Although we had the vast majority of our shopping done before today, we had not yet picked up the sand for the sandbox we had a feeling Santa would drop on his way by our place.

So down to Lowe's around 9am, expecting crowds despite the early hour. Not the case, however. No one around. No lines, no frantic shoppers. Surprised us both.

Got the sand, and encouraged by the lack of crowds, drove over to Ikea to look at various things, especially something for baby's room to hold stuffed animals.

For you see, we're getting a bit tight on space in the house for many reasons, but figured we could kill a few birds with different stones and make some more space with slight re-arrangements.

Our pile of games has been growing down onto our living room carpet. That's not only eating floor space, but the brightly colored boxes with many small pieces are likely to soon be of interest to Kelley. Better to forestall that problem and get them out of reach.

We decided, therefore, to put them up on the hallway shelf, but it was full of plush animals. We figured Kelley might like them so at Ikea we bought a cabinet-shelf unit for her room. We'll put some on the shelves but most down inside the doors for her to enjoy. She likes opening and closing cabinet doors a great deal so this should be an ideal solution. Plus, her room has an entire blank wall where the cabinet can go.

The height of the hallway shelf makes the games harder to reach – and come the earthquake it won't be a pretty sight – but better than the baby choking on chits.

Kelley had a great time in the Ikea store! Not even lines there, which was stunning, as they are usually quite crowded even on regular days. The store was so empty we let Kelley run around and even played chase with her – a good way to wear her out for Christmas Eve. :-)