Last weekend went pretty smoothly, considering we went on a shopping spree at IKEA and then had to put together what we bought.
At IKEA we were able to find everything we needed, and even had time for meatballs and salmon. Once we loaded everything onto a cart, I visually estimated that we could fit it all in our car. The mattress was ingeniously rolled into a shrink-wrapped package not unlike a giant burrito. We were able to get all the goods into our car, and still drive home safely. We had expected to have to ship our items, but in the end we saved 6000 yen in shipping charges by doing it ourselves.
Saturday afternoon we put together the bed upstairs, and everything came together nicely. When we cut open the giant mattress burrito, the mattress sprang open with remarkable force, and we had a full sized mattress on our hands. Interesting technology!
Now our house still kind of smells of IKEA mattress, so hopefully that’ll dissipate in a few days. Kuniko has been busy on the internet buying sheets, blankets and pillows in just the right colors, so I think things will be ready to go by next weekend.
It wasn’t all hard work during the weekend, we also went drinking at a hole-in-the-wall local place called Anaba. A long time ago a friend introduced us, and now we visit maybe once every six months or so. The people are really nice, the decor is Showa era, and the food is traditional Japanese. The regulars are very talkative and Saturday was no different. We had planned to have a couple of drinks, a few snacks, and then go home, but the regulars started buying us drinks to keep us around. Very kind of them, but I was a little worried that we’d wake up on the floor at the rate things were going, so after one round of free drinks we made our escape. The regulars introduced themselves rather memorably as Komura-san, Kimura-san, Johnson, and Silk-ne–san. Thanks, guys!
Sunday was basically spent in recovery mode, and we put together some leftovers to make pizza. Kuniko is getting really good at making a delicious crust, so we ate well.
Maybe too well – from yesterday I had a little bit of a stomachache. It is continuing today despite a much healthier menu yesterday. Hopefully my tender tummy will get better soon and I’ll get back to eating regular food.
