Progress?

    My husband and I have made enormous progress in the last two days with the boxes. It's a lot easier than it was in London. Here, everything fits.  

    We found places for all the furniture we brought down. And since we brought a couple of big chests, and a couple smaller ones, everything we're unpacking has a place to go too.

    Although we've had this house for 10 years now, it didn't have a lot of furniture in it because furnishing it was all part of the two-weeks-a-year vacation time from the States. With our boys. And often guests. 

    The more I tell you about this house, the more ridiculous the whole venture seems. (And my father didn't even approve?) 

    Anyway, thank god IKEA opened near here the year we finished it. I remember my editor in the States calling me into her office to give me the news. (She was an Italian afficionado and an online retail nut). I jumped for joy in her office.  

    Shopping can be a pain in the butt here (more about that later). Especially when you need absolutely everything, which we did then. And my husband, like many I suspect, literally despises shopping, which is not his idea of a vacation. Not that it's mine either.

    Anyhoo, that was then, and this is now. 

    It's going to look nice here when we're done. I can see that even amidst the boxes and wrapping paper.

    And it definitely makes me feel good to have my stuff around me again -- and create a nice home again.

    Yesterday, though, as my husband was stuffing wrapping paper into bags outside while I was unwrapping stuff inside, it hit me again that although this feels good, this isn't any total solution.   

    We don't have that many more days here together already, since my older son is coming next week on his graduation trip with friends and wants us to clear out. And then my husband has to go back to work in London.

    And then I'll be here alone. Which is fine. But I won't be making any progress in London, which is where he'll be, alone too.