Sunday, March 16, 2008

And I said I wasn't a joiner

If you haven't already gotten an invitation e-mail from them, you might want to check out the Verve Earth site. It's a free service that puts bloggers on a map of the earth, so that you can find blogs geographically. It's neato mosquito!



I also joined Thirty-Something Bloggers (the badge is on my sidebar), because, well, why not? We'll show those Twenty-Something Bloggers who's boss, eh? Or something.

My Saturday was spent with Ken, prowling through Ikea in search of the perfect bedside table. I felt a bit guilty being inside a windowless big box store for so much of the sunniest, warmest day of almost-spring so far, but Ikea is like a black hole that just sucked us in and wouldn't release us for two whole hours.

(That's how real black holes work, right? They spit you back out in a couple of hours? OK, good, I just wanted to make sure I had my facts straight.)

We found the table, and a cartload of other stuff that we bought completely on impulse. But hey, it was on sale, so think of all the money we saved!* And our home is going to look stunningly fantastic. As soon as Ken gets it all assembled, and the fog of swearing has cleared from the air. (Anyone who can complete assembly of Ikea furniture without resorting to cuss words should be canonized as a saint.)

Ikea is great, yada yada, my home is almost entirely furnished by their products, however I'm not a big fan of their cafeteria. We ate lunch there. I had a plate of Swedish Saltballs with nasty white "gravy". According to the menu, it was a "meatball" plate, but it was more like meated salt than salted meat. Pfeh! I ate half of them and then passed on the rest.

*I don't actually buy into this "it was on sale so we saved money" concept, unless it was a necessary item that I would have bought even if it was at regular price. The truth is, we were feeling impulsive and threw some money around, because sometimes it's fun to be irresponsible.

13 comments:

Warped Mind of Ron said...

Never been to an IKEA, but I hear one was built in Cincinati and all my friends want to go. Most of my built furniture is Sauder and I've done so many I can build their stuff in my sleep.

Jenski said...

People always rave about the meatballs. Usually I've spent so much time wandering around talking myself in and out and in to purchases, I just want to get home. :) That place is addictive and has SO much good stuff.

My friend had a furniture assembly party when she moved and needed all new stuff...All the new stuff was from IKEA...Practice does not necessarily make perfect with IKEA furniture assembly!

Maxie said...

I'm checkin out this verveearth thing right now. looks pretty cool!

Jameil said...

oh irresponsibility. pittsburgh is the first ikea city i've ever lived in and its not at all close to me (a good 30 mins) or convenient to anything i go to. seeing as i don't have a home... yeah... i'll stay outta there!

Keera Ann Fox said...

I always find something to buy at IKEA. Yours, Saint Keera.

Pixie said...

I've never entered or taken a look at IKEA's website, I guess I'll have a look.

lol my Mother In law is the one that did my doilies. Not my sister. LOL my sister wouldn't know where to even BUY the necessary items to start one =).

Anonymous said...

I dig both IKEA's goods and their clients (I go to one located smack in a college town. Yay!

Sparkling Red said...

Ron: I've never heard of Sauder, but how different could it be? Ikea would probably be a snap for you.

Jenski: Furniture assembly party... could be fun, but if I were the host, I would hold off on serving alcohol until all the furniture was put together. ;-)
It is addictive. Once you start there, you keep going back because everything matches everything else. And you really can't beat the prices.

Maxie: I haven't fully figured it out yet, but it seems to have potential.

Jameil: I live a 10 minute drive away from an Ikea. Once you have your own place, I bet you'll love it. :-)

Saint Keera: Yes, they make it far too easy to get caught up in all the great designs. I always walk out of there with more than what I came for.

Pixie Von Azia: Oops - I guess I read that wrong. In that case, I'm impressed by your mother-in-law. :-)

Stewie: The Ikea I shop at is filled with customers of all descriptions, but there is a certain subset of them who I think of as "The Ikea People", who look like they just walked out of a catalogue photo shoot. Everything about them matches the Ikea style. And then I noticed that my sweater exactly matched the shade of green in their latest collection, and I realized that I am an Ikea person! Scary.

Emma Gorst said...

Their food isn't great but it is fairly cheap. I have to say that it's a good idea to have a restaurant, as spending two or three hours in a store can be a pretty intense, tiring experience.

I hope you will post pics of some of the new items :-)

Anonymous said...

Welcome to 30Something bloggers! I'll have to find you there.

I love Ikea! But what really drives me nuts is they always either include extra pieces to make you think you didn't put it together properly or not enough pieces. Or pieces that are supposed to fit in a space but doesn't. As you can see, I've had my fair share of Ikea issues. But that doesn't stop me from buying their stuff. Love it!

Tink said...

We don't have Ikeas here, but we DO have Sam's Clubs where you can buy everything in bulk. The bad part about that is, where do you store 35 rolls of toilet paper? And that 12 pack of spaghetti sauce I bought went bad before I could use it all.

Sparkling Red said...

Aurora: It is good to have a place to sit down and have a snack, especially in a store like that that's in the middle of nowhere. Families with young children seem to really appreciate it. They even have a bottle-warming station. Such a good idea!

1218Blog: I've had my share of Ikea issues, including needing to return defective or incomplete furniture kits. It's a real pain in the tush. But they've still got me totally hooked!

Tink: Yeah, you have to have a big house to take advantage of bulk buying. Once when I still lived with my parents, my mom bought a crate of toilet paper. It took over half the basement for months!

Anonymous said...

What about beaming me that link for those 30something bloggers, pretty please? :)

And yeah, IKEA, love and hate it ;)
It just got soooo expensive over the last few yars :S