Birthday time again...!

Ok...it's that time again. Mom's birthday...but what to get an 86 year old woman with dementia? (same thing as last year, who's to know?) Ok...I know that sounds bad...but hey, I know there are plenty of you caregivers of elderly people with Alzheimers who will understand. I think the weird sense of humor keeps us a bit saner. But I digress....back to the issue at hand. After much back and forth about what options there were, we decided that a swing to put out in the yard out front might be a good idea. Mom seemed to like the one my aunt has, and we figured it might get her outside to sit and enjoy the fresh air once in a while. And then on a trip to Wegmans, we saw this swing set and thought "Aha!"...this is perfect.

Unfortunately, what we got to bring home was this lovely picture of a swing on a freakin' huge cardboard box.

What fun...this thing weighed a ton and was awkward as all get out. Pry the thing open and, wow.....what a fun bunch of metal bars, fabric stuffs and a whole raft of hardware. At this point I am wondering why this seemed like a good idea in the first place. Wouldn't a nice sweater or some earrings have been a wiser choice??

But hey, it's here now...make the best of it. I can follow directions and put stuff together. The parts are sort of large, heavy and a bit difficult to wrangle around but after a day and a half, much swearing and dropping of tools...we have progress:

Not bad, huh? It was finally starting to look like a swing. A bit more aggravation, going back to tighten up all the bolts (because Mom falling on her butt in the front yard with swing parts all around her was not what I had in mind for her birthday and I'm sure she wouldn't have been thrilled either) and we finally had us a swing. Now for convenience sake, and to keep it a surprise, I was putting it together out back - we then had to carry/drag the thing out front. Another bit of mad fun. But it all worked out in the end, and Mom seemed to like it, except for the part about perhaps we should put it here, there, and everywhere else but where it was. Mission accomplished - Mom's birthday gift looked good and next time I'm going to pay someone else to put crappola like this together. :)