IKEA in KANSAS!

As mentioned in my previous post, IKEA in Kansas has opened not 5 miles from my office and it is equal parts awesome and bad news bears (because it will take all my money).

Let me mention that I had been to the IKEA in Florida a couple times so I knew what to expect when going into the store for the first time but that didn't stop it from being magical.

The store opened on September 10th, a Wednesday. I couldn't contain my excitement so I drove over and around the store on my lunch hour. Realizing that there was going to be no way to get in and out in an hour I just admired from a distance. (I may have issues.) Let me just say that there were cops and security at every intersection, stoplight and possible crossing within a mile radius of this place. They were keeping the traffic flowing by manually changing the stoplights.

I made it to Friday the 12th before I couldn't wait any longer and I ventured out again over my lunch hour. I parked on the second story of the parking garage and speed walked my way through the throngs of people that didn't realize I was on a time crunch.

The following are a few of my thoughts while visiting IKEA:

• Don't these people have jobs? I realize I'm here too but there are literally entire families here. And couples, who look like they're on dates.
  
• Why in the world would you bring multiple children to this place? Especially on the week it opened. I realize they have childcare but anyone with half a brain would realize it's going to be full.
  
• I want all the things.
• Man, I really feel sorry for the guy that has to use the little hand-clicker (technical name for it obviously) to keep track of the amount of people that come in.
  
• Some lady just ran away from her table asking me to watch her (probably) 1 year old little girl because her 4 year old-ish wild child boy just ran away.
• I wonder if she's regretting bringing her kids now.
• What is in this Pepsi? It's very possibly the best thing I have ever drank.
•  I'm pretty sure I have a goofy grin on my face right now.
• I might need a second job to pay for my future Ikea purchases.
• The chicken strips aren't as good as I thought they would be. Might need to try the meatballs next time.
• I want all the things. No really, I do.
• Get out of my way.

Okay, that about sums up the highlights of my visit. Obviously once wasn't enough though because I went back this past Friday also. I have yet to buy anything outside of lunch and I'm starting to wonder if this might turn into a weekly thing. We shall see!

Has anyone else visited the new IKEA, in Kansas, yet? What did you buy?

What's your favorite item(s) to purchase at IKEA?

Technically this photo was taken at the IKEA in Orlando when we were there in August but you get the idea. I like it.

Mom, you're photo taking skills need a little fine tuning. Just saying.

We can all pretend that's more tan than it is shadow.  

Unemployment

Where to start... I was jobless through all of November, December, and January. Being laid off is depressing I will tell you. 

At first it's kind of nice, like a vacation, then you realize it's not a vacation (at all) since you can't spend money, because you don't know how long the vacation will last. And you still have bills.  

Thankfully Seth and I had saved for a rainy day and luckily we didn't really have to touch it. I got the chance to feel what it was like applying for unemployment weekly. I hated being asked what I did during those months and having to tell people I was unemployed (laid off) and I would always feel the need to give people lots of extra details so they didn't just think I was lazy.

Unemployment helped Seth and I to focus on our spending and learn a little lesson in needs versus wants, which I think we all need reminding of every now and then;) Let's face it, we all have way more wants than needs and I think we both learned to appreciate things a little more.  

We definitely stepped out of our boxes a little bit and challenged ourselves to try new things. I pretty much quit grocery shopping except for the produce and milk and such and tried new recipes with products we already had or used up things we had avoided for way too long.  

The house was kept super clean and dinner was often made and ready when Seth got home from work. Since I was home all day it was easy to find time for these things in between applying for jobs.  

Unemployment can be stressful for sure, but I'm glad it happened when it did. As I've said before I think everything happens for a reason and I think the reason for losing my job is that I was looking for a new job at the right time. I found a new job. A job that (so far anyway;) I love. A job that is more me and that appreciates it's employees and who they are and what they do. And I'm happy.

Happy Friday! (It's nice to enjoy Fridays again, weekends don't mean much when everyday is the same)

Three Day Weekends

Hello Wednesday!

Man, I love a three day weekend and getting to skip right over Monday (the work part of it anyway). I got to hang out with the husband this weekend which is always nice. I wish I could say we had a long relaxing weekend at the lake, or something like that, but we pretty much worked our butts off. 

Since we (I use that term loosely) finished building the shop, aka a 40'x60' "man cave" metal building for my husband and his hobbies (hunting, golfing, woodworking, fourwheeling, lawn mowing, etc.) we needed to run electricity and water down to it from the house. So, we spent all day Saturday and Sunday digging a 400 ft trench from the house down to the shop. Fortunately they make a "trencher" that does the actual digging for you, but it does not dig out around water lines or electric lines or anything like that so all of that was done by hand. Mostly my husbands hands (and back). 

While digging by hand we were never able to find the phone line and we accidentally cut through it with the trencher. We don't have a home phone so we figured no big deal. It was several hours later when I realized the wi-fi on my phone wasn't working and duh! our internet comes through our phone line. Awesome. Since we were so busy we didn't have much need for internet anyway so I just waited until Monday to call and they came out yesterday and hooked it back up. 

After spending Saturday digging, literally from dawn til dark, my husband finally came inside for some dinner and we were both passed out by 10:30. Don't be jealous of how exciting our lives are now. I got a break on Sunday when I got to sleep in before getting up to go to church. On my way home I swung by Home Depot, our home away from home, to pick up some plumbing pieces to be used inside the trench. We spent the rest of the day threading 4 electrical wires through 2" wide pieces of pvc. Only about 400 feet's worth or so. 

Once the electric was threaded down to the shop we got to work glueing the piping together for the water. I'm pretty excited about the water part because Seth also trenched a hole to put piping and a water hook up right next to my garden. This will make it super easy for me to water and rinse off some of the dirt before bringing my veggies inside. I would say we got about half way done with the water pipes before deciding to call it quits around 6pm. Hallelujah!

After showering off all the dirt only to realize some of it wasn't dirt but a nice farmers tan (lovely) it was time for date night! My favorite part of the week:) 

It was getting a little late by the time we got to the city and I was wanting to see a movie so we just went to the theatre and ordered food from the restaurant inside. I scarfed down my bacon cheeseburger like I hadn't eaten in weeks and we settled in to enjoy The Hangover 3. I honestly thought the movie was pretty good. Not as good as the first but better than the second. I'm easily amused. 

On the way home I managed to talk Seth into swinging through Wendy's to try out the new Frosty Waffle Cones...umm...delish. Good thing I usually only drive by Wendy's on my way home from working out or I would probably be eating these all the time. 

I think God decided we needed a day of rest, since we didn't take one Sunday, so we slept in Monday while it was storming out. Seth finally talked me into getting out of bed around 10:30 and I finished up his laundry while making some blueberry pancakes and bacon. Mmmmm bacon! By 1:30 he was packed up and back on the road to Texas, for work:( I sure do hate when he has to leave. 

Monday afternoon my mom and I went to the mall to check out the sales and I managed to only buy myself a cute new dress and shirt. Plus a handful of shirts for Seth. 

All in all a good weekend with lots, but not nearly enough, accomplished. Anybody else think every weekend should be a three day weekend? 

If I get a chance I will try and take some photos of our lovely trenched yard to post. Beautiful, I tell ya!

Texas and My Husband

Tomorrow I'm hittin' the open road and heading down to Texas to visit my husband. Needless to say I'm pretty excited. I have only been to Texas once and it was in February of last year not too long after they had started the job he is currently on.

Seth is a Superintendent for a construction company that's located here in Kansas and he's been working out of town the past 4 and a half years. Not fun. This is his third project, building waste water treatment plants, with the company and each one of them has kept him out of town. Twice now he has been over seven hours away meaning he only gets to come home every other weekend. Again, not fun.

After being married and "living" together for a year and a half I still have no idea what it's like to live with him full time. I always like to joke that we are easing into living together when people comment how much it must suck to be so far away from each other. And yes, it isn't fun to try and fit our relationship into phone calls and crammed weekend visits but we're making it work. The truth is, I think it has probably helped our relationship (not that it was bad) because we are forced to talk to each and actually communicate since that's the only option we have. Plus, we know it's only temporary.

By temporary, I mean, once he has finished up the job he is currently on he will get to move home! We are thinking it should be in the next month or two when he is finished and I can't wait. Neither can he. After this job is done he will be moving up to Project Manager and be responsible for several projects,  but he will get to work from the office that is about 40 minutes from our home. He may still have to travel maybe a couple days a month but that will be nothing compared to now. 

Anyways, I'm going to visit him tomorrow until Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it. He has sent me pictures of the job he's building, but it looks so different from when I saw it that I can't even tell what anything is. It's always impressive to me that he can just look at the plans and build things. I mean, who knows how to just build a waste water treatment plant? Seth, that's who. 

We are also going to do some fun stuff like visit the Stockyards and go see some bull riding or a rodeo maybe. I even talked him in to taking me to get a pair of cowboy boots:) Oh, and I'll probably eat a lot. I'm really good at that. If any of you have suggestions of fun things to do around Ft. Worth feel free to send them my way! 

You can check out my Instagram (here) if you want to follow my weekend as Texas girl.

Ya'll have a great weekend, ya hear?! (just practicing my accent;)

7 Quick Takes (2)

1. I'm loving my new phone! Not loving that my phone case from Amazon still hasn't been delivered. I mean, I placed the order Monday and it's Friday and still no delivery! Oh, and is there an app for patience?? Haha

2. I work for a printing company and they are very pet friendly. This is my newest co-worker, Bear. He helps me keep from stressing out some days. I would bring Gunnar but he would probably eat everything and ruin it for everyone so he gets to stay home.

3. My husband is on his way home to see me finally! Two weeks away is never fun but so glad that it should be ending in the next month or so. Then we finally get to take a vacay and spend the summer together doing fun stuff like going to Royals games. Love me some baseball!

4. I've been eating really healthy all week (minus my daily Pepsi's and occasional cookie) and the sales guys had to go and ruin it today by bringing us donuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. No will power here...maybe I'm getting better though because I did only eat one slice of pizza and one donut. That's gotta count for something right?

From this...

...to this...

...to this. Oops.

5. I'm currently obsessed with the following songs: 

Boys Round Here - Blake Shelton

I know what you did in the dark (Light em up) - Fall Out Boy

Can't Hold Us - Macklemore ft Ryan Lewis.

All these songs make me want to jam out big time. 

6. It's May 3rd and it was snowing yesterday and acting like it wants to snow today. Come on KS, get it together! I need Summer NOW!!!

7. Earlier this week I bought a food dehydrator and last night I tested it out by drying strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapple, and blueberries. I tried a few of the fruits this morning and they are delish. I'm super pumped about trying some other stuff including jerky and then some herbs once it warms up enough for me to grow them in my garden. If you have any suggestions of good stuff to dehydrate, let me know. 

Happy Weekend!! You can follow mine on Instagram, here:)

Email Hate: Questions to ask yourself

Well before I get very far I might want to point out that I haven't been getting mean hate mail as the title might make it sound. I mostly just want to vent about email.

Email has become a way of life.

Everyone does it. Well most people anyway.

It can be great. It can save time. It can help by minimizing interruptions in your life.

I can't help but wonder though, how much time is actually wasted with email?

How many times do you email someone, or have them email you, and they leave out important details that you need? So you email them back with questions. Then, they completely ignore the questions that you asked, but ask you questions, or, give you additional information that causes more problems or questions to arrive.

Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in a game of email ping-pong. How many times can we email back and forth before we are done?

Before you know it, you have 17 back and forth emails and you still don't have all the info you need. It can be a nightmare.

Plus, I think email has made us lazy. I'll be the first to admit I have emailed to ask someone a question, when I could have searched and found the answer myself. Email often allows us to easily shlep (fun word:) our problems/questions onto someone else in hopes that they will fix it. Many times I have found that this can lead to my own game of email ping-pong.

With all these problems I've decided there should be rules to follow when you email someone. The only problem is that the rules might vary with different situations but I think some of these should be pretty universal.

So, without further ado...

Questions to ask yourself before sending an email

• Did I answer all questions asked of me? If not, answer them. 
• Can I find the answer to my questions before I ask them? If yes, don't waste someone else's time. 
• Am I providing all of the information the recipient needs? If not, why the heck not???
• Is there information that I could provide to prevent further delays/emails? If so, provide it. 
• Is this email going to be too confusing? Should I just call? Sometimes it's just easier to pick up the phone. 
• Have I read through my email before sending to ensure accuracy? Don't make someone email you back just to ask what the heck you are talking about. 

Do you have any tips to prevent the back and forth, that seems inevitable, with email?