August 23, 2009
The Time Suck That Is IKEA
Mr. BBM flew home Thursday night on the red-eye from California and I got a sitter for Friday afternoon and evening. Big dinner out? Romantic night at home?
Not quite.
We went to IKEA.
We arrived at IKEA around 2:30 p.m. and I figured we'd be home in plenty of time to meet our friends at Happy Hour at 6 p.m.
When 6 p.m. rolled around, we were sitting in the cafeteria at IKEA, nursing two very grumpy attitudes because we had still not decided on what we were getting.
Despite the fact that I had spent hours measuring the playroom/office/extra guest room, despite the fact that I had spent the entire morning on the IKEA room planner website, we were still undecided. Mr. BBM and I made it our mission to make the IKEA experience a bit more real. So instead of a beautiful display room featuring only furniture that looked like it was lived in, we made sure it was more realistic as we sat on the sofa's and argued over what we were going to get and how much we were going to spend.
Once Mr. BBM had some food in his stomach, however, his mood changed and we were on a roll. . . literally.
If you've been to IKEA for larger items, then you know that IKEA believes in making their carts with four wheels that spin 360 degrees to mess with people. When you load those carts up with mounds of bookshelves, desk legs, desk tops and extender shelves, you've got one serious challenge on your hands.
I couldn't stop cracking up laughing at Mr. BBM whose cart only seemed to want to go left; and then he couldn't stop laughing at me and telling me how ridiculous I looked trying to push the cart at a reasonable speed and then slow up before running someone over with about 500 lbs. of bookshelves. It's not easy. You basically have to pretend you're a stubborn dog and straighten your legs and decide you won't move. Sometimes you move anyway.
The biggest joke of the night was that we were at about twice what we had budgeted and Mr. BBM held up the window squeegee that he had grabbed at the price of $1 and said he thought we should put it back to save money.
After getting through self-checkout (Seriously, IKEA? Cheap much?), we made it into the elevators and down to the parking garage only to argue for a good 30 minutes about how to load the van.
Me: You're going to have to pull the center seat out.
Mr. BBM: I can't. It won't come out.
Me: Well, it does so it's going to have to come out if we're going to get this stuff home.
Mr. BBM: Well it doesn't COME out.
Me: (Mumbles under breath and proceeds to pull the center seat out in exactly 10 seconds.) Then I'll do it. Freaking men.
Mr. BBM: Well it wouldn't come out for me.
Me: Whatever.
He then realized the Tetris master that I am and allowed me to direct how we were going to get the rest of the stuff in the car. We drove about 10 mph around corners and said silent prayers the whole way home that our tires wouldn't completely blow out on the way home since we knew we had exceeded the weight limit by about a ton.
After spending the ENTIRE day on Saturday building, including removing all the baseboard trim from one entire wall, we finished up last night around midnight, hidden cabinet lighting included.
Tomorrow, Mr. BBM has to go back to IKEA to return cabinet lights that didn't work and exchange them for more cabinet doors which we decided are a must have for the lower kid-friendly shelves.
I did not know that putting in a built-in type bookshelf look in the extra room would result in a major and massive reorganization of the entire house, but it did.
Tonight, Lil C's room is completely organized. Weebles are with weebles and trains are with trains. Most importantly, all her dirty clothes that she stashed in the back of her closet is now in the laundry. It feels good to get organized. It feels even better to know that Idon't have to return to the time suck that is IKEA for a very long time.
***Over the weekend, my Love your Body entry got a #2 on it. I was in the top 50 the last time I looked and that is largely because of you, my awesome readers and voters. Please continue to click here and vote for me until the contest ends. You can vote once per day! Thanks so much!!!
August 20, 2009
Deserving of Compassion. . . I Think Not
I consider myself a compassionate person. I take it to heart when good people are going through bad things. I try to help people whenever I can whether it's inviting new Mom's to dinner when their husbands are away or helping someone craft a professional resume to find a new job.
But if there's one person not deserving of compassion, it's the Lockerbie Bomber. He was released today so that he can die of prostate cancer at home. Because of him, 270 people didn't get to die at home. They had to die in a fiery crash. They didn't have a choice and now this pathetic excuse for a human, does have a choice. Many of the flight victims were college students who would never realize their full potential in life, whose parents have continued to miss them and grieve for them all these years.
Abdel Baset-el Meghri served only eight years of his life sentence. I read an idea somewhere online that when they release him, they should line up the families of his victims and that if he can make it through the line of them to his transport, he can go home to die. That sounds a bit more like justice to me.
Allowing a convicted terrorist to die in his home surrounded by his family is ludicrous. Most terrorists are willing to die for their cause anyway, and now Scotland has released one who knows he's going to die anyway? Not smart. Showing compassion to a dying terrorist doesn't earn normal people any points with terrorists. It just shows them our weaknesses.
***On a very different note, time is running out to vote for your favorite Summer Serenade video. Do it here.
Also, please swing over to Victoria's Secret and throw me a vote. You don't have to register, just click "love it." You can vote once a day until the contest is over. Let a girl in a gi win a VS contest. Awesome. Thanks to those of you who already voted!
August 18, 2009
The Love Your Body Contest and Why You Should Vote for Me
Dude, bra's are expensive. Really expensive, even for those of us who are a-hem less endowed in that department. In fact, especially for those of us who are less endowed in that respect. That's why I need your help.
I've entered the Victoria's Secret "Love Your Body" contest and you can vote for me here. You can vote once a day for me until the contest is over. If I win, I get a shopping spree (free bra's!!!) and all kinds of goodness. You should totally click that link and go vote for me because I didn't put up your typical entry. I'm not bikini-clad, showing off a crazy self portrait which attempts to make me look like I have cleavage. I'm just a girl in a gi, telling it like it is.
Go vote for me now and spread the word amongst your cronies. How cool would it be if a girl in a gi could win a Victoria's Secret contest?
(Answer: So cool.)
Go vote (and thank you)!
August 17, 2009
That’s How You Know
You know it's time to go off the Prednisone that has been making you beyond cranky when. . .
-You step on the scale and the only thing that comes to your mind is "Woah" followed by regret that you allowed your kids to talk you into buying the 3 ft. high container of cheese balls at the grocery store, which you ate in like two days time while your 3-year old pleadingly told you to "take it easy" and "leave some for me."
-You hear your 8-year old coughing all night long and the entire morning and you flash to the scene from "The Witches of Eastwick" in your head. You know, the one where the husband puts his wife out of misery and beats her with a fireplace poker thing? You contemplate putting her and yourself out of misery because if she coughs one more time, you will totally and completely lose it.
-Your husband walks around outside with you so you can explain your landscaping plans and when he turns his head for one second, you accuse him of not paying any attention to you ever and swear at him under your breath, except not really under your breath, as you come back inside and tell him you are so done with his attitude problem.
-You pack up earlier than you planned at the pool when the Banshee's mother arrives and fails to discipline her child AGAIN after her banshee hit some kid, and you know that you have to leave or else you might possibly take the banshee Mom and drown her in front of a pool full of onlooking Mom's and kids.
I warned my allergist that someone might die when he put me on Pred. Today is the last day. As long as no one pushes my buttons, people may survive my roid rage.
August 16, 2009
The Summer Serenade Contest is Here
You've been waiting all summer long and now it's time. We have two wonderful guys who entered the contest and one of them is going to win a gift certificate for $65 to spend how they choose.
Our first entry is from the always controversial but non-stop teddy bear, Adam of Avitable.com. If you can't view it here, go there to see it.
Our second entry is from the karaoke king himself, Karl of Second Hand Typtophan.
You Can Leave Your Hat On – Summer Serenade Contest from Karl Erikson on Vimeo.
Voting is open for one week and you must leave a comment with your vote for either Adam or Karl. Enjoy! And thanks to Adam and Karl for giving it a go!
Copyright
© Copyright 2006-2019 blackbeltmama dot com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Follow Me
Blog Designed By
My Creations
Things You Could Care Less About
