Yes, that’s right. I have nothing better to do on my Saturday night besides blog. Awesome. Guess this is my life now.
My husband is sitting happily on our bed watching football, while my son is excitedly throwing all of his friends out of his crib and onto the floor. I’ve had to rescue Minnie, Mickey and Elmo so far. Now I retreat to the familiar glow of my computer screen.
Today was a weird day. We’ve been experiencing exciting weather in the CLE the last couple days. My son and I had a date this morning to go to Lowe’s and build something together (hardy har har) when we (I) decided we might skip it because of the possible unfavorable road conditions. If we were to attend, we would need to leave our house by 9:30 am to arrive in time for a 10:00 am start. At 9:45 am, Boo decided he “want to go to Lowe’s!” And boy was he adamant. Since we had nothing better to do, and since I really didn’t feel like entertaining him at home all day, I figured why the heck not. We hauled ass to get boots, coats, mittens and hats on, and to pack sufficient food and drink for the trip. By 9:55 am we were in the car and on our way for the excitement that was sure to greet us.
Upon arrival, I gathered our supples from Antwaine, our director for the program:
- Apron – check
- Name tag – check
- Merit badge – check
- Completion certificate – check
- Hammer – check
- Castle kit – check
- Goggles – ooh, no check
Bummer. That’s the one thing little Boo was really looking forward to. And he did actually notice that he didn’t receive any. I felt bad. For the first five minutes all he would say is, “where are my goggles, mommy?” Poor little booger. At least he had some at home from our last trip to Lowe’s.
After receiving all items necessary to complete our “Castle Kit,” we picked a spot on the floor in the Lumber aisle, and began organizing our supplies. I pulled out the castle pieces, and we began sorting nails and hammering.
We had gone to one of these Build and Grow clinics before and had built an awesome firetruck. This time it was a castle. I remembered the nails being little, but not this little. They were literally the length of my pinky nail. And I’ve got small hands! I was one of the only moms there (gee, wonder why) and if I was having this much trouble, I can only imagine what the man-hands were going through.
Anyways. I was annoyed by the tiny nails, Boo was getting bored because I was yelling at him any time he touched anything, mostly because I was freaking out that he was going to decide to taste test the microscopic nails, and it was basically just a giant anxiety-ridden disaster. Maybe dads are different, I don’t know. This was definitely not a mom activity, though.
Finally, I built the four walls, put on the floor, and was about to install the drawbridge when alas, I realized I had made a fatal error and hammered the side walls on the wrong sides. D’oh! Now what?! These nails, the bane of my existence, were damn near impossible to pry out using the claw of the hammer. I had no other choice than to bang the sh*t out of this plywood piece of crap from the inside out. After struggling, cussing under my breath (?) and about at wits-end, I won! The pieces came loose and I was free to reassemble correctly.
Whew.
Now Boo was really getting bored and antsy. I hammered as quickly as possible and finished the assembly of the castle. I could finally let Boo participate in his craft and I allowed him to place the stickers to complete the project.
The castle really isn’t that cool. I mean, the drawbridge moves and all, but there’s no siren or lights, and you can’t drive it. Ah, well. Lesson learned. At least I didn’t hammer my thumb this time. Oops!
