IKEA meatballs, my secret weapon

No, this has nothing to do with a training advantage gained by eating pre formed dog food carefully congealed in brown ooze with a compliment of ligonberry sauce on the side. I did manage a speedy 9 miles on the treadmill followed by a rigorous weight routine before the dreaded IKEA meal. Try saying that with a mouth full of burgoo. My muscles seem to have forgotten what weights are all about, and I can barely raise my arms today, but I digress. It is MN Tridaddy's birthday weekend which means he pretty much is king for the days and gets to do whatever he wants. Yes men, whatever he wants, within reason. (Within reason being a wife's favorite caveat) At any rate, he wanted to eat at IKEA Saturday night. It was a rare Saturday night with the kids, so off we went. I think he holds to the mistaken belief that IKEA is a cheap dinner with the Tribe. Granted, we feed a family of six for $12.52 and there is the promise of an hour's free child care afterward, but here is the dirty little secret: those 15 meatballs leaves him wanting to take a walk, which inevitably leads to the maze of housewares which is a marketing marvel. By the time we reach the check out point, I've accumulated a yellow bag full of fairly pointless but absolutely essential doo dads. I've also remodeled the living room 7 times over and have taken the dimensions for a new bedroom. Now, granted, I think ninety percent of IKEA is prefabricated crap, but I buy and scheme in spite of myself. I know where to shop for a higher level of quality and thus, the $12.52 dinner now costs $1765.32. Which is no small price for being made to consume these.One saving grace, having been raised in the southwest, I know the value of a bottle of sauce. The great tragedy in scadanavian food is that it actually has the ability to un do Frank's Hot Sauce. By undo, I mean a sauce generally capable of peeling the skin from your tongue is reduced to a whimpering ketchup when engulfed by swedish gravy. If only their neutrality could have been so pervasive in WWII.

We have "One last Tri" tomorrow, which is actually a good excuse to exercise early and swill beer and bar b que for the balance of the day with the local tri club. It is going to be 95 here tomorrow, so a lake is sounding pretty decent. Have a great Labor Day to all.