Okay, how�s this for freaky? This morning, trying to distract myself from some work I was supposed to be doing, I decided to count, for the first time, how many entries I�d made on this site. Answer: 99.

So welcome to the 100th entry! A landmark in number if not content.

As I have been restraining my internal interior decorator through a decade of renting and sharing houses, I have now given her a longer leash in preparation for moving into my own place. I haven�t let her off the leash, however, for a couple of very important reasons.

One, moving and other extraneous expenses on which a final figure cannot yet be put. Telephone connection fees, actual removalists, window locks, cleaning supplies, all that kind of stuff that is currently indeterminate. Plus the government fees on the purchase, and actually leaving a buffer of some cash in my account because there�s virtually no chance I�ll be saving anything for quite some time after I start paying the mortgage.

Two, I don�t want to rush into buying stuff that isn�t quite right. While I want everything to be perfect and pretty right after I move in, I have to learn to appreciate the benefits of some delayed gratification here. Spend some time in the place and actually see what I need, and what will work, rather than what I think will be cool right now. Learning that I can in fact cope with using my existing dining table for months, perhaps years to come, and be perfectly happy. Thankfully number one above is forcing me to slow down a little � otherwise I may already have gone out and bought half a dozen new pieces of furniture that may or may not be right just for the ease of leaving all the old stuff behind and having a pretty apartment right from day one.

Side note on Two: I am moving into a freshly painted, newly carpeted apartment with a new kitchen and a new bathroom. Shouldn�t this be enough? Yes, yes it should. I keep reminding myself.

Nonetheless, my pretty Freedom catalogue arrived last night and I have had fun planning and drooling and admiring beds that I really don�t need. Though it�s not all aimless dreaming. Dad and Mary are buying me a new couch as a house warming present, and I pretty much chose the style I want last night, although whether it�s two-and-a-half or three seats will depend in the exact measurements of the new living room, and as for colours and fabrics, I might end up taking years to decide.

Particularly given that while my current couch is perfectly serviceable as a couch, and pretty damn comfortable as a fold-out bed, it�s butt-ugly. There�s no other way to describe a chunky, clunky, green and white plaid couch. Not that I had much choice of fabric when I bought it � red and white plaid or green and white plaid. But it only cost a couple of hundred dollars, which was all I could afford at the time, and it�s served me pretty well for seven years. I just don�t ever want to have to look at it again. Or be embarrassed by my couch fabric. Which is why it�s going into the second bedroom/study in the new place for use as a spare bed. And will be hidden under some pleasant, neutral toned throws at all times.

And I will spend months choosing fabric for the new couch. Style easy, fabric hard. No impulse buying in this case.

The rest of the catalogue is also very pretty and I have a long list of things I quite like and could very easily live with. Despite of the fact that I don�t want, or have any plans to actually acquire, a perfect, matching Freedom (or anyone else) apartment. I want pretty perfect things that aren�t necessary new, or matching, or designed the hell out of. Which is why taking my time and actually looking around is important. I keep reminding myself. Again, and again.

Thankfully number one still applies and I already loaded up my credit card with a new computer, so I will have to keep my internal interior designer on a long leash dreaming, planning, listing and agonising about upholstery for several months to come.

And buying kitchen gadgets and other tiny things that don�t actually count as furniture.

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Good luck to the Boss today.