Stress

Emma has outgrown the little Fisher-Price kitchen I got her when she was three, so I decided to surprise her with a new one. I found an incredible deal on this Melissa and Doug wooden kitchen that I knew she would love. At right is a photo of how the kitchen is supposed to look...

Of course, the description of the kitchen said "easy assembly." I'm convinced if you could order a nuclear power plant over the internet, it would say the same thing. But I've developed some talent over the past several years in putting stuff together, so I threw caution to the wind and ordered the kitchen.

My first clue that there was trouble ahead was that the kitchen came in three huge boxes. After I unloaded the 39 pieces and huge bag with 12 different kinds of screws, my confidence began to flag. Nevertheless, I charged up my power screwdriver and me and my little "helper" got to work.

After three hours of work, here is what we have...


AARGH! I've never been so frustrated in my life. It's not that I can't understand the instructions...although they are a bit obtuse at times. It's just there is so much to do...the assembly manual is 30 pages long! Plus, like most kids things, this comes with really cheap screws and if you make a mistake and try to remove a screw, they get totally stripped in no time. I'm actually going to go to the hardware store and get some better quality screws tomorrow and hope I can get them to work. I think Emma was hoping I'd get this thing assembled in like 20 minutes. At this rate, it might be closer to 20 hours.

All kidding aside, this is a weekend I could have done without stress. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for a few weeks and went to see my doctor (I was due for a physical anyway.) When she heard my symptoms, she ordered a couple of tests "just to rule some things out." Some extremely serious things that have me totally totally freaked out. I have been to some really dark places in the past week...I'm not afraid of death really, but I'm so terrified of leaving my daughter alone. I get nearly hysterical even thinking about it. My first test is tomorrow morning...this is as scared as I've been in my entire life. Hopefully it will all work out, but your prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated...