One week down . . .

So we made it through the first full week of our new life. Kevin worked some pretty long hours, (although “the long hours will be next week” he told me) Sophie finished her first week of school, and Juby and I tried to keep unpacking. I swear, initially, our concern was finding a place for everything. Now my immediate concern is finding a place for the empty, broken-down boxes. THEY ARE TAKING OVER MY LIFE!! For the past week we have put them in the entry because it’s pretty big. But then we could barely open the front door. So Kevin rearranged them this weekend. Now, one entrance to our kitchen is completely blocked. Don’t laugh. It’s not funny. The entrance is 5 feet wide. That’s right. Five solid feet of broken-down boxes, crammed together and supporting another stack of broken-down boxes on top of that. One night it fell over. I don’t remember hearing anything because I am exhausted every night and sleep like a log. Thank goodness.

This nasty situation led to us going on an outing last Saturday. We realized two things: we will never fit in this kitchen because I have enough stuff for four healthy-sized families, and we need some organizational supplies. We visited IKEA in Round Rock, hitting the famous Round Rock Donuts on the way. Yes, if you have ever seen Man vs. Food, it’s the place he went to which is also home of the mighty “Texas Donut.” “Mighty” meaning it’s the equivalent of a dozen donuts, all in one beautiful package. There was a mighty line, too, but we escaped with our fresh donut, still hot from the fryer, and proceeded to eat it in the car. Delicious. They put a little orange in the glaze and it did NOT hurt my feelings.

IKEA was great, and we found a kitchen “island” which solved all our problems. Was this island available when we went to find it? No. Two week wait. But lunch was good! I had never eaten at IKEA before but my salad was tasty. Salad, you ask? Yeah. Affecting my decision to eat salad was my Texas donut of the morning . . .

After this excursion, we decided to rest for a bit. Not that the drive was long. 20-25 minutes, I think.

Shortly after this I noticed Juby was not feeling well. Burning up again and she had lost her appetite. Oh boy. We made it through one day and then she seemed remarkably better the next day, but a little tired still. So when we went to Crate and Barrel, I had to carry her most of the time. This is why I didn’t notice the person approaching us at first. “Hey, I remember you! Julia, right?” I turn around and there is Juby’s boyfriend from the plane! The younger guy. And he’s with his family. Two girls (ironic, right?) and his wife. We exchange pleasantries and it was truly awesome and random to run into him again. Even in her fatigue Juby seemed to perk up a bit when she saw him. Kevin was elsewhere at the time and couldn’t believe he missed the “plane guy.”

So the world felt a little bit smaller for one day, instead of vastly larger-than-life like our donut.

Until next time . . .