I feel a craft day coming on...

My brother Mark got me some heavy duty thread for free the other day:

And then I had a dream about doing something like this:

Yes. I do dream in good ideas.

StuffMart...Free Couch Giveaway!

Have you ever seen the Veggie Tale of Madame Blueberry? If not, I highly recommend it, even as a 22-year-old. This lesson is not just for kids, folks!

Before our IKEA trip, we made sure to check out this highly recommended consignment shop ("shop" is understatement, "warehouse" may be more appropriate) called Stuff, Etc. Let me just say, it was amazing. There was so much...stuff.

The entire basement was devoted to furniture, where we found a beautiful wingback chair for a great price and we also found two, completely different loveseats. We liked them both, and they were both only $50 each. We considered just getting one, but well, we got caught up in the moment. An impulse buy.

I've lived in this blessed country all my life, and I'm not immune to the defects we Americans have. We are a people who cannot live without instant gratification.

After spending $50 on a loveseat we're not even going to use, it made me consider how many times I use the following line, "Oh, and this was just an impulse buy." How much of our money is wasted on things I think I need in that one tiny window of emotional attachment? I don't even want to know.

And how fortunate am I that I have money in my bank account to afford such impulse buys, especially compared to rest of the world?

We are certainly blessed, and honestly, we tend to be on the conservative side when it comes to our finances. But we can easily convince ourselves that we need much more than we do.

That said, does anyone want a free couch?

IKEA & The Perfect Couch

Isn't she beautiful?

Bonus: The couch is comfortable too!

We went to IKEA on the Fourth of July and we found so many perfect things for our new home. We had a long list of things we needed, including a desk for each of us, and a bookshelf, among other things. Wanna see what we picked out? I thought so! I'll take pictures of out actual home soon, but there are still some things I want to finish up before the reveal on the world wide web.

First, the couch story.

We actually weren't planning on getting a couch from IKEA. We had just visited this consignment store in Iowa City called "Stuff, Etc." and we found two really fun loveseats (more on that in the next post). Originally, I was thinking our living room was small enough for two loveseats rather than couches, but once we got them inside, the one looked too small against our wall. I was slightly bummed, but we also decided it was for the best. So we were looking for a couch, but not necessarily from IKEA.

But then, we saw the couch, it was with the 50 other couches on display at IKEA. But we knew, this was a great couch. (Ok, so I'm over-dramatizing a bit) But, really, I feel in love with it. It was comfortable (not all IKEA couches are super comfortable), it was fun, it was stylish, and it was not super expensive. Mostly, it was the perfect size for our living room and for welcoming people into our home and having people over!

On the downside, they had just sold out.

They usually have a lot in stock, and they were going to get a big shipment in tomorrow. But we had already driven 4 hours to get there-to drive another 12 in the next 24 hours seemed disgusting but I was completely ready to do it for this couch.

However, the wonderful employee, Andrew, who was helping us suggested that we simply drive 24 miles north to the OTHER IKEA in Illinois. Bryan couldn't believe that there were two so close to each other. Andrew checked with the other store to make sure they had the couch and cover we wanted in stock and sent us on our way!

Once we got there, I quickly planted myself on the two boxes that held the last couch that was in stock until Bryan got a cart to push it away on-we got our couch!

If you endured that not-so-exciting story (sorry, it was more fun for me, and didn't translate well on paper), you deserve some pictures of the other things we picked out at IKEA. Without further ado: