Stuff...and even more reasons why I love IKEA

Not much going on around here this week-end. Steve is so busy with school...the final push...three more weeks and he'll be DONE. Oh, and he passed his comprehensive exams with an average grade of 90...we're so proud! No oral exams for him and it's a big relief!!! Hopefully life will get back to some sort of normalcy for us soon. At least for a week, then we'll have to move! At any rate, Friday and Saturday were spent doing a big spring cleaning of sorts. The landlord emailed us last week that he'd like to start showing the house. I think he took 5 or 6 sets of people through here yesterday.

I saw some yard sale signs posted in the neighborhood yesterday morning. I was too busy to take the time to walk over. It was still going on today. I walked Henry, brought him home, put $12 in my pocket and headed over to the next block to see what they had. (Without kids! Whooo-hoo! Oh yeah, and that reminds me of being in IKEA Friday night - I'll tell it below.) Anyway, back to the yard sale. They didn't have much - odds and ends, mostly clothes and shoes for some weird reason. BUT, I did score big time today...a BRAND NEW 14 1/4" Jumbo pizza stone! $2.00 Cha-ching! Perfect. I make homemade pizza a few times each month. My bread machine gives me enough dough for 2 pizzas. My problem has always been that I only have 1 stone so one pizza is prepared and baked on a stone and the other on a very old round metal pan. I'm psyched that I found this one because I've wanted a new stone but didn't want to shell out the $30 for a new one from Pampered Chef.

I almost completely forgot about Friday night. Friday was very rainy here and I didn't feel much like cooking. I couldn't get motivated so I emailed Steve to see if he wanted to hit IKEA for dinner. 2 of our children eat free with purchase of our meals and it is cheaper and healthier than McDonald's. The last time we visited the store, we realized that all *3* kids are big enough to go in the playarea or "ballroom" as it is called...so Steve and I had a "date" that consisted of walking around IKEA in peace. I had to remind him he could hold my hand, but oh well. We found this set of shelves below to go in our new kitchen in VA...they will be hung over an old cabinet that belonged to my grandmother and that my Auntie Lori has been keeping for me for over 10 years now.




I really like the iron brackets and accessories. Very romantic and cottagey feeling. We didn't buy the set yet, Steve wants to wait. But I have a big file in my head (and one in my IKEA catalog!) of everything I want to do. I won't forget. And, I'm so excited because we've decided The Table will fit in our new space, too! For awhile we were thinking to get a corner kitchen nook - a table that is surrounded on 2 sides by benches and that well, fits in the corner...but now we are thinking that will take up way too much space and have decided to go with the square table from IKEA instead. We will eat dinner in the dining room (duh - because mainly why have a dining room just for show AND it's closer to the food prep area anyway) and just use the little table for lunches or snacks. Yay!


So, now I have to get the kids ready for the park. They've been cooped up since Thursday and they really need to get out and run. They're driving me crazy.