Adult Assembly Required

We finally got our tax return. Yey for getting everything cleared up from our 2008 taxes. If you don't know it is just worth saying corresponding with the IRS is a joke. But having our taxes filed and done is nice. Joe and I made out our list of our top things we wanted. It got very long and then we ended up cutting it down to a very short list. The few things that made the list were worth it.
The first was a new camera- the battery door didn't stay shut on the old one and was held on by tape, very bad. Next was a new vacuum- also being replaced because it just didn't work hardly at all. We have only lived in our house for a year and we vacuum with the new one and I couldn't believe how much stuff came up. That was the first assembly project of the week. Joe was so funny putting the it together because he didn't read all the instructions about removing screws from inside the handle before putting it on. Then we got a waffle iron which was wanted because our other one was bad and we like waffles.

Then on to a few bigger purchases and the first lucky winner was a basketball hoop. Joe was so excited for this one and it couldn't wait until next year or later. I was just going to make him put it together but you really need two people. It took us a good 4-5 hours of work for this basketball hoop. It didn't look that complicated but it didn't seem to go together fast. We will probably be a popular house for awhile until the neighbor kids get bored of it. Maybe not and that is fine too.

The next thing I spent a lot of time online researching and looking and pricing it out- a swing set or playset. We had many conditions and the more we looked the harder it got. We knew what we wanted and the price range but that didn't match up very often. We thought we had a wood swing set picked out and almost bought. It was going to take 3 guys to put it together and recommended time of 10 hours. Yikes that was a lot of time and man hours. We weren't sure we could get all the help and get a full Saturday plus to do it. We also didn't like the maintenance that it would take to seal the wood before we built it and year after year. But it was the features we liked and the price we could afford. Then on Monday I finally remember the metal swing sets I have seen around town and drove by where some are sold by Trampolines and Playthigs. I looked online at them and they were a little more money. Then I called to see if they had any specials or close outs and they did. It was great. They had one we really liked and the price we could handle. Even better is he had bought it last year and had it delivered that night. Maleah loved playing on it when we were talking about the sets and knew she was getting one. On Tuesday Maleah wanted to play on the slide and bugged Joe a lot. I figured I can help still and can lift 30 lbs. So we started assembly. This is how far we got after 3.5 hours on Tuesday. It is playable with the swing and slide. Maleah was so happy to slide.
On Wednesday we got it to this point. It only took us another 1.5 hours. It went together really quick.
There is still a swing missing that the company is sending this week. There is also a canopy for the deck but we are waiting for the instructions to finish it. They were left off the instructions that came in the box. It will only take us a couple of minutes but we want to use the right bolts, so we are waiting to finish. Today even though it was cold Maleah still made Joe take her out to play. It is such a nice addition to our backyard. We also love it can hold 900 lbs and doesn't have to be cemented in or staked down because of the design and weight.
To many hours of fun. Sorry this was long and hopefully no one really read all my nonsense.