Tag Archives: house

Ikea happened to us.

The last Wednesday in August, we went to Ikea. “We” included me and my husband, my mom, and my mother-in-law Sara.

In preparation for the trip, my husband and I made an exhaustive list of everything we were looking for (measurements included). But no amount of preparation can really ready the soul for a day of shopping in this massive store.

We were there for (wait for it . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .)

. . . 10 1/2 hours. From about 40 minutes after the store opened until right after the store closed. We ate there no less than 3 times–lunch (Swedish meatballs!), a revitalizing coffee/cupcake snack, and dinner (mozzarella panini!).

To explain why we were there so friggin’ long, you must know that a lot was going on–we were shopping for a bedroom set, a crib, shoe benches for our entry area, shelving, bins, a CD/DVD storage shelf, and about a million other things which required a lot of deliberation. My mom was also looking around for benches and chairs for her new house, and Sara was window-shopping for couches and livingroom furniture for her new house.

To add to that, there was a snafu in which two Ikea reps (on two different floors, involving two different computer searches) told us at the end of our time there while we were placing our order for delivery service (well, what we thought was the end of our time there) that the dresser we wanted was sold out. So we reconfigured our bedroom furniture plan and switched out the dresser to another slightly less desirable one, only to discover after checking out that there were piles and piles of the exact piece we wanted in the middle of the warehouse area floor. Which involved trips through Customer Service and Returns to get back to our original order.

All in all, it’s very hard to nail an adjective to the experience. Was it fun? No, not “fun” per se . . . but was it hellish? No, not hellish or even especially miserable . . . It was just kind of stunning. Not stunning as in beautiful, but stunning as in getting stunned.

It’s something akin to that blank sense of surprise when something hits you hard, and though you can’t feel the effects yet, you know they’re coming in about 2 seconds. You’re in a strange limbo that can only be described as The Void Before the Pain.

I love Ikea because I love all the things we got (and the prices at which we got them!). But do I love shopping at Ikea?

We’ll just say that I survived it.

And that I need at least 3 years before I’ll be ready for another such trip.

And that if and when that next trip ever happens, I need my mom.

John has flown the coop

You all may remember that my brother-in-law John spent the summer living with us. Well, as of Sunday August 19th, he’s gone.

A few things you should know about John:

-He is a lover of radios. During his stay, they peppered the house with their unwieldy antennas. And seemingly, the older, uglier and more “authentic” John deemed the radio, the more he loved it, regardless of the clarity of reception.

-One of John’s goals for the summer was to learn to like tea. Mission: accomplished.

-He’s all about newspapers, and by the end of his time in Chicago he had a neighborhood guy (known to us as “ATM guy”) setting aside the Sunday Tribune for him.

-People give him free coffee. I’d heard stories about how this always happened to him (I think John even stated once “I never pay for coffee”), but I had a chance to witness it firsthand while he was with us. He ordered a coffee at a restaurant, the server brought it out and said, “this one’s on me.” For no apparent reason.

He must be exuding that “I’m just a college dude with no spare change . . . but I’m pretty cool, and you can participate in my coolness by caffeinating me” vibe.

-John does dishes. I would dump my coffee mug and breakfast plate in the sink before leaving for work, and magically, it would be washed, dried and put away by the time I got home. Thanks, John.

-Frozen chicken fingers. I shudder . . . but I bit the bullet and bought them. All for you, John.

Anyway, not to get all mushy here or anything, but it was such a blessing to have John stay with us. To get to know him as an adult (he was 10 when I started dating my husband, hee hee), and to witness the friendship between him and my husband grow and deepen. With their shared interest in academia and all the non-fiction reading that involves, they had discussions galore about all kinds of interesting things while I looked on from the couch and the comfort of a good novel, grinning inside.

Goodbye John!

It was great having you. Have a fabulous senior year of college, and we will see you at Thanksgiving, when you can meet your niece and change a diaper. Or something.