IKEA

The song for today has got to be "IKEA" by Jonathan Coulton!

Here's the story:

Today started out to be another sad day for me, still wallowing in the absence of my husband for another solid week, and having to deal with the start of Kindergarten all alone. (I think I'd be emotional about Kindergarten even if Hubby was home, it's just exponentially worse because he's gone.)

I did a little bit of back-to-school clothes shopping yesterday, and wasn't completely happy with what I found, so today I thought I'd head over to the outlet mall and check out what they had to offer. Everything I saw yesterday seemed to have been picked over for 6/6X/7, which are the sizes I need. My not yet 6-year-old child is a bit of a giant among her peers. She looks more like she should be starting 2nd grade than Kindergarten, but I digress. The outlet mall had some cute stuff in her size, and I totally scored. The prices weren't Wal-mart prices, but they weren't regular mall prices either, and they still had some good sales going. My big girl kept up with me pretty well, and my little girl rode the stroller and didn't fuss too much that I wouldn't let her out. (Why would I let her go uncontained?? What am I, CRAZY?!)

The outlet mall around here is right next to the IKEA, so on a whim, I thought we'd swing by there before we headed home. The line at Smalland should have tipped me off that this part of the outing was going to take much longer than I anticipated, but I couldn't change the plan on my big girl, so we stood there in line. About four families ahead of us, I recognized the back of a head I thought I knew. I looked around and saw a blonde girl with the lady, and sure enough, it was my friend, Buffy, from church and her daughter who is the same age as my big girl. I said hi, she said hi, we chit-chatted for a minute, then she checked her kid in and went back to where her mom was waiting for her, somewhere in the store.

By the time I got to the front of the line, I had already heard the lady behind the desk telling the woman in front of me that there was only room for one more kid in the play area. The woman in front of me had three kids. My kid couldn't go in until her kids went in, and her kids couldn't go in until there was room for all three of them. I was not happy. We were ushered to wait at the little area by the front doors where they have little tables and chairs and some grown-up chairs around a TV that was playing a sequel to one of the Disney classics that there shouldn't be a sequel for. It was only about 5 minutes before the three ahead of us got to go play. Only one more kid had to be picked up and then Big Girl could go in. That shouldn't take too long, right? We waited there for at least a half hour before they had room for my one.

And of course Little Girl cried that she couldn't go play, and I didn't pass up the opportunity to remind her that if she goes potty that she could play too. I didn't harp on it the whole time, since that wasn't the day's mission. I really only had one thing in mind that I wanted to buy, and a couple other things I wanted to look at. After that wait, you bet I was going to take my time and make it somewhat worth it!

Not long after I'd made my way into the part of the store where you actually shop (I always go in backward when I know what I'm looking for, rather than looking at all the display rooms), my friend I had seen earlier came up to me and asked me what I was driving, and if I'd be willing to help her get a big piece of furniture home to her house. I was in my mini-van, so it was no problem, and I really had no plans, so that was fine.

It took a little while to coordinate getting my car rearranged to fit the long box for the bed she bought for her daughter. My van has been the storage place for our pool gear, so I don't have to remember to go find the floaties, etc., every time we go to the pool. I also just stocked up on Coke Zeros at Wal-mart yesterday where I found 24-packs for $5. (That makes them only $.20 per can!) I hadn't unloaded the car yet so I had to move those around today too. The back seat of my van folds down into the floor, and the middle 2 seats come off, and I had to take one out, so my big girl rode with my friend, and her furniture rode with me and Little Girl, and my cheap Coke Zeros.

For some reason, the traffic going to my friends house was horrible. There was one stoplight we had to wait at for at least 15 minutes as the long line of cars slowly crawled toward the intersection. The extra time it took us to get over there allowed for the little girl with me to have a nice little nap.

When we got to my friend's house, we unloaded the furniture. I am very strange when it comes to projects. I LOVE projects. Give me something to do with my hands that can be done in a few hours, and I am a very happy girl. Furniture assembly is one of those things that makes me feel good. Painting a room is another. (Painting furniture used to be one of those things, but after this table is done, I don't want to deal with that again for a LONG time!!!) So I offered to help build the bed. Her husband is the guy who usually does that stuff in their house, and he's like me and thinks that it is part of the fun. So he and I spent the rest of the afternoon building this bed for Chloe.

I have built furniture with my husband before. Every time we finish, we have to repair our relationship. I have the kind of mind that sees how it goes together, and he has the mind that has to read the directions. IKEA directions don't even have words, so that makes it even harder for him. My friend and her husband have a long-standing policy of not building furniture together, probably for many of the same reasons as my husband and me. It's really not good for the relationship. But building furniture with someone else's husband was a completely different story. It was harmonious from start to finish, and very enjoyable. I was very aware that he was sharing the furniture assembly fun with me, and maybe that was the difference. When it's your furniture, and you HAVE to put it together it's not as fun. I know that when I suggested we do something a certain way, my husband would have questioned my thinking, and we'd have to duke it out, whereas in this case, it wasn't like that. I guess not having any relationship going into a task like that, there's nothing on the line, and so there's no arguing. Or maybe my friend's husband has the same kind of brain as me and can see how it goes together, so we're not fighting about the directions so much. Whatever. It was fun. I'd do it again. Buffy, if I run into you at IKEA again, I'll drive your stuff home and put it together with Chris anytime! Especially when I'm depressed about my husband being out of town, and I don't have anything else going on!

I know that God worked it out so that I would have something to do, that the kids wouldn't be bored sitting at home all day, and that I'd have people around me to talk to who care about me. And I also got the added bonus of feeling good at the end of a project! And the sun was out today too. It was a good day!

And so now you see why the song for today HAS to be "IKEA" by Jonathan Coulton!