Why a migrating bird must feather its own nest

I was amused the other day to read a news story that said, "OK, folks, it's time we all got down to spending again. Get out those wallets and let go of some dollars!" (or yuan)

This would supposedly propel the economy into the fast lane once more.

I figured that was as good an excuse as ever to go to the Beijing Ikea again. You know, I really do need another rug and a coat rack would be nice (winter is coming, you know)

I suffer from a bad case of "nesting", in that wherever I live, I have to set up my home so that I am surrounded by comfort and beauty.

I see the minimalist flats where some of my expat friends live, and I can't imagine living in a place with no touches of color, nothing on the walls, and no color-coordinated bath towels.

Of course, they have reason and logic on their sides. Most of us expats will be here only for a year or two, and it makes no sense to fill up our apartments with things we will just have to give away when we leave. For the cost of shipping my new set of towels to the United States, I could buy new ones back home, three or four times over.

But my strong drive to nest won out over all the logical arguments against doing so, and off to Ikea I went. I fought the masses of people who stroll through the showroom part of the store, and caught some men actually sleeping in the display chairs.

My color scheme is red and green - the colors of Christmas.

There seems to be a lot of red in China, a color that means "good luck", as I understand it.

Everything I buy - and I do mean nearly everything - is in those colors. (I even bought red plastic house shoes, and I buy coat hangers in my signature green.)

The propensity for nesting can cause embarrassment.