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IKEA

Weekend with Mimi

by Claire on July 24, 2011

IMAG1194My oldest daughter, Cindy, and her husband, Cody, went on a little get away this weekend. I have been camping out at her house with the boys. It’s fun to spend time with them because they are so easy and well behaved. Of course, there’s the typical boy antics you’d expect with a three and a six year old, but really, they listen pretty well and are a delight to take places.

We started off the weekend Friday night by doing some errands. I still have to find the perfect new mirror for my mom’s remodeled bathroom, so I took them to TJMaxx. That store has lots of great stuff for very little money. I didn’t find the mirror but the boys did each find a toy. Neither of them has let go of that toy all weekend. Total investment: $15. Total fun factor: priceless.

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Saturday we were up at 7…OMG. I thought I could sneak downstairs and have some coffee before they woke up, but oh no… they were too excited that Grandma was here…oh wait. It was that they wanted to play with their new toys. Ha ha. So we lolly-gagged around until about noon, hanging outside in the sun while they played on the trampoline and then went down to my mom’s to get her and head off to IKEA. The idea was that I was still on the quest for the mirror and mom wanted to go. I don’t think she really remembered quite what a zoo IKEA can be but since she wanted to go, she came along. We got her one of those motorized carts and I’ll apologize publicly now to any other customers at IKEA who had to quickly get out of her way as she was quite the speed demon. We were half way through the place in under 10 minutes. New world record set. I wonder if anyone’s thought of having a motorized cart NASCAR-like event? I bet that would be hil.ar.ious!

Sorry, I digress.

IKEA was a blur. Literally. Remind me next time I want to go there not to take my mom. I love my mom but I don’t think she had the patience for it, particularly with two boys in tow. They were great however. I let them play in Smalaand for a bit and then we had a snack of chocolate milk and cookies. The mirror didn’t pan out, so I’m still on the hunt.

I did, however, win the prize for being able to get in and out of IKEA for under $30. (No, not a typo.) I only spent $21 on kitchen stuff.

After that, we took mom home – well, to the ex-roomie’s new place – as she had dinner plans with her. The landlord there is a total bad word in all caps. Seriously. I parked in his spot, unknowingly, because it was closest to the stairs mom had to go down and he was PISSED. I explained she was 91 and couldn’t walk far and I would only be there for a minute, and he couldn’t have cared less. “Well, for future reference, there’s parking across the street.” Man, dude, I hope karma comes back at you when you’re 91. What the hell?

After that, I met my younger daughter, Stacy at Red Robin to take the kids out to dinner. OMG, that was another cluster. The crazy was going from bad to worse. We had the worst service and the only thing that helped mediate that was the manager comped the bill in half. On a positive note, I asked Cayden later that night what his favorite part of the day was and he said the Red Robin ice cream sundae. Ok, then it was all worth it.

Here’s some cuteness from Red Robin, however. You’ll have to pardon the blurry pictures from my cell phone – moving kids are hard with my crappy Droid Eris. Evan and Laila absolutely ADORE each other. It’s priceless. They were hugging each other and Laila kept kissing on Evan, and yes, pulling his hair once. He’s so good natured with her, he just smiled.

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Finally, last stop of the day, we went to Target. I was on the hunt…still… for the mirror, but also for bed sheets. Found neither. But we did all walk out with new jammies. I should have asked their mommy what size they wore because poor Evan – his fall off his bum. I even got new jammies, but sorry – no pics of that for you!

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Snuggled up on the couch while I wind down for bed.

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It was a late night because the neighbor’s dogs were barking until midnight. Argh. I was about ready to go bang on their door or shout out the window, but finally they calmed down.

Today, Sunday, I’m still waking up. And it’s 10:30.

Lots of this is in order.

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And I made us this for breakfast. So NOT on my food plan.

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Plan for today is most likely to load up the bikes and go for a bike ride. The weather here this weekend is fantastic. Finally, Seattle is getting TWO, count ‘em, TWO days of summer. I’m sure our bike ride will allow for plenty of pictures.

Later!

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My Creative Cadence

by Claire on September 6, 2009

Ah… it feels good to be home.

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I have so missed my creative space, my Zen room, my gateway into my soul. I don’t know what’s taken me so long to get back here. Well, yes I do, really. Life, work, family – all that stuff. And my focus over the last 18 months has really been on my weight loss and I’ve really had no desire to go in and cut up all my beautiful fabrics and spend time making something for me that won’t fit in a few months. Seems to be wasteful to me. And although I could make stuff for other people and home dec stuff, my loft was a MESS and I just didn’t want to tackle it.

Finally, I had enough money saved up to go to IKEA and get the sewing table of my  dreams. I saw this set up in last year’s catalog and knew it was exactly what I wanted.

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Assembling box furniture though is not my idea of a fun Saturday night – especially doing it alone. And I had issue after issue. One of the pedestals wouldn’t go together right and I had to use extra force (always makes me nervous like I’m going to break something) but I got that done. Then, I put the top together and you can see clearly that it looks warped and like it curls up on each end.

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I know this is going to bug me to no end, being the perfectionist that I am, so I’m going to have to fix that somehow or get the top replaced. Ugh. IKEA is a good hour drive away from me.

Then there’s the chair. That chair is a darling chair and the photos don’t do it justice. It’s a really pretty deep teal blue – just the perfect complement to my room decor. I guess I’m going for the more monochromatic color scheme and I’ll have pops of orange and pink throughout when I’m done. Oh, right, back to the chair…. one of the end caps was missing from the package and it’s required for the wheel to stay in place. So, it’s short one wheel – for now.

I love the little cubby holes in these pedestals.

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Great for placing books, boxes of trims or threads. I’m going to have great fun filling up those spaces and reorganizing my room.

Speaking of reorganizing, here’s what’s left to tackle – eventually.

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I still have my mom’s old dining table as a cutting table, and that’s the next thing to go. I plan on doing this instead. ModKidBoutique created the coolest cutting table and I’m going to copy her. Only mine will be in white and I’m going to add wheels to it. I’ll probably place it where that TV is sitting (not yet hooked up) and have it on wheels so I can move it into the center of the room to use and walk around, and then roll back when not in use.

Meanwhile, I’m not going to let the lack of a perfect cutting table and perfectly organized space stop me from getting back into the rhythm of sewing. First up, something for me that I desperately need as the weather is turning cooler. A bathrobe. Simple and sweet.

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Stay tuned. :)

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