The elephant in the room

Have you ever made an unfortunate purchase? Like one that seemed really wonderful and fun when you bought it, and then you brought it home and thought, "What am I going to do with this now?" I joined a site called Joss & Main (www.jossandmain.com) a while ago. The site emails me daily with different sales, primarily on home goods. I usually just casually browse the sales and then delete the email, unless I am looking for something in particular (our living room rug was a Joss & Main purchase). I don't know what mood I was in when I clicked on the orange elephant and thought, "I must have this!" But I will tell you 2 things about the elephant; I thought it was smaller and much less bright orange. I thought it would be a small pop of color to add to our mostly blue and beige 1st floor. When I saw the shipping box, I knew I was in trouble. What could possibly ship in such a large container? I opened the box to reveal the large, bright orange elephant pictured below. My first thoughts were, "Oh no! I must hide this from J."

Along with Horton, I bought a few other more tasteful items, like these paper globes.

And this decorative ball and dancer.

I put the dancer in the guest bedroom, which already has a few dance-related objects. (I should really take down those Christmas lights).

 

And I put the decorative ball on my desk for now.

 Back to the elephant. I decided to tuck him away next to the dining room hutch. As soon as it gets warmer out, he will be spray painted either white or blue to go with our decor. Hopefully then, he will be more of an object of whimsey, as I had intended. J came home in a bad mood on Wednesday, so I didn't see him too much and I don't think he saw the elephant. But he sure did on Thursday. We were on the couch talking after work.

J: "Can I ask you something?"
Me: "Yea, sure. What's up?"
J: "Why is there a character from Dr. Suess in our dining room?"
Me: "....."
Me: "ummm..."
Me: "Here's the thing. I thought it would be smaller..."
J: "And not orange?"
Me: "Well, I thought there would be some orange, more of a reddish-orange."
J: "So, you actually spent money on that?"
Me: "It was on sale."
J: "Shocking!"
Me: "I'm going to paint it a new color, I promise."
J: "And whittle it down?"
Me: "Let's change subjects."

And that is why its name is Horton.