I went to Edmonton this last weekend! Cher was going on the hunt for some Christmas things, and invited me to tag along. So I did! It was really refreshing to get away from my house and all the sad things we had been dealing with, and get some real relaxation and rest. We stayed at a really comfy, quiet hotel and ate yummy food for every meal. We stayed up late and slept in. We watched a movie and ate cheeseballs and dried pineapple. Its safe to say our first sleepover was a huge success 🙂 Hopefully she agrees.
Our first day in Edmonton was spent at the mall. Neither of us were rolling in money at all, so we moseyed slowly, ducked into whatever store caught our eye, and were pretty choosy with our purchases. That first day, all I purchased were a few little dresses for Laela. She has recently discovered a new love for dresses, and she only has one dress at home that isn’t a tank top style. I’ve kind of nixed the tank top ones for the season, so she requested more long sleeved dresses. Old Navy took care of that.
To jump ahead to the last day, we headed back to the mall, where I purchased Solly one of his four category Christmas gifts. Just a little cheapie but he’ll be pretty excited, I think 🙂 We even hit up Value Village that day, but didn’t buy anything.
Ok. Saturday. Saturday was Ikea day. I LOVE Ikea. Could’ve spent the whole day there, haha! But I did enough damage in the few hours we did spend. That being said, very little of it was frivolous shopping, so I don’t feel so bad about it. Here’s a run down of my purchases 🙂
I got two boxes of small drinking glasses. They’re the ones the kids use, and while they haven’t broken any themselves, they’re kind of fragile anyway, and we had a few break within a few weeks of each other just in the dishwasher or in the sink. Merp. So, more glasses. Might only open one box at first but we have extras. They all stack into each other really nicely, which is why we wanted to get Ikea ones again instead of going to Walmart or somewhere like that.
I bought dessert bowls. Like, just little bowls. Our cereal bowls are really big, and sometimes we just need a small bowl, and we don’t have any! We have two or three, but that’s not enough. So I bought some cute matte pink ones, because the boys in my life are tolerant. I somehow came home with 13 instead of 12 though. Whoops! One for good luck, I suppose. At least they were only $2.
I bought an oil and vinegar set, not because we really do much of that, but because our beautiful oil drizzler thing clogged forever ago and no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t get it clean and had to pitch it. And now, I just have a big jug of oil that I have to heave out of the pantry and pour from every time, and I’m over it. So I bought the set to have an oil drizzler again. And a back-up, I suppose, unless someone wants one!
I bought napkins. Three packs, I thought. But I definitely only came home with two packs. Oh well!
I bought more hanging baskets! Have you seen that we keep apples and bananas and other food in hanging baskets under our cabinets now? Its SO pretty, and I love having the food off the counter. Plus the apples being in the baskets frees up room in our fridge for more veggies! Lettuce almost always lives downstairs, and now it can live up! Our current baskets have been great, but these are deeper and fit a little better. I like them better. The old ones will still be useful, though. I think they’ll end up in closets! Maybe for sock and underwear. Maybe. We’ll see.
I bought Brady and I a new duvet. We’ve had the same one for several years, and it has been a picture of luxury, as its a real wool duvet. However, a small drawback is that is gets lumpy over time. A large drawback is that is it NOT easy to launder, and after years of babies feeding and changing on our bed, its getting pretty yucky. I found a beautiful heavy, warm, washable king sized blanket at Ikea with rave reviews. I also purchased a new duvet cover with matching pillowcases that I LOVE that is Brady approved. It’s floral. Eek! I love it. The blanket and cover was more than half of my bill at the end of the Ikea shop, but hopefully it takes us a good few years. Luckily, our pillows are a few years old and still amazing.
I bought some massive ziploc bags that hold a whole batch of granola bars.
I bought another duvet cover set for the kids. We have four kids currently using twin sized bedding, and we have seven fun sets. Changing bedding out is a bit frustrating when we have to do laundry before putting fresh bedding on, so ideally we’d have two per kid. And now we do! I bought a robot set.
I bought Wavy a Christmas gift 🙂 Her “want.”
Aaaaand I bought myself a pair of cute craft scissors, because my scissors that I use for knitting and crocheting barely cut anymore. So I didn’t feel TOO bad spending $4 on a fun new pair 🙂
I’m genuinely excited about pretty much everything I got. I mean, I’m neutral on the napkins, lol! But everything else 🙂 I feel productive and like I made good, informed decisions. Win!
It feels like things are coming together. Finally.