SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

When Mother’s Little Helpers were younger, there were times when gifts arrived with one of two phrases on the package that sent shivers up and down my spine.

The first was “Batteries Required” and the other “Some Assembly Required”.

“Batteries Required” was straight forward. The package label included the size and the quantity of batteries and as long as batteries were in the house when the package was opened, all was well.

”Some Assembly Required” was not as straight forward. One could spend hours reading, screwing, unscrewing, reading, hammering and pronouncing words that otherwise should remain unpronounced in the process of building the object in the box.

When the youngest of Mother’s Little Helpers was a pre-teen, “some assembly required” took on a new meaning.

He would open the refrigerator door and stare. I’m sure you have someone in your home that does “the stare”.

You see, inside the refrigerator there was “some assembly required”.

Out of sheer frustration one day, I hung a sign on the refrigerator. Yes, it read “some assembly required. I had to explain.

If you want to eat from my refrigerator, “some assembly required”. Cheese and flour tortillas will make a quesadilla. Deli meat and cheese plus two slices of bread will make a sandwich.

There was no drive-thru window on the refrigerator ready with an cordial worker to prepare a meal. In hindsight, Mother’s Little Helpers didn’t need a refrigerator, they needed a vending machine!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Place a list on your refrigerator door of ideas that one can make by using the ingredients in your refrigerator. Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas on one's own. Meal combos on the door can go a long way to avoid "the stare".