In addition to watching my contact lens go down the drain, I destroyed one of my bathroom rugs in the washing machine and I knocked the TV off the stand. I was lucky; none of these events was catastrophic. I didn’t destroy the washing machine (only had to clean it and replace the filter on the drain hose), and the TV did not break. Each of these things was something I thought about ahead of time and ignored. The rug was old and I knew I shouldn’t wash it. I knew the TV was too large for the stand and I knew it might fall, but I did nothing about it, until now.

Before I went to the airport to pick up Renee last week I stopped at Ikea and bought a new, large, heavy TV stand. Of course it comes broken down in a large heavy box. I wrestled the box into the back of my car and left it there until after Charna’s play. Fortunately my family did not need chauffeuring that night. When I got home I wrestled the box into the garage and there it sat. The garage is under the apartment and I did not want to ask anyone to carry the box up the stairs. Wednesday was a nice warm day so I went down to the garage, opened the box and carried the pieces up the stairs, one at a time for the big ones. I spent the last two nights putting it together. I actually enjoy doing it. I get a great sense of satisfaction. Also, I admire the Ikea directions. They are almost entirely visual, using only parts numbers. As a former technical writer I can really appreciate the person who creates these. So the stand is all set up and in place. The TV is still on the floor; I can barely shove it, let alone lift it. Now I have to ask for help.