A-maze-ing

They've done it. IKEA has perfected their store.

Ryan and I ventured to Edmonton last week during FSJ's torrential down pour, and with that came our purpose for the road trip: IKEA. Ryan had never been there. NEVER. I questioned him. Please enjoy this short dialogue:

Whitney: You'VE NEVER been to IKEA? 

Ryan: Nope.

Whitney: I thought for sure you've gone with me at least once.

Ryan: You've invited me several times, but usually your dad and I get out of it with an excuse like, "We'll call Shaw and order UFC on PPV." OR "I ran out of beer."

(Notice how I don't realize that he's never been to IKEA with me, which means that I was paying too much attention to the furniture in my tunnel vision to disregard the fact that my husband was not accompanying me.)

Whitney: Hmm. Too bad. I think you'd really hate it. 

Ryan: Why would I hate it?

Whitney: Because it cramped and claustrophobic; therefore, you have to walk through the entire showroom to get to the exit. There's arrows on the floor. It's a bit like living vicariously through Hanzel and Gretel.

Ryan: Actually, you're wrong. A few years ago, IKEA was sued by a customer because they weren't able to find their way out of the store during a family emergency. They got lost, so they sued. They lost, of course, but now every IKEA has mandatory shortcuts throughout the whole showroom. 

(Please note: This quotation is about 98.76% word for word)

Whitney: Wow.

But I digress. We precisely arrived at 10 a.m. (I thought I'd break him in easy...avoiding the afternoon crowds and all) We found some great furniture, made decisions efficiently, and arrived at the IKEA cafe in approximately 47 minutes. Record time if you ask me. Before heading downstairs to fill up our cart with the desired items written on our shopping list, Ryan notices the menu.

"They serve beer?! This place is awesome!"

IKEA is not only perfect for the thrifty wives, but for the patient husbands, as well.

There's Pollution in My Tea Cup

It's raining. For all those in FSJ...duh. Anyways, I'm in an office for the next three days, and I wanted to share random/wonderful/obviously boring thoughts with you all.

First of all, I rock at loading coupons onto my Safeway card. I can save $2 on Tide-to-Go! SCORE. Also, I can $1 off US Weekly, so I can compare beach bodies of Miley Cyrus and Cameron Diaz. Not as cool, but it's still savings.

Second of all, I had pollution in my tea cup today. My short jaunt from my home to my workplace (about 37 steps...like average human steps, not big ones) ruined my tea. Tainted it, really. It was raining so hard that I could actually notice a rise in the water level inside my tea cup. Gross. So when I reached the office, wet, soggy, cold, and unusually happy, I set my tea cup down and just stared at it. I couldn't bring myself to take even a sip knowing that the OSB plant 18 kilometers away had billowed smoke (and whatever else kinda junk that comes outta that thing) into the sky, where it formed a cloud, then combined with the other rainclouds, and then dripped INTO my tea cup. Eww.

So I sit here, in my place of work (clocked out, of course) with tainted tea. Sigh.

A Mennonite's Steal of a Deal

So I came across quite a deal this week. From a Mennonite. AND I AM a Mennonite! So put two and two together, and you get a steal of a deal. It got me thinking about what Mennonites do to save a buck. I've come up with a list:

1) Mennonites save hundreds of dollars a year down the hygiene aisle. Can you say 'Deodorant Free'?

2) Mennonites search local classifieds for used items, saving them more money on house hold items than any other community around. For instance, a used breast pump is not out of the question.

3) Mennonites replenish their children's bicycle tire stash by collecting bent ones off the side of the road. This type of find is almost as good as roadkill. I have people who can vouch.

4) Mennonites sew all their blankets from used clothing. No joke, your grandpa's sweat stained lumber jack shirt becomes your duvet cover.

5) Mennonites talk to other Mennonites to get the scuttlebutt about the latest deals. That's how they found out that a friend of theirs is housing four sidewalk blocks in his shed, which he's been trying to get rid of for months! Thanks Tim and Suzanne!

I'm Whitney, and I'm a Mennonite. I just saved myself some serious coinage.