"Stuff"

At work yesterday morning, I got a phone call from the logistics company handling the delivery of our furniture and household goods.  After an additional week's delay, the ship carrying all of our stuff finally docked at Le Havre.  Shortly after clearing customs, possibly on Tuesday, our empty-ish apartment will all of a sudden be full of furniture, boxes, games, kitchen utensils, and the like.

And, although I will be REALLY happy to sleep on a real bed, a small part of me is sort of sad that our stuff is arriving.  Sure, we eat dinner sitting on the hardwood floor (or on the air mattress).  We have been using a box of Pampers as a dinner table.  As I sit here in the living room of our sunny apartment (in the one chair we purchased so L would have somewhere to sit), the only other things in the room are dog crates, a stroller, our grocery cart, and a couple of the little one's toys.  It almost feels big, this 660 square foot space we now call home.  I try to imagine our stuff fitting in here and it gives me a minor panic attack.

I will be happy to see our stuff; because really, the vast majority of it is not junk.  We have fantastic cookware, knives, and place settings.  We have an awesome loveseat that I can only guess was originally from the 1970s, whose curvy back and armrests have been refinished in red suede.  We have a dreamy mattress set and lots of toys for the little man.  We got rid of a ton of stuff in anticipation of our move, and tried hard to only keep the stuff we really cared about... but now that it's been 3 months since I have seen any of it, I can barely remember what is in some of the boxes.

So here is my top ten list of things I will be very, very happy to see:
1.  My bike!!!  Time to work off the extra baguettes by bike commuting to work.  No more waiting for busses and trains!
2.  Knives. We bought 3 crappy Ikea knives for less than 3 euros.  Given their performance so far, we overpaid.
3.  Burr grinder and 4. Stovetop espresso maker. Instant coffee may be better in Europe than in the States, but it's still instant coffee.
5.  My winter coat!  'Nuff said.
6.  Our bed.  Again, after several months on an air mattress... 'nuff said.
7. 
8.
9.
10.

... I guess this proves my earlier point; I can't even come up with ten items right now.

What the hell is in all of those boxes???

Stay tuned Tuesday to find out...

-E