From Me To You... As we head towards the holiday season, I can
insists are “decorative” but we all know are really just socially acceptable toys for adults. It was not always plain sailing though. I remember when we first started buying furniture from a certain Swedish store and the many hours I would end the day with splinters and cracked nails, screwdriver- caused blisters and an aching back. Those instruction manuals with their wordless diagrams and mysterious stick figures made me question my intelligence, my life choices, and whether that engineering degree I never got might have been useful after all. But like any good relationship, we worked through our issues. I learned that those “extra” screws aren’t actually extra, they’re foreshadowing. I discovered that when the manual shows two people assembling something, it’s not a suggestion, it’s a desperate plea. I figured out that “assembly time: 45 minutes” is code for “block out your entire Saturday.” Now I approach each flat-pack box with the confidence of a seasoned warrior. I lay out all the pieces. I organize the hardware. I actually read the instructions first. Sometimes I even use the Allen
guarantee that the majority of you will be assembling a flat-pack item or two before the end of the year. For those of you who don’t understand the term “flat- pack,” it is an item, usually furniture, that arrives in your house waiting for assembly. By you. Or a helpful spouse. Or that neighbor you suddenly become best friends with when you spot their power drill collection. In our house I am the assembly(wo)man and I love it. I always enjoyed putting Lego sets together as a kid; who’s kidding here, I still do. In fact, I have several thousand-plus piece sets in my house, which my family
wrench they provide instead of losing it immediately and using my own tools. And when I finish? There’s nothing quite like admiring a bookshelf you built yourself, even if it’s technically supposed to hold books rather my Lego masterpieces, which leaves one pressing question: where am I supposed to put my books? Off to the Swedish store again! Catherine Uretsky Editor, CB Living Magazine info@estrellapublishing.com 623.398.5541
909-732-7657 | www.CathieAbeel.com
4 Estrella Publishing - CB Living magazine
November 2025
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator