Keeping up with the Manssons: The busy, BUSY weekend

Well, the first weekend in March started off jam packed as anticipated...but I honestly think that this weekend was going to be the slowest/easiest of all the weekends.

Lets see...Saturday morning started off with a consignment sale where I purchased Jillian's summer wardrobe, plus two pairs of shoes and some summer uniform clothes for Henry with a pair of shoes. I was so happy with all the deals I got. I purchased 39 items of clothing/shoes for $48. WOOHOO!! Way to save money on outfits! Then I came home and started helping Andrew with the assembly of the Mega swingset. We were making really good time (we thought) and it was all put together except for the 360 degree Spiral slide (that I will 'lovingly' refer to as the twisty slide), basically we got everything together except for the twisty slide during the daylight. We had no broken bones, no falls, no major injury, one almost don't know how neither of us got injured moment when we were lifting up the top clubhouse. (Meaning I was up on the ladder and Andrew was standing on top of the monkey bars...yes, safety first!), but all went rather smoothly. Then we took a dinner break and thought we could tackle the slide once the kids were asleep. So, here is the question...How many engineers does it take to attach a twisty slide to a play set? The answer is two...but it took us a good 6 hours (so basically doubled the amount of time).

This is a summery of what happened. Andrew tried to re-attach it while I got the kids down and missed lining up the slide so it didn't fit correctly. The angle was off. So, we decided we needed the twist to go the opposite way so it didn't interfere with the rock wall. No problem right...um...wrong! Andrew missed the fact that there were letters to help line up the slide (I found the letter at about 11 PM after 3 failed attempts to get the slide up), and just for the record, before we even finished the first try I told Andrew that the second section needed to be rotated another click (that is the technical terminology we used for rotating to the next screw hole.) He looked at me like I had two heads and since that piece was so awkward to put on he said "Really, well, why don't we just keep going." So, three failed attempts later, trying to look at the letters in the dark, and deciding that the slide had defeated us and we needed to sleep on it (meaning he needed to sleep on it, because what we had to do to get it correct was rotate the second section another click.) So day two of the twisty slide confusion happened (starting in the afternoon, since our morning was full of our normal weekend activities.) and we built the side from the bottom up (according to the picture (my idea) and Andrew's formulated two click method) and it worked (AMEN!!!), but we could not get the screw holes to line up (DOH!!). We decided because it was so heavy and awkward to move we could not use finesse to line up (we were using brute force). So we had to detach section by section and work down. Definitely time consuming, but well worth the time and energy. Next up is the power washing, sanding and staining. Plus we need to fix the straight slide since there is a crack. But it is useable (Henry loved it) and safe enough for the week full of fun!

Other than the slide, my Sunday was comprised of: Baking two loafs of bread, making Tortillas for dinner, Cleaning (meaning taking out the shelves and wiping everything off) both refrigerators and freezers, and reorganizing all three freezers, grocery shopping (Sprouts and Costco), gas for Andrew's car, assisting Henry and Andrew in making a volcano (for Henry's first science experiment), and two loads of laundry. Plus, Andrew and Henry finished picking all the oranges off the trees! Whew...we had a non-stop day and I am pooped! I don't think there is a single muscle on my body that does not hurt (thanks to the almost fall we had with the second clubhouse) and standing on my feet working all day. I would say that am looking forward to next week, but it has the potential to be just as busy. Monday night is dance, Tuesday night is Tap, Wednesday night is walking with my friend, Thursday is my Tap recital, Saturday is Zoo, St. Patty's day party, and Sunday is a baby shower! Like I said in a previous post...march is here with a vengeance! Busy, Busy, Busy!