Bookcase Fiasco

Thank God I’m “just a woman”.

Being a woman, if I’d been building my bookcase I’d have used bricks and boards, or something funky to use as supports. When I mentioned this to the husband, who has some kind of an aversion to bricks and boards, he pointed out that it might not be stable enough for the cats to lounge on.

Good point. My next idea was to use long square pieces of wood for supports. Or even better, cut up some of those tree limbs lying around outside for a natural look. I’d drill a hole through the shelves, drill a hole in the top and bottom of each support and use dowels to hold it all together.

At this point, the husband took over. First he bought this thick, hardwood doweling to use as supports. Then, not liking my “who cares what colour it is” attitude, he had to stain the doweling. It took forever to dry, hence the actual construction of the bookcase had to be put off a week.

This weekend he started assembling it, using heavy screws and his beloved electric drill. Much cursing and swearing ensued. Apparently, hardwood is really hard. Over half the screws ended up bent. Then the cordless drill ran out of juice. It was re-charged, only to die completely. MUCH more cursing and swearing.

By this time it is too late to go to a store to get some nails to just nail it together. He wonders why he didn’t think of that before. (Uh, could it be because he likes any excuse to use the drill?) If I’m real lucky, the book case will get finished tonight, which means I won’t really get to fill it until next weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all the work the husband is putting into this. But like I said. Thank God I’m “just a woman”. If I’d done it my way, it would be done by now and I wouldn’t be sitting here updating, I’d be cataloguing the books in my new book case.