Nothing in life is free

[ashe822]

I found out yesterday that anything free isn't truly free. I was offered a very nice wooden swingset as long as I came and moved it out of the person's yard. Four hours later, we finally had the swingset out of the yard, drove it on a trailer, and removed it. It now sits in my side yard waiting for me to find enough people to lift it over my fence, because it is too big to fit through the fence.

I really feel that yesterday was a series of mistakes that miraculously found a happy ending. I started the day taking my dog, Gregory, over to my mom's house to shave him and fix a broken toenail. At 8:30 I got Aidan and Olivia dressed and in the car. I then put both dogs, Gregory and Libby in the car. (Alex started working nights last night, so I was trying to keep it as quiet as possible so he would be able to sleep during the day.) We stopped a Krispie Kreme and picked up donuts for everyone then continued the drive to my Mom's. Once at my mom's I unloaded Aidan then got Olivia out of her car seat. I carried her and two boxes of donuts through the fence and into my mom's house. I was very glad when my sister grabbed Olivia from me (my baby is getting so heavy). My mom came downstairs, went to my car and got the dogs out. After breakfast, we shaved Gregory. Gregory is a shih tzu and is not very good with haircuts. It took both me and my mom to clip him. I had impatient Aidan whining the whole time that he wanted to do this and that and that he DID NOT want to be in the clinic (my dad's old veterinary hospital), I also had the super attached Olivia crying because I wasn't holding her (That is another story all together, the main thing is that she is having very bad separation problems from mommy). After we finished taking care of Gregory it is now 10:45. I get the kids back in the car and make a mad dash for my house to pick up the tool box and ratchet set. I then have to drive to my friend's house so that they can follow me to the swingset, for they have consented to help me get this thing. I am sure none of us realized how involved this favor would be.

We reach the home where the swingset is located at 11:50. The lady giving me the swingset that if I was not there by 12:10 she would contact the next person on her list to give the swingset to. Needless to say I wanted to be there on time. I am in desperate need for outside toys for the kids. With three boys ages 2, 3, and 3 1/2, running off energy is very important to my mental health =). By the way if you don't already know I run a small home daycare. I by no means have that many boys. So here is our group, Aidan(3), Olivia(8months), Krista(34), Craig(39), My mom (55), Trent(14), Claudia(12), Hannah(10), Laylay(4), and me(28). Craig and I climb on the swingset to try and figure out how to disassemble the swingset. I found out by the end of the day that wooden swingset, especially when soaked through with rain water, are not meant to be moved and disassembled. We spent two hours trying to get two, yes two, bolts to come out of the wood. It wasn't until this point that we decided the best way to get this to work was a power tool that I am very fond of now called a sawsall. Once we had the sawsall we had the swingset disassembled enough to try and get in on the truck. The truck that was seven inches too small. After one attempt of getting the fort part of the swingset on the truck we discover that we have access to a trailer. So off my mom goes to get the trailor and the help of my 15 year old brother and his friend.

With the help of my mom, craig, my brother, his friend, the college guy renting the house with said swingset, and myself we manged to put the fort part of the swingset on the trailer and drive to my house. I talked the college student into coming with us and helping unload the swingset. When we got to my house we discovered that the fence opening was about 2 feet too small to fit the fort through. So now it sits in my side yard next to my fence waiting for enough people to help get it into the yard. The only good thing is that it is here, but now I have a three year old little boy who wants to know when he can play on his swingset. I don't have an answer for him, except that I hope it is soon. My body hurts and I'm tired, but we accomplished our mission of getting the swingset onto my property. The moral of the story is nothing in life is free. Yes I didn't have to pay money for it, but I sure did work for that swingset.