We have been wanting to go to IKEA for several weeks to get a new storage unit to put in our play room and just have not had an opportunity. Things were slow this morning and so, spontaneously, we decided to make today a shopping day. It took us a while to get out of the house so we didn’t get to IKEA at opening time like we had hoped but we did get there around ten which is not bad.
What prompted us to go shopping today was primarily Liesl getting up and telling us that she wanted to go toy shopping today. I’m not sure that she has ever done that before. So we figured why not. IKEA does have some toys so it was a multi-purpose trip.
We had an early lunch as we love eating the Swedish foods at IKEA. Very much a special treat. IKEA does such a great job with their little cafe.
We found a ton of stuff that we really wanted while shopping. We got a storage unit that we are going to use in the playroom to help with organizing the abundance of toys that are collecting in there. That was our main reason for coming today. We got a lot of lighting too. We got a solar powered Chinese lantern for the atrium, some walkway lights for the back yard, coloured LEDs for under the bar, a new desk lamp for me, a print of a Picasso for the main hallway and a lot of soft storage organizers. It was a very productive day. Plus for Liesl we got three books and some stuffed animals that go with those books.
We were gone for many hours. We came home and spent most of the evening putting the stuff together that we had gotten from IKEA. We also hung the series of ink drawings that Dominica and I bought on our honeymoon in Nova Scotia eight years ago. We have had them in the original packaging all of this time and have never hung them at all. A week or two ago Dominica picked up some nice frames for them and we got them hung down the hallway tonight. They look really good. Hard to believe that we have finally put them up on the wall. It is about time.
Of course, of the places that we have lived, Carrollton is proving to be, surprisingly, our most permanent. The house in Geneseo was only so much longer our main home than Carrollton has been. Geneseo has hung on for a long time as our all time primary residence. Followed by Newark. This home in Carrollton is already months more our permanent home than the house in Peekskill was. And we knew that we were leaving Peekskill long before that. At this point we are still arranging construction work on this house to not even start until late October. By the time that the latest changes are done to this house we will already have been here for two years.
The storage unit in the playroom works really well. It holds a lot of toys which is exactly what we have been needing. The floor has been just completely covered with toys for months and it is ridiculous. So this is really going to help.
What I am most excited about is the two kits of colours LED light strips that I installed this evening under the front of the bar going in to the living room. We had been hoping that having these lights would help to add some accent colour to the bar since the front paneling has been painted bright white there the light has a lot of surface off of which to reflect. We got the lights mounted and tested it out as it got darker tonight. Wow, they are much more awesome than I had anticipated. I was not ready for this at all. They look amazing. Brighter and more vibrant than I had anticipated. We are going to get more of these for the interior of the bar as well now and we want to try getting some to put behind a new, transparent glass clock that we bought for the bar today as well.
This evening I went out for a late night walk. I ended up doing about five miles. It was a good walk. Took me over an hour and a half. I need to get back into the habit of walking if I am going to be able to take the weight off. I am listening to the eighth book in the Stephanie Plum series from Janet Evanovich. I just started it tonight after finishing book seven yesterday.