Reunited, if briefly

When one of your best friends now lives a 1 1/2 hours away from you, you have to grab the times you can get together. The P. Family mom and I had a little outing to IKEA yesterday, along with 14 of our children. (Though since one of hers is in her 20's, she doesn't really count as a child anymore.) You see, I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner, and so I needed a bookcase.

It makes sense, really, though it can also read like a mom-version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. As you know, my current dining room is a little bit smaller than we had before, so fitting 24 people in becomes a little more challenging. I figured out how to do it, but it involves putting the large coffee table under the piano to get it out of the way. The trouble is, I currently have quite a bit of piano music stored under the piano. Of course, the obvious solution is to finally buy the second bookcase for the rest of my piano music. (Actually, no, the thought of just moving my piano music somewhere else, didn't cross my mind until right now.) So, if you need a bookcase, you go to IKEA. And if you are going to IKEA, you need to invite one of your best friends who loves IKEA as much as you do.

We had a lovely time. Sure we had 13 dependents with us, but we were able to send the 6 high schoolers off on their own. That left us with my six younger types as well as the youngest P9. We've done this 'take everyone to IKEA -thing' before, but the last time, G. and L. (the youngest of our combined crews) were very, very little. I have to say, it is much easier shopping when your youngest is 8. We even had lunch together.

P. Family mom and I both agreed that it was a very refreshing 4 hours, which says something about our lives, because I'm pretty sure that we looked like a traveling circus wherever we went. Thankfully it wasn't crowded, and most people just tried to get by us, when they could, that is. It turns out some of our younger children are quite adept at blocking aisles.

I came home with nearly everything on my list... a bookcase, hangers for my tablecloths in my new china cupboard, a rack to hold pot lids. And a few things not on my list... two new dining room chairs to replaces the ones that try very hard at collapsing under people (it's what happens when you refuse to pay more than $25 per chair), some lovely red cushions for those chairs which match some of the art in the dining room (and which L. has taken a hearty dislike to and refuses to sit on), some candles so that I'm prepared for Advent (if only I could find that Advent wreath I so carefully packed away), and a few other assorted things.

My idea for storing my tablecloths has turned out quite well. Want to see?


And here's what the new cushions look like on the dining room chairs. (Photo taken in store to send to J. to discuss.)


I'm sure L. will come around to using them... someday.

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