Now where did I put that book??

By: Melanie

Remember me? Well, I'm back. We survived the moves - from Brooklyn to Toronto and from Toronto to Ottawa - and have been settling in to our new home for the last six weeks or so. We've done a pretty good job of getting unpacked and set up, which is much easier when moving from a small-ish 1 1/2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house with a basement than the other way around, but I'm starting to hit the wall. 

There is still furniture to be purchased, window coverings, photos to be enlarged, framed and hung, a clothesline to be installed, and a myriad of other things that crop up every day. And with a toddler running around infiltrating my every thought with her exuberant questioning and lists of demands, it is becoming more and more difficult to move forward. 

Every time I decide that's it, I'm driving to IKEA and I'm not leaving until everything I need is in my cart, I realize that I have no idea what I'm going for. I also realize that I'm not sure IKEA will do it for me this time. I've been relying on everyone's favourite Swedish Solution for years now, and although I still appreciate their anything-you-could-possibly-be-looking-for-under-one-roof-at-pretty-incomparable-prices (uh, except for bedskirts, it would seem), I'm just a little tired of the generic-ness of it all. I'm feeling the need for a little more personality. Which is another great reason to scour Kijiji, except that requires massive amounts of free, uninterrupted browsing time. Nonexistant in this household, unless I pick up insomnia as my newest hobby.

But, it must get done. I had a deadline of being completely unpacked by July 1st, which we essentially met. When I say essentially, I mean that boxes continue to trickle in from Toronto that we get to as they arrive, and there are boxes of books and things that cannot be unpacked until the furniture that will house them is purchased. But, other than that, we're unpacked.

Now I'm giving myself a new deadline. By September 1st, I want the house to be fully set up. Curtains, bookshelves, a proper guest room/home office - heck, even landscaping. Although I'm using that term loosely. That gives me 5 1/2 weeks, and if I can't do it by then...well...I won't even have to worry about that, will I? Now I'm off to hunt down that little green book and get back on track!