Starting to get attached.

Well it seems that I'm starting to get attached to the whole house thing, now that it is starting to take shape as a home, I'm really starting to lose the abject sense of disappointment and the mild depression that came with the purchase of the new home.

The day started with a trip to the Sunshine Café once more. And continued where we left off with yesterday's activities.

Around 11AM we had the delivery of stuff ordered on Friday from Ikea, all 30 boxes of it. (I am going to live in an Ikea show room if I am not careful! I'm going to have to go to Habitat, Heals, and John Lewis to buy some other stuff to mitigate the effect.)

We have finished off the master bedroom and all but the stenciling and gloss work of Angel's room. Dave and I had a good go at putting in the new shower enclosure, we managed to re-tile the tiles that came off the wall when I removed the original enclosure last Wednesday, and we securely put up the new rails that will support the new panels. Once the glue/sealant has dried tomorrow, hopefully I'll find time to put the rest of the structure together in the evening.

One of the most fruitless parts of the day today was taken up with yet another trip to Ikea! I tried to phone up and arrange for delivery of the kitchen unit that I bought yesterday, but apparently that was a no-go, I had to return to the store to arrange delivery! So I made my way there, turned up at the counter with my receipt and the printed order for I was given yesterday.

Then, I waited...

Then, I waited some more...

Then, the guy asked me for my documents, he needed to copy them, as they had no record of my purchase! Oh yeah, I'm feeling good about this level of professionalism, are you? Seems that all record of my purchase has been lost! Scary huh?!

After another wait, the bloke finally came back, and told me that the item I had bought was not in stock. I had two options, either get my money back, or wait for it to come back into stock and they would contact me... I went for the option to wait until they could tell me when they would have one and they could deliver it (at their expense!) as I really don't want to go back to Ikea in a hurry (or ever again if possible).

I bought a shit load of various sweet and sugary things from the Ikea Swedish Food Market* in the store and bounced.

This time I had a pound coin on me, so getting the hell out of the car park was not a problem.

I did feel quite guilty though, Dermot had pitched up just before I headed off to Ikea, and by the time I got back (three hours later, approximately two hours more than expected), Dermot had to head off to do some other stuff. So he got to turn up, do some shitty jobs and then I dropped him back to the Tube Station. The thing is that Dermot is not too cool around people he doesn't know too well, and the only person there who he knew, he had met a year earlier at my 33rd birthday bash or a couple of hours. I'll make it up to him. I'm thinking I may throw a dinner party when the decoration is finished and I have had some time to relax. I'll definitely invite all the people that came along to help out, as a thank you for their efforts.

Later in the afternoon, as he was assembling various flat-pack-finery, Dave manage to find a couple of items from Ikea that were broken, so at some point I'll have to drop by there a-fucking-gain, this is getting tiresome.

I treated everyone to some garlic bread/pizza and ice cream finery from Pizza Hut. That went down well, everyone had worked up a healthy hunger during the day.

At the end of the day, Dave headed off home, Jenny decided to stay an extra day until tomorrow (she doesn't have any lectures on her degree until Tuesday).

My day was mostly taken up with painting ceilings (being the tallest there, you tend to get that job you know) and constructing furniture with Dave. The super-king sized bed that will be living in the master bedroom is now completed. Yay, somewhere to lay down, or at least be comfortable at long last!

Tomorrow I'm back at work, I'm really looking forward to just a full day's work, with any luck, I'll not be physically exhausted at the end of it, and I'll be able to contribute to the ongoing home improvements in some way. I'd hate to think that Sandy and Jenny will have been working pretty much all day, only for me to be unable to keep the my end of the bargain up.

Nighty night, it's time for me to sleep the sleep of the dead. (An early night for a change!)

* The round tin of "Annas Pepparkokor in the picture, is like a mild ginger based crack, it is massively addictive, Ikea should be giving the first tin of that stuff away free, and drop out of the furniture business!