Reason = Transmission
Yesterday's trip to return the rental car = Not So Bad Anyway
On the way home, we decided to make stop somewhere new, wander around with our mouths agape, and spend the three-hour drive home trading all kinds of ideas.
I've now experienced IKEA.
The ideas were cool, and there were a few things I found that I kinda wanted, and a couple that I really wanted, but most of it was stuff I could do without. And I couldn't help feeling like I was simply shopping at a very large, very trendy Wal*Mart. Everything was made in China or Indonesia or Taiwan, even though the "face" of the place was Sweden, so I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I loved the free Wi-Fi, and I did buy a few dishtowels for .49 each and a pillow form for a thrift-store pillow cover. Bo actually spent more money than I, picking up a set of mixing bowls for the chocolate factory at a whopping $3.99 for a grand total of $7.85.
We're going to be doing a few more home improvement projects and I can see how some of the IKEA stuff could really help. I love their super-long, cut-to-fit curtains and all of the coolio-schmoolio ways you can hang them. Curtains I definitely need, and since I don't sew, it helps to find a place that has them in all lengths with no sewing required. Sad, huh? Still, there it is.
The van shall not return to us. I spent part of the morning drooling over the '10 Odysseys, even taking ten minutes to "build my own," which I pretty much tricked out except for the ski racks, the bike racks and the factory tent which was so incredibly factory, dude.
Now, if I could just come up with that $41K, I could give the dealer a jingle and say, "Let's roll, buddy."
Consumerism. It's what's for breakfast.
