WORK!

Katie got the job at Sam's Club!

Yesterday was jam-packed with things-to-do. I can't even begin to detail all the things we did to get Katie settled in to her new place. I think I can only list them.

List

See new place (note that there is a PIANO there! WOOHOO!)
Unpack all her stuff
Go to IKEA to find a bed and a desk
Get frustrated at the complex maze setup of IKEA, a maze so difficult that the brightest lab rat would be tearing out his whiskers after the "Kitchen and Dining room" area
See strange beds, including a half-circle bed that Katie really wanted
Remind Katie that as a recent high school graduate and newly independent young woman, she is not yet entitled to new furniture
Leave IKEA without buying anything
Find another furniture store with the help of Uncle Art--without Art's help our furniture buying adventure would have lasted the whole day
Buy a futon for Katie to sleep on (she wanted a couch, I wanted her to have a bed, so we compromised on a futon)
Go across the street to Deseret Industries
Find a desk for $25
Convince Katie that she was going to like this desk (it was beat up but sturdy)
Remind her again that her lowly status does not entitle her to new furniture, especially when she isn't paying for it
Art promises to fix up the desk and paint it. Art REALLY loves this desk.
Eat lunch
Go to Sam's for interview
Wait for an hour during the interview
Take Katie to her drug screening
Wait for another hour
Wait
wait
wait
wait
Send Jim to pick up futon mattress that wasn't available at the furniture store we went to originally
wait
wait
wait
wait
FINALLY she gets to be screened
Wait for Jim at Seagull books
Buy Katie a cookbook entitled "101 Things to do with a Potato"
Go back to Katie's new house
Unpack futon mattress
Put things away
Jim starts on futon
Eat dinner with the Wrights
Go to Target to finish the purchasing of toiletries and laundry baskets and lamps and hangers for Katie
Unpack some more
Let Katie collapse tiredly into new futon with sheets on it and a bedspread
Go back to the Wrights (Karen wants me to say that her house is a house of immaculate order and pristine beauty. She also says I have to write "Wink Wink Nod Nod.")
Sleep the sleep of exhaustion and released stress.

No time for pictures yesterday (reading between the lines: Sara forgot her camera) but I promise I will take pictures today. I will post pictures when I get home.

BIG OL' HEAPING HELPING OF THANKS to Uncle Art who fixed up that desk. He matched the paint to Katie's favorite purple quilt. So Katie has a LAVENDAR desk! Jenni, are you jealous or what? And more thanks to Karen too for letting us bunk here. Thanks to Lisa for giving up her bed for two days and letting me watch "So I Married an Axe Murderer" while in her bed.

All is well. Really.

Comments

Jessie said…
oh man - that warms my heart - what memories! Going back and forth to the store ten times because you keep forgetting small necessities for the new life and location, figuring out little tricks to make the new situation easier, and being so overwhelmed with the huge transition! Best of luck to Katie with all of this - I know she will do great! I wish I had some clever trick or piece of advice to offer her for this, but I don't. Although I doubt Katie would need it - she's a natural! :)
Jerilyn said…
Tee hee, Potato cookbook!
Dennis said…
Not only is this a new adventure for Katie but also for you and Jim. Things will never be the same at home. In just a few years Jimmy will be gone from the nest and then Paul and so on until they are all gone and don't need you any longer because they now have their own lives and husbands or wives and children and then you get to view the whole thing again but from another perspective.
Jen said…
I'm so glad to hear that things are going well and as planned for Katie. She's lucky to have such awesome parents to be there to help get her settled.

This would have been a fun day for me. I love shopping for new furniture and stuff. Especially when it's used stuff that has potential that no one else can see. Definitely get some pics of that lavender desk.

Congrats to Katie for her new job!! I had a friend that worked there, and she said it was her most favorite job (even better than the job she got with her college degree). Sam's really treats their staff excellently and pays quite well.
Jenni said…
What fun and excitement. Yes, I would love a lavendar desk. And, you got to watch one of my very favorite movies!!
Jake and Steph said…
Katie, good luck with the potatoes! Jim & Sara, congratulations on yer voyage. Personally, I have vowed to never, ever, ever, go into IKEA again. I get the heebie jeebies from what seems to be a purposeful maze of disorganization. It's worse than then messes at marshall's that are caused by laziness of shoppers I've seen. I have to sit and wait outside or I get hives. Sorry, Steph, that's just how I am.
Anonymous said…
Your dad has such helpful, sad, but true sentiments. I am just glad that you got through it. It was so hard letting Jim go on his mission. It got easier with the others, even though they were loved also. We just learn to get past it, and look forward to them coming home. I love you guys...dad
Anonymous said…
mom...the phrase "FINALLY she gets to pee in a cup" is a little more than slightly embarrassing...you should consider taking that out...