Because, you see, we have an exchange student coming in less than a month and a "big" girl that is moving out of her crib. We are all out of extra furniture, so I had to go buy some. Since we are in the end giving the furniture to our young'uns, I didn't want to spend hideous amounts of money on it. It's easier to buy cheap stuff than to ride the kids to keep the furniture nice. That, and IKEA is 3 miles from our home. I could walk there if it wasn't so darn hot out.

My shopping experience conflicted me. Greatly.

As an engineer, I love the prices and the fact that you get to build it yourself! It's like a giant LEGO kit for grownups.

The minus is that I am NOT a shopper. You see, I don't shop. I buy. I know what I want, and I go out and purchase it. That's why I mostly shop online. I don't like it when the thing that I want is not in stock! I was getting antsy in there before most of the children and men. It takes too darn long to get to the point where you can buy stuff.

We went on a Saturday. It was packed. It reminded me on so many levels of shopping in China it was scary.

Prices: cheap, really cheap. Like China.

Store: crowded, really crowded. Like China.

Queuing at the actual checkouts: chaotic. Like China.

Anyway, some of the displays were nice, but there was just too much of it. I had decided at some point that I wasn't going to stand in line and did not pick anything up. I later regretted that decision, you see, because if I went back, I would have at least two young children in tow, so I did end up buying, but only after passing up the "two yuan" tumblers. I had even started converting the prices on things into Yuan in my mind. It just made sense. The tumblers looked like perfect patio drink containers for the kids. 5 of various colors in each package.

As for the timing; I couldn't just wait until our exchange student gets here. It would be beyond rude to say:

"Oh, here's your room. You'll find your furniture in boxes inside it. I know you just got off of a 9 hour plane flight plus several hours in transit to the airport... Here's a screwdriver."

So, I did buy. I bought two dressers - one for Elizabeth, one for Fabian at $99 each. Faux cherry finish. Getting one of the dressers off of the palette it was on ripped a good portion of my skin away from the cuticle of my left index fingernail. Ouch!

I also bought a lamp for $14.99. The lamp will go in the haunted corner of our bedroom. So far, both lamps we have placed there have suffered bizarre electrical ailments. We'll see how the cheap IKEA lamp fares. If it fails, we'll buy another.

My dad scowls at the IKEA furniture - it's not durable enough for his taste. My position is that it only needs to outlast the kids. It's not like they're going to want to take their bedroom furniture to their new home after they move out - they'll buy their own.

Will I shop there again? Yes, whenever the kids need furniture. I will not go back there on the weekend, though. We will go back for the $0.99 kid food and breakfast (why does this keyboard not have a "cents" symbol?).

Besides, I liked those tumblers. I have to buy some.