and now, boston: setting up, etc., phase 2

It will sound ridiculous, but after spending nine (nine!) hours in Ikea on trip number one, we figured out what we needed/wanted to furnish our place, but we were not able to acquire it all in one go. So later that week we went back for more. On the second trip, we spent significantly less time - thank goodness - because the major decisions and calculations had already been made, and we were just getting things we'd run out of time to find in their warehouse and coming up with alternatives for items we'd chosen that were out of stock. We had a smaller vehicle with which to haul our loot (on the first trip we'd booked an SUV), but we made the most of the relatively littler car:

And then the real work began. Or continued, depending on how you look at it. Either way, there was much constructing taking place. This constructing was just in time, because our boxes started to arrive in the mail a few days sooner than expected. We needed to make places to put things away before we ran out of space! We'd mailed mostly books, using the special lower 'media mail' rate, but had also posted a few other things, like kitchen appliances, that couldn't easily go with us on the plane. Some boxes looked more or less okay.

Some, generally the media mail ones, looked significantly not okay. As far as we can tell though, the damage was cosmetic and largely confined to the boxes themselves, not their contents. Phew!

In the order of construction priorities, however, we took care of first things first. We put together a proper place to eat:

Then the desk, and basic bookshelf structure for the office:

Then we got started on more bookshelves for the bedroom (and eventually ended up with enough room to put all those books):

And we put together most of our dresser. There's a story here. I suppose given the large volume of things we got from Ikea it was statistically impossible that we would have no complications at all? The statistical inevitability came true in the form of our dresser. We'd made it halfway through putting the thing together before realizing that a critical front beam was simply absent from the included parts. Doh. So we called Ikea and they obligingly agreed to mail it, saving us the 40-minute trek back to their store. The dresser was put to one side as we waited. A week later, a beam arrived in the mail. Yay! We hurriedly unwrapped it and brought it to the put-aside dresser, only to find that it was several inches too short. They had mailed the wrong part. Boo! So we called again, and after profuse apology they agreed to send the part again. This time, we verified the item several times. And now, a week later, we continue to wait for the correct beam to arrive. Double boo.

Still, progress continues. The tv stand underwent aesthetic standardization:

We began rejuvenating the stools bought second-hand from the previous tenants:

And we created a legitimate place to sleep, including bed frame:

And bed:

Our sofa was delivered (some things we simply couldn't transport ourselves), but being from Ikea it also required assembly.

Happily, we've also found time to do things in the house that we like to do, like make delicious bread:

And in Joey's case, a scrrrrrumptious Indian meal from a newly acquired cookbook. We shared the tastiness with our friend Matt, who is in town for a conference and endured our chaos for a couple nights. He was at least rewarded for his patience with culinary delights. Here, lamb curry with vegetables, naan, and mushroom pilaf: