Am Getting a Little Sick of the Minimalist Approach!!

Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!  The Relocation People told me today that due to the ash cloud from Chile hovering over Australia, my shipped boxes will be further delayed until next Monday, June 27!  Now I am a reasonable person and completely understand that there is nothing anyone can do about clouds of volcanic ash disrupting regularly scheduled flights, but I boxed my things up June 2nd, long before Mt. Puyehue erupted.  If things had happened on schedule, spewed rock particles would never have been an issue.  So now, not only do I have to wait for the cloud to drift away (and honestly I don’t know what the big deal is, skies look pretty clear in every direction here from the 71st floor!), but then I have to wait for everything to clear Customs, which could take anywhere from 5-14 days, according to the Relocation People.  I explored the possibilities of expediting shipping to going to the airport myself to collect my things in the manner of a true New Yorker who has heard the phrase “it can’t be done,” but everyone keeps insisting there is absolutely positively nothing I can do.

The problem is, in my apprehension about the trip, I packed as lightly as I could for everyone so as to not weigh myself down at the airports.  I have some very basic mix and match outfits and toys and products that were supposed to last two weeks.  The last of my American toiletry supplies are dwindling, and I’m starting to get nauseous at the sight of the outfits I have to put on every day.  I’d like to just go shopping, but a) the clothes in Sydney are not exactly cutting edge fashion, don’t seem that well made, and are wildly overpriced for what they are, and b) I don’t have a sitter yet and would sooner gouge my eyeballs out with claws made of hot iron than go shopping with 3- and 5 year olds.

Oh just to have a few of my creature comforts from home – drawstring pants to wear around the house, slippers, a coat without a month’s worth of dirt and spots on it, a bathrobe, my good frying pan, a purse that matches my outfit…

Sigh.

The purse is driving me crazy.  I don’t know how this could possibly have happened, but somehow I managed to forget to pack an everyday purse in my luggage!  I had grabbed a navy blue and white striped tote bag on my way out the door just to hold the extra stuff I couldn’t cram into my suitcases at the last minute, and this has become my one and only purse.  Needless to say it does not go with every outfit I have, and doesn’t really look that great with any outfit that I have.  I know it’s a trivial thing, but it’s bugging the hell out of me.

So while part of me is enjoying the freedom from clutter, the simple choices, and the forced creativity to stretch what we have, a bigger more demanding part of me JUST WANTS HER STUFF!!!!!!!