Rhetorical Questions

"Do you think money grows on trees?"
"If your friend jumped off the bridge, would you?"
"What do you think you're doing?"

These are questions that I heard as a child.

These are questions if you were SMART you did not attempt to snap back an answer to my Mother. Ever. Not if you liked your teeth in your mouth. Don't get me wrong my Mother only ever smacked me ONCE in my lifetime and it was when I called her a bitch. Certainly not one of my finer teen aged moments.

However, I've noticed that years later the questions have changed with the times because I would never say "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" and not because it sounds retro..but because in this day and age of Xtreme Sports and TV shows like Fear Factor; Kyle might answer "Cool!"

Anyway, as I'm beginning my "to do" or "to research" lists for the move this summer I come to a big ticket item; flooring.

My Mom has hardwood floors but they are in B-A-D shape. She's getting a quote for the other house but she's not expecting a reasonable quote. That means the house I'm moving into has few options.

• I can get a quote and pay a small fortune to get the hardwood floors redone. (which I'm not a fan of to begin with)
• I can call a local commercial carpet installer and get quotes.
• I can pay a small fortune for area rugs that I'm not fond of and don't cover the entire floor.

Or

• a friend of mine turned me onto carpet tiles.

She's an interior decorator and apparently uses these in playrooms, game rooms and such.

These are a totally new concept to me. I spent half the night last night online looking at different companies, seeing many duplicate designs and pricing it out. See the living room area that needs to be carpeted is 12x14 and Casey's room is 9 x 13. For 2 sets of tiles to cover these rooms with shipping is somewhere between $350-370.

1. Certainly cheaper than having carpet installed maybe not as nice as a "real" carpet.
2. More than likely cheaper than the refinishing quote.

Question is how WELL can you trust the colors from an internet site on your PC. What if what looks to me like a nice mixture of hot pink, purple and yellow is really more PLUM?

Good question.

When I mentioned to Jeff what I'd found his response..

"$350? Do you think I'm made of money?"

"Honey, you sounded JUST LIKE YOUR DAD JUST NOW. All I know is I'll bet that's way less than having the floors redone right now and it's a solution til we either can afford good carpeting or have the floors redone."

"I sounded like my Dad. Oh. Good.Grief. How did I arrive there so quickly? Well honey I'm sure you'll figure it all out without it costing us an arm and a leg."

"Honey..."

"Yeah?"

"You're doing it again....an arm and a leg? Do people say that any more?"

"Ouch. Ok, I'll stop."