One sunny afternoon this past week, the children and I headed out toward the church, to set up a dinner table for our church’s annual WIC Welcome Back Meeting and Dinner. I just had one “quick” errand to run first: return a pair of shoes I’d bought for Abigail. As I was in Marshalls returning the shoes, I had an idea: why not quickly stop by the linens section in back and pick up a pretty tablecloth to go with my china setting for the above-mentioned table? I actually have no fullsized tablecloths of my own which will work with my simple cream china though my MIL has kindly lent me the use of several of hers along with their nice oak dining table which we are “babysitting” for them. But all her cloths are solidly colored (with good reason: her lovely china is patterned with many colors in it) and I was hoping to find something with a bit more of a design to it.
It was a fun idea, but back in the linens section I came up empty. The patterns I liked were all the wrong sizes and the right sizes came in patterns I could do without. No big deal. While I was out, why not just check the other Marshalls just 10 minutes away? The advantages (or disadvantages depending on how you look at it!) of living in a large metroplex!!
Three hours and 7 discount stores later, including that second Marshalls, a Tuesday Morning, Steinmart, Nordstrom’s Rack, and others, I had no more reached my goal of a tablecloth than when I started. The kids, who each nap everyday and by this point were well beyond when those naps should’ve started, were wondering why I was torturing them by dragging them all over North Dallas and through countless stores. Meanwhile, my WIC table was still not begun. But by this time I was determined (read “obsessed”). There had to be a perfect tablecloth somewhere for a good price that I would absolutely love and which would beautify my table for the Ladies’ Dinner.
Continue reading “Things I Learned Whilst Trying to Buy a Tablecloth”
After debating about it for several months, I had finally removed several hangers for curtains that we left attached above our window frames in the living areas of the house when we moved in. Just in case we decided to use the rods: they were already paid for and installed, so moving them seemed silly if indeed we were going to just put curtains on them sometime “soon”. Well, after a year and a half with no curtains to speak of, I decided they must come down. And, besides, I’m hostessing a baby shower tomorrow at the house so this was a great incentive to get going on my little project.
But I digress. In October of 2001, we discovered to our surprise that we (as in, Tricia) were pregnant again. The nursery didn’t get finished out until shortly after the new year (of 2002), and Tricia was rather appalled that Jonathan was going to immediately have to move into an unfinished room. So she went to work around her 5th month of pregnancy on drawing, painting, redrawing, repainting, etc. Jonathan’s big boy room. She was trying for a design that matched the quilt he will use on his big boy bed one day (that red truck design from Pottery Barn, for those of you who know it… have I mentioned Tricia had also discovered around this time that one’s dollar could go a lot farther on eBay than actually in the store?).
There I was in a meeting with a couple VPs and several directors when Tricia called me on my mobile. I took the call and was about to whisper that I couldn’t talk when I notice she was hyperventilating. Turns out she was getting laundry out of the nursery when she came across a rather large version of the little brown spiders we get all the time. And instead of scampering away, apparently it was ready and willing to tangle with her (Tricia has asked that I clarify by stating that the spider reared up and waved its front two legs at her).