Summers are always about DIY projects.
You may have seen my post about my screen door project, which is still not finished.
Sigh.
My latest adventure happened this past weekend when I decided to get busy and put together the Mr.’s birthday present.
Not the Bowflex (that’s mine), but the grill, which he’d picked out at Walmart. Here’s the photo of the one he saw in the store…all put together, mind you.
He had wanted to purchase this one, but I poo-pooed the idea and told him it wouldn’t fit in the back of my car.
I’d be forced to eat those words later.
The box sat in the garage for over a week before I decided to give it a go.
The Mr. decided that he would go to the grocery store.
Can you say role reversal?
heehee
I had to carry the parts in separately because the box was too heavy to carry in by myself.
There were a LOT of parts…
I’ve put a LOT of things together over the years. The labeling of parts has gotten better, let me tell you.
The manual laughed at me…
Getting started was the hardest part…kind of like beginning an essay…trying to figure out which parts were which.
I finally figured out where my first pieces were and got busy. The dogs were a little curious.
Not very helpful though.
I got the first few steps done and then ran into a problem.
Bent parts.
The Mr. had pounded down one part to flatten it out, but these parts…they couldn’t be fixed.
The Mr. was not very happy. This kind of thing stresses him out.
As a teacher used to thinking on her feet, I came up with a plan.
I would return the grill.
And I wouldn’t take apart the section I’d put together.
Take that.
The Mr. helped me load it in the car. We put the non-assembled parts back in the box and stuck the section I’d finished in as it was.
The people in the Garden Center were very understanding, but I had to go to Customer Service before I could do anything. My plan was to exchange the grill for another one in a box. The Garden Center representative told me that there was an assembler on staff who would put it together for me. I love how they didn’t tell us this when we’d purchased the grill the first time around.
Sheesh.
The Customer Service representative told me that she needed the old box to scan.
Really?
Sheesh.
My Garmin was racking up the steps with me going back and forth across the store.
The Garden Center rep put everything on a cart for me, and we walked BACK to the Customer Service desk.
Doesn’t that assembled section on the bottom look like a dead bug with its legs in the air?
heehee
The rep issued me a Walmart giftcard since I didn’t have the VISA giftcard that the Mr. had used to buy the first one, and then I had to go back to the Garden Center to rebuy the grill.
Sheesh.
It was the most inefficient process EVER.
The grill wouldn’t be ready until the next day, so I headed home and watched a soccer game that was HALF OVER by the time I got back.
Grrr.
The next day, I went back to get the grill.
It was beautiful.
It was put together.
Ahem.
I crossed my fingers in the hopes of it fitting into the car. Two sweet young men worked on loading it.
It did fit, much to their surprise, and I got to listen to it rattle and clank all the way home.
The Mr. and I unloaded it, and he grilled on it the next day.
The thing is HUGE.
It needs a separate handle to roll it around. That’s our biggest complaint.
Otherwise, the Mr. is happy.
Filed under: empty nest | Tagged: DIY, empty nest, Kingsford, walmart | 1 Comment »
AuburnChick's Adventures 