Ikea

We had one goal for today – go to Ikea and purchase furniture.  Although we shipped a 20 foot container to Ireland, we still have some furniture needs. Thus, we arranged for the grandparents to watch the girls while we left for Ikea shortly after 9 this morning.  In fact, I was a bit in the doghouse for not being ready to go at 9.  However, traffic was light and we arrived at Ikea at 9:50, 10 minutes before it opened.  It saddened me that we have become that sort of family who shows up to Ikea before it opens, waiting eagerly by the door.  We double-checked our list and discussed strategy.

Despite all this planning, we did not escape Ikea until after 1pm.  The biggest challenge was tracking down a couple of the large furniture items from the collection area.  We didn’t realize that the bed slats for one of the beds had a different name than the bed.  So that was a wasted 10 minutes.  More time was wasted finding the location of the elusive aisle 0.  But we were successful in finding all the items except for a couple of minor items (like nightlights).  And we were able to arrange for next-day delivery on a Saturday no less.  And I got a second breakfast for under 2 Euro.

The afternoon was less exciting – stuck around the new house while the gardening service provided by the landlord cleaned up the place.  It was a challenge understanding them at times.  I later learned that they had thick Cork accents.  My wife enjoyed the role reversal, as she struggled at times to understand some of the people when we lived in Kentucky.  Still, the jungle has been removed, and I had some time to remove the stickers from all the glasses, plates, etc. purchased at Ikea.  And I checked out the satellite left by a previous tenant.

We had the first casualty of the trip – I broke my glasses today.  Fortunately, my mother-in-law has offered to take me to the Irish equivalent of Lenscrafters tomorrow.  For now, I have some electrical tape holding them together, sort of.