Gearing up
Ed’s parents are coming from England in about a week and a half. My parents will be here at the same time and my Aunt Maureen will join us as well. Which leaves us rather short of beds. We’ve also been short of bookshelves to the tune of six large boxes full of books lurking with increasing menace. I had been hoping and planning to use other people’s trash to fill some of our furniture needs but there have been two problems with that — one, unlike Philly, people don’t throw out good stuff around here because the garbage trucks won’t pick up big stuff and two, time is marching on and we can’t ask Ed’s parents to sleep on the floor. So yesterday, we took a little trip to the Swedish Mecca of Flatpack.
All right, it wasn’t a little trip. It turned out to be a whole day long lollapalooza, with a mission to Trader Joes thrown in. And we returned with bookcases (2); beds (2); mattresses (2); tiny doodads that will miraculously make our house and stuff so insanely tidy and groovy that nothing will ever get messy again (10,000,000).
That’s what I love and loathe about IKEA. You go for bookcases and suddenly you’re holding a mug, three magnetic dog tails, an umbrella stand, two plastic boxes with wheels and matching lids, a small lamp shaped like a mushroom, four picture frames, an embroidered pillow, a plant, something made out of wicker and a silver something you’re holding because you don’t know what it is or what it does but it’s so shiiiiiiny.
Some of that stuff has turned out, over the years, to be the most useful stuff in our panoply of stuff. Like the snowflake-esque card holder which we use to display any pretty cards that people send us, photographs, to-do lists, inspirational quotes, invitations and bills. Or the long baskets which we’ve had for ten years which have held (in turn — not at the same time) groceries, magazines, toilet paper, hats and gloves and bicycle helmets). And I love the feeling when you return from IKEA that NOW that pile of magazines has its own happy home and they will live in it stylishly, subtly, instead of slippery sliding all over the floor. I know it’s an illusion of order, but it’s an illusion I embrace. I want that moment of glorious tidiness. I love that moment.
I need a lot of those moments as I prepare for the invasion of the in laws. In the many years since we first met and they loathed me, things have eased up a great deal, but these visits are never easy. Ed’s mum will find fault with things, because that’s what she does. And there will be proper meals to prepare all the time. A house to keep tidy. Children to keep orderly. Visitors to entertain with visits to local attractions that I don’t know what they are yet.
And Thanksgiving dinner to cook. For the first time since 1998. Hoo boy. I might need another trip to IKEA before then for more magic organizing chatchka. I need all the help I can get.
Ooh, I’ve been forgetting to link you to last year. Damn. All right. This time last year I was reveling in how close NYC was to Philadelphia. Now I’m going back to fix the other posts.
I am the pro at Thanksgiving Dinner. If you want more explanation, let me know, and maybe I’ll turn it into a blog post. The key is to plan your menu now and try your recipes now. Be organized.
I hosted plenty of good ol’ country Thanksgivings in Central PA when I lived there. Sometimes the weather cooperated, in which case trips to the local orchards for apples or cider or whatever are great — maybe a hayride. Sometimes it was downright cold, in which case a stock of boardgames and a working TV were key. Phone The Zone, babe. I can help.
Oh God… in-laws. One of the reasons I got divorced!!
Not that I’m saying that you should go down that path. I’m just saying… that’s all!
I know I shouldnt say it, so I will just whisper…. but I am sooo glad I no longer have a MIL.
The FIL was ok, but the MIL. I dont know how our marriage lasted, really.
Good luck.
I think it’s called Ikea Voodoo. You go in for one thing, and come out the other side clutching 73.
Good luck with the family invasion. What is it with ILs and proper meals? Mine have to have them too, while my own mother is happy with toast. I don’t get it.
Just make sure you lay in a proper supply of red wine. And maybe cook a soup or sauce or two and stick it in the freezer for the nights when you can’t face putting together a proper dinner.
bless your heart for cooking a thanksgiving dinner for so many people. you are a brave and creative woman, and you like nigella. you’ll be fine.
yowzers that’s a lot of folks! May the force be with you.
Ah, the outlaws…
Do what you must to maintain sanity.