Jessie and Deb go to IKEA, again.

We hadn't gone to IKEA since August, when I bought my office chair. It was 16 degrees with a breeze out so it felt like about 7.

Why isn't Jessie wearing a coat? Because all of her coats make her look like Vim the Michelin Man and we weren't there to buy, we were there to measure and look. So, WHEN, not if she got overheated, we'd have to carry the coat and it wasn't worth it. Plus, the bracing air temperature is good for you in small doses which is what we got when we walked from the car to the store.

All we did was wander, measure, pick up, examine, dream, wish and make notes. She wound up taking a bunch of photos with her iPhone. These will be used for future reference. Will this chest of drawers fit here? Is this credenza the right height? Is this too long? Maybe this won't look good here.

In our wanderings, we entered this department. This display struck me as humorous. I remember reading somewhere why 10:10 is the preferred time for clocks but I can't find it now.

No, I didn't buy anything. I just wandered. Jessie got a picture frame for a cross-stitch she completed and needed to frame. Grand total: $5.36. Then back into the cold and over to Panera for soup and sandwiches.

Beverage: Christmas Blend tea

Deb

Deb assembles an office chair.

I finally decided to assemble that chair I bought at IKEA back in August. There have been a few stresses since bringing it home and I just ignored the box. Trust me, even a box of this size can be ignored if you simply don't want to assemble a chair.

Step one was to clear that table in the living room of the project I've been working on since May.

Step two was to empty the box of its contents and put them on the table where I could find them. Yes, Pilchard had to approve the parts. Once emptied, this box was certain to be purr-fectly cat size.

Next, find the instructions.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, IKEA furniture is pretty much idiot-proof. There are no words, which saves them from having to print instructions in 11 different languages.

It's all drawings and the drawings are very self-explanatory. I probably could have figured it out on my own, but I might as well look at the drawings to make assembly go faster.

Find the wheels and shove them into the bottom. This proved to be a tricky proposition. They wouldn't go in at first. There's no way tacking them with a hammer would work, either. Eventually, I discovered they had to go in at a slight angle and then they fit perfectly.

When that is done, turn the wheels over and put the lifter thingee into the center hole.

Now we're ready to deal with the seat.

Flip the seat bottom over to put the lifter handle onto the seat bottom. Oh look!

I remember those tags. That's the ever so confusing "Do I remove or don't I remove" tag that

was required, by law, to be attached to pillows, sofa, mattresses, etc, in the 1960's. It seems unscrupulous retailers would resell used furniture and bedding as new. So this tag was required on all furniture and bedding to prove to the consumer the piece was new. I remember not quite understanding it. Do I remove this or will armed men come and arrest me? It may seem clear to you that only the consumer can remove the tag, but, in talking with friends, they too found the wording just a wee bit confusing. Now, of course, we laugh.

Using the handy Allen wrench provided, (Thank you Allen. I should really have one of your wrenches in my tool box.) start tightening the bolts that hold this assembly to the bottom of the seat. Make sure the cat approves of your work. In this case, because I'm being ignored, Pilchard approves.

Because I am not paying enough attention to you, make sure you lie down on the instructions.

As you are quite a large cat with lots of lovely black fur in need of brushing, you will, quite handily, obscure any drawing in the instructions. Move? You must be joking. When forcibly removed from the table, go check out this new box that has shown up on the floor.

Hmmm, this has potential.

One you have put the lifting mechanism onto the bottom of the chair, attach the back to the bottom. This is done in the same fashion as the lifter mechanism, with screws and the Allen wrench.

At this point, there was a noise coming from the box. Pilchard had decided this was, in fact a great place to play. So, I tossed in a couple of mice and she chased them around the box.

Once the chair back was attached to the seat, it

was time to assemble the chair.

If I had not stopped to take photos, it would have taken me maybe 45 minutes to put this together. Here is the finished chair in my office.

It is easy to raise to get to the proper height for my feet to be flat on the floor for correct back support and posture. The seat back is adjustable forward or backward that I am sitting up straight. I like the angle of the seat back as it is currently assembled so I'm not likely to change that.

Besides providing a cat toy and the ease of assembly, the other thing I like about IKEA furniture is that all packaging material is recyclable. I had one strip of tape that I couldn't recycle but everything else, and there wasn't a lot, went into the recycling can. I very much like that.

So, there you have it, dear reader. I assembled this all by myself. It's a great chair and will make my sitting at the computer much easier on my back and feet.

Beverage: Dr. Pepper

Deb

Jessie and Deb go to IKEA

Subtitled: FIELD TRIP!!

There it is, IKEA in suburban Schaumburg, Illinois. For the few readers who might not know, IKEA is a Swedish company, started right after WWII by a guy who tried to put a chair into his car and couldn't because of the legs. Don't believe me? Check out this blog post. It's one of Jessie's favorite stores. I'm okay with it. I find some of their furniture to be cheap in construction, but there is no doubt that it is transportable. Plus, as you can see from where we had to walk to get to the store, and no, I didn't make Jess drive to the far reaches of the parking lot just so I could get a photo; this is where we parked. IKEA is popular. The easily transportable concept means that college students or others who have to rely on public transportation can come to IKEA and get a table and chairs and carry it home on the bus.

Jessie was looking at all kinds of things. She needed a chest of drawers. She needed a new computer desk. She wants a slim table for her front hallway on which to drop mail, keys, her purse, the contents of her pockets when she gets home. We hadn't spent time together in ages so I just wanted to go along to chat. But I would like a new chair for my home office...

I got to meet Momo, her new kitten. It's been 12 years since I played with a kitten. They have a lot of energy. Betsy would not be amused. I won't get Betsy a kitten. It was hot, too. It got up to 93 last Sunday. My Jeep has air conditioning, really, it does. See the photo below. But Jess was not amused by my AC and said, "We are NOT taking your car" so we went in her car.

IKEA is three floors of schtuff (the technical term). You take escalators to the top floor and work your way down. We looked at dressers. We looked at computer desks. We looked at tables. She needed place mats. Oh look! Spoons! For some reason, I'm losing my teaspoons. I bought a package of 6 teaspoons for $4.95. They aren't the greatest and I'll be putting teaspoons on my Christmas list, but they are okay. (Not iced tea spoons with the long handles, regular teaspoons and I'd like a package of 6 or 8 please and thank you.)

We wandered about and Jessie got a thingee (again, technical term) that tilts your lap top up to help keep it cool. And then we found the office chairs. I almost got the one

I'm sitting in here. This one was leather and had arms. It was $50. Actually, it was that fake leather. Then I sat in this one.

It was a hard choice. The left one does not have arms. But the chair I currently use does not have arms. The armless chair was $79.99. The fake leather is $30 cheaper. The fake leather came in white and black. The armless comes only in black. The armless has a taller back and that back fabric is mesh so it will breathe. The leather will be sticky in the summer. The armless chair's seat is covered in fabric which can be removed to wash. If I wanted arms, I could get arms for another $20. Both were very comfortable and could be raised to the height I need to keep my feet more or less flat on the floor, which is where your office chair should be for good posture. It was hard to choose because I don't have a lot of money, but I went with the armless chair.

After making that very important decision, we headed to the cafe to have lunch. Yes, IKEA has a cafe serving a limited amount of food. I got a turkey and swiss cheese flatbread wrap and chocolate cake. Jessie got their "mashed potatoes to die for" and chocolate cake.

Jessie decided to buy a small circular table to go on the patio to her apartment. After eating, it was time to get our purchases. You go down to the first floor and wander about this massive warehouse looking for the aisle number and bin number where your item is stored. We found my chair and found her table and went to check out. They have self-service check outs which do make things faster although, if you're paying by credit card, it was a bit confusing.

Now comes the really hard part, getting it to the car. There is a loading dock area but it's always full with cars waiting. My chair wasn't that heavy so I picked it up and we walked to the car. RAWR! I can carry this.

Now we have to get it in the car. But that's the beauty, if you will, of IKEA furniture. It's supposed to fit in pretty much any conveyance you can bring to their store. Now, granted, if you're coming by bus and there are busses that have IKEA on their route, you can't take home a table top the size Jessie wants for her new desk. You could very easily carry this chair on the bus with you.

See? It fit. My chair side ways with Jessie's new table on top. We were airing out the car, as much as you can when it's 93 with a very hot wind blowing from the south. We hopped in the car and drove back to Jessie's apartment. I had to leave right away as I had promised Carole I'd be home to play Dungeons and Dragons with her and the group. I did wind up being 15 minutes late because I had to get gas.

Currently, the chair sits, still in its box, in my kitchen. I will assemble it this weekend. Yes, that is a blog post.

This is the long post I promised, complete with photos. It was a fun time. Now where did I put the screwdriver?

Beverage: Blackberry tea

Deb