Small triumph here...

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I ordered a little drafting table and stool from Dick Blick, and the damned thing arrived yesterday. This was a little soon. I had planned on getting the studio all cleaned out first, and of course, I took the holiday as a day to loll about doing nothing particularly exemplary (saw dynamite film, Juno, loved it), and yesterday seemed to be an extension of that holiday, just getting settled back into routine, and lo, is that the doorbell? And is that FedEx with two humungous boxes? Of course, first I put my paintings into the frames. I was dying to see how they would look all dressed up. And that is how they look, like my paintings kind of gussied up. The frames are exactly what I wanted, now just need to figure out how to get paintings semi-permanently situtated within, and get them wired for hanging. Anyway, after breakfast and a couple stiff cups of coffee, I decided to tackle the assembly of my new furniture. Have I mentioned how handicapped I am, mechanically speaking? Nevertheless, I went about it with great elan, full of confidence. I can read a diagram. I can use an Allen wrench (kind of backwards at first, it works best if you put the short arm of the L into the screw, wish I'd know that a lot sooner). I put the stool together first, and did a bang up job, if I do say so myself. Then the table. It is adjustable, so it was a little trickier. One screw just refused to embed itself into the end of this dowel, that I had to hold while trying to get that sucker to go in. I wound up leaving it sticking out just a little, and it can't be too important anyway because the thing is all together now, and really super. Except I wound up with spare parts, two washers. I thought, how thoughtful of them to include extras for people like me who lose things so easily. Except then I noticed they really do belong in the assembly. So I am steeling myself for another tussle with the Allen wrench to put them in. I think they are actually important. Did I mention I own an electric screwdriver? And the bit for Allen bolts was too small for the ones in my table kit? What can I say. It's a guy thing, this fascination with drill bits. One needs to have a lot of them, I guess. This is frustrating, but also a good lesson. Look carefully at the diagram before screwing.