Not without my meatballs

Am I the only one who finds IKEA completely exhausting and overwhelming?
My stamina on my best day is not up to the all day commitment that is the swedish Haven of....well everything. Today was not one of my best days.
We are remodeling our house. Yay! We have already had it painted and are now moving on to built-in cabinets in the living room, among many other things.
To make this "easier" on ourselves we thought we could try some of the DIY hacks that use IKEA cabinets as their frame and base and just fancy them up to look built in. So off we go with both kids to the worst place to take kids to.
Another important point- my husband and I are not shoppers. We both despise wasting time shopping. We don't need/ want/ like "stuff" (for real,  no one believes me, but I love empty shelves and drawers and I truly do not understand chachkes or knick knacks. They are a mystery to me. Why do you have stuff you don't use that just sits there collecting dust? Yes it looks pretty at first, but scientifically we no longer see the things in our house after a while.... But I digress). Shopping also just so boring and frustrating. But, for some reason we were both excited about this adventure. Not for long!
Many moons, measurements, reprimands and time-outs (who knew B could fit in a dresser drawer?) later we called it quits and headed for the cafe for our requisite swedish meatballs reward.
Standing in line I abruptly realized I needed to get home quickly because my body was rapidly

failing on me. And yes it happens that fast.
What does that mean exactly you ask?
Well, let me tell you!
It starts as an almost tingling all over my body. Not a pleasant tingling but an ominous one that threatens things to come. My brain begins to get extremely overwhelmed with activity around me and can't process things very quickly. Hello crowded IKEA cafe with two small children!
I told M, my hubby, that I needed to go home. Well versed in this sudden change of mood and direction he asks "do we need to leave the meatballs and leave now, or do you want to try to go sit and I'll finish up getting the food?" (It is cafeteria style).
I love that man. For so many reasons but this intuitive, knows exactly what's going on and what choices to give me moment reinforces it yet again.
"No. I want my meatballs. I walked all around IKEA. I deserve meatballs. I'll get us a table."
The 4 yr old and I wandered with him looking for a table and guiding me holding my hand.
When our meal was over I walked like a zombie around the winding path that is the "exit" from this giant warehouse full of everything you could ever want. I couldn't correct (yell at) my kids, I couldn't focus on anything and I was concentrating so hard on putting one foot in front of the other that I tuned out the world around me. I vaguely glanced at the curtains "oh I wanted to look at curtains", I strolled past rugs "oh M mentioned he wanted to look at rugs. Wish I could do that", "it's a Shame I can't look at picture frames and maybe new bowls"..... Flitted through my head as I repeated "left foot, right foot". My body melted into the passenger seat of my car, my ability to drive on hiatus for now, and I grabbed my medicine bag. I don't remember much after that, but I can almost guarantee it involved me crawling into bed.

And in the end we decided not to buy pre made IKEA cabinets and to go completely custom from scratch.