Unpacking

Howie and I (Howie really) have unpacked a lot of boxes this weekend. We've also put together a lot of new furniture from IKEA. Yes, cheap IKEA furniture all over our living room. Thank God for IKEA! We put together a TV bench, shelving unit, drawer unit, and desk. We bought the ALVE shelving unit because it comes in the Antique finish like our MARKOR TV bench and cabinet. Yes, MARKOR had a shelving unit that would go with the rest of our set to create an Entertainment Center but it was too wide for the space it's going in. So we bought the ALVE shelving unit because it was thinner. After putting the shelves together we realized that they are much taller than the MARKOR cabinet and even though it was thinner than the MARKOR shelving unit that we didn't buy it still covers the window frame. I guess that's better than having the MARKOR unit covering part of the actual window, but it still kind of bothers me.

While Howie and I were unpacking boxes we found a box marked "Living Room - Wood Bots". We were both confused. Howie was thinking "Gobots?" and I was thinking "Why would robots be made out of wood? Why would we buy something as lame as a collection of wooden robots? Why don't I ever remember seeing them in our home?" Howie opened the box and inside we find Howie's entire fleet of WOODEN BOATS! One of the sweet women that packed up our things before the move misspelled the word boat. Poor thing, that's what too many hours of packing can do to your brain.

Our dining room used to be completely filled with boxes. The fact that we can now see outside our sliding glass door is amazing! We found that we have way too many pictures, books, and DVDs. All the picture boxes have gone upstairs for now. Until we are completely unpacked I don't think I can even imagine where the pictures are going to be hung. We are still opening boxes of books and DVDs. PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! Howie wanted to go buy more shelves that we'd put God knows where but I told him that I just want to be like everyone else with a perfect, clean, minimalist type home. I doubt we'll ever actually achieve that. We also need to make sure that there will be room for a Pack 'n Play and crawling room for the baby. If by some miracle we have any excess space we might get a sideboard so that we can actually store our china. Right now our china is sitting in the baby's room. It's very likely that our precious, delicate plates will be the baby's first toys.

My desk is pretty much set up and ready for me to begin working from home tomorrow. I still have another stash of work related items upstairs that need to go into my new desk, but there just isn't enough room. I barely had room for all my fun choking hazards. It's much more important to display my matryoshka (nesting dolls) from Georgia (the country), Mardi Gras cats from New Orleans, mini zen garden where my coqui frogs from Puerto Rico spend their days relaxing in the sand, my zebra bowl from Tanzania, fertility dolls (that so don't work) from Zimbabwe, wooden fish from I don't remember where, and my crazy wooden cat from Key West. Some I bought on my own, some were gifts, all of them are more important than a tape dispenser and other office supplies. The zebra bowl has form and function, it holds my binder and butterfly clips.

The Big E (huge New England fair type thing) was awesome. Howie and I went with my sister and brother-in-law. I ate everything, well, almost everything. I had 2 large cups of fresh lemonade, fried dough, chocolate covered banana (which I dropped all over my white tank top), apple crisp, apple cider, apple cider doughnut, loaded baked potato, some soda, pizza, some more soda, and then Howie bought me a caramel apple to bring home. I didn't eat everything I hoped to eat. I missed out on the huge caveman-like turkey leg, milk & cookies, maple candy, hot dog, fudge, and cotton candy. Even though I didn't eat everything I did pretty damn well considering my digestive system has slowed down and I normally become insanely full after eating an orange. Howie and I bought a few other items while we were at the Big E. We bought a stained glass Star of David to hang in our window so that the neighborhood is aware that a couple of Jews have moved in, a drug rug (catnip blanket) for our cat, and a little cuddly blanket with a lamb head on it for the baby. This morning I was sitting at my desk about 3 feet away from the chair that my cat, Kirby, was sleeping on. I started to open the bag that contained the drug rug, Kirby immediately awoke. He jumped off the chair and started to sniff the bag in my hands. I took the drug rug out and threw it down on the floor in front of me. He was on that blanket almost before it hit the floor. He licked it, bit it, scratched it, and rolled on it. He's in love. After a few moments his eyes were glazed over and he was all tripped out. I think he's pretty pleased with the gift.

So, tomorrow is the big day! In about 12 hours Howie and I will hopefully know if we're having a boy or a girl! I can't wait. I keep going back and forth in my head, "it's a boy" "no it's a girl" "no way, Howie's always right, it's a boy". I won't have to wonder much longer.