Råskog

I hadn't been to our local IKEA in a long time but decided to go today.  I was in search of the lovely Råskog cart.

My yarn mess was getting the best of my kitchen table and I believed the Råskog would help out.  Here is the what my kitchen table crafting situation looked like a few hours ago:

Did you notice the half-eaten Ikea cinnamon roll?   I needed energy to put this bad boy together.  If you have ever put your own furniture together yourself, you should understand.  Luckily, with hubby's help, the Råskog came together quite quickly.  I was quite impressed.  Here it is:

And now here it is filled with yarn, library books, and finished birds.  The birds won't stay in the cart long; I just thought they looked cute in the picture.  

Pretty adorable, n'est-ce pas?  And the best part about it?  The Råskog now costs $20 less than it did last September when I first saw it.  It only costs $29.  That means I might get a couple more for other items soon.  Or for yarn.  It would take several to contain my entire yarn stash.  And by several, I mean 20.  Or 50.  I'm not really sure at this point.  

Find the Råskog on Ikea's website here.  Lycklig shopping!

And here is my current collection of amigurumi birds:  

Ciao, oiseaux!  

Den här tjejen är väldigt glad över Ikea! (This girl is very happy about Ikea!)

The newest Ikea opened yesterday in Merriam, Kansas, U.S.A.

That is very close to my home.  In fact, I used the Ikea store locator today to figure it out.  Before Ikea-Merriam opened, the nearest Ikea to my zip code was 447 miles (719 km.) away!  Now it is a mere 11 miles (18 km.)!  Wow, what a difference!  I could conceivably go there daily and it would not be a big deal.  Except I wouldn't be able to buy anything after about the 300th time because I would eventually run out of krona.  :)

Hubs and I were lucky to go last Saturday because our neighbor (and my new BFF!) works for them and gave us a pass to enjoy the Friends and Family event before the store even opened to the public. Here I am looking ecstatic about going.  I am holding up the invitation-only postcard upside down because I was so excited:

 I took this picture while waiting in line to get in:

We spent three hours there and ended up getting a duvet cover with matching pillow cases.  This particular type is called Lyckoax and is quite pretty, at least I think so:

We also got a dish drainer because our dishwasher recently broke and we decided to do dishes by hand for the time being.  And we got these cool Hedblomster pillows for our couch:

And we had a delicious meal:

With this lovely princess cake for dessert:

And t his colorful Swedish flag for decor:

And I picked up some Swedish fish on the way out.  I loved the whole experience, except for the fact that hubs came down with a bad cold pretty much right after our shopping trip and I came down with it the next day.  I still have it.  :(

But I had originally taken today off to shop at Ikea once again.  I went and met my friend Amy, even though I am still not 100%.  I bought a comforter to fit the duvet (my old one was too bulky) and food from the grocery store by the checkout counters.  I got ginger snaps for Chris and chocolate cookies for me.  :)  And I brought my family back this evening to have dinner there.  Yum!  I have been three times to the new store, even though it has only officially open for one day!  

Have you seen the new Ikea catalog?  

I wanted to buy more but I had to keep telling myself that the store isn't going anywhere and I don't have to buy everything at once since I don't have to drive 447 miles to get there anymore.  I loved the Ikea in Bloomington, Minnesota, but I love Ikea-Merriam even more because it's in my hometown.  

Ikea, you've made this flicka very happy!  Tack!  

Dreaming of IKEA (part 2)

"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

-Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

      -Jenn to IKEA in 2014

Six years have passed and I have only been to IKEA once more since going to the Bloomington, Minnesota store in 2008.  Chris and I stopped in at the IKEA in Renton, Washington on our way to the airport in 2011.  We had just spent a week exploring the Olympic Peninsula, including

Seattle:

Crossing the Canadian border:

The Sequim Lavender Festival:

Olympic National Park:

The Hoh Rainforest:

Forks (yes, I am well aware of the fact that my husband and I are dorks!):

Cape Flattery:

and Port Townsend:

{Sorry for that little diversion, but I love reliving those memories!}

We were at IKEA so briefly that I didn't even get a photo of the occasion.  We just stopped in and walked through the place.  We picked out a stuffed animal for our daughter and I admired the Expedit shelving that I loved so much.  We also ate a scrumptious lunch at the restaurant.  We sped off to the airport for fear of missing our flight (we made it home in time).

And until the Fall of 2012, IKEA was still just a dream for me.  That Autumn, however, a momentous occasion took place--IKEA announced it was building a new store in Merriam, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, and a mere 18 minutes drive from my house.  I was ecstatic!  I was jumping off the walls!  I had a grin on me that day which rivaled the Cheshire cat's.

I couldn't help but impress upon my students at the time that I was HEAD OVER HEELS in love with the idea of IKEA coming to Kansas City.  I must admit I feel a little bit responsible for their decision.  You see, I had written a letter to the IKEA corporation imploring them to come to Kansas City.  My reasons included the idea that I would shop there several times per month because I love them so much, instead of my track record of shopping there two times in a 3-year period.  I think they took my letter to heart and decided to come to Merriam.  Yes, you are quite welcome, Kansas City.

And now, on September 10, 2014, IKEA in Merriam, Kansas will open its doors to the public.  I have been by the construction site many times to get glimpses into how it is looking.  When the put the sign up and the letters on the side of the building, I screamed.  Yes, I am that die hard.  Here is what it looked like last week:

Still a little rough around the edges but it will be fantastic!  My neighbor and new BFF works for them and she has told me all about what it's been like from the inside.  I just cannot wait.  I will take more photos when I get there and I would be glad to do commercials for them too.  Certainly, I have already done my fair share of promoting their stores because my students are aware of just how wonderful they are, even if they have never stepped foot in one.  

Thank you, IKEA corporation for deciding to come to the Kansas City area.  You have made this woman a fan for life. 

Tack så mycket!!!

Dreaming of IKEA...

I haven't done a lot of crafting lately due to being busy at school.  We had Back to School night for our son last Monday and my own was this past Thursday, so there hasn't been a lot of free time to do crafty stuff. So what I've been up to mostly is dreaming about IKEA.

You see, I haven't lived anywhere near an IKEA for 99.9% of my life.  In fact, I had never heard of that place before 2007 or so.  It was around that time that I began looking for better alternatives to store my ever-growing collection of scrapbooks and scrapbooking supplies.  The scrapbook pages I was making (and still make occasionally) are 12" x 12" in size.  The scrapbooks themselves are probably around 13" x 13".  That means they cannot fit on standard shelves.

In vain, I purchased bookshelves at Wal-Mart, Target, and Lowe's, thinking I could put the scrapbooks on the bottom shelf and the supplies on the other shelves.  Each and every bookshelf I purchased bowed under the weight of paper and punches and a myriad of other tools.  I also had a hard time finding enough pieces that corresponded to one another, so my room typically ended up looking like a jumbled mess.

It was around late 2007 that I finally took to the internet to figure out how other scrapbookers stored their supplies.  Time and time again, people with wonderful scrapbook rooms said their shelves were called Expedit and they came from IKEA.

This is what they look like:

http://www.ikea.com/ms/media/seorange/20134/20134_Expedit_PE364466.jpg

I got excited because I wanted to go to the nearest IKEA to get these marvelous shelves.  To my great consternation, I discovered that the nearest IKEA store was nearly 8 hours away by car!  That is something like 550 miles!  I couldn't even order online because to get stuff delivered to my home, it would cost over $300, which was more than the cost of the shelves themselves!

How could my discombobulated room compare with this:

http://www.twotwentyone.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/craft-room-ikea-expedit.jpg

So in the summer of 2007, I taught summer enrichment to earn extra money and then we drove all the way to Bloomington, Minnesota--almost 8 hours-- just to get Expedit shelves at IKEA.  We made a fun long weekend trip out of by going to the Mall of America and the Water Park of America while we were there.  It turned out to be a wonderful mini-vacation.  I had a phone that didn't take great photos back then, but here are a few pics:

I loved the experience of shopping at IKEA and eating in their restaurant, as did the kids.

We bought 5x5 and 2x4 Expedit shelves, as well as three Billy bookshelves.  Oh, and some stuffed animals, and a super cute heart pillow with arms!  

We even got some adorable pics at a rest stop in Iowa on the way home.  

When we got home, I couldn't wait to get my Expedit shelves in my scrapbook room!  It was hard work putting all the shelves together, but it was totally worth it!  Well, Chris may not agree with me because it took him forever to put them together at first. 

Then we ended up moving the shelves a couple of times because my scrapbook/craft rooms changed locations in our house.  Here is a nice of view of them when I was in a tidy phase of my life.  (This phase did not last long!)

Pretty, huh?  

Well, check back next week because there is MORE TO COME IN THIS CONTINUING SAGA...

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's already the 3rd of January and I haven't blogged this year yet.  I guess I could blame it on the pink eye I came down with yesterday.  Ick.  Not a good day for me but I have meds to make it all better.

Normally, I don't like making new year's resolutions; rather I prefer to write down goals that I would like to accomplish in the coming year.  I suppose that's just semantics but it works for me.  Here is a list of a few goals I would like to work on in 2014:

1.  Make walking one of my hobbies. and get outside more.  My hobbies are typically sedentary and I am aware that I need to get off my derrière more!  I want to be more active so I can get into better shape and feel better in general.

2.  Finish projects.  I have so many crocheting projects and scrapbook pages started but several are just sitting around waiting to be finished.  I need to concentrate on finishing one project before beginning another.

3.  Declutter.  I have way too much junk in my basement and elsewhere.  I need to let it go so I can gain peace of mind and of space.   

4.  Be nicer.  Usually it is because I am lacking sleep but I find myself cranky and annoyed more often than I should.  I want to try to be nicer to people.  If you find me being mean, please call me out on it!

5.  Look on the bright side of life.  I try to be upbeat most of the time but I sometimes find myself concentrating on all that is wrong with the world and neglecting to see the wonderful things that exist.  The glass is half full, dang nabbit!

6.  Laugh more. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, and John Fugelsang rock!  I need to have more laughter in my everyday life.  

I'm certain there are many more things I will work on this year.  But I need to go finish some projects, declutter my home, be nicer to my kids, look on the bright side, and laugh a little bit.  Although my area of the country missed the latest huge snow storm, it is only 27 degrees Fahrenheit out there and there is some snow on the ground.  So walking outside is not an option today.  :)  

Ikea in Kansas City later this year!  Yes!

Just binge watched The Walking Dead and I love me some Andrew Lincoln!

Love Norman Reedus too!