i hate ikea...

so today didn't go as planned...

i woke up early to get my 'charges' to the train station by 8:45. s has a colleague whose kids i entertained last night for 7 hours (which i enjoyed, but i am a scatterbrain right now dealing with everything that's going on, so i'm sure they think i'm loony), and they stayed at the temporary apartment we are not using but still have access to.

got them to the train station, and then headed off to complete first errand. IKEA. which i both love and hate dearly. i needed a clothes rack or two to get us through the next few months, hangers, and the two missing sofa cushions from saturday's purchase. a note on the clothes rack... german houses generally have no closets. evidently it's a tax thing - houses taxed by room, closets considered rooms. i don't know if that is fact, but that's what i have heard. so when i tell you that besides the smallish basement, kitchen cabinets and two small cabinets in our master bath, we have NO storage space, i'm not kidding. there is none. no linen closet, not a hall closet for coats, and certainly nothing in the bedrooms... anyway, i digress. i get to ikea, grab the hangers, locate the aisle number to pick up the racks, and of course they are out. i pay for the hangers, and go and get a number to wait for customer service to ask them for the cusions i was not given on saturday. when i pulled into IKEA, i had a sneaking suspicion that i was going to have a problem because this was not the original IKEA where the sofa was purchased, but s assured me that it would be no problem and they would be able to help me. sure enough, after a 20 minute wait, i was told that i would have to drive back to the mannheim IKEA (25 minutes or away) because that was where the original purchase was made. the rep confirmed that yes, had i purchased the sofa in berlin, i would have to drive to the berlin store. you see, i gave the mannheim store my money, and if they gave me something from the weinheim store, they would be in the the negative. ???? nice. so i drive to the other IKEA, get my clothes racks, and then get a number (okay, and a hot dog i'll admit, by this point i'm starving) to wait for my turn. i'm number 39, there are 28 people ahead of me, and there are two people working customer service. so i wait. about 45 minutes. thankfully i get my cusions with little hassle, but i spent 3 hours total running this "little" errand.

so then off to get paint and painting supplies at bauhaus. thankfully, during my 45 minute wait, i've had time to double check colors and make my detailed list. i arrive at the big bauhaus with easy parking, get my cart (thankfully i had a euro coin today), and head upstairs. find someone and tell them i need a LOT of paint, and she tells me that they can add the color, but they can't mix it because their machine is broken for the next few days. okay, so i get my painting supplies, and a few lights for the house (because in germany renters take their light fixtures when they go. hey, they often take everything AND the kitchen sink, so i'm not going to complain about this). i also pick up some white overalls for the painting, which i turned into cutoffs and am looking forward to sporting for the next few weeks until the walls in this place, as well as my overalls, are no longer white...

then off to get dog food, because we're out and i need somthing until tomorrow when the air shipment arrives. picked up a 10-pack of bull penises and some dried intestines for the girls (they are LOVING me tonight) and the food, and then head to a different bauhaus to get the paint. at this point i'm tired and i'm not going to wait for more than a few buckets, so i just go with the two main colors for now.

by the time i get home, i've been running around for 6 hours and i'm exhausted. i look longingly at the air mattress in the middle of the living room, but take the girls for a short walk. when i finally crawl into bed for a little nap, it's wet. peed-on-by-mara wet. she's always had this behavioral thing where she'll pee on the bed (and nowhere else in the house - really, she's good!) and i know better, but i forgot to stack something on top of it to keep her off. of course we have no other sheets, and i don't have a washer and a dryer until friday.

at this point i was about to lose it. i get the sheets and head off for the other apartment, where i know i'll be waiting three hours to do one load of laundry. thank goodness i decided to call my friend who lives down the street first and was able to use her washer and dryer. she was nice enough to switch the loads for me so i only made two trips and got clean sheets AND dinner.

i went for a walk on the neckar with the girls later on in the evening to remind myself why i LOVE this place, cause today it gave me an unexpected beating. painting begins tomorrow, and i've got the bedroom prepped and ready. obviously that has to be first so i can get the bed out of the living room. air shipment tomorrow includes, among other things, my accordion, big fluffy dog beds, extra linens, and my brand new city bike, complete with big basket and shopping bags attached to the rack on the back. i can't wait to go for a ride!!! the question is, do i change out of my paint stained overalls before i go?

gute nacht, heidelberg...