Great Swedish Consumers

Every once in a while we go on a shopping spree and Arlene says to whomever is listening, “Today we were the great American consumers.” Today it was more like the great Swedish consumers. Yes, fans, we’ve been to Ikea. We were looking in particular for lamps and a TV stand for the house in Maine, plus anything else that’s helpless.

The place is HUGE. Both floors are laid out in a labyrinth to get you to go through the whole works, presumably buying stuff at every turn. We wrote down item names of a half-dozen things on the top floor and picked five of them, plus lots and lots more, on the bottom floor.

We came home, four hours and a plate of Swedish meatballs later, with a TV stand, a floor lamp, a table lamp, an Italian salad dressing kit (salt, pepper, vinegar, oil – every restaurant table in Italy seemed to have them), wooden coathangers, a lampshade, and smaller items too numerous to mention. When the cashier told us the total, I just said, “Holy smokes, that’s a lot of stuff for that money, and I saw you ring up the big items so I know we’re not ripping you off.” I thought that all the little items were going to add up, but they just didn’t add up to much.