Tuesday 13 January 2015

Feeling Scandinavian










I do so envy those bloggers who plan their posts, and have clear ideas about what they are going to write about, and who have a feel, a style to their blogs, who have interesting series' and who just generally make me want to visit again and again.  I always think I'd like to be like that, but all too often I turn up here without a clue about what I'm going to ramble on about.

I stare out of the window, waiting for inspiration to strike.  Not much out there to inspire me.  A leaden sky, a bare garden, a reminder of things that need to be done out there.  I look at the photos I have on the camera.  Sometimes just a single solitary carrot, sometimes a little domestic hiccup, rarely anything hugely exciting.  I have notebooks.  Sometimes I even have ideas.  I need to concentrate a bit more on the whole transference of ideas to notebook before they evaporate into the sound and fury of the day.

I went to Ikea this morning.  That could have something to do with the lightly numb feeling in my brain.  What do they do to people in there?  After a full circuit of the showroom I got confused and somehow found myself on another circuit of the showroom.  It took me a while to realise it.  I did several confused mini-circuits within the big circuit.  I went to the shop bit and found myself fingering all sorts of things I hadn't even realised I needed.  I couldn't find any of the things on my list.  After a while I didn't even care.  I bought a storage box to go under the bed.  I'd measured everything on my list down to the last centimetre, except the height of the storage box.  Turns out it's about a centimetre too tall.  I picked out the bookcase that I wanted, which, for a small bookcase, was astonishingly heavy.  I lost the car.  This is because they label the car park A, B, C, D, E and then they start again with A.  What's wrong with the rest of the alphabet???  I was in yellow C, I should have been in red C.  While I'd been in Ikea, the motorway was closed.  It took me forever to get home.  I now have a flatpack to put together in a really tight space.  This could possibly be why I'm here instead, but to be honest I'm almost out of complete drivel.  What's your time estimate for putting together a small bookcase?  What's your time estimate for me putting together a small bookcase?

Later I shall watch an episode of The Killing, just to keep in with the Scandinavian theme.  The knitwear's good, and the tension is building.  I'm almost certain I know who did it.

You will note I have surpassed myself today by having photos that have absolutely nothing to do with the words.  Next time I shall try harder.  Promise.

58 comments:

  1. Ah...love coming here CJ because you are you and your photos here are fantastic!!! You had me rolling about ikea....I get very turned around in there and confused as to what it is I am looking for most times!!! Wishing you a lovely week friend!! Good luck with the bookcase! Nicole xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear, I know that feeling - all of those feelings!! I bought a whole load of plastic containers to get my kitchen cupboards organised once, they were all just about an inch too big!! Grrr!!! As for the bookcase, I reckon a couple of hours, which isn't to say it will take ages, but allow a couple of hours and then you wont get stressed. Their stuff is pretty straightforward to put together - she says hopefully! The pictures were lovely to see, and didn't matter at all that the words were different! xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'd much rather see your wonderful outdoorsy photos than a photo of Ikea, which it has to be said, I hate with a passion, purely for the reason you state, they let you in and then won't let you out again for hours. Good luck with the bookcase, I leave the building of furniture to Mick.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I put up with the hell of IKEA because the design is so good and it has saved me so much money over the years. Patience is a virtue when visiting there, also good sturdy shoes and try and devote a day to it. Follow the arrows, dont swim against the tide and stop for lunch and coffee.
    Very easy to put together as long as you lay all the pieces out and check them and follow the picture instructions in the order in which they are printed. Folk dive in in a rush and thats when things go wrong......good luck !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ikea tends to have that effect on me too! L and I spent a merry hour putting together a bookcase for her room ...... then another hour undoing it and re-positioning it all the right way round! Love the llama/alpaca photo - I never can tell the difference but it's very cute. Good luck with those instructions! x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey CJ,
    Dam IKEA and it's clever one way system. My posts are rarely planned. I do like the series that I've written for, because it makes me have to focus on the task in hand rather than process on the page. Is it January slump perhaps? I know that I'm struggling with it a little. I'd love to see that walled garden later in the year. Plot number 10 is now a vision in plastic and wooden pallets. Apart from a small section to be dug over. Again. And I have a water butt. But no shed. The perimeter fence has been fixed, but the gate is still hanging off. See? Random. I couldn't think of anyone else who would be remotely interested in my bare expanse of council land than you.
    Have a good week, my fellow random accomplice.
    Leanne xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't plan many posts. Sometimes I have an idea for two or three posts at a time but never more than that. I think your blog is interesting and it seems like a snapshot of your life. That's my favorite type of blog, personally. I enjoy reading the thoughts of more frequent IKEA shoppers than I am. I can imagine that if I went there often, and needed to find specific things instead of wandering around with my mouth hanging open, grabbing random, pretty things as I have so far on my visits, I'd been less enraptured with the place too. I hope you're having a good week, CJ.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brilliant post CJ, how often do I feel like that? I remember once taking daughter to a weekend event in Sheffield and the only place to go to for a break was Meadowhall just opposite, we walked in via Debenhams and we could not get out again, we wandered round and round, there was no sign for the exit, and this happened on the Sat and then on the Sun - it was irritating but funny at the same time!
    And actually posts with no plan have to work for me frequently, yours made me laugh today - thank you!
    Caz xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. You don't need to worry about planning a post because you write beautifully and therefore it is always a pleasure to visit you and read what you've been up to. Furniture assemblage and me do not go together very well- I am sure you will be faster, neater and generally better at it :o) xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your writing is so entertaining, mainly cos all the while I'm nodding and identifying with well known feelings. If it makes you feel any better, I never plan my blogs, and I much prefer blogs that have a certain spontaneity about them, a true reflection of normal life. Just lately, I've been a feeling a bit flat about all the over-styled styling photos on IG, they are just not giving me a whole lot of joy I realised today. In short- please keep being yourself and blogging as comes naturally, it's a true pleasure to visit, read, absorb and connect with you just the way you are :)xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. CJ I have always thought your style and your voice is very distinct. It is definitely the reason I come back, because we get such a lovely slice of you here! I love the picture of the boy in the tree, in the first one, he's almost camouflaged, and then he emerges. He's part of your natural habitat! Anyhow, spontaneous style or not, photos that are specifically related to your writing or not, your voice comes through and it's great. You don't need to do what others do, especially if you are churning out such quality.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ikea. It should be renamed the tenth circle of hell. If Dante were alive he'd condemn the house proud and the compulsively tidy to spend eternity there in a never ending circle of storage and stored...,

    I love the creative dissonance between the photos and the writing. And I love unplanned posts. This month I've actually set myself a rhythm of posts, but my bet is it will probably last a month before I'm rambling again!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ha I wish I could plan a series of posts. I think I end up waffling. Oh dear, we have a trip o Ikea planned for march. I imagine there is much planning to be done before hand! Good luck with your bookcase. x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh! And I meant to say if you want scandi without the knitwear and with a healthy dose of interior harmonics, I love Borgen. I got all three series for Christmas and sometime soon, I'm settling down to watch them in order. Politics and Ikea flatware were made for each other.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But what is it with Birgitte's house in the first two series? Does the kitchen really lead straight into the bedroom?!

      Delete
  16. Snap!! I too went to Ikea and bought an under bed box!!! I didn't park in the car park though!! Love a random post xx

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'll have been blogging ten years next month and I still find that I'm either sit here twiddling my thumbs wondering what to write or I've got a handful of draft posts and can't choose which one to post!
    That dreaded four lettered word Ikea makes me shudder as everyone seems to have tales of woe to tell after visiting one of the stores.
    I like the photos, especially the walled garden ones. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love your photos and words even if they don't match!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh CJ, you're perfect just the way you are. You've got a wonderful, wry sense of humor that just gives me and my husband (as I hope you know you're a favorite blogger of his) a LOT of enjoyment. I can totally relate on almost everything you wrote about.. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants blogger. And IKEA strikes me the same way, the first time I went I followed the crowd up to the 2nd floor where all the room vignettes were, and it took me FOREVER to find the Marketplace where you can actually buy things... PLUS.. I seemed to be forever going the wrong way and getting lost. But I do love the kitchenware area and the candle part. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. That's a rather lovely witch hazel. And llama. Hopefully one is not within reach of the other.
    I have to confess I've never been to Ikea, like Flighty I've heard too many stories of woe. Apart from the meatballs of course!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I like random and the fact that the photos have nothing to do with the words :-)

    "Now let me tell of a shop that fills me with dread,
    It’s blue and it’s yellow but I always see red
    It’s a furniture store that makes me want to shout
    Cos once you’ve entered, you can’t find your way out!
    CHORUS -
    That’s why I fear Ikea I won’t go there again I don’t want a bookcase called Billy Or a table called Sven"

    Lyrics from "I fear IKEA" by the Lancashire Hot Pots. Best of luck with the assembly bit xx





    ReplyDelete
  22. But if you'd planned your posts then we wouldn't have heard about your trip to Ikea, which makes us all inhale deeply as we remember our own adventures trying to get to where we want. You made me smile.Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ha ha ha, brilliant post, I love it! And isn't that witch hazel a glorious yellow? What a cheery combo. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  24. Such a great post :) made me smile on a winters day
    Clare x

    ReplyDelete
  25. Don't you dare change! I love the variety of your blog and the naturalness of it. Just how a mother of a growing family should be :-) As to your Ikea trip, I shivered thinking about the inevitable going up and down the aisles and the brain just turning to mush! Enjoy the rest of the week and keep warm xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. I am exactly the same. The light is rubbish and nothing much going on and does anyone really care what I made for tea. And then I read a post like yours and it makes me realize it's not just me :)
    Jillxo

    ReplyDelete
  27. You know what's funny? I was thinking just the other day how I wish I had a theme to my blog like you! Each of your posts has a certain "CJ" feel to them. Even though the subject matter may vary, I always feel like I'm sitting with you enjoying some tea or walking through the hills with you as you tell me about your day. I'm really struggling right now with finding inspiration and figuring out what I want to write about. I worry about posting the seemingly mundane events of my day, but then again, those are the posts I love best from other bloggers. It's nice to walk around with someone else's thoughts. Never worry that your post isn't right--I always enjoy reading them:) Oh, and we just got an Ikea near me. I haven't been yet. I'm waiting for all the fuss to die down, but maybe that will never happen:) Hope you're having a wonderful day, CJ!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love your photos and your amusing true life stories it doesn't matter that they don't match! It's usually a image that inspires me to write a post! Sarah x

    ReplyDelete
  29. I love Ikea and often get lost in there. It always makes me feel like I'm not doing enough with the space that I have! And also, I love THe Killing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You and I seem to be in the minority in our love of Ikea, but what would we do without it? Who hasn't got at least 3 pieces of furniture from there!

      Delete
  30. Don't change a thing about your blogging because it's so much fun to read and to look at! It always makes me smile and brings so much recognation. Have a good week, Anita xx

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love your blog posts. Your photos are great. The donkey's expression is priceless and snow drops out already. Ours are showing white but only just over 2" tall as yet. Well I have only ever once been to Ikea and that was 20 years ago when I took my daughter to buy a few things for university. There is now one nearer to us in the centre of Coventry which I have been intending to visit by bus ( free bus pass as I'm a Senior Citizen!). Just to look at bed linens but still not done that yet. However, I do remember getting quite confused all those years ago, feeling lost. Anyway, continue your blogs as they are, they are delightful.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I love your blog because it is so very real and I often recognise myself in your posts, or remember long forgotten things that are worthwhile remembering. Thank you for that and don't change a thing! I am an Ikea veteran and would find my way around their showrooms blindfolded if I had to.... this is probably a rather sad admission but there you go. Have a lovely random CJ kind of week. x

    ReplyDelete
  33. Your posts are always interesting as you can tell from the number of comments - The photos are great too especially the alpaca. I once lost out car in a huge car park - you search round and round and start ti be convinced that it has been stolen and then find that you are in the wrong section.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Sometimes I haven't a clue what to write about either and have no photos. You still manage to write a very interesting, enjoyable post even when you think you have nothing to say!

    ReplyDelete
  35. There is nothing ordinary about your posts dear C.J. I enjoy coming here to read your latest news, your writing is very interesting and your photographs are beautiful. I don't always comment but I do visit often.
    xoxoxo ♡

    ReplyDelete
  36. I blog just like you, often not a clue as to what to write, and then I think does anyone really want to read this dribble? IKEA, while a brilliant store makes me soooooo tired. You go for something simple and feel you need to take the rest of the day off. I am always perplexed about how to handle the checkout line. Well here is some excitement, I get to take Max to the vet, before picking up Little Buddy from school and then going to work, see my life is fascinating!
    Hugs,
    Meredith

    ReplyDelete
  37. I love your blog! Please don't feel like you have to have a plan for your posts. As for IKEA, I have found myself miserably lost in that store more than once. I've also found myself discovering lots of things I hadn't realized I needed. :-)

    Good luck with the bookcase construction. My tip is to Google and find a Youtube video showing you how it goes together. It's worth the extra five or six minutes it will take you to watch it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I've only been to IKEA once, when visiting my daughter in the city, and the whole time I kept asking "Why would anyone buy that?" and "What on earth would you do with this?"
    Only thing I bought was an ironing board cover - and it didn't fit the ironing board when I got it home!
    Guess I'm not one for mass merchants!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Haha if it was me putting any flat pack furniture together it would take days! Not my forte!! loving the pictures as always :)

    ReplyDelete
  40. Oh I used to love going to Ikea when I was young and could walk around no problem. These days it is just tiring though certainly can be entertaining. The last time I put together a bookcase it was from an Ikea type place. It was a 6 ft. high bookcase and it took me several hours doing it all alone. I don't think I could accomplish it now but a shorter bookcase should be easier to handle. The scenery in your photos looks lovely. Are these photos from right now or from an earlier time because it looks like Spring? Have a great rest of your week.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hehe, we don't have an Ikea near us but they started delivering here a few years back. Takes the pain out of it all together! Apart from having to wait in for the delivery of course.

    ReplyDelete
  42. You made me laugh, thank you. Don't plan your posts, I love your spontaneity.

    You need an IKEA strategy. Organisation is key; learn the route and play them at their own game. I know all the tricks and short cuts and can be in and out in under an hour, providing I go alone. If I go with John obviously it all goes to hell and he gas to be pacified with hotdogs and ice cream at the end. I've made myself sound mental, haven't I? Xx

    ReplyDelete
  43. Yours is a lovely, ordinarylife, funny and clever blog. You make me smile every time. Keep it like it is please. And stay away from Ikea!! x

    ReplyDelete
  44. I loved this post CJ. It brought a big smile to my face especially your experience in IKEA - been there done that! I'm looking after my husband following knee replacement surgery and it brightened us both up. Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Thanks for making me smile!

    ReplyDelete
  46. I love your posts CJ.. I rarely plan posts and can go weeks without posting.. which I appear to have done now! oops! I don't have an Ikea near me... am I missing out.. Hmmm ?!?!? Lovely photos by the way :o) xx

    ReplyDelete
  47. Okay, so there is clearly an echo in here, but it's gotta be said again, just keep doing what you do, it's ace! The best blog posts are the ones where you wish you'd been there because you know you'd have had the best time and giggled a lot. Most of your posts feel like that to me. I'm a seat of the pants blogger almost every time but I don't have your lightness of touch and oh how I wish I did.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I feel the way you do. I never really know what I am going to share. There are so many times I write a post and think that's rubbish and delete it. I am such a private person and I find it really hard because of getting hurt in the past about what to share with others. It makes blogging so very hard. you blog is great you take amazing photos.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I'm in need of a bookcase myself. Dare I step foot in Ikea? I don't know. Somehow I think it will just be less of a headache to contract it myself! I enjoy all of your pictures, related to the post or not. I hope the rest of your week has been going well.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Nothing wrong with a random ramble :) love the snowdrops, means spring is on the way!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Did you know that there are secret short cuts round IKEA?These are unmarked doors used by staff. You can go through doors that by-pass whole chunks of the floor. http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/img/local_store_info/richmond/IKEA_RICHMOND_DIYTOUR_BOOKLET.pdf
    This is a map for the shortcuts in Richmond.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Love that you watch The Killing for the knitwear, CJ. I haven't been aware of that programme until now so that's brightened my day already :) ! Can I say that I love Ikea? I get so inspired by the styling of their room settings - but I've been going for years, since my son was little, so I'm pretty good at getting in and out and also know the least busy times to go. In, Out, Home. And you know I love reading your blog as well, CJ - I envy you the breadth of what you can write about. Having started my blog as means to record the gardening progress here, I feel I have to stick to the subject, more or less. So I have a whole secret existence that no-one knows about - that makes it sound so glamorous, hahaha, but really my life is about cooking, cleaning, small children, outdoor adventures, teenager and gardening dreams. Have a great weekend, Caro xxx

    ReplyDelete
  53. blog style. I'd like that. in fact I'd settle for any kind of style!

    love the photos. what is it with boys and trees? mine is currently banned from climbing them after he got stuck and needed assistance to get down.........

    ReplyDelete
  54. IKEA uses really heavy MDF. Takes a ton of that nasty glue to hold all the sawdust together. I know because I lusted after one I saw on Posy's blog, but settled for a vintage one that weighted far less that 67 pounds. I found it at a second hand shop for much less money.

    ReplyDelete
  55. I love your posting style- it's like reading what your mind is thinking as it thinks. You can't plan that. It gives your blog a very personal diary feel
    Miss Tulip x
    The Thrifty Magpies Nest

    ReplyDelete