Trellis anyone?

FINALLY- a non food related activity!!! Lollll...

Since my parents are really into gardening and slowly renovating our yard, I decide I'd make my mom a trellis.  My day yesterday was very productive, might I add. Very befitting to this blog, yeah? We started off going to Cosco-bought some toothpaste/mouthwash. We were just window shoppin' round Lowes looking at prices for things.

"Mom this is nice. Dangggg, it's like $150!! I could make one. Mom, you want one? I'll make it for you today. Let's go buy some wood." 

Home depot- bought lots of wood.

Man, we spent hours upon hours there! Even until it closed. My mom really likes that place. Finally we're done with the checkout and the guys asks us if we need help loading up the car.

-Nah I got this.

As I load up the car, mom's yellin' at me, "Why aren't you letting them help load the car?!"

-I got this mom. I can do it. I don't need their help!

"They're men, they should do it! And they work here."

-I don't need men to do stuff for me! If I can do it, why do I need to ask for help?!

So she starts to get frustrated with me.

-I don't understand, mom. I can do anything they can do. I don't need their help just cuz they're men.

"I'm not saying anything to you anymore. They're men and it's their job. You can do the heavy lifting when you're at home but let them do it when they're here."

-MOMMMM... I can do it!!!

Well there was that conversation. You'd think any parent would be PROUD to have a self-sufficient daughter who doesn't beg for the aid of men. Pfft... 

Back to the subject, aye.

Firstly, we bought the white boxed trellis already set up like that. So my initial step was to nail it down to the pieces of wood on each side. I will give you a specific price quote at the end to amaze you! Mind you, this was my first time really using a power drill and it was amazing. I have a new favorite toy! I split the wood on my very first attempt to drill a nail. Then my dad gave me a good tip: Drill a smaller whole first and then drill the nail in. DUH moment. Such a good tip and makes sense too. I shoulda thought of it. Anyway, the rest were fine. 

Kind of skipping ahead a little bit but this was the finished product. Two planks on the bottom for stability. There's a side view as well. I think I got this little project done in ~2:30-3:30 hours. And that was probably only because I'm a noobie. Normally, I'm sure it'd take closer to 1-2 hrs! 

Here are the materials and costs: (Everything bought at home depot)

cedar composite white ladder trellis x2 @ $13.98/ea. = $27.96

cedar board x2 @ $6.77/ea. = $13.54 

(Cut to the dimensions of ladder trellis)

cull lumber x4 @ $0.51/ea. = $2.04

Total = $43.54

not including the nails and convenient power drill

compared to this for $49.00 at home depot.

 But honestly, I didn't want to settle for the above. I wanted to do something cooler... Like a bench... Like this for $4.08 more:

It would've been so awesome... You could sit there and everything... Of course I'd have to get some bricks or something to support the bottom of the chair so you don't break it. But that can't be more than $15 depending on the brick you use.