YOB: #18. Build Something Together (Part 2)

By Lara

I can still remember it all so clearly. Beth and I were in line at Lowe's. She had just picked out a new piece for her Christmas village. I had just been fantasizing about my future french-doored, stainless steel refrigerator with pull out freezer and humidity controlled deli and vegetable drawers. Sigh.

Beth was admiring the gift cards. One of them was clever. It said something about projects bringing people closer together. Beth got excited. "We should build something together." I looked skeptical. Build. Something. Together. That's vague, and I'm clumsy.

When we finally sat down to write the Year of the Birthday list, Beth recalled this conversation. "We should build something together." When I was a child, my grandfather sometimes let us "help" him build stuff, but I don't think I've ever built something on my own. Assembling furniture from Ikea doesn't count. Still. I agreed to put that on the list.

At some point, Beth suggested that we build a room box doll house for my mother. She does like miniatures... Beth and my mom... That sounded a lot less daunting than building a shed or doghouse or something. I agreed. Beth ordered the room box kit.

While I was at Beth's house for fireworks in July, we also stopped at the craft store for paint and flooring paper. Beth already had glue. Putting the kit together was a lot of fun. It's not finished, but it's mostly together and painted. We still have to finish the trim and furnish it, but al least we started building it in the Year of the Birthday.

Beth is coming to visit this weekend. She's going to bring a miniature catalog so we can start planning what type of furniture should be included. I plan to bring the catalog to the sweatpants and hoodie party so we can peruse between pool and Rock Band. Hopefully, we'll have the whole thing finished by my mother's birthday in March.

[Editors Note: If you haven't read it, go see Beth's version of Build Something Together.]