Ikea - land of plenty. Too much plenty.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

I survived our trip to Ikea. And what a trip it was.

We didn't get off to the early start we wanted so by the time we pulled out of here, we were already an hour behind. Oh well, I figured I could just work an hour later once we returned home.

So, 80 minutes later, we pull into the parking lot. I immediately notice that it is hotter up in Phoenix than it was in Tucson. A LOT hotter. shew. It was like being in a convection oven or something.

Our 30 minute quick pop in and out turned into 2 hours. By the time we were done, I was feeling grumpy and head'achy from the humidity and heat inside the building and just wanted to go home. But no, before doing that, we had to put 3 desks, 1 chari, 1 table, 3 bags of misc junk, and a chair mat into the car. Hmmm... we're driving a Magnum station wagon so surely there is enough room. Right?

No.

Poor J was out in the 113 degree heat, sweating like a fat man climbing a set of stairs. Our son was out there w/him as they pushed and pulled, tugged and shoved, and made every attempt possible to fit the oversized box containing the corner desk our son had picked out for his room. 10 minutes later, I climb out from the only-slightly-cooler-than-the-outside front seat of the car and tell J that it's not going to fit and we'll have to return it. There is NO way that thing is fitting in the car. He readily agrees so it's put back on the cart.

In go the 2 desks for our office, the box with the chair and my table top. Hmm... the storage legs for the table top are still sitting on the cart. And there is no room. I look at J and he nods. So these are moved to the cart containing the corner desk and I go back into Ikea to return them. There is nothing quite like purchasing THREE carts worth of items and then returning 1 of them 15 minutes later. I'm sure the employees see no end to this. All of Ikea is like a wonderland of truly fantabulous items that one simply MUST own. It's a simple case of the gotta-have-its being much bigger than the available space in the transportation device driven there.

We finally make it home about 3 hours later than I'd hoped. Thankfully it's only 106 back in Tucson. Much more manageable. And like all intelligent people, we run the AC instead of the swamp cooler so it's a relaxing and enjoyable 71 in the house. Ahhh... no spa or massage ever felt better. But I digress.

J quickly tears down the 2 desks and just as quickly slaps the new ones together. In less than an hour, we're back in business. It looks mighty fine, if I say so myself!

J's desk went from this...


to this... (cables and such have since been organized)..


This is the in-process photo and once we hang up our pix and such, I'll post the final photos. I'm also going to be painting a small wall a bright red color, just because I can. We want our office to be fun! Lively! A place to inspire and encourage creativity.

But anyway, we love the new desks and our office looks MUCH bigger now. A bit easier to get work done!