Naas, IKEA, badger.. (Thursday)

Applegreen petrol station in Co. Kildare.

I had a bit of a panic morning, on Thursday.. Maaria and I had decided to do another IKEA trip, so that I would go to Naas first, she'd drive us to IKEA and back, and then I'd drive back home.

I was about to leave home around 8am or so, went to my car, pressed the Unlock button on the key - nothing. Crap, I thought, imagining the key battery had died. Oh well, I unlocked the door manually, got ready to go, was about to start the car - nothing. Only then, I realised that the key battery was grand, whereas the CAR battery was flat!

I had to wake up D, to come and give Esmeralda a jump start. He's had some trouble with his car battery, so there was just enough life in it, to actually get my car started!

Edit; I forgot to mention the mind fuck bit.. Esmeralda's lights had been on, which killed her battery. It's just that I hadn't used any lights, the last time I was driving! It must have been my handbag or something, that had caught the switch while I was taking my stuff out, and accidentally switched the lights on without me noticing. It's easy not to notice the lights during the day - especially if you haven't actually used them while driving, so there's no reason to check that they're switched off.

One of Esmeralda's back tyres needed air, but I decided to drive to Kilmacanogue first, to get the battery charged a little bit.. (Even then, I didn't dare to switch the engine off, just in case - I'd taken the jump cables with me, though, for some extra security..)

Then, the hilarious bit; before realising that the CAR battery was flat, I'd played with the keys, and I must have hit the Lock button last, so that my alarm was on, when I got the car started - well, this meant that the hazard lights were going on & off, without me being able to control them At All, and since I couldn't risk switching the engine off and taking the keys out, I couldn't kill the alarm, either - until turning from Roundwood Road to Djouce, just to find a quiet spot to stop and do it. LOL.. I kinda felt like driving a stolen car, or something.. =D Live and learn..

So, anyway.. I made it to Naas.. It was more or less rainy, up to Sally Gap.. There was a beautiful rainbow, and then it got very misty, for Blessington Road.. I think there was some drizzle, after that, but nothing like the heavenly runs, the last time I did that trip..

On our way to IKEA, Maaria stopped to get petrol, and I spotted interesting kindling bags at the Applegreen station (see the photo above).. I made a mental note to stop there, on my way home (as I needed petrol as well), and buy a bag for crafties..

IKEA Dublin, lunch with Maaria.

As usual, we started with some lunch. I really, really, really miss the lovely meatballs, but since they contain pork, I'm not having them anymore =/ Not that there was anything to complain about the salmon options I chose.. I absolutely love the 'marinated salmon' (on the right, above), but since I was really hungry and that's more like a starter, I also had the salmon and spinach lasagne, which was fantastic! Well, I actually had the lasagne first as I didn't want it to get cold.. I had some bread as well, and lovely organic lemonade. Mmmm..

Then, we were ready to do some shopping. I was on a very tight budget as I had to save money for a casting trip to Dublin, so I'd made a list of stuff that I really needed, but you can't go to IKEA without buying at least something that you hadn't planned to get.. I only spent an extra €10, though, and it was stuff for Christmas, so nothing too bad..

I got some goodies from the food market as well (pics of my shopping, later on..), and then I felt like getting a cold drink or something. I queued up to the junk foody place, which is next to the food market, and saw their milkshake ad - I decided to have a banana milkshake (as there was no vanilla option in the picture).

Mistake.

Instead of getting a milkshake, I got a small paper cup, a regular straw, and a coin-like token, with directions to the milkshake machine around the corner. I was like, WTF?!? Had I known that I'd have to get it myself, I wouldn't have bothered! I was done shopping, I just wanted something refreshing before walking out with my stuff, FFS..

It turned out that the machine did have a vanilla option as well, so I got that. It was too thick for the regular straw (hard work to get anything through that straw), it didn't taste nice, it was too sweet, and it wasn't even that cold. Complete disappointment. I was wishing I'd gone to the vending machine instead, or bought something cold from the food market..

Mental note: never ever get an IKEA milkshake again.

Three of Maaria's five cats =)

We had tea at Maaria's place, watched the first half of "Brave" (I loved it!), and she showed me a beautiful quilt she's working on, then I showed her some stuff online, which I'm not blogging about =P

After getting petrol and buying those 'craft materials, I took the same route home, which I took the last time (as in, slightly different from the route in the morning), and actually saw my first ever badger, on the way! It was between Blessington and Sally Gap, and I wanted to stop and see if it was OK, but there really wasn't anywhere to stop, nearby.. It was on the side of a small road, definitely alive, but not moving, either. I just thought that it was strange to see a badger during the day..?

2 x Kusiner, 2 x Dröna blue..

Vessla green & white lid, 2 x Ribba white, Framställa green.

Craft material =)

Lingonberry jam, herring, mustard & dill sauce.

I also bought a packet of sliced smoked reindeer (mmm..), which was hard to find, and I only knew to look for it as Teemu had recently bought some! If it wasn't so expensive (for me), I'd have bought more, but maybe I'll get some more, next time..