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Hero for a Day

Hundreds of parts have come together to form the finest swingset a backyard has ever seen. I'll admit I was more than a little worried when I saw the 2 large bags of hardware, each weighing in at at least 25 pounds. I now know the difference between a hex bolt, a lag screw, a tapping screw, a T-nut, and a deck screw. And each of those came in about 3 sizes. My wonderful wife separated all the hardware into neat little paper bowls, each with its own desciption written with a sharpie on the bowl's edge. There were about 30 bowls. Not kidding. The swingset was completed at 6 pm Saturday and I'm not sure 20 minutes have gone by (outside of sleep) where she has not been either swinging or sliding. "I love my new swingset, Daddy", she keeps saying. "Will you push me higher?" And there I was, at 6:45 this morning, pushing her higher. Life is good.

Cheap and Loving it

So I've reached another chapter in daddyhood. Yesterday I traveled to a local Wal-Mart to pick up a swing set for my kids. I know what you're thinking. Wal-Mart? No, it's not the metal kind that lifts off the ground as the kids swing back and forth. It's wood. At least it looks like wood. Just don't look too close. I'm ecstatic about the price. For 400 bucks, it is 1/5 the cost of the "Cadillac" playsets. And you see, this is why people shop at places like Wal-Mart. I have this silly rule that says if a toy for my child costs more than my first car, it's time to rethink the purchase. Wal-Mart sells things people need (or want) for cheap. Brain surgery it's not. For one second I don't think the quality of my Durango from Wal-Mart is equal to the high quality playsets sold online and elsewhere. However, I don't have to shell out $2000 on this oversized toy, and I don't plan on my kids still playing on it at age 16. So spare me the anti-Wal-Mart tripe about how these stores ruin communities. I have a feeling that quite a few kids will get a lot of joy from playing on this swing set. Now it time for me to put it together...I'll keep you updated on the progress or lack thereof.