This post is part of a new series – my journal as we start our adventure to establish Humblebee Farms in the heart of the Lost Pine forest in Paige, Texas.You can start with Day 1 here!

Moving is difficult. Moving halfway across the country is stupid difficult. Day 3 at Humblebee Farms and we realized some basic furnishings were in order. At the very least, a table and chairs to eat at and work, some lights and perhaps a few textiles. We brought with us as much necessities as we could – including dish rags, sheets and towels. But there was only so much we could haul on an airplane. We needed to go shopping. And I hate shopping.

The Furniture Conundrum

Then there’s the fact that we don’t need another dining room table. And we certainly don’t need more chairs. While we have ditched our sofa, sold off the bookcases and donated a large armoire, we still have not 1 – but 3 dining room tables. One we know we are selling. But the other two are antiques. We don’t want to get rid of either (though we are still wrestling with this – as the reality is we only need 1 table!).

So we needed a table and chairs, but a set that was cheap and could be repurposed later. We also needed to stock up on supplies – like toilet paper, batteries, kombucha and other necessities. Yes, kombucha is a necessity in my life. All of these “needs” pointed to an unsettling reality – we had to go to Costco and Ikea. This is where the duh duh DUH! music blasts in the background. Because to top off this already large crap cake, it was a Sunday. sigh. This was going to be shopping hell.

Shopping Hell

A few hours later and we were wandering the maze that is Ikea. Not a fan of veneer and “throw away” living, it had been years since I last stepped foot in one of the iconic Swedish stores. Yet when it comes to filling the need for quick, cheap furniture. This was the place to be.

I wasn’t quite sure what we would find. We wanted something that wasn’t expensive, but we didn’t want to purchase stuff just to throw it away in a couple of months. As I wandered the aisle’s I found some “maybe’s” and snapped pictures with my phone to keep track of the potentials. But as time passed by I was getting frustrated. We went through the living room, office and kitchen showrooms without finding any “solid” prospects. I was going to have to settle for a cheap, throw away table or a more expensive piece that I may or may not be able to use in the future. The chairs were even worse!

As I moved on, a bit crest-fallen, I wandered by some little alcove and spotted a small metal table tucked to the side with a matching set of chairs. It was more like patio furniture or a dining set you would find in a rustic bistro. I checked the price. Perfect! it was less than $100 for the table and chairs and it was something we could easily use as a little patio set in the future. As we worked our way to the kitchen market to find some dishes, Todd even spotted chair pads that would work perfectly with the dining set.

The Twilight Zone

A little later, we emerged from the store. The glaring sun blinded my eyes. I checked my phone and gasped – it had been 4 hours since we had stepped foot into the store. What is this? A time warp? Did we enter the twilight zone or something? No, just the shopping hell known as Ikea!

Next up was Costco. Luckily our list was short and pretty simple. But Costco is another one of those places where time just magically evaporates. Still tired from our Ikea extravaganza we moved through Costco with determined precision. Batteries? Check. TP? Check. Lights? Check. Rubber gloves? Wait, where’s the rubber gloves? After spending what seemed like eons we finally found them. Todd prefers rubber gloves for working on dirty jobs, like changing out the car battery, working on the lawnmower, etc. But for the first time we found a difference between Texas Costco and Washington State Costco – they only had size medium and large gloves. No smalls for me! Later we’d discover that “Large” in Texas was larger than Washington. I’m sure there’s a bad joke in there somewhere. But the point is, they didn’t work.

We finished Costco and moved through the rest of our list. We hit the Container Store to pick up clear bins to store our clothes. There was no way I was leaving my stuff on the closet shelves exposed to spiders and scorpions. Nope! Next we hit Wheatsville to stock up on food for the week. Conveniently the liqueur store was next door. So we picked up some organic vodka and tequila.

The sun started to sink as the clock passed up 7PM. I felt like I had been hit by a train. And yet, I still needed to drive us the 45 min trip home. Sigh.

No Place Like Home

We pulled into our gate and I let my shoulders relax a bit. We were back home and I was excited to sit down – now that we had chairs to actually sit on. I had survived shopping hell. I was also super excited to put the mattress topper we found at Ikea onto our Airbed. A good nights sleep was in sharp order!

As exhausted as I was, there was satisfaction in the fact that our cabin was starting to look like a home. While I had been harboring this vision in my head of what “home” would look like, this was the first time it felt like home. After cleaning up and having a night cap we called it a night and went to bed. The mattress pad was so worth it.