IKEA experience -- some assembly required

The kids and I took a little adventure after school on Friday, to IKEA in Cincinnati! Given the 2 hour drive and the attention span of gnats, I had to focus and literally make the trip a whirlwind.

Andrew got to play in the kid's area for 30 mins but, Laura wasn't allowed since she was in a Pull-Up (we are slowly potty training). So Laura and I moved through IKEA as swiftly as we could and found where everything I needed was located. We made it down to pick up Andrew a few minutes late.

Next to pick out storage boxes and and then to the rows of boxed bookshelves and tables to pick up the new EXPEDIT destined for my scrap area. Now imagine Andrew pushing Laura in the cart piled with storage boxes and me trying to push a 200 lb bookcase on another cart AND trying to help control Andrew so he doesn't knock over any displays or people who didn't see him coming.

We make it to the register, pay and the kids spot the concession stand. They REALLY had been good and helpful so, they each got a Vanilla frozen yogurt cone. I spotted the cinnamon rolls! ;)

The nice guy at IKEA helped me load that 200lb bookcase into my car and off we headed home. hmmm... starting to think about how I am going to get said bookcase OUT of the car and down into the basement. Fortunately we have incredible friends and Joel came over to help me get it downstairs.

Too tired by this point to try to put the bookcase together, we went to bed and decided to deal with it in the morning.

Putting it together was going great! Putting together a 72"x72" bookcase in a 90"x90" spot was a bit tight but, I got it done. We had to make a trip to Home Depot at the end though when tops of the bolts that came with the bookcase striped as I tried to screw them into the holes.

Now...hmmm... HOW am I going to lift this 200lb bookcase off the floor and place it against the wall... JOELLLLL!!!! Yep, he came over again and helped me lift the monster and move it against the wall. Oh... it's sooooooooo pretty!

Now, all of those storage boxes I got to store my scrap mess I have accumulated... those are assembly required too. Surprisingly, it only took me about an hour to put together some 30 boxes. Whew!

After dinner, the moving of the scrap supplies began to the point where I could get to the walls. Before going to bed, I finished painting the walls a lovely shade of green.

Sunday morning now, moving scrap stuff and kid stuff to new locations, organizing, purging and rehooking up the computer, printers, scanners, etc. Try to test print some photos... all-in-one working no problem, Epson photo printer... not working. I spent the next 6 hours trying to uninstall, reinstall printers, print drivers, swapping out USB cords, trying different USB ports, Epson printer still not wanting to be recognized by computer. Sigh... photo printer is dead.

Call Bill to let him know photo printer is dead and I have major deadlines coming fast and furious for the book and such. He is the best... go find what you need he says. (thanks babe!) At least I have Monday morning to go look for a printer by myself since both kids have school.

Off to bed. Wake up 20 mins later to Andrew crying. Andrew is burning up. Take his temperature, 102.5. Give meds and a cold washcloth for his head. Back to bed. Andrew is up again at 5am. Repeat and go back to bed. Up at 7:30 to get Laura fed and ready for school. Laura to school and deal with Andrew upset for not being able to go to school. And... no printer shopping for mommy. Everyone is sad.

Guess, it will be another laided back day and I will finish putting away the scrap stuff. Needs to be done by the time Bill's parents get here this weekend to take over kid duty so I can go to Cincinnati next week.

Here are a few cards for WorldWin I did this past week using one of the new lines released at CHA winter -- Ruche.
Supplies Used: WORLDWIN Papers/Treasures/Pure White, WORLDWIN Papers/Ruche/Gray, WORLDWIN Papers/ColorMates/Deep Fairy Tale Pink, WORLDWIN Papers/ColorMates/Medium Pretty Pink, WORLDWIN Papers/ColorMates/Light Pretty Pink, Other: ProvoCraft/Cricut/Beyond Birthdays, ProvoCraft/Cricut/Accent Essentials, Making Memories BradsSupplies Used: WorldWin Papers /Ruche/White, WorldWin Papers /DoubleMates/Totally Tan, WorldWin Papers /Cascata/Salmon, WorldWin Papers/ColorMates/Light Meri-Gold, Stamps: Cornish Hills Farms/Kim Hughes Collection, Ink: ColorBox, Pins: Heidi Grace Designs, Ribbon: May Arts, Punch: EK Success, Floss: DMC

Hopefully your weekend was just as fun. LOL!