I*D*EA

Stan and I hopped over the Walt Whitman Bridge into south Philly this evening to Ikea. I am looking for a very small little writing table for my little reading/writing room. We escaped the house and left Seth and his buddies in charge of the little ones.

Anyway, I know better. Every time (almost) I buy something at Ikea I end up asking, "Why?" I know the stuff breaks and falls apart way too often, but the idea I like. It all seems to make such good sense for certain needs in a household and the price has the illusion of being right! If the stuff actually ends up working (crap shoot) one can be very pleased with IKEA'S goods in certain cases for certain uses. Certainly.

So, being an idea person myself, I went to IKEA and was very happy when Stan almost immediately found a really cool perfect table! It was narrow, it had two nesting tables under it, one that could be used as a bench. Perfect for my space under a window and the perfect color - wood! So I stopped looking for tables as I strolled because I knew I'd found THE one -yay! - how often does that happen, I ask you? So I picked up other fun things as I walked like tiny seed pots for our botany class this year...cotton throw rugs - one cannot have too many...a couple long narrow shelves for the homeschool room and a couple of kitchen funnels. Meanwhile, I was excited -yay!- imagining my new table in my cozy room, anticipating a Bible study in there tomorrow morning. Yay!

But, alas, the IDEA of IKEA is not always what develops in reality, is it? No. Sometimes you buy a really cool bookshelf and take it all the way across the Walt Whitman back home and find that a shelf is already broken in the box. And sometimes you buy a simple but (you think) efficient wardrobe for your son's bedroom only to have the drawers fall apart months later and have to go back across the Walt Whitman for metal drawer baskets to replace them. And sometimes you strick it lucky and get something that doesn't fall apart, that can actually live up to its IDEA and not fall apart and even work! So, being the persistent (some might say "dull-witted") shopper that I am, I sought out my future perfect table down row 12, looking for item #34 and found it. Yay! The sign for it, that is. The actual item was out of stock. There was no indication of that an hour before on the item's tag upstairs. Nope. You know, the item I found and decided upon within the first 5 minutes of shopping and then stopped looking for other similar items...did I mention that? Gosh, though I have to hand it to them, the Lindhult table is a good IDEA. Doncha think? Yes, IKEA is full of 'em.

So I was inspired and got another IDEA while I was there at IKEA! I think I'll go back across the Walt Whitman in a few days when they get s'more Lindhult tables and buy one then!