It's the little things

Sometimes, it's really funny what will really lift my spirits. Last weekend, it came in the form of a neighbor's garage sale. Some of you knew that I had come to despise my kitchen table. (Our kitchen table also doubles as our dining room table in this cozy house.) It was one of those ones with white tile top--you know, they were hugely popular in the early 90's. Well, when the tiles and grout were clean and the chairs weren't falling apart, it was just fine. However, it was wickedly difficult to clean--crumbs clung to that caulk like you wouldn't believe. Also, THREE of the FOUR chairs were broken and we had to warn all visitors not to sit down. How is that reasonable? We scoped adds for new tables, but everything was out of our price range, which was very low. So, I had pretty much given up.

Then last weekend I was driving away to a playdate with the kids and saw a dining room table at my neighbor's garage sale. I hopped out of the car and called out to her asking how much the table was. She said $50. I didn't even hesitate. I would use food money if I had to. I said "We'll take it! I'll be right back!" I put the car into reverse, ran back into the house, grabbed the checkbook and told Trent he needed to run next door and get our new table! He agreed and I'm so happy with our decision. It's bigger than our last table, has no grooves for food to get stuck in, has nice chairs (even though only 5 are working), and it feels like I finally have a table for grown-ups, not something that belongs in a recent college grad's apartment. It's not a big thing, but it made me smile.