August 3 - IKEA On Foot

  I awoke early, thankfully for once, and it wasn't long after that I received a phone call from the Super AMart delivery guys saying they'd be here in half and hour!  Oh no!  I hadn't finished clearing the space in the lounge of debris, let alone vacuuming it ready for a new couch!  All the flotsam and jetsam has therefore wound up in the spare room to be tidied away or thrown out this weekend.

  It was done just in time for the arrival.  The new couch was carried into position, complete with two layers of &%$#ing plastic wrap to fill the bin I already forgot to put out yesterday, and the new mattress wedged into the doorway of my bedroom.  So of course it was time to break for breakfast.  Mr Smart had a coffee, though he's not a big fan of instant these days, and I had yoghurt, berries, fibre toppers and a small handful of slivered almonds for some extra crunch.  It was yummy!

  That out of the way we set to cutting off the wrapping.  Within the wrapping we found not only my lovely 3-seater with chaise raisin-coloured microfibre-covered couch, but also two mysterious cardboard boxes within it.  On opening I realised that there was a little assembly to do... it was the wooden feet of the couch.  The salesman somehow glossed over that little feature.  Still, it wasn't all bad, I got to play with my drill.  No wait!  It was that bad and Mr Smart and I both got sore hands from turning the damn screwdrivers so much, even after pre-drilling the holes!!  Eventually victory was ours!  And here it is:

The coffee table will be leaving as it's too big but I thought the roses deserved another shot!

  The funniest thing was, on doing the obligatory sit and sprawl tests, we realised that when fully extended, Mr Smart still needs an ottoman at the end of the chaise!  Next we moved the new mattress out of the doorway and removed my old mattress to the nature strip in front of my house.  It is hard rubbish collection next week!  By the time the new mattress was on the bed and the bed made we were both just about ready to go back to sleep!  All that happened by 11:00am!

  But alas, sleep was not on the agenda today.  Mr Smart had things to attend to so he set off home.  I just had time to have a quick shower (well quick-ish, well quick for me anyway) and get dressed before Captain Cupcake arrived.  Today was her day off work too so it was off to IKEA for lunch and a walk about.

  My house is only about 1km from the IKEA store and it was looking a beautiful blue-sky sun-shiny day so we walked.  I had the good sense to take a backpack as I didn't think carrying bags home with sore hands would be very fun.  We got there in good time and headed to the IKEA Restaurant first for lunch.

  The standard choice for lunch or dinner at IKEA has to be köttbullar med grӓddsås och sylt lingon samt potatismos (Captain Cupcake you may correct my terrible Svensk grammatik if you so wish).  For those non-Swedish speakers, meatballs with cream sauce and lingonberry jam with mashed potatoes, in case you hadn't guessed.  However, since last night was a bit of a blow out, I decided to go to the other Scandinavian mainstay, fish!

  I had a small bread roll and butter, marinated cured salmon with root vegetable salad, water, a garden side salad (no dressing) and a small and slightly too sweet rhuburb crumble tart.  Four weeks ago I would not have said too sweet but these days, fruit seems to be more my speed.

  Thus nourished we set off around the maze of display rooms.  I was chiefly interested in investigating new coffee tables.  The Lack side-table is a steal at $9.99 but alas, once I checked at home, it is too short to go over one of my new ottomans, but only by a frustrating 2cm!!  I think it would fit entirely inside a Hol side-table but they are ten times the price!  At that sort of price I will end up making my own coffee table!

  I did end up with a few small purchases; two Malin Löv cushions, one Rationell Variera white box for putting veggies in the crisper drawer in to and one packet of Knӓckebröd Flerkorn (which is a multigrain crispbread but doesn't it sound awful!).

  Of course by the time we left, our beautiful sunshine was gone and it was raining.  Typical Melbourne really.  We got a little damp but it cleared up half-way home.  I did have to stop on the way home though to take this picture in the front of someone's garden.  There was a sea of this plant completely bejeweled in freshly fallen rain!  It was an amazing sight.

  Once home Captain Cupcake and I watched the first TV watched from my new couch!  We watched an episode of some crime show which showed how forensic anthropology was used to catch "The Killer Clown" John Wayne Gacy and identify his victims remains then we watched some John Pinette stand up comedy called I'm Starvin'.  While we watched TV we vegged out and snacked on some Arnott's Vita-Weat Multigrain Rice Crackers with some Black Swan Sautéed Spinach with Almonds and Roasted Garlic Dip!  For a snack that's a lot of words and probably more calories than I care to admit but at least I waited until I had someone to share it with.

  What I probably should not have done today, is respond to Captain Cupcakes "It's a shame I missed out on Indian, I'm just getting into it" with "Well it's just up the road, we could go for dinner tonight."  I enjoyed it, and I tried to make healthier choices like a vegetarian Daal Makhani and wholemeal roti instead of fluffy butter naan, but at the end of the day, two big meals in two nights has me feeling pretty bloated and blah right now.

  My only respite from the blah and regret for pigging out a second night in a row has been playing with Bertie on facebook.  We have just finished posting, alternating with one another verse by verse, The Mock Turtle's Song or Lobster Quadrille by Lewis Carroll on her best friend's facebook wall.  We are currently halfway through The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Anonymous.  I hope her best friend laughs as hard as I have.

  My plan for the weekend is to devote my time to cleaning, putting out hard rubbish for collection, exercise and getting my eating back to basics! And hopefully see Mr Smart again too!  Have a great weekend all!

  Jess