Holy Mother of all that is sacred

Ikea has opened in Portland.

I do not understand why. Why I go there, why I am so strongly compelled to nest, store, and accessorize my home with their well-designed garb.

But I enjoy it so that it puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day to drop a C-Note there on bookshelves, coordinating baskets, candles, wine glasses, picture frames, storage solutions...

agh, a sickness it is, to be certain.

N: It was not crazy busy at all. I got a front parking spot. I walked right in. I had sitting, and I am glad I didn't have a kid with me. I went at 1 pm on the day after it opened. The girl at the checkout said that it didn't get really busy until everyone got off of work, and I would say definitely avoid the weekends. Late mornings though, early afternoons I would bet are fine. Early morning I bet it's even more quiet, not sure when they open. I was bummed, couldn't find the 500 count bag of tealights for 99 cents (I might be exaggerating on that one a bit).

We had so much yard trimming stuff to do, I think we did something like 10 truckloads, and had "the pile" in the back yard for at least maybe a year. None of our trees had been trimmed in eons. But, I learned how to use a chain saw, and that was fun. However, as we look at 2nd homes, any overgrown trees are well-considered.