It's been 5 weeks since both our air & sea shipments departed our house in Texas. I KNOW our air shipment has been here in Abu Dhabi for two full weeks. I have no idea where our sea shipment is....
I like to think our sea container is sipping a fruity drink in the shade of an umbrella on the deck of some oceanliner already on it's way, but who knows? It could still be standing in the "cattle-line" at the departing port, bags in hand, crumpled boarding papers at the ready...
Sigh.
What I DO know is that we can't continue to live in this state of limbo. I spoke with a man from Australia yesterday who told me that his sea shipment took 3 months. 3 MONTHS??!! Another man overheard us & said his took 4... Oh dear....
Ok... It's time to pull my head out of the sand. The reality is that we are going to be living in this apartment for a substantial amount of time before our regular furniture arrives. It's time to pick up a few things from IKEA.
The kids & I are already no stranger to the store. We have, in fact, our favorite parking space. The lady at the cafe knows us by sight & has our 1 AED ice creams at the ready.
This trip, we picked up a tiny couch, a comfy chair, a bathroom caddy, 2 side tables, & a TV stand. Of course, it's all flat pack.
Let's face it, IKEA flat pack is just Legos for adults. I mean seriously, I loved Legos as a child. Who didn't?! There's the excitement of opening the package, checking out all the parts, the anticipation of the finished product....
I am a read-all-the-instructions-first, check-for-all-the-parts-before-beginning kind of girl. I want it all organized before I start... & I clean up as I go along. My husband, on the other hand, must have been one of those kids who totally ignored the included piece-by-piece pictorial instructions & just plunged in using the front of the box as a general guide.... open plastic baggies & scattered pieces everywhere.
I bet he ended up with lopsided, structurally unsound final products too. MY Lego creations were solid, precision-built pieces of art!
I wonder if there is a correlation between Lego building styles and future career choices? ... I ended up training as a classical physicist & my husband went the route of computer engineer. Hmmmm....
But back to my IKEA purchases...
Obviously, since my hubby & I have such different approaches to assembly, it's often better for only one or the other of us to work on any given item. Plus, I'm kind of girl-on-a-mission these days; he was happy to let me have a go all by myself.
So, last night I put together the chair & couch. I did have to have some help holding the sides... & I will admit to putting at least one part on upside down before I quickly discovered my error. But, all in all? Easy peasy!
This morning, I set my sights on the 2 side tables & the bathroom caddy. So, I made myself a cup of tea, popped open the first box, & set about sorting/organizing myself. In no time at all, I had it all done.
Another successful building project to proudly display! It's just so satisfying.
I think I'll take a break before tackling the very big TV stand, though. I'm gonna need to clear out some work space.
Yup, Legos for adults....
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