Be scared world! Four of us Marysville moms took off for the closest Ikea store (about an hour and 45 minutes away) near Cincinnati, OH. None of us had been there and our husbands all were thrilled at the prospect of NOT going. Suicide was even mentioned... those guys just don't know how to have fun. Mark practically threw money at me in celebration!
So we chatted and solved all the world's problems on the way and I only made a couple of slightly "wrong" turns because I was a bit distracted conversing about 40 different subjects at once. The first noticeable problem was you would think an enormous store like Ikea would be off a freeway exit, wouldn't you? Nope, it's not. You can see it from I-75, but you can't get there from there! (I was planning on relying on my Jeep's navigation, but since I'm too cheap to update it, Ikea Lane wasn't on it.)
We go in and it's a bit overwhelming. You get a huge yellow bag and set off up the escalator to the 2nd floor if you are wanting to look at displays. The aisle winds around a bit like a ride at Disneyland except there is no tram. Though there are signs, it's still confusing and you feel sure you are going the right way, but you may be making a circle. You are thinking "Wow, good exercise" the first bit of it, then it's more like "We're too old for this."
The first thing you need to do is grab one of their maps, a golf pencil and maybe a strip of a tape measure. All of the items are numbered, with a location listed where you can find it downstairs to pick up and buy. More on that later...
We darted about noticing that though most of the furniture and furnishings aren't exactly heirloom quality, it is very reasonably priced and on trend. I got some stair tacky tape there for $1.99 a roll that is almost $13 in a big box store! Some items are upstairs in quantities to buy, but we opted to just write everything down and come back so we wouldn't have to carry it. Little did we know what a scavenger hunt that would wind up being only to find out everything is on display downstairs also! I always seem to be behind the learning curve! If you have kids, it's worth the trip just to have someone babysit them--there is a nice looking supervised play area.
They have a cafeteria style restaurant about like a hospital's. Food was okay, nothing really to write home (or blog) about. To keep costs down, they appear to run on a skeleton crew. Most everything is self-serve in the store. Not a huge deal until you start talking furniture. Down on the lower level all the furniture is boxed and on warehouse shelves and you find from your notes which aisle and shelf the things you want should be located. When you get to this level you grab the funkiest moving grocery-style cart that glides in every direction. More exercise just trying to control that sucker. It could go sideways and wipe out a whole glass display if you weren't on the ball or haven't had strength training classes recently.
After dragging a chair and footstool with cushions off the shelf (and of course not fitting in the aforementioned cart) you look over to the self check-out like it's a mirage in the desert. You are so excited to be leaving that you are a bit perturbed to see that you have to lug (and wrap if breakable) all of your stuff out of the cart to scan, then load it into a blue bag you have to buy and restock your cart. The line doesn't move terribly fast because of this.
We finished up our gossip (I mean, information exchange) as well as made future plans for our next adventure as it poured down rain coming home.
Later, back at the ranch... I decided to put together my furniture. I normally have hubby do it, but he was out and I wanted to impress the menfolk around here. The instructions showed everything in drawings, including the tools. Looked like any idiot could put this together, but I am not just any idiot! It took me longer to find the screwdriver than to use it. That's par for the course here. Once you get the hang of the drawings though, it's not too bad. It would be better if you had three hands, because one needs to use the screwdriver while the other this cranking thing. Who's holding the stupid wood parts together??? I learned quickly to do without the screwdriver.
Well, my comfy and cheap chair is now ready for use...so I will now go enjoy!
Until next time,
Gale
So we chatted and solved all the world's problems on the way and I only made a couple of slightly "wrong" turns because I was a bit distracted conversing about 40 different subjects at once. The first noticeable problem was you would think an enormous store like Ikea would be off a freeway exit, wouldn't you? Nope, it's not. You can see it from I-75, but you can't get there from there! (I was planning on relying on my Jeep's navigation, but since I'm too cheap to update it, Ikea Lane wasn't on it.)
We go in and it's a bit overwhelming. You get a huge yellow bag and set off up the escalator to the 2nd floor if you are wanting to look at displays. The aisle winds around a bit like a ride at Disneyland except there is no tram. Though there are signs, it's still confusing and you feel sure you are going the right way, but you may be making a circle. You are thinking "Wow, good exercise" the first bit of it, then it's more like "We're too old for this."
The first thing you need to do is grab one of their maps, a golf pencil and maybe a strip of a tape measure. All of the items are numbered, with a location listed where you can find it downstairs to pick up and buy. More on that later...
We darted about noticing that though most of the furniture and furnishings aren't exactly heirloom quality, it is very reasonably priced and on trend. I got some stair tacky tape there for $1.99 a roll that is almost $13 in a big box store! Some items are upstairs in quantities to buy, but we opted to just write everything down and come back so we wouldn't have to carry it. Little did we know what a scavenger hunt that would wind up being only to find out everything is on display downstairs also! I always seem to be behind the learning curve! If you have kids, it's worth the trip just to have someone babysit them--there is a nice looking supervised play area.
They have a cafeteria style restaurant about like a hospital's. Food was okay, nothing really to write home (or blog) about. To keep costs down, they appear to run on a skeleton crew. Most everything is self-serve in the store. Not a huge deal until you start talking furniture. Down on the lower level all the furniture is boxed and on warehouse shelves and you find from your notes which aisle and shelf the things you want should be located. When you get to this level you grab the funkiest moving grocery-style cart that glides in every direction. More exercise just trying to control that sucker. It could go sideways and wipe out a whole glass display if you weren't on the ball or haven't had strength training classes recently.
After dragging a chair and footstool with cushions off the shelf (and of course not fitting in the aforementioned cart) you look over to the self check-out like it's a mirage in the desert. You are so excited to be leaving that you are a bit perturbed to see that you have to lug (and wrap if breakable) all of your stuff out of the cart to scan, then load it into a blue bag you have to buy and restock your cart. The line doesn't move terribly fast because of this.
We finished up our gossip (I mean, information exchange) as well as made future plans for our next adventure as it poured down rain coming home.
Later, back at the ranch... I decided to put together my furniture. I normally have hubby do it, but he was out and I wanted to impress the menfolk around here. The instructions showed everything in drawings, including the tools. Looked like any idiot could put this together, but I am not just any idiot! It took me longer to find the screwdriver than to use it. That's par for the course here. Once you get the hang of the drawings though, it's not too bad. It would be better if you had three hands, because one needs to use the screwdriver while the other this cranking thing. Who's holding the stupid wood parts together??? I learned quickly to do without the screwdriver.
Well, my comfy and cheap chair is now ready for use...so I will now go enjoy!
Until next time,
Gale
