This weekend Mr GiW and I assembled IKEA flat packs. I know, the excitement! I say ‘we’, but he did most of the work. I handed him things occasionally. He was heroic, managing to assemble the furniture quickly, then helping me move my existing furniture about and re-distribute my books and yarn. I couldn’t have done it without him.

As I am a librarian, you might think that I would have a perfectly organised home. Nope.  Since I’ve been ill this year it has got worse and the flat is a mess. I’m determined to restore order to chaos. If I’m living in a mess, my mind feels cluttered and it oppresses me.

I bought two Billy bookcases (to replace my existing bookcases) plus an 8 cube and a 4 cube Expedit (and baskets) for yarn storage. Yes, my yarn stash is that bad. Pre-Expedit, it was threatening to take over the living room. I don’t have the luxury of a proper craft room; my living room is also my knitting/crocheting/sewing room.

There’s more yarn behind the sofa, too. I know, I know. I was brave enough to tackle the clutter behind the sofa last night. It was so bad, I was expecting to find Stig of the Dump behind there (I suspect that will mean something to those of a certain age only).

Mr GiW took me for my first visit to IKEA a few weeks ago. I’ve never been because until recently there wasn’t one on the south coast. Anyway, I’d been warned about how big IKEA stores are, but I hadn’t anticipated just how enormous IKEA is and how tiring it is to walk around. I spent far too much (more than I expected) but I got some lovely things. In case you were wondering, yes I did buy some obligatory IKEA tea lights, but I needed them!

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