There are always extras.....

I bought some new clothes over the weekend.
Nothing fancy, but a few work slacks and Capri's and 7 dollar shirts. Because YES, I am THAT cheap.
I went to wal-mart and the consignment shop. and HA-HA, I found more at the consignment shop than at wal mart. Not to fret though, wal mart got 400 bucks of my money today. We bought four a wooden swing set for his birthday on the 17th, so the hubs has 2 weeks to put it together. We are country fools so this requires:

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Many friends standing around glaring at the parts as if they are giant tampons
A couple of snide comments as to it not taking "that long"
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Some guy laughing and poking fun at the directions
Some guy saying they don't need directions
Some guy figuring out those directions are in Spanish
Another guy grabbing and flipping the directions page over to English
The other guy saying what bull shit it is and that they don't make any sense anyway
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2 guys to separate the nails versus screws
Another guy to hunt down the cordless screw driver
Fellow #1 to point out its cordless, it needs to be charged
Hubs telling them to separate board sizes
Some guy commenting that they should probably GET the directions
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Me asking how long it will take
Them giving me nasty looks
Me going back in the house wishing they would just FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS
Them getting started
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Cussing each other
Cussing the directions
Wrong boards
Wrong screws
Lost nails
Replacement screws and nails will be brought out
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Some guys hammered finger
Break
Reassessment of why four actually NEEDS a swing set
It being 99% done
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Beat up directions
Misc. Nails
Guys beginning to taper their ways home
Clean up

Of course I will go out to inspect it only to be told that the 4 leftover boards and 19 screws were "extras". And the damn thing will still last 5 years! It's always this way. I'm told it takes a village to raise the children, but I think it's more like a village to put the children's toys together!!

Bless my husband and all the other fathers, grandfathers, family friends and brave-enough mothers out there at Christmas time. On behalf of all the doll houses, Swing sets, bicycles, race tracks, automotive centers, vanity tables, kitchen areas, etc., etc. etc. that have to be put together..... your children thank you.

I give my dad an extra high 5 this year for putting my cpu together so I can tell you how cheap I am and how competent (but I still wonder about all those left-over parts) my husband is.

I present you with what the swing set is SUPPOSED to look like, but you'll have to wait until his birthday photos to know whether or not this is how it turned out. lol