Saturday, January 16, 2010

Weekend domesticity

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of domesticity. Last weekend had an “all things house” veneer: grocery shopping (which I love, cross my heart), a run to Target (which I love even more than grocery shopping), Best Buy (which I abhor, so I usually mill around the sexy new washer and dryers, and yes, cleaning clothes can apparently be sexy, particularly if you have a teal blue LG washer/dryer combo), and a whole afternoon at Ikea (which I possibly love in its particle-board glory even more than grocery shopping and perhaps Target, but that’s a tough call). After reading this you can get two impressions: 1) what a quaint weekend, or 2) this girl is lame. I urge you to go with the former.

I generally only like three types of shopping: 1) at Amazon.com (I love putting books upon books in my cart and then closing my browser window), 2) Target (I get my prescriptions filled there because it’s just another excuse to go, and they have spectacular pill containers to boot, and 3) grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping because it’s an excuse to eat before I shop. Our grocery store has an in-house pub (no joke), a sub shop, pizza place, oh golly, a burrito stand, a sushi counter, and so on. Because they say you should never grocery shop hungry, I immediately head over to the eatery to get my chow on before perusing the aisles. Once properly satiated, I will shop.

There is no method to my madness when it comes to discretionary spending: I will, on a whim, decide I need a bookshelf for my cookbooks in the kitchen (see below), but then spend five minutes determining the pro’s and con’s of buying a bunch of fresh thyme for $1.99 when I have a bottle of the dried stuff at home. Matt told me not to get it, but “my soup calls for fresh sprigs of thyme!” I countered. This went on for a few minutes until I put it back, only to return three minutes later to place it in my cart when he was at the olive bar. If I can’t find him at the olive bar, you can usually bet he’s near the chocolate milk.

Then we went to Best Buy to get a television, which was my Christmas present. I think having a t.v. in the kitchen is trashy, so naturally I was pining for one for quite a while. As many people in my life already know, Matt and I do not have cable. Most people think this is unbelievable, saying things like, “I don’t get it” and “But what do you watch?!” in horror (with no sense of irony, mind you). Well, you can get CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, CW, FOX, and a few other stations – get this – free! They come in crystal clear! No $100/month bills! And you can get some cable station shows online! (This is how I watch my new favorite show, “Jersey Shore”). Now I can cook and watch the evening news to my heart's content.

After Best Buy we naturally had to go to Target; it only made sense. Matt had a huge hole in his slippers (actually, half of his foot was sticking out). Being Matt, he was happy to duck tape them, but 1) they were stinky and 2) I knew I could get a Target visit out of this, so off we headed.

And then there was Sunday, when we entered Ikea in the mid-afternoon and didn’t return home until 7:30 pm. That’s what happens when you go to Ikea. You enter a vortex of young couples, words like Markor and Framsta and Lack, and oh, Swedish meatballs. Even though we knew what we wanted (a slender bookshelf) a visit is not complete without following the arrows and wondering through the showrooms and spying young couples looking at refrigerators. Did you know that Ikea makes refrigerators? I do now.

During our journey I picked-up a lot of really important, necessary stuff, like this:

That's a dog butt hook, by the way. We chose the green.

7 comments:

  1. MAtt- I think I have a spare pair of slippers- brand new- never worn. It's the annual xmass gift from Mom. It beats the duct tape !!!

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  2. That post brought back many fond memories of good times at IKEA. When my children were young, my friend Kate and I put our kids in the free babysitting. Then we headed upstairs to the couch display and relaxed and chatted for 45 minutes (the babysitting max. time allowed) before picking up the kids and heading home. Another time I ran into my friend Helaine and we spent a half hour in the two Poang chairs before 2 customers politely asked us to let them have a turn. My last fond memory was a photo session with my wonderful niece, Priscilla, and my 2 daughters. We went through all of the pretend kitchens, bedrooms etc. where Priscilla would direct us to pose as if we were actors on the set. First I felt awkward, but was soon annoyed at the customers who dared to enter the rooms as we were trying to do our scenes! Good times. Happy shopping!
    Cyndy

    Cyndy

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  3. I'm not the only person in the world who loves grocery shopping!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me. :D

    Also, you can never spend too many hours in Target, no matter what anyone else says. I get stuck around the isle with all the fancy glasses in it and then have to remind myself that I already have numerous sets at home. Note this is the first isle I hit and I think it gets repeated with each one. :)

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  4. Eeek! We should of checked with you, Mom, regarding the slippers...Matt ended up getting a pair at Target. (But the ones you have might have been too small? Matt has "hobbit feet"...a size 9 1/2 male (11 female). We sometimes share shoes since his are tiny for a male and mine are huge for a female.

    Cyndy,
    I esp. like the photo shoot stories. I can definitely see Silla heading that! Those rooms definitely lend themselves to "playing house". (And the furniture isn't so modern/minimalistic anymore, which I'm loving, and instead of fake televisions in all the rooms they now have real ones...works well for the bored bf's and husbands!)

    Amanda,
    Target is very dangerous for me. I may go in for a prescription and, say, mascara, and leave having spent $100 (it doesn't help that our house is furnished by Target, as is my wardrobe). I don't know what happens! (And yes, I adore the housewares too and have to tear myself away!)

    And grocery shopping? Maybe it's because all our grocery stores (almost) have a cafe attached to them so I can get a hot drink before I begin shopping and I just find it a simple, soothing experience. Oh, and the fact that I love food doesn't hurt, too! I've always loved it....even when I lived in Mahattan during school and had to trudge bags of groceries 8 blocks home!

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  5. Grandma's annual Xmas gift of bedroom slippers has now been replaced by hat/scarf/gloves sets. The scarf is fine, but honestly, being 6' tall, I have a larger head and long fingers--one size may fit most, but not me! Dad's excess slippers have been donated to the Salvation Army thrift shop, and you got my extras. But I do have a nice blue chenille hat with fuzzy gloves that Matt may be interested in! He can wear them when he practices those activities you wrote about a while back--you know, unicycling, walking that pink tightrope strung up in the backyard. He'll look cute. Any takers? Anybody?

    MONG

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  6. Kathryn,

    I also have the dog butt hooks! We have red! I must let you know that T-bird actually bought them for me and I love them! Gabby's leash and 2 jackets hang on them, haha.

    Kate

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  7. Mom,
    No one wants your second-hand old lady hat.

    Kate,
    T-bird obviously has stellar taste.

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