I don’t know which was less painful — packing or unpacking.

After feeling a sense of accomplishment for getting rid of excess stuff, we got to our new destination with a new dilemma — Downsized space.

Our new place is nice but pretty tiny compared to where we have lived in the past. So, the first half of our first month was spent cramming, er, maximizing space with what we have.

It would be nice if my husband or I were skilled with a hammer and nail. Since we’re not, our dreams of nicely organized shelves and hanging photos on the wall are dead — at least for now. We did purchase some of the equipment to keep the dream alive. Maybe someone who can do something with them will appear so that we can see the counters again and not have to stare at white walls for the duration of our stay here.

Another *highlight* of our first couple of weeks was indoor camping. The mattress we had had it. We probably should have gotten rid of it 10 years ago, but dumb logic said to keep it ’til “The Big Move.”

We eventually headed to the magical land of modern, low-price and frustrating as heck to assemble yourself furniture (aka Ikea). We got a sofa bed and I thought, “Hooray! No more ear to the ground (literally).” Well, I must say, it’s a tough call. Sleeping on a somewhat cushy rock or sleeping on the ground. Hmm… I think ground (clarification: ground padded with several layers of blankets) won.

So, we decided to suck it up and get a new mattress. In our 3 decades of life on Earth, neither my husband nor I had ever shopped for a mattress. Actually, when I laid on a mattress for the first time in 3 weeks, it felt odd. Is it normal to feel comfortable?

We were all excited because our mattress was going to be set up in our makeshift camping area in a couple of days after we bought it. When that glorious day finally arrived, we hit another snafu.

They delivered the wrong mattress.

Our mattress had little heart-shaped quilted patterns and some kind of cooling layer. This was one had neither of these things. However, upon my husband doing a little research, it appears that what got delivered to us cost a little more than what we had bought. A moment of “Let’s just keep it” sneaked into my head. But my mind quickly switched back to wanting the mattress we paid for.

Fortunately, our rightful mattress was delivered later that day. They even threw in a couple of pillows as a bonus. I was hoping for matching cooling pillows, but nah. We were given pillows that crunch with any movement. Ah well. We now have 8 pillows altogether. If that’s not cushy, then I don’t know what is.

Currently, we are awaiting the arrival of the bedframe. But it sure is nice to have a cushion between our backs and the floor.