Assembly

Over this past week, I have been doing a lot of assembling.  Last Wednesday, I took the children to Ikea to look for some bins and came away with three pieces of furniture for Brandt's room.  I got him a new bookshelf, a dresser, and a bin holder for his closet.  However, like all furniture one buys at Ikea, I had to put them all together.  I did the dresser over two days with some help with the drawers from Brandt, Crew, and Griffin.  Kent helped me with the bookshelf, but as we stood it up, two of the joiners were visible when they shouldn't have been.  We had a piece on backwards.  Grrr.  Kent said, "It won't bother me."  It was certainly going to bother me, however, every time I went in Brandt's room, so we took bits apart and were able to fix it fairly easily.

The bins holder came together super easily and I am absolutely delighted with how Brandt's room looks.  The black furniture makes his already bright green walls pop.  

I made Brandt's bedspread before we moved in, and three weeks ago I finally got his curtains made.

I bought the blackout curtains, but made the valances from one of the fabrics in the bedspread.

The print is bright cars on black background.

The dresser is a bit longer than I had hoped, but the drawers slide easily.

I need to hang the picture.

This bookshelf fits perfectly.

These are the bins for Brandt's closet.

Obviously, the closet needs help.

In addition to these three pieces of furniture, last Friday we also got our outdoor play equipment.  The children wanted to know when they could play on it, and as it arrived in four boxes, my response was, " A week from next Thursday."

Obviously, they were not going to wait that long, so I launched right in.  On Friday, I opened all the boxes and sorted all the pieces.  There must have been 137 pieces of lumber and 137,000 pieces of hardware.  I determined what hardware went with what steps, and on Saturday Kent and I launched in with help from Mikayla in the morning and Christopher in the afternoon.  

 

Parts waiting for assembly.

Kent at the beginning.

Unfortunately, I didn't read the instructions as closely as I should have, 

and before too long, we had to undo several pieces and switch them around.

Christopher helping Kent.

Griffin, Brandt, and Crew already playing.

This is where we left off on Saturday, with the basic structure finished.

On Sunday evening Kent asked what I had planned for Monday.  After my regular volunteering gig in Brandt's class and in the library, I was intending on working on the play equipment.  Kent asked, "Who are you going to have help you?"  

"Davin Mecham," I replied.  Davin is in Brandt's class.  He is six.  But he has been keen on helping and on Friday spent quite a bit of time helping me sort pieces of wood.  I know he really wanted to help, so I figured I would put him to work.  Kent suggested a friend who does not work, and so David Davies came to help in the afternoon.  Kent also came home early and by the time we finished working at 6:30pm (I had begun in earnest at 1:00pm), the whole structure was complete with the exception of the swings and the slide. The children were so delighted and wanted to know if they could sleep in it.  By the time we finished, my hands were sore from squeezing the drill and I was a bit grouchy because I hadn't had enough to eat.  But hooray for excellent progresss!

Kent and I are putting on the roof.  

I love being a woman with power tools.

David Davies is offering support and reading the instructions, fetching wood and proffering tools.

On Tuesday afternoon, I launched in again.  I put together the swing arm, with a little help from Davin who stopped by, and from Mikayla, who also came over to help steady the whole addition while I screwed it in.  Kent's mom was also here for a while, and she offered her help.  As she is somewhat unsteady on her feet, I thanked her for her willingness but excused her from any actual work.  Before the afternoon had elapsed, we had swinging happening!  

The last thing to do is put on the slide.  I needed a hole for the center pole, and fortunately, the guys who installed our fence (even more assembly!) dug one for me.  I was so grateful.  Once again, Mikayla came to help get it put together and attached to the fort, and after repeated questioning, "Can we slide now?" it was done.  The play equipment was finally all put together.  

Here is the completed set, gracing the north side of the backyard.

You can see the fence posts too.

The very last step of the whole project is to cap off the center pole of the slide.  As Mikayla and I stood back to admire our handiwork, I had a terrible realization.  I had buried the pole cap at the bottom of the hole.  The instructions said, "Attach pole cap to the bottom section of the post."  I looked at the available parts and saw only one possibility.  It did not fit snugly and it had a rounded top, but it seemed the only thing I could use.  I dropped it in the hole, set the pole on it, and then, with Mikayla's help, we filled the hole all around the pole with dirt, tamping down as hard as we could.  We then spent over an hour assembling, screwing tight, and attaching the whole thing to the fort.  It was only after we were done that we realized my mistake.  

How stupid is that?  I called Kent to tell him of my lapse in common sense and he laughed and laughed.  I went online to try and order a replacement part so I wouldn't have to confess to anyone, but the website wanted a part number, and the instructions only called it the "plastic hub cap."  There was no part number.  I had to break down and call for assistance from an actual person and tell them how foolish I had been.  The man I spoke to was very nice, seemed to completely understand, and then told me he would FedEx the part to me at no charge.  I told him that if we were in the same physical space I would kiss him on the cheek I was so grateful.  In the meantime, the top of the pole is exposed, but my shame will be soon covered up.  It was certainly worth a good laugh, though irritating after what felt like four solid days working on the thing.

Exposed pole.  

Cap buried at the bottom of an eighteen inch hole.

Steering wheel which I ordered separately.

I knew in my heart that Brandt would want a steering wheel,

so I was not surprised when he asked the day the boxes arrived, 

"Mom, where is the steering wheel?"

I could honestly say it was on its way.

Picnic table and sand box, sandless at the moment.

I think I will line it with plastic before I actually fill it with sand.

Wednesday evening, after all was said and done and the slide had been used many times and the swings had been swung by practically everyone in the neighborhood, I was cleaning up and putting away parts.  I found these four metal tubes in a small plastic bag.  I discovered that I had missed attaching them to the glider swing supports.  It would have been much, much easier attaching the glider swing if I had had them, and it took a bit to undo the glider and put them on.  I was not surprised I had missed them, being as that there were 37 very complicated steps, each step containing multiple steps, and all with very small print.  

Thursday morning, Blythe came to me with a blanket and sweetly said, "Mom, will you build me a fort?"  Less sweetly I replied, "Blythe, I have just spent four days building you a fort.  Go outside and play on it."

Without further fuss, she did just that.