Settling In

It has been a while since I have updated. It's been a whirlwind past few weeks!  We made the final move from our temp housing to our new "digs", September 15th.  The cats still don't know if they are coming or going, but we hope they realize there will not be another car ride anytime soon!   We are all still in our adjustment period, but we know this will soon pass and we will finally, be settled.

I've never really been a fan of Ikea; actually, it hasn't been a store I ever thought about. Ikea is now our friend and slowly, becoming our enemy.  I love their concept of storage and have found some really great deals on some much needed storage pieces.  My Niece, shopped there a few times and told me how it all worked; write down what you want, go pick it out and check out. Simple, right?

So, off we go with our little blue and white inventory checklist and little pencil in hand, which they provide, to do our shopping.   We walked, and walked, and walked....it's a seemingly, never ending maze which seems to not make any sense at all.  When you see the little white dotted lines on the map, it all becomes clear, kind of like smeared mud on a window pane.

After 5 hours, yes, that's correct...5 hours and a full inventory list, we proceed down to the warehouse and check-out.  Out of the many items chosen to purchase, one was a chopping block with 4 drawers(pictures will be posted later of all our "wares").  A few items like that were "special", meaning a sales associate had to give us a print out to take to the checker and we didn't have to pull it from the warehouse.   Since we don't have a truck, we decided to get it delivered along with the other many other items on our list; then we proceeded to the delivery department.

We were thinking since they were in another area,  we just give them the little blue and white inventory list, they ring it up, we pay, they pull from the warehouse and deliver.  Yeah, that is SO NOT the way it works!  We had to go back, figure out where everything was; load it on these little carts; and take it all back to a cashier. By this time, they were now closed and did not want anyone going back in the warehouse area to get their items. We did manage to grab in a flash, with the help of an associate, the few meager items they did have in stock.  It reminded me of that game show, "Supermarket Sweep"!

We checked out, stood in line again for the delivery; paid for that SEPARATELY, then went home. Whew!  I'm tired all over again, just from typing that!

If you have never bought anything from Ikea, then you have no idea of the complex directions they have for the assembly.  There are no words; only pictures. If you don't arrange the pieces just like it shows in the booklet to get it ready to assemble, then you will find yourself staring intently at the "picture book" for a while.  I've found, when it gets to that point, just walk away, pour a glass of wine and kick back in a comfy chair.  Also, no matter how tightly you close your eyes and click your heels together, when you open your eyes you realize you are home and the items are still laying there, in pieces, all over the floor and not put together.  How much wine am I drinking?  Maybe not enough!

It will all get finished and soon, as we are having house guests in 2 weeks!!!

Off to pour a glass of wine and get in my comfy chair.  In the immortal words of Miss Scarlett O'Hara: "I won't think about this now, I'll think about it tomorrow".

We have our "stuff"!

Hallway Entrance

Clearing customs for our household items was quick, easy and painless.  The only thing they really wanted to know was, if we had any guns, knives, pepper spray (which I think is illegal?), explosives, plants, any type of soil, fruits and food.  I told them what food we brought and well, you already saw on my FB post how that conversation went!

Kitchen/Hallway

To the right are some "before" pictures. I'll post the "after" pictures, next time!

The delivery went about as smooth as possible. The movers were very nice and professional.  They put together our new couch(which is much smaller than the one we left behind) and Bill's new computer desk - all for the price of a cheap lunch!  Then they unpacked and put things in the rooms they were supposed to go in, all while I plugged in each section of my Christmas Tree(yeah, I brought it!)to make sure it worked, which it did!  After I tested it all, the movers even re-packed it back in its storage bag - which is a major pain!

Kitchen

There was only one casualty, and that was a 16x20 picture frame and the glass shattered. The frame thankfully, was still intact!  I was/am very pleased with this moving company, as we had a horrible experience with another company from way back, when we moved home to Texas from San Francisco!  I would definitely recommend them to anyone!

Living Room

Now, the hard part begins; where to put all of this "stuff".  We were very careful in our decisions of what to bring, as we knew the apartments here are much smaller than our condo in Austin.  We only brought about 1/3 of our things and are struggling where to put it.  Even though we have a corner unit, the apartment is not square; it has many strange, odd, angles.  One word of advice; if you are going to rent a place here "sight unseen", the pictures on the website are not what you will get...unless of course, you are getting the penthouse apartment!  We did tour this property when we were here in June, but we really don't remember it being this small.  Another lesson learned!

One thing we know to be a very true statement is; Ikea will soon become our best friend.  I'm sure they will love us for life after all of the things we are going to have to buy there, to store our "stuff" here!

We are paying extra for a parking space in the garage, and let me tell you...it's a challenge to get the car in the space.  I'll blog about that next time!

Here is a video I took of the end of a 'Flash Mob' ballet performance we saw from our balcony.  The La Joute Fountain below our unit is a gathering point for things like this.

Stay tuned next week, for more adventures!