IKEA Haul

Update: I wrote this five days ago but I just realized I forgot to post it. Sad … :(

I’ve really been meaning to write more often but a lot has happened including a malfunctioning cell phone, over spending at Best Buy and IKEA, and I’ve been trying to study and stay on top of my schoolwork.

First off, I finished my first midterm and I only have my American history midterm left to tackle this Sunday. Wish me luck everyone! School has been hectic and I’ve been surviving. At first, I wondered why Facebook activity has been dead and slow at the moment and I realized that most people were probably going through the same thing, midterms.

I ended up going to IKEA a day later than what I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, but God, I missed the macaroni and cheese there! One thing about IKEA that I really like is the fact that you can virtually eat, shop for furniture, and buy groceries, all at one place! My family and I go to IKEA about once or twice a year and we call it the Annual IKEA Shopping Spree because we spends hundreds of dollars and run out of with cartloads of stuff. It’s very gratifying because you feel like you’ve ripped off the store with the amount of stuff you get for such low prices. Kind of like the old IKEA commercials:

Here is Peter and Jackson at IKEA:

We love to eat at Ikea!
Jackson drinking apple juice and enjoying his first kid’s meal at IKEA.

We got to IKEA at about 4 PM and left at closing, 9 PM. We had originally planned to get an L-shaped desk for Peter and a Besta Burs desk for me:

The IKEA Galant table (Left combination desk) for $245. Image courtesy of ikea.com
Besta Burs desk from IKEA for $269. Image courtesy of ikea.com

However, we ended up getting the Expedit Workstation in birch. The desk is $50 and the bookshelf/shelving unit is $69.99 for a total of $119.99.

The Expedit workstation in Birch for $119.99. Photo courtesy of ikea.com

We really liked the versatility of the shelving unit and that the desk was customizable whereas we could add shelf inserts and drill holes for our cables as well with the Signum package. Here are the drawers and shelf units we opted for:

Expedit Insert with Drawers in Black for $35. Photo courtesy of ikea.com
Expedit Shelf Insert in Black for $20. Photo courtesy of ikea.com

I’ll post photos of our office when we’re settled. Our house looks like a mess right now. We’ve gotten rid of our desks and are throwing out sofas left and right. We’re donating our old Christmas belongings and baby toys to the local Goodwill to give back to the community. I’m a big advocate of spring cleanings and I honestly find every reason and excuse to get rid of and buy new stuff for our home.

Oh well, looking forward to a new year! :D

Surviving Midterms Week (With My Sanity Intact), Winter Cleaning, and Mazda CX-5s

Honestly, I worrying my ass off when it comes to school. Not sure if I should be worrying at all but that’s just me. If I’m over and done worrying about one thing, another dilemma seems to rears its ugly head. It’s late and I’m calling it a night, especially on reading “The General Prologue” of the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Enough with the “eeks” and “greye as glas” speak. I’m ready to see the insides of my eyelids. But, before I do that, I thought I’d update on how life has been.

When it comes to school, it seems that my financial aid has come through and I’m just going to keep going to keep it. I’m still taking five classes so far and I’m pretty much swamped. I don’t know how people work full-time and go to school full-time. I don’t think you’re any better but whatever it is that you’re doing, good for you. :P I have a midterm paper for an English class on Medieval period literature, a midterm exam on US history, and a final on World History. I have to read about ten ancient English stories by next week and I feel like I am going to die … a very horrible death. I’m ahead in my classes but I feel so behind. When is enough ever enough?

Financial stresses are virtually non-existent but I think I may acquire some new debt because I think I’ve waited long enough to change my apartment. It looks okay now but I really want to paint and throw out sofas, armchairs, Christmas crap, etc. There’s a lot of stuff (I feel like) and I’d like to get all this stuff out by the end of the year. I’m going to U-haul all this crap down the street to Goodwill and call it a day!

I’m still sure that we’ll be getting a car in the first to second quarter of next year and that’s about it for that. I can say I’m a decent driver but my self-doubt is seriously killing me. I just don’t feel confident enough and it’s understandable. So instead of complaining about it, I’m going to make an appointment to start taking driving lessons tomorrow with Lem’s Driving School. I don’t care about the money because I just need a few hours to get my shit straight. Can’t deny me if I’ve got the money, right? I can finally get rid of my permit. The only reason why I wasn’t able to get my license when I was 17 was because after my dad passed away that year, a series of events lead to me not keeping the car that was left to me by my dad. So from then on, I didn’t have a car to practice or use for my test.

When it comes to the car, I’ve considered many models and when me and Pete narrow down to one that could be “the one,” engineering or performance issues surface and we have no choice but to consider other choices out there. I’m comfortable and knowledgeable of the car dealing process so I’m looking forward to doing most if not all of the work. We have the Mazda CX-5 in mind and if I get anything, it’s going to be the high-end model because we love technological packages and because leather is always going to be the best option when it comes to kids. That burns a $30K hole in the wallet but it’s fine because I’m sure we’ll drive it until the wheels fall off. Before then, we’re probably going to add another car to our little family.

I’m going to head to IKEA and Lowe’s either today (Monday) or tomorrow and let’s see what happens. Renovating the office is going to be about $1K-ish. I prefer to paint first before getting the new furniture but Pete has a different opinion on that issue.

I think socially, everyone has been getting along and it’s good that I don’t let my social life interfere with my general psyche these days. I think socializing is more of a recreation for me these days. It’s fun when it happens but I don’t need it to survive. I honestly don’t have any time these days. I even have to make appointments to play video games, which I usually do around this hour because I feel guilty doing it during the daytime when I could be studying. Since I’ll be taking harder classes by each semester after this one, I’m considering toning down on the classes to maybe four a semester and taking one or two classes in the summer to make up for it without the additional mental stress and wear and tear.

I’m probably going to blog later tonight because I need to get into my shopping escapades and how I finally found the right shade of foundation after being incorrectly matched THREE times from a Sephora associate. I’ve been doing a lot of hauls lately but once again, I just don’t have the time for it. I’ll get into my recent weight loss, Alexander McQueen handbags, and whether I should go blonde again or not in subsequent posts. Night and it’s going to be a busy day for me later. One final and a home improvement trip awaits! :)