The Sandbox

SO, I'm not much of a handy woman by any stretch of the imagination, however I AM usually the one who puts together simple pieces of furniture that come in a box with instructions- end tables, small cabinets, shelves, etc. I even figured out how to attach our under-the-cabinet-radio to our cabinet. THAT definitely took some extra skills. I am the one who does these things because I DO enjoy it, but also because I am a little impatient. I do not like to nag, BUT I know that if I wait for Max to do it on his own time, it will sit in the box indefinitely. I save my nagging for the things I CAN'T do :)

SO, I have been wanting to make the boys a sandbox for quite some time. Ever since Deanna made one for her kids, I've wanted to do it too. However, Max keeps saying he will build one with his dad, who made an amazing one with a nice lid when he was a kid. If I pester them, they are really good at following through. However I do not like to pester, SO last thursday (on the 91 degree day) when he was in Philly, I decided I could not wait any longer and I was going to do it myself. I printed off directions and it seemed simple enough. I dragged the 3 boys to Home Depot, put Isaac in a cart and went to the back of the store for my wood.

The guy looked at me with a smirk, and I could tell he thought I was crazy to do this project with 3 little ones. I showed him my blueprint and he told me that I needed the REALLY BIG cart (which doesn't have a spot for a baby). Off we went back to the front of the store. Back again to where he was collecting my wood, and now waiting for the guy in front of me to get his 16 pieces of wood CUT.

We were standing there for a few minutes, when Andrew, as always, had to go to the bathroom. Off we went, to the complete OPPOSITE side of the store, holding Isaac who was getting awfully heavy, and running with the other guys so Andrew would not pee himself (which he often does). We got to where we THOUGHT it was, but the lady pointed and said "its down there -->". We ran a little ways more and finally arrived and by then, I had to go too (which is always tricky while holding an infant, but I've gotten better at it over the years). We got back and the wood was finally cut.

Then I had to get the sand - at least 10 bags. Isaac was now getting REALLY heavy, while I tried to maneuver that awkward cart (or whatever you call that big thing), WITH Luke and Andrew continuously trying to jump on for a ride. Fortunately, 2 guys loaded up the sand for me, and then as I was about to start pushing the cart again and head out, a kind lady in the aisle said, "you guys are gonna take that out for her, right?" Since I often don't ask people for help, this was EXTREMELY helpful! (although, I guess they might have been planning on helping me anyway).

For some reason I thought this trip would only take about 20 minutes! Boy was I wrong! It was much closer to 1 hour. (Come to find out later that week, when I called about our fence we are installing, I COULD HAVE called ahead, told them EXACTLY what I needed, and they could have had it ready for me when I got there! - Oh well)

Because I had all the kids with me, I was not even THINKING about the cost of this thing (usually I'm really good at totaling things up in my head so that I'm not surprised at checkout). I was DEFINITELY surprised this day when they said "$83.00. . . WHAT?? for a SANDBOX?? (actually, I then realized I had gotten about $10.00 worth of garden stuff too) I guess the wood was about $30 and the sand about $40.

So I was REALLY determined to get this thing done before Max got home - as sort of a surprise. But I soon found out that I'm not too good with a hammer, AND I'm not too good at taking out nails that are halfway in. If you look really closely, there are 5 bent nails and about 4 or 5 OTHER holes in which I couldn't get the nails either! That is about 9 failed attempts on this side.

However, I did manage to figure out a better angle to hold the hammer, so that I could successfully finish the other three sides. Not too shabby! There are still triangle "seats" that have to be cut, and of course the sand, but we are still trying to figure out exactly where to put it. For now, I am still very proud of it!