Saturday, October 4, 2008

Insert Screw Here

Until yesterday, my husband has put together all of the assembly-required toys for the kids. Until yesterday, I had no idea how lucky I was that he took upon himself the role of toy-assembly-super-hero.
David and JD's auntie sent them a birthday present a few days ago; after a few days of my husband being too tired after a long day of work to assemble it, I decided to give it a try. How hard can it be, right? Well I will tell you. I opened the box and the first thing I see is a bag of screws. SCREWS!! It's a kids toy! So I pull out the screws and hunt down a screwdriver, which turned out to be very handy from the last time a toy had to be assembled, and set to work. Out came piece after piece of plastic parts, which when completed should somehow resemble a Little Tykes Garage. After a gazillion pieces I finally found the bottom of the box, and there to my DELIGHT (after realizing how many pieces there actually were) was a booklet containing the assembly directions! Horray! For someone mechanically challanged as I am, that is a very good item to find. One might say a necessary item. I sure would. Alright, so I have my screws, screwdriver, pieces and directions...I'm set. And pumped. I feel so super-hero-ish, and ready to put together my first EVER toy. I open the directions and immediately furrow my brow. The step-by-step directions are in 12 - I repeat, 12 - languages!! Even though English is at the top, I challange ANYONE to look at an 11-page instruction manual where every step is written in 12 languages, and see if they don't get confuzed!!
I will spare you the gory details, suffice it to say I felt more on top of the world with each step completed. I was stuck here and there, but every time I figured it out and plugged along to the next one. I snapped pieces together, inserted screws and drove them home, I was a MACHINE!! Two and a half hours later, I was sitting in the middle of the livingroom floor, exhaused (yes, EXHAUSTED!) and triumphant. Though I don't see myself applying for a job in Santa's workshop, I am very proud of the job I did. When completed, it actually looked like a parking garage! And I didn't even have any pieces left over, causing me to have to take it all apart to see where I went wrong. It looks good! I showed the boys how to work it; car in elevator-goes up-then races down spiral ramp. They loved it!!
My husband arrived home from work and seemed suprised that I had assembled the toy. I don't blame him; I am still suprised myself!! Then he gets on the floor to try it out...and when the elevator won't work right, he says to me..."Did you put this together right??"
:) :) :) :) :) Uh, seriously?? WHO KNOWS!!! But I did it!

By the way, they love the garage Auntie!!!

2 comments:

SongbirdMama said...

YAY! Good for you. It is a great feeling, isn't it. I remember when Rand was still tiny and we had just moved. Ross' work hours were insane, so I decided to put the crib together myself.....it was such a triumph to be able to do it.

Anonymous said...

Woo Hooo - You Go Girl!
Yes, the victory - the agony - the great sleep you must of had that night!

You are so welcome - I'm sorry it came in pieces! I didn't realize they would ship it that way cause in the store it is together - I guess they save on shipping that way...

I hope to come out and try it myself one day --- don't forget to get the video of Jon playing with it!!!

hugs,
Shannon