17 April 2001

My parents and my grandparents left this afternoon, after taking several things off my to do list. It was a really good visit. The "to do" list stuff was a result of our trip to Ikea yesterday.

I didn't want to go to Ikea. It's crowded and trendy, two things I really don't like. But we needed a CD tower. We weren't asking for much. It's not like we were finding CD towers we didn't like. We just weren't finding any, not even at Target. And getting one shipped from Nebraska Furniture Mart (don't you laugh -- it's huge) seemed unfeasible.

Well. We got a Sann, a few Snitsigs...but no Pöpli. Everyone makes fun of the Pöpli kids. And we also got a jar of cloudberry preserves for somewhere around $3. $3! For cloudberries! Do you know how good that is? And some Anna's orange thins, and some knäcke. You usually just can't get knäcke, and the Anna's were much cheaper than usual here. If only they'd had limpe (spelling questionable), the trip would have been complete. The actual household items we ended up buying were coasters (ours stick to the glass and then clatter down to the table or worse -- plus they're silver, and coasters should never need polishing -- so we got cork coasters for 95 cents), a little cord-organizer, some cable brackets for when we run the cable down to Timprov's room, three picture frames, and a CD tower. Mother also bought a chandelier. It's a lovely chandelier, and it was on a good sale, but she had to take it on the plane back to Nebraska, and she kept asking me, "Am I nuts to buy this chandelier?" She wasn't. It's a good chandelier.

So I guess it was a good Ikea experience. We're going to go back, I think, maybe for a few more picture frames (we got some lovely Chris Van Allsburg "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" prints at the Tim Fest in February, a whole portfolio full) and the moose. But I don't know that I'm enthusiastic about it. It's still too crowded and too trendy. But they're very good at what they do. Sometimes there's a reason something is trendy.

Oh, the moose. Yes. I forgot to mention the moose. They had a little stuffed moose, and I thought, "Hey, I'm not writing a book about one of those! Maybe when I'm done writing not-that-book, I shall get myself this cuddly little stuffed moose as a reward!" Mark pointed out to me (after we had left, I might add) that the moose might well be gone by the time I finish writing not-that-book. So I think we'll have to go back and get the moose and then use it for inspiration rather than reward. Mark says that he believes I'm going to finish Not The Moose Book eventually, so I might as well get it while it's there.

I'm with Mary Anne: this month is just whipping by. It's been basically a week since my folks got here, and I've gotten very little work done. I'm told that people get to take a week off from time to time. Amazing. What a concept. But now I have a page long list of stuff to do, with things like "finish novel" not included on the list. I think I can do it. I'm still optimistic. We had all kinds of good times together over the visit, and I'm happy with my daily life, too. Okay? More boring happy M'ris. There are worse things in the world.