96 Parts = 96 Hours

I like to feel that I'm not useless when it comes to putting things together - you know like building bookcases or a stereo stand. Especially from Ikea. Ikea instructions often have no words....just user friendly pictures with little Pacman-like faces with smiles or frowns to show how-to or how not-to-do it.

My dear, patient husband succombed to my pleas to purchase a heavy duty 200 pound exercise home gym, because I'm all trained in weight training but hate going to the gym to use only a few specialized machines. As soon as my son moved out....well.... I waited a day....I began to set up his old bedroom as an exercise room. Rather than being resigned to the basement, I can now exercise in a bright room designed for comfort....um, I mean sweat and hard work. I have piled up old classic CDs that I haven't listened to in forever, and this room becomes a place where great music meets physical exertion. Of course a great kickstart was my doctor giving me 3 months to get my cholesterol down through diet and exercise. Weight bearing exercise helps considerably....thus we struggled to bring home the aforementioned 200 pound box.

I'll spare you the details of how it went getting the thing home....although it was rather humorous hearing the paging system in the department store as we took the item through the jewellery section to speed up the process. "Carryout to Jewellery please! Carryout to Jewellery!" (Customers had visions of huge diamonds). They sent a tiny young teenage girl to help with carryout....who summoned additional help from a male.

So there's 96 pieces to this sucker. No Pacman-like faces here. No simplistic pictures. Lots of words. And numbers. My husband perused the 'book' of directions with a wild look in his eye. But soon he was up for the challenge and said, "Some people are challenged by crossword puzzles..... (that would be me, sometimes)....others...." His voice trailed off as he spread out the 96 pieces over the table and floor.

Check out Diagram 1.

Now Diagram 2.

Now 3 and 4.

.....aaaaaaand there's more.....number 5....

And finally Diagram 6.

I concede this is too much for me. My husband got a start on it, but only had a few hours before he had to leave for Montreal for the week, so it will definitely sit until he returns.

The great thing is, that once I'm in shape, if we buy anything else this heavy, I can lift it into the trunk while my husband returns the trolley cart. That's a fair exchange since he'll have to put it together...and really....a man's got to learn how to follow directions SOMEtime.