After a frustrating two weeks with a lingering chest cold/cough, I?m finally feeling good enough to get back into writing mode. This past weekend, however, was supposed to be a time to just rest and recover, and keep myself distracted with little projects that didn?t require much energy, physically or mentally.
Enter IKEA.
A few ago Liz and I went to the IKEA out in Hicksville, and we picked out some pretty nice bookcases and outdoor furniture for our terrace. After a little bit of a dAfter a frustrating two weeks with a lingering chest cold/cough, I?m finally feeling good enough to get back into writing mode. This past weekend, however, was supposed to be a time to just rest and recover, and keep myself distracted with little projects that didn?t require much energy, physically or mentally.
Enter IKEA.
A few ago Liz and I went to the IKEA out in Hicksville, and we picked out some pretty nice bookcases and outdoor furniture for our terrace. After a little bit of a delivery snafu (a story for another day), we had these monster size boxes in our apartment for a bit of do-it-yourself assembly.
So given that I was home last weekend, had time on my hands and needed something to do, I figured this would be the perfect time to get our new furniture together.
Well, you know what they say about best laid plans.
Don?t get me wrong, IKEA is great, in that you can get some really nice stuff at a really nice price. But for all the ease you?re supposed have with those Allan keys …
Turns out that the bookcases we got had like 10 little pieces that required Allan keys?and like 65 that needed a screwdriver! And beyond that, the little pieces were hard, sharp plastic that tore up my fingertips, and the screws themselves weren?t just easy-to-screw-them-in screws. These were need-to-be-hunched-over-in-Twister-like-positions screws that you have to really dig into to get them in place. Multiply this by three, since we?ve put together three bookcases so far; the first two I did by myself, the last one Liz helped me with. So that?s about 200 screws!
Needless to say, my hands are now ripped to shreds with blisters, welts and scratches. And of course there were a few left over pieces, and of course we put the doors on the bookcase incorrectly, had to unscrew all the hinges and then do it all over again?after we?d already lifted the giant bookcase up and wedged it into the corner.
So much for a quiet weekend. I was sweating, struggling, cursing and grunting! Liz was getting annoyed at me; I was getting annoyed at Liz, and all along we were really just annoyed with these friggin bookcases that were SUPPOSED TO BE EASY!
And there?s still one more bookcase to go! After like 10 hours?and countless pulled muscles?over two days, we just ran out of steam. So I?m off to Home Depot this week to buy a super-powered electric screwdriver before I tackle that last bookcase. I don?t think my hands?or patience?can take it.
But at least my energy?s returning and I?m clacking at the keys again. I hated being away this long, but sometimes these things happen.
It?s good to be back.
