IKEA scores two for two

In the letdown department, that is. The pillows are not quite up to snuff; I had forgotten how crunchy and noisy feathers are as compared with all down. And they're now using cheaper hardware on those drawers, so even though the item name and number and even the drawers themselves are still the same, the new ones don't glide as smoothly and effortlessly as the ones I bought last year.

I didn't notice the new hardware until I had them all put together and installed and was sliding one in and out trying to figure out why it didn't automatically slide closed like the old one – and a little piece of white plastic fell into the drawer below. I looked at the slider on the old drawer to see where the plastic should go, and found that there was no plastic on that one. The whole assembly has changed. What used to be all metal with a long, enclosed slider is now only about half the amount of metal and a short section of ball bearings surrounded by plastic. But of course by the time I realized this it was too late to put them back in the package and return them ... and anyway, even if I could have done that, I still need the drawers – and these are the only kind that will fit. So I'll live with them, but I'll also be writing their customer service department to let them know I don't appreciate the change.

On the brighter side, they might not be as nice as the first ones, but they're adequate for what I needed, and now that I have them installed I have a place for the contents of three giant boxes of papers I've been collecting for the last couple of years. I spent most of the afternoon sorting, discarding and organizing everything in those boxes, and shredding anything with my name on it that I didn't want to keep.

I also trimmed the hedges, cut some roses for the house, made two delicious meals for myself, and took Tater for a long walk. All in all, a pretty productive day.