Just Another Great Reason to Love IKEA

We were leisurely strolling through Walmart, looking for lunch snacks and baby food, and then we heard it: "Downpour out there." If you live anywhere but the desert this may not be shocking, but in the desert, at 10:30 am, you never hear this. And I was caught completely unprepared--no umbrella, Hyrum and Eve (buckled into her carseat in her sleeveless dress) in tow, brand-new leather bag on my shoulder. As we checked out, I hoped that by the time we got outside the rain would be letting up a little. I was wrong.

When we got to the exit, rain was coming down in sheets, water was rushing through the parking lot, and customers were standing in the shelter of the doorway, puzzling out their options. You never know how long a storm like this will last in AZ--isolated, yes; fast-moving, yes; short, well?
I bent down to Hyrum, explained how hard it was raining, and told him we were gonna make a break for it. I couldn't really shelter Evie more than just pulling her canopy down as far as it could go. Hyrum curled into a ball under the toddler seat. I covered my precious bag with a 30-pack of chips and opened People magazine to the middle, attempting to cover my head. We waded slowly dashed to the Suburban and Evie started screaming--instead of shelter, the canopy had acted like a rain gutter, funneling water into her face. Poor girl!

The kids were safely in the car and I began unloading the cart. We were thirty minutes from home, and this trip had been spurred by a need for IKEA. I wasn't about to abandon my plans, so I MacGyvered it.

Those wondrous blue bags--big enough to comfortably shelter me and Evie. Handles for Hyrum to hold one over his head as well. This time we dawdled in the rain, enjoying the puddles and splashes. Hyrum added: "This is awesome!"

The trip wasn't a total bust--even though Hyrum refused to stay in Smaland, he insisted that he wasn't bored at all and stayed by me in the store, and I replaced my horribly cracked, broken, kid-stacked plates and bowls for $24.99.

I had two gut feelings before I left on errands:
1. You shouldn't do your hair today.
2. You need to bring the camera.

I didn't listen to either one.
Wish I'd had a ball cap.