Ikea

Yesterday, I spent the entire day with my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law shopping for stuff at Ikea. Now, I've never been to Ikea in my entire life. I'm the girl who furnished my Upper West Side apartment shopping at Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, West Elm and Sleepy's (for the bed, of course). Ikea just never entered my mind, I hated thinking that my apartment was going to look like everyone elses.

But, in Israel, Ikea is really a great, cheaper option to get decent and modern furniture at affordable prices. And, since it's all the way out in Netanya, you have to really plan to be there an entire day. We each came with lists and, for us, measurements. Unfortunately, when I found exactly what I wanted for the wall unit in the living room, I was dismayed because they didn't have all of the piece in stock. In fact, they had about 40% of their inventory and lord knows why that happened. My friend Tamara said that, as soon as a new catalogue goes out in Israel, they sell out in a few days. And, a new catalogue went out a few weeks ago.

Nevertheless, I did manage to pick up some of the stuff on our list, but sadly none of the furniture I was hoping to get. These is a basic of what I wanted for the living room:



Except, the one I "built myself" had two shelving units over the sliding doors for the TV. The best part of this unit is that I still have space in the corner of the apartment for more book shelves and this gives us a nice area for books as well. I think it would be a great fit. Plus, the color is perfect and matches the furniture in the house.

What I did manage to pick up included: a bathroom mat that I'm using as a mat in the kitchen, because I always spill water on the floor and am tired of having to sponga every time I wash dishes, two pots because we only have one. I bought a parve pasta pot and a milchig pot, so now P"G after we take everything to the mikvah, we'll be able to make Buggy his mac n' cheese. I got two collapsable dish racks because the ones I have now are getting really grungy. I got 4 candle holders, just so that I can light candles around the house without worrying that wax will drip every where. I bought a turkey roasting pan, because Thanksgiving is a few weeks away and I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 23 people! (I know, I'm nuts, but I can't wait!). I got two really pretty bedside lamps because we've been using the Shabbos lamp and I'm going blind trying to read in bed at night with the tiny sliver of light that emenates from Buggy's side of the bed. The lamps are super cute, with red hats, to infuse some color into our otherwise black and white bedroom. I also got a package of white napkins that were really cheap and that Buggy and I will go through quite quickly. 4 lightbulbs later and I was done! My SIL did very well, racking up about 1300 shekel worth of goods, while my MIL picked up the least but the dog will be happy because she got her a new bowl.

We drove home at twilight and it took us 1 1/2 hours to get back, which was great because surprisingly there was absolutely no traffic on the #1. There as an insane amount thought of traffic leaving Jerusalem, and we couldn't figure out where that was coming from. I pitied everyone who was stuck in their cars, especially the ones that had to go to the bathroom.

I got home and Buggy and I barely said two words to each other as I got ready for the rest of our evening. Last night was Kotel night as Buggy and I have a lot of praying to do. So, since we haven't been to the Kotel in almost 8 months, we decided last night was really important to go. It was great because there weren't that many people there, and it wasn't too cold, so we were able to pray comfortably. Buggy is super smart, he emptied out my puska before we left, and so we had money to give out at the Kotel. I'm really glad he did that because we both got completely mobbed when we got to the Kotel. Buggy got it worse than me, and since he was dressed like a typical American, he got it much worse. I told him he looked like Seinfeld with the jeans and sneakers, but when you have to walk back up the drive from the Dung Gate, you want to be wearing comfortable footware. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Anyway, some Chossid ask Buggy for money while he was in the middle of Maariv, and when he responded to the man in Hebrew he apologized for asking an Israeli for money. I was shocked. What? Israeli's don't give Tzedaka? Just the American and Anglo tourists? Makes no sense to me at all, Buggy had money and was more than willing to give it out.

So, after the Kotel, we went to the office so I could help Buggy with his project. Basically, I needed to type up his assignment - in Hebrew. I really want to get the hang out the Hebrew keyboard, so I was happy to peck away. You would think the corresponding keys from English to Hebrew would make some sense, but yet, it really doesn't. Like, I would naturally assume that the Lamed would be on the L key. Nope, it's actually on the K key. Go figure. Either way, with both of us doing work, we got everything done quickly.

And, at this point, it's already 10:00 p.m. and I'm absolutely starving. The food court at Ikea isn't exactly Four Seasons cuisine, so I was starving. I had my heart set on the new Sushi place in Rechavia, and we called in advance and they told us that they had tables. So, we drove there and spent a few minutes looking for parking, and when we got to the restaurant there was a line out the door. I was annoyed, cause all I wanted was a few good rolls for dinner. But, Buggy was having-a-sugar-attack starving, so we decided to go to Olive and Fish on Jabotinsky. It was, as suspected, pretty empty and we got seats right away. Of course, when you're as hungry as we were, you end up ordering way too much. We both got starters, and I had the potato leek soup which wasn't so good. Buggy had the salmon carpacio, and he's still regretting it this morning. Then, we ordered some steaks and I went with the sirloin medium to well done, while Buggy got his filet rare. I don't understand how he can eat rare meat but he absolutely loves it. Personally, anything that looks like it can still jump off the table and start grazing, is just not my thing. And of course, I wasn't pleased with how my meat was cooked. It was cooked medium to rare for my taste, way too bloody in the middle. Buggy told me to send it back and have them recook it, but I'm not into sending back food. Honestly, I know way too many people who have worked in the restaurant business and sending back food is a big no-no. No thanks, I'd rather bring my dinner home and have Buggy eat is as left overs during the week. We settled up the bill and then Buggy let me drive home, which was amazing. It took all my energy not to keep on driving and to stop when we got to the apartment, but then again, we had our typical 6:45 a.m. wake up call and I knew we had to get to bed.

Today is going to be a completely lazy day for me. I'm staying close to the phone cause there's some stuff happening back home that I'm going to need updating about. Fortunately, my husband loves me and he knew that I was going to be in the house today, and he rented The Transformers movie that I never got to see this past summer. I love him, that was really sweet and thoughtful.

Well, the kids are screaming next door at Gan so I think going back to sleep this morning just ain't happening. Might as well get up and get started on the movie. Till tomorrow!

PS. Yup, strike is still going on. Oh, and don't think I don't know that the Prime Minister has prostate cancer. When Buggy and I heard they were going to have a press conference to talk about his new "condition", we bet over what disease he had. I called it at prostate cancer, so I got to order dessert last night. The lemon pie was YUMMY! And, I wish Olmert a very speedy recovery.