Guess where I’ve been?

Do the meatballs give it away?

Little did I realise when I woke up yesterday morning that I would be spending my Tuesday evening at IKEA Tempe.

After a few years of living in share houses, the youngest is moving into a place on her own and she needs … lots of stuff.

She called to see if I’d like to go to IKEA with her on my lunch break. Not possible on so many levels, ranging from me being in the office to a trip to IKEA being at least a three-hour round trip.

Like her mother, the youngest has no patience. When she decides she wants something she must get it straight away. She’d discovered the only place she could obtain the vacuum cleaner, toaster oven and portable hot plate she wanted was at an electrical store in Campbelltown.

So she was planning a trip to Western Sydney and wanted to round out her journey in Tempe.

(She marvelled to me that everyone else collecting electrical goods at the store just had them deposited at their feet by the staff, but three blokes helped carry her three purchases to her car … )

Eager to please, I offered a plan B: dinner and late-night shopping at IKEA. I bolted home after work, walked the dogs around the block and fed them, jumped in the car, got lost in Alexandria and eventually made it to IKEA.

We ate meatballs and mash together, then trawled around the store grabbing everything from wooden spoons to a rocking chair.

(Her new place isn’t big enough for a couch, so she’s chosen the rocking chair as her curl-up option.)

I was so exhausted by the end of it all that I forgot to put my pin into the machine after scanning my credit card and wandered off into the night before being chased by a shop assistant.

Oooops.

Thankfully I didn’t get lost on the way home, then I walked the dogs again and crashed in bed.

There were so many things I needed to get done last night that didn’t get done.

Ah, well, that’s the price you pay for maternal love.

Thankfully my ex is handling the big move. I dodged a bullet on that one. Give me IKEA any day!

Song of the day: Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue “Kids”