September 30, 2002 - 9:25 a.m.

simon had the day off from work yesterday, so it was our designated day of doing nothing for anyone else. there was supposed to be a bbq at his mum and dad's house, but he nixed it in favor of getting things done around our house.

unfortunately, he was also very groggy, so he slept until after 2pm. i'm a sucker for a nap, so i fell asleep, too. after lazing about some more, we somehow got to 4 o'clock with nothing really done. finally, things started moving, and we unboxed a lot of the wedding presents. so many dishes!

i understand that we didn't set up a wedding registry, and i also understand that dishes are useful for newlyweds, but i don't understand why *so* many people bought us dishes, and so many different kinds. add this to the fact that i shipped all of my dishes from the u.s. in four gigantic boxes and you have... a lot of dishes. the gift givers didn't know this, of course, but what is a girl with a tiny house to do?

apparently, the trend in the u.s. is for the newlywed couple to take all of the stuff they don't like and return it to macy's or whatever department store they registered (provided said department store carries such an item) and get store credit. my brother and sister-in-law made $400-500 credit from just such a return spree. then you buy all the stuff you really want, no hard feelings. that's the idea anyway.

australia is different. only a handful of places have an easy returns policy, and they're not places that carry any of the stuff we received. essentially, we're stuck with everything. plus, isn't it bad karma to just return everything you don't like? it sounds awfully spoiled in theory.

simon said he's eaten at his parents' house many times before when he's asked about some dish set he'd never seen, to which they'd reply, "oh, it was a wedding present." the trend in the u.k. and possibly australia, i'm learning, is to keep everything you get and take it from house to house, changing dish sets like you'd change your outfit. his parents must have at least four or five complete dish sets. well, that's nice for them because they have a nice big house with nice big cupboards and antique thingies to store it in. we had to rework the entire kitchen yesterday just to fit everything in, but it's gonna be ok. nobody has to leave. everyone can stay. for now.

i shouldn't complain because most of the gifts we got were really thoughtful, and we honestly weren't expecting so many. that's why we didn't register. plus, compared to some of the bridal showers i've been to, the gifts could have been much further away from our actual taste. i still dread the thought of my cousin pulling a pink lace teddy out of its wrapping at her shower. sure, it was nice lingerie in its own right, but i don't think my cousin or i would have worn it in a million years. and good luck trying to return that.