Dresser number two...

I finished my second dresser in 3 hours last night. While it was clearly a better time than the time spent on the first dresser, I wish it had only taken two. Ah well.

I have one complaint so far about my dressers. While assembling, you are required to put wooden dowels in certain holes to help with stability. Some of these dowels aren't exactly excited about being shoved into the hole you think they should be placed in, so a little encouragement from good 'ol mister hammer is required.

Now, I didn't thwack those puppies in. It was more of a firm, but gentle tapping into place. Or so I thought. However, when I flipped over the piece to place it on top of the dresser, it was clear that the dowel is entirely too close to the underside of the finished top and that the tapping had cracked the smooth finish of the top. Bummer. I did the same thing on the first one, but thought it was a screw that was over tightened and not the dowel.

Ah well. At least I bought the glass to go on the top of the dressers. I know nothing will catch on the cracked surface and tear away the finish for now, but in the long run, I may have to look at a solution with a resin surface or something.

While I am not happy about it, for the price and quality, I am not overly surprised. For now, that would be my only suggestion to Ikea: Make the tops a little thicker or your dowels not as long.

Oh, and one more thing: The size is considerably larger than the dresser I am currently using. Next to these two behemoths, it looks small and cumbersome.

Now that you are thoroghly bored with my recent posts, let me thank you for indulging the builder in me. There is something so satisfactory in stepping back after completing a project and saying to yourself "look at what I can do".

IKEA...my kind of store...

For a while now, I have been needing to update the furniture that I purchased almost a decade ago. With the exception of two shelves, all of my furniture doesn't match. Over the years, I have tried to make it look the best possible, collecting another shelf here or an end table there, to serve another function, but really it all has never matched.

Three weekends ago, my family and I had a yard sale. I decided, while preparing for the sale, that it was time to move in a more possitive direction when it came to the furniture I have in my bedroom by replacing some pieces for others that a) served the function I needed them to serve better and b) matched the pieces I was keeping more closely.

All in all, I sold an Armoir, a shoe organizer that was being used as a TV stand, two end tables, two lamps and various other items. I also sold items that I was no longer using but had been storing for years with no purpose behind it, such as my dog kennel.

I cleaned house. I went to town on all of the boxes that I had been storing over the last four years and just de-junked as much as I possibly could. And I feel I was fairly successful and it felt really good to just get rid of stuff.

Last week, after much deliberation during the weeks prior to the yard sale, I went to Ikea with my mother to purchase the furniture that I had decided on. I settled on two dressers, complete with glass tops to prevent scratching, a sturdy TV stand to place a top them, and a set of four little mirrors. On Saturday, I put the first of the two dressers together.

In my family, I am the person that assembles the furniture that requires assembly. I am not really sure why or how this came about, but I am the one that normally will put together what ever needs to be assembled, so I was fairly confident in my capabilities when I began to put my dresser together.

I must admit, I was a bit confussed when the dresser came in not one, but two different boxes. I opened the boxes, emptied the contents, examined the parts and then grabbed the instructions. At first, I was taken aback at what stared back at me, but then I laughed. There were no words, just pictures. I LOVED it! How ingenius! Pictures, the univeral language. Somewhere, someone is getting points in charades for this.

Without much deliberation, my ipod set to shuffle on They Might Be Giants, and my ratchet screwdriver set, I set to work and was able to put my first dresser together in about four hours or so. It took longer than I would have liked, and having the knowledge of how it is done now, I think I can crank out the second dresser in much less time. The quality was really good and I was more pleased overall with it once it was put in place. I think they are going to work out nicely.

All in all...I would say that I am now officially an Ikea fan.

An old poem...

While cleaning recently, I ran across an old poem that I wrote several years ago, during a time in the country where the out cry over the war was a hot topic and voting had just become available in countries that hadn't had it before. I decided I would share it and see what others thought. I would also like to voice that I do not condone war, nor do I believe all that are enlisted in the armed forces serving this country have the same feelings as expressed in this poem. I wrote this from one perspective on a very controversial topic and mean no disrespect or offense to any persons. I do, however, support our troops and appreciate the great sacrifices that they go through to help protect my rights as an American citizen. Please remember, I am not a poet by any means...this is just something I wrote and wanted to share. I hope you enjoy it.

The Soldier arrived home wearied and dusted

What happened to the country he so loved and trusted?

Could they not see the happiness brought

or the good of the battles the brave warriors fought

in countries far way to bring freedoms long overdue

basic human rights, safety & a sense of pride to their people too?

It saddened his heart to be so betrayed

How could they see conflict & injustice and not step into the fray?

He himself had given up every thing

and still the critics watched from the wings

of our country that soars high and sleeps deeply through the night;

Many not willing to put up the fight

Could they only see the anger of some over all?

Could they not see the evil and inequality fall?

Or the happy faces of the people who went to vote

for the first time in decades allowed to hope

of a better day when freedom rules

with no fear of their children being raped or used as tools

of mass destruction and hate

hoping, perhaps now they had a better fate?

The soldier cried as he thought "where's the justice in this?"

and holding tight to his family in bliss, giving his strong & patient wife a passionate kiss

for the months at a time he's been missed

He cried bitterly for the people left behind

who still suffered from evil minds

He cried again as he counted his blessings

his wounds still seeping from beneath their dressings

and he cried again remembering one more stop he had to make

to the home of a friend whose life the enemy did take

to offer words of comfort tender & dear

to his friends' bereaved mother, through her sobs & tears

"It was worth it" he'd tell her

through kind eyes now wiser & older

"Don't believe everything you hear" he'd say

"what we did was good & gets better by the day"

"In the end, he did lose the fight,

but remember he did it because it was right"

The Soldier tattered and bruised

angered and upset by the hatred and abuse

that this fair country cried out

against his good works in selfish doubt

But he held his head high

and everyday the American Flag he did fly

knowing it mattered not what they said

he knew the truth & did the right thing instead

....And she carried a .50 caliber Desert Eagle....

Today was...well...phenomenal. I must share.

When I woke, the sun was shining brightly through my windows. It was ten a.m.. I LOVE sleeping in! I started some laundry and tried to plan out my day.

Noon brought lunch with good friends at Joe's Cafe in Orem. If you are looking for great food...Joe had got it covered! Laughs, good friends and good eats...doesn't get much better than that! Or does it?!

In fact it does!

Upon exiting Joe's, Mark and Tim decided to go gun shopping...so I tagged along! I haven't looked at guns in a long time, but it was a lot of fun! We started at Gunnies...then perused Cabelas...and ended up at Get Some in Murray. Yes...Get Some. And we did!

Inside Get Some, they have a shooting range. I couldn't help but be drawn to the range counter looking at the rates to shoot. Tim decided that he wanted to give his brand of gun a little test drive and apparently I drooled a little too much because the manager at the counter asked if I was going to shoot. I must admit, my trigger was itching something fierce!

The manager then said "I have a just the gun for you and it looks like we have one box of ammo left"...magical and powerful words. I wasn't sure what gun it was that he thought I would like to sure and then he pointed to the .50 caliber Desert Eagle in the bottom right corner of the glass case, tucked away....

It was magnificent. It was seductive. It was taunting me...

I caved.

It was HUGE!!!

The manager loaded us up with all our gear and we headed into the range. Not having a whole lot of experience with a semi-auto pistol, I had Mark load it for me. I also had him shoot it first because I was chicken. It was a REALLY big gun.

I stepped up the lane. I took my stance.

I pulled the trigger...

....and fell in love.

The power was tremendous, the sound was shattering and I could feel the blast of air as the bullet jettisoned away from me.

Sweet adrenaline coursed through me as I pulled the trigger once, twice, three times.

Bliss.

Of course, the weight of the gun and the kick tired my arm quickly, so Mark and Tim stepped up to squeeze a few rounds off. This kind of fun should be shared!

It was only after that I realized the manager hadn't really thought that I would shoot that gun. Apparently he thought I would shy away from it. How very wrong he was...

After all the bullets were gone, a few kept for souvenirs, and the papers processed for Tim's new baby... the guys were good enough to take me to the Fashion Place mall so that I could get some lip gloss I have been lusting after and some new Skull Candy ear buds, since mine have shorted out.

Seriously...good food, wonderful friends, shooting a serious gun and topping it off with lip gloss?!!

Superb day! One for the books.

Thanks Mark and Tim!