IKEA's new satellite showroom

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the 4th of July sale at IKEA to buy all the kitchen cabinets and furniture for the mother-in-law apartment. We drove over there with both Link's pickup truck and my SUV. As you can see from the pictures, by the end of the day we had loaded both vehicles up with everything including the kitchen sink.

Now we're in the process of putting all that stuff together and therefore our living room has turned into an IKEA showroom. A very messy IKEA showroom full of cardboard boxes. We've been having to assemble everything in the house because we still don't have electricity out in the apartment and we've been working on this in the evenings. What you don't see in this picture are the other six kitchen cabinet frames that I had assembled and Lincoln had already moved up to the apartment.

So far I've put together seven cabinet frames, one entertainment center (with Link's help), two kitchen chairs, a kitchen table, a bookcase, a coffee table, and two laptop tables. Soon I'm going to hire myself out as a professional IKEA assembler.

Holiday shopping in the new millennium

How did people ever shop before the Internet? Today I was working on the kids shopping lists for Christmas. This is a rather detailed process that requires a lot of research, a 3-ring binder, and Excel spreadsheets. I'm trying to stay fairly true to my "no toys" pledge because our kids have way too many toys as it is. I'm trying to get them things they need and/or useful or educational things.

There are many wonderful things about the Internet when it comes to holiday shopping.

1. No need to go to the mall.
2. Comparison shopping is easy. I thought of something I wanted to get Hannah for Christmas and wasn't sure where I should shop for it. I typed it into Google and the first place I found it the item was $39.95. After a few more sites all of a sudden it's down to $30. I saved $10 and never even left the house!
3. Online coupons. Even for the stores that we actual have to go to in order to pick up the items you can find coupons for almost anything online these days. I've got all my coupons lined up and ready to go on Black Friday.

Lincoln and I go out the day after Thanksgiving every year to do our holiday shopping. We don't get up crazy early and hit the really big sales but we like to time it after the rush and before the shelves are picked clean. We usually still get some pretty good deals. Some of the items that we're getting this year will actually be through Black Friday online specials.

I really feel for all the parents that came before me and had to do their actual shopping in stores. I don't know if I could do it.

NEVER procrastinate on school shopping

Hannah did pretty much all of her school shopping when she was with Grandma Dena out in Seattle but the two of us have a deal that enables me to choose her first day of school outfit. Despite all of her adorable new clothes I still hadn't found that "perfect" outfit for this coming Wednesday. After lunch today the four of us set out to run errands and decided to tackle that project. Can I just say that Kohl's the Sunday before the first day of school is a CRAZY place to be and that I never want to be there again?

I'm pretty sure that there were mothers in there ready to kill their children. Everyone that I could overhear in the clothing racks and in the dressing room all had a tone to their voice that indicated they were one uncooperative comment from their child away from exploding. In our case it was more Lincoln wanting to kill me for dragging him there and making him keep track of Jake while Hannah and I spent way too much time in the fitting room.

Luckily we found the perfect outfit including new black & white high top Converse sneakers (just like Daddy used to wear) and she's all set for Wednesday. The outfit that we chose today will join these other fine outfits in Hannah's school career:

Kindergarten:

1st Grade:

2nd Grade: