Monday, March 15, 2010

Construction

I love having a handy husband. Once I decided to tackle Life, I had to find a place to put the beast together. Garage? Too hot in the Florida summer. Floor? Only if I want my dog to eat the pieces and to be sitting in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. With no other option, my husband decided to build me a special table to work on.

Today, we went to Home Depot to purchase the necessary supplies. Twenty minutes and $75 later, we loaded up the truck with four sheets of plywood, six 2"x4"x12's, and a box of screws. Next, we headed to Wal-Mart for 12 yards of black fabric to cover the table.

Building things is not my strong suit, so my explanation of how he built the table will be rudimentary, at best. The 2"x4"x12's were cut and secured to form a box shape (this forms a solid base for the sheets of plywood to rest on). More 2"x4"s were cut to make legs and secured to the table base.



We then had to disassemble the table and carry it upstairs. In hindsight, we probably should have considered how difficult this part would be before we designed the table. It took some finagling to get the 12' beams into our office; at one point my husband was holding one end and standing in the bathtub while I steered it across the hall and into the office. It was a tight fit, but we got everything into the room.

After putting it all together again and securing the plywood on top of the table, we covered the top with black fabric.



Now, the reality of this big project is starting to hit me. I'm having second thoughts about being able to do it. Knowing the puzzle has 24,000 pieces has far less effect than seeing this monster of a table spread out before me. My husband says it is not a question of whether I will be able to do it, but how long it will take me. Hopefully I finish before I'm 90 years old.

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