Monday, August 24, 2009

Home improvement

Over the weekend Hubs and I embarked on a minor home improvement project.

I decided to move a West Elm filing cabinet into our family room and re-purpose it for toy storage. The change was initiated by the purchase of a fantastic set of lockers that I got for our office/art room (the lockers are red and I love them so much, an entire post kind of love). The addition of the lockers displaced another smaller storage piece, also from West Elm, and it wound up in the family room. Once the smaller piece was gone, the file cabinet looked enormous and out of place. Since I sold my business, and I don't really need so much filing space, and it didn't really match, out came the file cabinet too.

The home improvement part came up because the cabinet is so heavy that when the drawers are all the way out, it tips forward a little. We are not in the habit of going overboard with the childproofing, but it needed some anti-tipping brackets if we were going to use it in the family room and allow the kids to open and close it regularly.

This is where things started to break down.

You see, Hubs and I cannot seem to work together on any task requiring tools without bickering. We usually get along pretty well. I like the guy. Really I do. But put a screwdriver in his hand and it's on.

It starts out innocently enough, with him trying to find a stud, and me hovering in the background. Then words are exchanged about the method he has devised for securing the cabinet. A second trip to the hardware store is made and a real patent-pending childproof anti-tipping bracket is purchased. More searching for the right place to secure it to the wall and a heated discussion over whether the cabinet has to be taken apart. The cabinet is moved three times.

Then he mentions something about his engineering degree.

And I am all, did you just call me stupid?

Finally the cabinet was fixed in place. But then, at the end of it, our relationship is the thing at risk of tipping over, threatening to crush him or me, or one of the kids.

And I wonder where they sell the kit to fix that little problem?

3 comments:

kathynboys said...

I love the "and I am all, did you just call me stupid?" quote. That's awesome! You crack me up sometimes, ******(am I allowed to say your name on here??)...and I'm sure you still crack your hubby up, too. :)

Lisa said...

So funny! I picked up the "Smile and Nod" kit a long time ago - works every time!

latisha said...

well done yet again. relatable, read-able, well written, smart and funny. are you selling this stuff yet? ;)