Hanukkah calluses

We had a lovely Hanukkah celebration at my in-laws the first night of Hanukkah. One of the toys Carter received was a toy parking garage.


Much more realistic than the Fisher Price one I loved growing up, but same concept. The trick is, though, it needed to be assembled. A good thing that it was rainy today; it took me hours and hours, and caused minor wrist damage and sore fingers from all of the screwdriver maneuvering and cranking. The directions were also of the classic Ikea variety; enough to make you want to use your head as a hammer on the screws. Then I got to the point, two hours or so into the assembly, where I was supposed to add a floor and a knob that I SWEAR was supposed to be there based on the preceding directions that I had so carefully followed prohibited me from sliding the board down to its proper place. I called the 800-number. I had to leave a message, and I still haven't gotten a call back. I found a way around the problem, but the linguist in me was not pleased by the lack of explicitness in the directions.

One of the reasons I was so careful in following them was because of an Ikea experience I had in grad school putting together a desk. One piece seemed like it could go either way, so I just shrugged and screwed the thing in place. Only when the desk was upright and fully assembled did I realize that I had put the now inextricable piece on backwards... the non-white particle board piece of my otherwise white desk laughed at me every day until I gave the damned thing away. But at least I learned my lesson. The garage is perfect.