Today, we drove an hour and a half to a destination venue, parked blocks away, and fought crowds of oblivious idiots to get through the doors.

A sporting event? A concert? An amusement park?

Heck no! We went to little Sweden. Ikea. The trip was made bearable only by the cheap Swedish meatball lunch.

Shopping at Ikea is only sane midweek, first thing in the morning – on a weekend it’s a madhouse. People seem to plan family reunions at the store. What are they thinking? Are picnic sites or restaurants not available?

We’re now the proud owners of lots of new inexpensive flat-pack stuff, and my younger son is actually a speedy genius at assembling it all.

In other, more entertaining news, we also picked up a birthday present while we were out. (Bryan and I share a birthday – different year, same day.) This year, we chose this:

Rock Band for Wii

My problem is that I am seriously hand-eye uncoordinated and have never been able to play video games – but I’m enjoying being a spectator for the all-guy band on this one until I figure it out.

Tomorrow my family is coming over for a Labor Day/birthday barbecue – I’m looking forward to the down time!