was in Florida, is an antiques dealer and it shows in the house:

the hallway is better decorated and lit than some museum, the guest room is nicer and more beautiful than most hotels, the dog eats out of cut crystal bowls, the oven is used to store fabulous copper cookware (found out after preheating it to 450 degrees) and many items, like this rug, have tags on them like you could just buy them right there and then.
The bed in the guestroom is a one-of-a-kind daybed/chaise that is beautiful and comfortable; however, fitting a full grown lab and a not-insubstantial Niki onto a twin mattress was interesting, but after some accidental clawing, cold toes and issues about who was sleeping on which side (i don't sleep well unless i am on the right) we figured out that with an extra blanket and proper preparation it was indeed possible.

Such a pretty bed.

Unique. Classy. Lovely. Small.

The dog steals covers.

FLARKE

Dear IKEA-

I really love my 2 blonde Flarke shelves.
Purchased as the first new furniture in my apartment with a housewarming gift card from my friends Mel and Mike, they have faithfully stood on either side of my television holding CDs and DVDs.

 But my friend John left me his black-brown 4X4 Expedit when he moved out. It is humongous and holds soooooo much more than my wee Flarkes that it is now the entertainment center in the living room.

 I couldn't just get rid of the faithful Flarkes though.
 
 My question, IKEA, is this: if i hypothetically bolted the Flarkes together to form a craft storage tower to the sky, does that void their warranty in any way or release you from liability if they fall and crush me flat?

Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Niki

don't aquire furniture while angry

Once a year my neighborhood association has a neighborhood cleanup where they rent a big mulcher for yard waste and several dumpsters. There is also a Trash to Treasure area where people leave still working items and anyone can take them; conveniently this freecycling area is about four houses away from me so every year i can check it easily and grab the good stuff.
Cleanup Day was last Saturday.
Last Saturday i was in a snit.
You might recall that i'd had a little run-in with the library internet connection.
I was livid.
 I was unhappy.
I wasn't thinking straight.
This was my frame of mind as i passed the Trash to Treasure area on my way home: Stupid technology. Stupid library. Stupid Internet. Waste of my time. Where did that post GO? Where am i going to find another free internet location? Stupid technology. I can't believe i got up early for this.
 Hey! Is that a dresser? I don't need a dresser. But i do need storage. Are those orange flowers? I hate orange. But it's free. I'll just take a look.
Famous last words.
It was indeed a 70s floral dresser that in a moment of confusion i decided i wanted, nay, needed.
 It was way too big to carry home so some helpful volunteers loaded it into my car.

It didn't fit too well so we couldn't even tie down my trunk, but i only had to go half a block; which i did very, very carefully.
It took me ten minutes to manhandle the monstrosity up the four back steps into my sunroom with other previous "finds."
Putting the drawers back in I made several discoveries,
like this shelf paper lining the top drawer.
CRIPES! My retinas!
Why was this ever the height of fashion?
Was it because everyone was ON mushrooms in the 70s?
 (and why, oh why, is it back in fashion now? did we learn nothing?)
Then there were these wooden pieces that were obviously supposed to attach somewhere.
I finally realized they were rails for the top.
Could this uglinesshave once been a changing table?
Who would do that to an innocent, impressionable baby?
 The 70s were messed up, people.
And behind drawer number three i found a helpful guide to hanging wallpaper.
The whole experience was unreal.
  Except for the part where this
now lives in my sunroom.
What the heck was i thinking?