IKEA!!

Somehow I always end up at Ikea while pregnant.  I wonder if it’s as hard to walk around that store when I’m just carrying me?  I really do LOVE Ikea.  I could pretty much walk around there all day… for a few days in a row I think.  I love organizing things.  I love containers and bags and bedding and rugs and…  You get the idea.  We looked and looked and looked and looked.  It was so much fun!  My plan today was to head down this morning, shop, get what we needed, then have lunch out (a treat!) on the way home.  Weeellllllll… that didn’t exactly happen.  :)  First there was much construction on the way down there.  Ew.  We still managed to get there about 10:40.  The girls enjoyed riding around and looking at things.  I brought snacks and ice water for them.  Sadly I had to make several trips to the restroom, and they’re not super-conveniently located.  And there were a ton of people with the same plan as us today. :)  Anyway, so we were moving kind of slowly, and I had a few projects in mind to hunt for storage/ideas for, so I was studying things.  The girls enjoyed sliding down the slide at the entrance to the children’s Ikea.

We made it downstairs where you get to really collect all the goodies you’ve seen through the store when Joanna and I had to visit the ladies’ room again.  We met back up with Matt and Natalie and found this!

She was REALLY tired for that to happen.  (See her dress lifted up?  That was so she could reach her belly button while falling asleep.) 

That was sometime in the noon hour I think.  We were actually kind of ready to go – we’d found what we’d really come for (tell you in a minute), but I decided to shop a little more (wouldn’t you?) so Natalie could finish her nap.

She woke up as I was checking out some kitchen storage-y things, and I realized I was feeling a little faint, so we decided to hit the Ikea cafeteria for some lunch to rejuvenate us.  It was a bit after 1:00, I think.  Much too late for our lunch!

We all felt better after some grub and a chance to sit down (for us) and stretch our legs (for the girls).  Ikea has great big ol’ windows.  It’s fun to look even at a parking lot through a big ol’ window.

After lunch we picked up the rest of the things we discovered we needed while we were there :) before heading out.  We didn’t get home until about 4:30 or so!  Oh my!!

The major thing we went for were some cubbies in the Expedit series (LOVE me some cubbies!!)  We wanted something that could be a bench and storage in the pantry (now also the “mudroom”).  I also wanted to pick up some toy kitchen accessories for the girls.  But, shhhhh… we’re hoping to hold off' ‘till Christmas.  We got a set of pots/pans, a set of utensils, and a set of felt fruit.

We also ended up picking up some inexpensive frames to either use around here or for gifts.  I also saw (and had to have) a cute canopy/net thingie for either the girls’ bedroom or playroom.  The first one I saw was plain white and pretty, but then I saw one with some color (neutral!) on it that we liked better.  In fact, here it is:

I’ll take pictures once I get it up (and decide where I’m putting it!).

In my kitchen I have this blank wall (floor to ceiling) that has bugged me for a while.  It’s totally wasted space, but putting any kind of furniture (or even a trash can) on it blocks the freezer door and a cabinet.  However, I’ve thought about putting a couple of spice racks on there, I just haven’t found what I needed yet.  So we found a couple of rods in the kitchen section with hooks and buckets and a spice rack that I’m very eager to put up.  We’re totally beat tonight though.  Hopefully it will make my kitchen just a little more functional and make that wall bug me a little less.  :)

We did a ton of work (pretty much all tonight) in the pantry (/laundry room/mudroom) and I took a few pictures for you.  I didn’t take any “before” shots, so you’ll have to remember (if you’ve been here).

Since I’m now parking in the garage (yay!!!), this is our new “main entrance.”  I moved our shoe pockets over from the front entry, as well as the coat rack.  These shoe pockets have been splendid this summer!  The girls can go get their own shoes and put them away, all right by the door.

Looking left into the room you can see our new piece of furniture on the floor.  It’s at the perfect height to sit and put your shoes on.

The fridge and pantry shelves used to be where the bench is, so that was the major project this evening.

The fridge actually rolls forward and backward, thankfully, but the pantry had to be unloaded, moved, and reloaded.

I really needed to clean it out and reorganize it, so I’m glad I had to.

In the corner is just some storage of things that need to be gone through, reorganized, and probably relocated… another time.

Back behind here (to the right of the first picture of the shoe pockets) is where my recycling center is as well as the cloth diaper pail.  I didn’t take a picture because the recycling is overflowing and I didn’t want evidence!

Normally we can take recycling every two weeks with my current set up, but with cleaning out the garage and the pantry, it’s over-full after only one week.  Matt will be going tomorrow!

I wish I had some really cute pictures of the girls to leave you after you’ve listened to me ramble on, but I don’t.  :)  I do have a cute story though.  This is the first time we’ve been to Ikea in a couple of years so Joanna doesn’t really remember it, nor was she very comfortable with saying the name.  She’d kind of been referring to it as “the place we’re going today” until she finally settled on “Zacchaeus” while we were on the way down there.  Hee hee hee.

Alright, I’m off to watch an episode of Fringe and get a foot rub.  Night.