Happy Labor-Intensive Day!
It's possible that I' misinterpreted what "Labor Day" is supposed to be about. You see, this morning, tired of tripping over things and being unhappy with how things were arranged, I decided I was going to get on top of things no matter what.
It started out with some re-arrangement in Kathy's office. She wanted to swap out the drafting table that was holding up a laser printer with another table. The drafting table was meant as a stop-gap and it was starting to be unstable. We needed to move the 70 lb printer out of the way, disassemble the drafting table, and move it to the garage. Then we needed to bring a box with a heavier-duty table inside, assemble that, and put the printer back.
I could have let Kathy help but...wait, what am I saying? It is outside of my abilities to let her help! Poor Kathy, I just grab the printer and shout, "Clear!" She never has a chance. And when she offers to assemble the table, I shoot her that "look" that means, "I'M the assembly person!" (Don't ask me why, but I actually like assembling furniture.) After a couple of hours and a little bit of swearing about not having the right tool, I found a flexible-shaft screwdriver, organized some tools in the garage, finished the table and set up the printer. Yay!
Heady with my accomplishment, I decided to tackle the elliptical machine that has been sitting in our kitchen for several months. It arrived just as I started chemo and we couldn't manage doing anything with it. Because the box is labeled 230 lbs, it's sat in the same spot for three months, because we sure as heck aren't "scooting it over" anywhere else. My strategy for assembling it was to cut the box away and start from there. Besides, the manufacturer said that assembly is easy...you pretty much just attach two pieces and you are ready to go.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Wow, was that ever a bold-faced lie! Once we were able to dig the instructions out of the box (which had far more than two parts in it) I could see I was in for a long haul. I'm good at assembly - that's why I frequently say, "Time me!" to Kathy before I start a project - but this was a nightmare! The instructions were inaccurate and misleading at several junctures, but given time I figured out the right way to do it. Only...they don't tell you how to plug in the machine (to power the computer) and I have not been able to find a port anywhere. Aurgh! Can you believe it?
So, now we have a huge, black and silver machine in our kitchen, and it wants me to get in shape. Right now, I'm more than a little scared of it, and the intense pain in my back that assembly is going to send me crawling for the couch, I'm afraid!
Kathy asked over dinner if I was impressed with all I had done. I looked at her warily. "I'd be more impressed if I'd also assembled the file cabinet." She just rolled her eyes and signed resignedly.
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