Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Instructions, Who Needs 'Em?

Seriously, who needs them?  My disdain for instructions goes back to my teenage years when I "made" my first ever tapioca pudding.  It's pudding, how hard can it be, right?  Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't need an entire box of tapioca to make one serving of pudding.

In our marriage as Christmas time was approaching and our children asked Santa for all those cool toys that needed to be assembled, my husband and I would draw straws to see which one of us was going to get the good night sleep and which one of us was going to be up all night cursing at the instructions.  He and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to following instructions, we simply don't do it.
 
I love IKEA and the simple lines of their furniture.  The only problem is, this furniture comes in boxes, with lots of pieces and instructions.  And the instructions seems to be in every language except English.  Which really doesn't matter anyway because I'm certainly not going to try to read them.  Thank goodness the instruction come with pictures, I do love pictures.

They have a picture of everything, every nut and bolt, every tool, every piece of the furniture.  I think there was even a picture of what looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy holding a wrench.  I don't know why he was there, but he was a familiar, comfortable sight, made me feel like I could do it!

And if ever it doesn't have all the screws and nails and nuts and bolts, not to worry, I have a drawer full of left over ones.  That could be the reason why my husband, when he was testing out the newly assembled bunk beds became a bunk bed sandwich.  Oh well, that's what  grey tape is for. Oh, and he was uninjured!

6 comments:

  1. That is SO funny! I remember the tapioca disaster! As a matter of fact, I have a box of it in my pantry (I don't know why), but everytime I open my pantry I see it and am reminded of you - - which is maybe why I don't throw it out!

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  2. I'm happy that it brings back a goofy memory, those are always fun. I'm afraid, though, that was not an isolated incident:). I do know how to make tapioca pudding now though!!

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  3. LOL. It's so easy to do something like put a piece on backwards as in the picture you posted.

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  4. haha, I love following instructions. Mind you sometimes they're not so straight forward, but if it weren't for instructions, I'm pretty sure I would be hopeless.

    Have fun with a-z. :)

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  5. Hahaha! This is hilarious! I just did an Ikea post too. I remember my first adult bedroom set was from there. I still don't know if those were extra screws, or if I was just drunk when I put it together.

    Hugs!

    Valerie Nunez and the Flying Platypi

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  6. I've always found that the IKEA pictures are clear enough without word. Pretty good instructions at that.

    I never understood the guy in Douglas Adams "So long and thanks for all the Fish" who thought the world had gone crazy because somebody was putting instructions on toothpicks, because 'any society that couldn't figure out what to do with a toothpick had lost its way.'

    Even if there's a small bit of that premise that's true, I still think that giving more instructions than most people need is never insane.

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