Wall to Wall: January 2012

Bob went off to work for 5 days and I am holding down the fort this week with hopefully a successful week of getting the apartment in shape.

Monday was two furniture companies arriving. One was just a repair on a bed that was damaged during delivery. They showed early and were quick! Mambo was to be here between 8 and 11 to deliver a table and chairs. They arrived at 15 minutes to 11 and after being outside for 15 minutes the driver came in and told me they had the wrong furniture on the truck, but they would be back (in German). They did come back after a few hours and brought up 8 boxes - nothing was together and I could not imagine why the chairs were in pieces in boxes. After signing for everything I asked why they weren't putting them together as I thought I paid that fee. The fee was for delivery not set up.

Soooo... I spent the day becoming quite proficient with an allen wrench and managed to put 6 chairs together on my own. The table I could not attempt as it was a glass top and I could not even move the box an inch or two on the floor, but it had been the first successful day of a week full of delivery people. I went to bed feeling success.

Tuesday was a no delivery day, but friends stopped in as they were out in their car and had heard about the table delivery and thought they could help me put it together. Thank you Deb and Jon for stopping. We now have a table to sit at for meals! It was beginning to fell more like a home.

Wednesday was a bummer of a day. The internet company was to come and hook up the internet so we could possibly be connected having a strong connection and wireless. They were to come between 8 and 4. At 3:45 I called our English speaking connection that has set us up with cell phones, internet, etc. and told him no one has arrived. Back and forth we went, but in the end no one showed and now we need a new appointment which can not happen until January 30th. This has been an ongoing issue since we moved in November 7th. Most things do not happen quickly here! Oh well.

Thursday was the best day of the week - our shipment from the states arrived at 9am! Yeah - and best of all one of the delivery people spoke some English! They were in and out of here in no time. Unloaded the truck, counting boxes, emptied everything and took all the paper and boxes with them. The best part was because I did my shipment after living in the apartment for a month I knew exactly where each thing was going and by the end of the day this place was looking so much more like a home and feeling comfortable instantly. It topped the week off nicely!

So we are now settled and even hung some things on the walls! Still have some organizing to do, but what a difference a week makes! Bob came home on Friday to a much different apartment where we can sit and eat at a table, have a bed with a quilt that fits across two people (we were sharing a small quilt I bought here since we moved in), use the dishwasher now that we have more than two bowls, and just relax in comfort!

Life is good in Cologne!

Some photos if you are curious about our apartment. The guest room is not ready for a photo shoot yet!

KITCHEN