Admit defeat?

About two years ago we bought a bedside cabinet from IKEA - which we were going to use as a side table in the living room. I decided to tackle the assembly of the flat pack furniture on my own. I wanted to prove to the Vol-in-Law that I could do it on my own.

Unfortunately, I was not able to do it on my own. Several steps in, I discovered that some important holes weren't matching up. This jeopardised the structural integrity of said cabinet.

Sadly, as a couple, we let this problem fester. The cabinet has been sitting in our living room - unfinished - for these two years.

Today, the Vol-in-Law said that he wanted to buy a Play Station so that we could have more quality together time. (Women out there - this sounds like a male ruse to me - does the purchase of Play Station or similar result in more quality couple time?) I said - sure, yeah, let's go get one of those game consoles - after we've finished the cabinet.

After all this time - there was some doubt that we'd indeed still have all the bits and pieces - the screws, the nails, the special Alan key that goes with flat pack furniture. And the Vol-in-Law got to work - while I remained on the couch in a supervisory capacity.

Sure enough, the cabinet was improperly made and we were about four holes short of being able to put the frontage on a drawer. Yes, we got out the drill. But we did not choose each other on the basis of our carpentry skills.

After split wood, a hole drilled through the front - and two adjacent holes which bracketed where the real hole should have been, the Vol-in-Law gave up. The cabinet is still not complete, but it is two steps further than it was two years ago.