Night one...at least I can laugh at myself.

I bought a new lounge setting last week and it was delivered yesterday at lunch time. Each time I spoke with the sales guys, they asked me if I was going to have help assembling it. "No, I'll be right. You said it comes with all the appropriate screws and allen keys, right? I've put furniture together before. I'll be fine."

Now I know why they kept asking me if I was going to have help, or if I wanted them to send someone to assemble each piece for me.

I needed something to sit on, so I decided to tackle the single seater first. Oh, did I mention that the boxes were so freakin' big and heavy that I could barely lift them? Hmmm...

After a bit over an hour (watching fuzzy tv in the background, because it turns out my reception sucks), I had assembled the chair. I must say it looks damn fine and I'm proud of myself. The fact that I'm apprehensive to actually sit on it is another matter entirely. Haha, well that's not really true. The protection on the material was still slightly wet, so I didn't want to wreck it. Also, I discovered the assembly items included small screws. Regular ones, not the ones you can use an allen key for. I didn't have a phillips head screw driver. Do you know how much it hurts to try to turn screws with your bare hands? Anyway, I did the best I could, but they're still not in as far as they should be, so I don't want to sit down and have a kind of Princess and the Pea scenario. I put bubble wrap on it so the cats wouldn't sit on it during the night, or today while I was at work.

Are you impressed?? I am! It's a freakin' heavy chair!














I was feeling pretty damn good with myself at that stage. Meanwhile, I was working out the best place to stand, sit, lean, or move boxes so that my tv reception would get better. It didn't. Realising the magnitude of the task I'd set myself, I figured I'd pass on attempting the two seater or the three seater by myself. (Yes, Ian, as much as I was saying how stubborn and independent I am, and as much as I wanted to prove to myself that I don't need help with anything, I've conceded that those two items are beyond my lonesome capabilities.)

So onwards I trekked. Given that I'd tried to lift the coffee table on display in the store to see how well made it was, and found it to be an effort, it should have come as no surprise to me that trying to lift a box that contained the coffee table and two lamp tables wasn't going to work. Open the box where it is and move each item separately. Hmmm, that works better.

Start small, they say. A lamp table. This looked easy. Square top, four legs, four screws, four washers...and an allen key. I had the first table completed in such short order that I was very impressed with myself. I flipped it up and proudly put it next to the wall (again, trying to get better tv reception). By this time, I was invincible. Way to go, me! Second lamp table should be a breeze! I don't know what made me look across the room to the first table I'd put together, but I got a surprise when I did...

Notice anything wrong??
















After the initial "WTF?" wore off, I laughed pretty hard at myself....then proceeded to try to figure out what went wrong. You see, they put all 12 legs in the box altogether. How was I supposed to know that there were 4 shorter ones for the coffee table? It didn't say anywhere that 4 legs were shorter! They all looked the same....well till you put a shorter one with three longer ones.

This is how it should have looked. Better huh?













Yeah, and that's the Taj Mahal of cat scratchers, which cost me $109...and they didn't go near it for nearly three months! Thankfully now they appreciate the value of a dollar and use it frequently, instead of other furniture.

The coffee table was, by then, a breeze to assemble. I couldn't quite feel my fingers afterwards and I think my back is going to be sore for the rest of my life but I'm proud of last night's productivity.

Notice the tv was, by that stage, off.














I checked the time then and noticed it was after 9pm. Every bone and muscle in my body was sore and I hadn't eaten (because it never occured to me to get my toaster, kettle, eating utensils, or plates from my storage unit - you'd think I'd never moved before). I'm ashamed to admit it, I drove, in foul rain and cold wind, to the Hungry Jacks drive through (because nobody told me the local chicken place had closed down!), and I bought a burger. (That'd be Burger King for all you overseas type folks.)

I got home and stared at this.













That's my three seater and my two seater. I was going to unpack at least one of them, so the task of assembling didn't seem so daunting. I decided against it. By that time, it was after 9.30pm, my back was about to snap in half, my tv wasn't working properly and I still had to find all my bedding and make my bed.

Looks like I'll need a new bed too. An ensemble on wheels has a tendency to move - a lot - on floorboards. Oh, someone remind me too, while I'm searching for all my kitchen stuff in my storage unit....I need to get my electric blanket. Holy cow, it's Spring already and I practically froze last night!

But I made it, huh! And that's all that counts. :-)