The Patio Set

October 1, 2014

My neighbor Jen had seen a patio set that at Target that was being closed out for the season at an unbelievable price on the Saturday before my birthday. She knew I was looking for one and texted me a photo of the picture on the box.  She said to hurry because they were going fast so I stopped on my way back home to look at it. I had been shopping nearby and could make a easy detour on my way home.   When I saw it I though to myself what a great deal and off I went pushing the box with 4 chairs, a glass table and umbrella (not assembled of course) to the front register.  Whew....it was hard work pushing that thing but I was determined that I was going to get the only unopened package!

One of the young helpers, Jacob,  wheeled it out to the car on a cart and a guy shopper who was passing by helped him load it into the back seat of my car.   People are mighty friendly and helpful here.   It was in the car but I would certainly need help getting it out of the car.  Luckily Jen came by later that day to help with that.

The thing sat in the garage from Saturday to Wednesday.   I had to try and put this thing together.  Since my birthday was rather quiet I decided to tackle the task.  I put all four chairs together and realized I had the legs on the wrong side of each chair.  It didn't matter, I thought....but yes it did.  The seat cushions attached to the chair via screws and the holes were on the outside of the chair legs rather than the inside so there was no place to screw in the seat of the chair.   I had to take all four of them apart and re-assemble them. Ugh.... So much for getting it right on the first attempt.   It was getting late and I was meeting my brother and sister-in law for dinner soon   They wanted to take me out for my birthday so I had to stop.   It was time anyway.

So the patio chairs sat in my garage for almost another week. Putting those patio chairs together solo discouraged me a bit.  Every day I wanted to get to that patio table and it was either the tile guy, the painter or something else that sucked up my time so I didn't have a chance to do it and I was kind of glad.  In reality I needed a good swift kick in the butt to get moving on this project again. 

My neighbor Jen who is handy and creative too texted me on Wednesday 10/1 that today was the day we were going to finish putting the set together. I wasn't so sure. Again the tile guy and the painter had returned to complete repairs so I didn't think we would get to it.   Wrong.  Jen showed up and we put the patio table together in the heat of the afternoon sun on the lanai in about an hour.  It had to be done on lanai....it was too risky to try and put it together in the garage and then not have it fit through the back door of the garage. 

Voile....the completed patio set


I couldn't have done it without my neighbor's help.  Thanks Jen.