When To Be Smug: A Playset Story

Thanks to the generosity of Starr's father and stepmother, and my parents, a large, very high-quality playset was dropped on our front lawn a few short weeks ago.

Thanks to my kickass self, it is assembled. And I did it... wait for it...

Solo. And with inadequate equipment. And I didn't break anything in the process -- myself, or parts of the playset¹.

And, if I might pat myself on the back a bit more, it doesn't look like someone who doesn't know his right from his left put it together. As I often do not, that makes it all the more satisfying. In fact, it is complete. Not a bolt, washer, or screw left out.

In its full glory.

A chalkboard for all the "schooling" that is sure to take place.

Climbing wall.  Yeah, it beats the Y any day.

Now, there are some things that one might not brag about doing solo -- for example:

• Writing a blog post. We do it all the time. That's why they are often fraught with grammatical errors, flagrant inaccuracies, and barefaced lies.
• Soloing VC. You're probably level 30. A four-year-old mashing buttons could do that. Whooptee-doo.
• Sex. I'm glad you're happy, but no one else cares, or wants to hear about it. Moving on.

See what I mean? None of those are real accomplishments when performed solo. I will admit that the assembly manual for this thing made it as easy as possible. It was broken down into sections which could each be completed in about a half-hour (with adequate preparation). Each section had a clearly-labeled hardware kit that contained only the bolts, nuts, washers, and other fasteners required for that section -- no huge bag of bolts to sort through.

Helps that the kids could swing while I finished the playhouse.

Add to that clear illustrations, adequate warnings when something should really be done with a ladder or a second person (neither of which I had²), and a logical order, and ten hours from start to finish really doesn't seem all that bad.

What's more? This exact same playset was assembled at Starr's folks' house by my in-laws. At least two of them were involved, and with all the tools they needed. It still took them an entire day. Granted, it took me over a week, but I could never dedicate more than an hour at a time to working on this thing, and that was always at the end of the day when I was already exhausted and racing the sunset to get each section done.

Yeah, I did it myself, and I'm damned proud, as well as awesome.

The kids agree that I am awesome. 

¹Okay, I broke one screwdriver drill bit on a cantankerous screw.
²Starr did once hold something in place because she wouldn't listen to me curse at it any more. I could have done it myself eventually, but it would have taken me a lot longer, and the curses of many more gods on the heads of the engineers who designed such-and-such part declared. Love you, Starr.