Ok, yesterday we went to the new Ikea store and I have one thing to say about it, DON’T GO! Upon our arrival we were met with loads of police and what appeared to be the parking staff from the concerts up at Red Rocks. Roads were blocked off and we were directed down streets that were turned into one way freeways to various parking lots. After walking about 3 blocks just to get to the store, we were met with a Q (or line) that was at least 500 people long. This line snaked around corners and up two escalators before finally letting you into the store. I managed to circumvent most of this by getting us on an elevator that went right to the entrance. Once in you had to follow the path through all the departments no matter where you wanted to go. In other words, if you were looking for the kitchen department, you still had to walk through bedrooms, bathrooms, office, etc. to get to your department of choice. This was all in the showroom level which is the top level. While here if you see something you want, you write down the item, aisle and bin number. (more later on what you do with this info) You can then go to the lower level and actually put things in your cart. The one thing that made this all the more difficult was the unbelievable crowd. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen, worse than any concert, airport security or line I’ve ever been in my whole life. Once through this part of the store (lower level), the path you can’t get off of, leads you to a giant warehouse where you look up your items (that you selected in the showroom) by aisle and bin number and load your boxes, (by yourself) of furniture (that is not assembled) onto another cart (now we have two) and head for the checkout. Once through checkout which was not so bad, you push your cart out to a huge line waiting to get on freight elevators to go down to the main level to get out of the store. Are you kidding me, you pay then get in another line to leave? And on an elevator! Unbelievable. Anyhow we finally make it to our truck after pushing one cart (we consolidated) 3 blocks through a mass of people trying to get into the store.
By the time we loaded up the truck we were all tired, hungry, had to use the bathroom and just overall cranky. You could have sent us to war and whoever we would have faced, we would have won! We decided we couldn’t make it all the way home so we stopped for some mexican food downtown on 7th and Grant. Sitting outside on the patio under the cool water mist machines along with a couple of margarita’s and 2 Mr. Pibbs (soda’s) soon brought us back to the land of the sane. After refueling we headed home and stopped on the way to pick up the little guys new bed. We then unloaded all and Mom put the bed together while I unloaded the rest of the truck. After this we loaded up again and headed to Target for some last minute touches to the room. We couldn’t find any limes (for drinks, not the room!) so we headed across the street to Mom’s store and noticed it was now 7pm! Where had the day gone? We rushed home to give Bunkie his shot and then Mom made some quick taco’s for dinner. The little guy slept in his old room with his brother as we didn’t quite get his finished. The misses and I sat down and watched the new version of Planet of the Apes on tv (nothing else on) with another margarita. By now it was almost 10pm and time to get some sleep.
This morning we’re going water skiing at 9am and it’s 8:10 now so I need to run. The boys are super excited to ride on the giant tube behind the boat. It’s still hot here, mid 90’s, so this will be a nice break. Mom’s off to give the dog his morning shot and I need to jump in the shower. Two weeks from tomorrow school starts, it’s coming fast. Hope ya’ll have a great day, God Bless and if you’re in the stock market, nothing you can do except ride it out at this point, good luck!