Four Years in the Making

We have good intentions, my husband and I. We often think that we have things all figured out when in reality we have nothing figured out at all.

Four years ago found us moving back to our Iowa home from North Queensland, Australia after Chris spent about a year there overseeing the operations of 7 sugar mills. We had a container coming back and while we had acquired some furniture when we were there we decided to splurge on an outdoor table set to bring back to the US. We had a container, after all, and there was no way we were going to fill it up so we found the perfect set of teak furniture and had it delivered to our rental home to be included in the shipment.

Fast forward a few months and when our shipment arrived we decided that our deck would just not accommodate the massive set since our deck had built in benches. We have a huge garage so storage was no issue and I very smartly put all the pieces parts that had slipped out of the boxes in a big ziplock bag and taped it onto the boxes.

Two years pass and we finally get the deck redone —-enlarged and no benches built in so that our beautiful table and chairs would fit. Then Chris’s dad got sick and we spent more time on the road to Ohio and eventually moved there for about 7 months to settle the estate and take care of Carlton.

Last summer was a blur—-Chris was traveling all the time and it just was not on our agenda to unbox and assemble the furniture. And so it sat. And aged. And aged.

This past weekend was THE weekend! We had put it off for 4 years and it was becoming ridiculous. We have been working on clearing the garage and this was a huge part of it so we committed to assembling the furniture on Saturday. We told people. We made arrangements to give away our old table and chairs so we had to do it.

Saturday arrived and it was cold—-high 40’s and windy as all get out. Armed with coffee and sweatshirts we started. The excitement was building.

Reading the instructions is always a good thing!

Getting set to assemble!

Reading the instructions is always a plus!

Looks simple enough!

The assembly begins!

1 down–7 to go. Never mind the 35 mph winds that were making me look crazier than normal!

The wind was too much—we moved inside the garage for chair assembly 3-8!

I think by chair number 4 we had the system down fairly well and made quick work of it. Funny how I dreaded the entire process and it ended up to be very painless!

Chairs done!!!

Time for the table!!!

The finished product without umbrella since it was so windy!!!

We ended up with a few allen wrenches!

I had taken all my plants inside because there was a freeze warning—–I got them all relocated in the sunroom and all the cushions put away so the deck looked bare but the sun and warmth is coming back!

Tradition in our family is to have a picnic on Mother’s Day. No fuss for me—drive through chicken and a park someplace and even though the boys could not be with us (Micah is in Florida and Aaron is in Israel for work) we always continue the tradition. So off to Lime Creek Conservation Park with our unhealthy but delightful meal !!!