Finding our feet

I've spent the week trying to get organised, and at this stage (Friday night, in the house 6 1/2 days), I'd give myself a 4 out of 10:

• Canadian mobile number: DONE (well, sort of, need a bank account and credit history to sign up to a plan, so it's pre paid for now)
• car (not yet)
• drivers licence: FAIL (need more paperwork from VicRoads)
• bank account: DONE (yes, really done)
• trip to Ikea: PASS (a bare one though, after buying the wrong items and having to return them, then buying the right ones)

PLUS

• visited the War museum
• checked out Byward market, which is the main produce market
• caught up with Rachel, for those in Kensington who'd remember her.

I've also managed to buy 2 beds for the kids, 1 second hand dining table and 6 chairs, and some bookshelves (all second hand).  Have scrounged found a small bookshelf and small table, as well as a chest of drawers in very good nick, even if the paint job was a little questionable.  Unfortunately I also failed on that one, as it was gone by the time we went back to pick it up.  The cheek!

The mattresses were new (Ikea) - the papers have been full of articles about bed bugs.  Am I being neurotic? Are Ikea mattresses ok?

We've had the loan of a car for 2 weeks, so we need to make the most of it and get around  to buy bigger items. A street directory has helped too - I didn't have one for most of the week so it was a bit of a challenge just reading from a tourist map. 

Maybe I should award myself another point for successfully trying a Beaver Tail, an Ottawa favourite (and according to Wikipedia, otherwise known in North America as fry dough, elephant ears, whales tails, tiger ears, pizza frita and frying saucers).  I only had a bite, and it was good - like a doughnut but without the doughiness. The kids really enjoyed it and have been asking for more:

Perhaps next post will be less domestically focused!

A