Resting Doesn't Mean Shopping

Today I was looking forward to a rest day after all my adventures at the Rose Bowl and long drive. Instead I went to IKEA with my husband because he has been home alone for four days and was stir crazy and wanted any excuse to get out of the house. My plan to lounge on the sofa all day got redirected to wandering through a six square mile store, which had things he wanted in every nook and cranny.

I really like IKEA. The problem is, I’ve got a whole house full of furniture, nicknacks, kitchen utensils, storage equipment, bookshelves, dishes, rugs, fabrics, couches, beds, dining room tables, etc. Immediately my husband saw things he wanted. “Isn’t this a cool vase?” he said, “let’s get it.” “Where are you going to put it?” I answered. “I don’t know, but it would look good in our house.” “Okay, but first figure out where to put it and what has to go to Goodwill if we buy it.”

We went by the rug section and he really liked one of the rugs, but cut me off before I could repeat my objections again by saying, “We’ve got plenty of rugs, don’t we? – rugs on top of rugs.” I smiled – he was catching on quick.

When someone is first starting out, it’s so fun to buy new things that you really need. But when you’ve got everything you need, it’s like going in a candy store when you’ve just eaten a whole cake by yourself. Even though you would love the taste of everything in there, you’re stuffed.

I was exhausted after walking through the store. My husband picked up everything and examined it, mulled over what he’d do with it, then put it back down and picked up something else. My feet started throbbing. Finally we decided on two lamps that I knew would not look good in the house but it was the only way I could get out of there.

Then he decided we should go to Target and look for a long ottoman we could put on the end of the bed so the dog could get up without assistance. The bed is really, really tall, and even though the dog is only nine pounds and stands about ten inches high, she can leap up on the bed if it’s made. However, if you’re in it and the covers are rumpled, she doesn’t think she can clear that extra few inches so she’ll whine for you to lift her up. Which is okay if it’s only one time. But while my daughter and I were at the Rose Bowl, she’d jump off the bed every time a car went by thinking it was us coming home, and then go back to the bedroom whine until my husband lifted her back up. This went on all night long for four days.

So we went to Target and luckily found the perfect ottoman. We had to mosey around and look at some other things too. Which makes me wonder, how come men are in such a big hurry to get out of a store if it’s something you’re looking for, but they’ll fondle every item in sight if they’re the ones looking? We had to take some folding chairs down off the display and sit in all of them, contemplate the value of getting one over the other, and then decided not to get any, which made me dread that he’d propose us going somewhere else.

I’m usually a shopper but, like I said, today I wanted to rest from my trip.

You get home from a trip and you have to unpack, do laundry, wash the dog, straighten the house, answer a new pile of emails and phone calls, vacuum the car, open the mail, and all you really want to do is rest up before going back to the real world.

Ah well, I did my wifely duty of being dragged around shopping today. And sure enough, those lamps look awful, but I think I’m going to just keep them anyway. I sure don’t want to box them back up and return them because that will mean having to go look for them somewhere else, and quite frankly, I’d just not up to it.