Operation cool apartment, phase 1:

So DI is basically my favorite store in the world.  I learned some things there today.  First of all, don't buy your kids christmas books.  I assume people buy them christmas books for christmas, only to realize that it's immediately out of season for 11.5 months.  They're all going to end up in DI eventually, many of them before they even get a chance to shine in their seasonal glory.

Buy your kids books like Harold's Purple Crayon, and Ferdinand, and Corduroy, and The Velveteen Rabbit, and Little Bear, and The Bike Lesson.  Apparently they'll keep those books forever and you won't be able to find them in DI no matter how long you wade through the hundreds of slightly used coloring books, disney picture books, miscellaneous religious children's books, and the obligatory set of childcraft.

I did find The Polar Express in really good condition (also a Christmas book, but classic enough that everyone should have it) , but i'm planning to dissect this book and put it on my wall so that girls will think I'm whimsical and artistic, and I just couldn't justify destroying that book.

So, for posterity: 

Before

I found a used Harold and the Purple crayon for a buck on ebay, which will do nicely.  I also found a calvin and Hobbes book for a couple bucks at amazon, which I think I might use, after I read it.
Other than harold and the purple crayon, i'm about to buy a couple posters from amazon for a few bucks each, one of Einstein on a bike, and one by Escher.  I might get one by van gogh also, we'll see.  Then I have a bunch of pictures that i've taken over the past few years that i figure i can do something cool with.

  Then I just need a lamp and maybe one more chair for the living room, a bunch of dirt cheap frames from DI (that i might repaint, a lot of those were seriously ugly), and I'm in business.  I'm having fun redesigning my house.  It's like back in the day when we'd make scale drawing of my room and furniture and design it.  And unless it stops raining this week, I'm going to have a lot of time to think about how it could be cooler.