A Tuesday that Felt Like Saturday.

I'm basically on vacation this week.  December is going to be sheer madness, plunging into a coaching program that sounds incredibly exciting and fun, but also OMG many, many hours of work. My daughter is off this week and Christmas is going to be a blur in the middle of many, many hours of work stuff, so I declared this week as my down time.  One of the things we scheduled for this week was a trip to IKEA.

In the original plan, Miss D was going to go to baby school, or stay home with Daddy.  Daddy got called to do a work thing that involved overnight duty and Miss D was a little sniffly and warm, so she didn't go to baby school.  Instead, she tagged along to IKEA.

The kid LOVES IKEA.  We figured she would nap in her stroller while we shopped - oh, hells no!  We stopped for lunch first, of course, and figured she'd fall asleep on a full tummy. She ate salmon in dill sauce, macaroni, veggies, some mashed potatoes, and apple cake in the cafeteria.  Her kid meal was free today (macandcheese and veggies and a juice box) but she really preferred the salmon.  And the juice was a real find!

She declared  lingonberry juice totally deelish!  We were thrilled by this, because it's a constant battle to get this busy little girl to pause to drink enough fluids, she's always busybusybusy and has to be reminded to pick up her sippy cup.  She tasted this stuff, looked startled for a second, and then gulped it down.  I hadn't read the Dr. Oz article I just linked and had no idea that it is considered a superfruit.  We were just delighted that she happily drank the juice.

Miss D doesn't have much of a sweet tooth.  THAT is apparently one thing she inherited from ME (she looks nothing like me).  She loves tangy and not too sweet, so lingonberry juice beats the hell out of apple juice with this kid.   We of course hit the food area and bought some lingonberry juice concentrate, so both her house and Grandma's house will have it on hand - mix with water, and we may have a perfect way to get more fluids into Little Miss Too Busy to Know She's Thirsty.  (And my daughter and I were already mentally mixing cocktails. C'mon, it just screams for vodka!) 

Anyway, back to IKEA.  The kitchen displays were back, and it is in the running as a source of new cabinets.  I love, love, love the customizable inserts, and the price is of course awesome.  I am not ready to start ripping out the kitchen, though God Knows I Want To.  Bringing one new appliance into the mix just made me ITCH to re-do the whole damn room.  Miss D looked at everything with great interest - she's a big fan of those large white ball-shaped light fixtures, and pointed them out many times. 

She didn't doze off after her big lunch. She wanted to examine the kitchen cabinet selection in case I needed advice.

IKEA is too much fun for her, no way would she nap and miss anything! She fought sleep like a tiger, whining now and then, with eyes getting redder and sleepier, but damn, guys, this is IKEA, and there are toys and cute kid bedrooms!  I'll nap later!!   Her mom took her out of the stroller in the kid room area and let her sample the furniture.  She is trying to decide what would work best for her "kid room" which is right around the corner.   Her grandma had to get her the same stuffed golden retriever I bought for her cousin.  I had to do it - they had a display LOADED with them, and I held one out for her inspection. She lit up, grabbed it, squeezed it around the neck in a big hug, and held on, smiling with delight!  Yeah, for $8, you know it came home with us. I was hoping she'd cuddle her new doggie and pass out, but no such luck.  She was in it for the long haul with us.

She finally gave up and napped a bit, very grudgingly, and we finally wrapped up the shopping trip.
My daughter checked the time - nearly 4 p.m. We'd spent FOUR HOURS in IKEA!   OMG! I have never spent 4 hours in one store in my life (not counting working retail in college, of course).  Miss D deserves a medal - she proved again that she can hang in on a shopping marathon like a champ.

What did we BUY?  Besides lunch, you mean?  Okay, my daughter got a bunch of very inexpensive and not-easily-breakable ornaments for the Christmas tree, a stuffed cat for D, and some kid-sized plastic dinnerware - sets of plates and bowls and utensils were $1.99!  She also bought the dinner for 4 - Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, cream sauce - plus lingonberry jam.   I bought the same plastic utensils and plates to have on hand at Grandma's, the aforementioned stuffed toy, and a big glass teapot with an infuser ($12.99).  I realized the other day that while I have a couple of cute little two cup sized pots with infusers, I don't have one big enough to make tea for more than me, and lo, IKEA provided.   It was the cheapest 4 hours of shopping in my life, and we had a great time. 

Okay, IKEA, you win. You are like a drug, and I am hooked.