Goodbye little table....

you have served us well. But twenty years is a long time, and when the relationship started, there was only two of us you had to serve. Yep...just Darwin and me. But we have long since outgrown you.....

I guess a day like today shouldn't make me all melancholy, but it has. Because you see, that little table has been through nearly our whole marriage, thus far, and an awful lot of meals have been served on it.

It all started at a yard sale way up in St. Louis. My mom found this solid oak table with two leaves and four chairs....all for the meager sum of $50. But it was covered by multiple coats of paint. (Who would DO such a thing to a table??) But she could see the potential in it, and purchased it for us as a gift. It would have a long trip to make, and lots of work was needed to make it presentable, but we were now the proud owners of a real table. I could barely wait to say goodbye to the "dinette set with ripped green vinyl chairs". Quit laughing...you would have been too!

The work began, stripping off all of the coats of paint....to uncover the precious oak that made it into the sturdy table it was. And it had so much character....this table was a real "find". Darwin and his daddy worked tirelessly on refinishing what would soon be the table that would one day serve our family.

And serve us it has. It was just the two of us back then, and we didn't have the space in the little rental house, nor the need to use the two leaves. They were stored away for "down the road" when we would need them.

One by one the children came....a little faster than we planned or expected, and suddenly the need for the leaves had presented itself. We built our first "home of our own", and found out the week before we moved in, that we were going to have baby number two....just 18mo. after baby number one. And with additional children, came the need to insert the second leaf in the table.

Many a meal has been served on that table....and many an extra chair has been squeezed on to the side, so that all could fit and we could all eat together. Homemade birthday cakes to "save money" have been made and decorated on that table. Scrapbook pages have been created, pumpkins have been carved and some of life's biggest problems have been solved at that table.

But as our family has grown in number, it has also grown in size. Our children no longer need booster seats to fit at the table. Nope....now they just need a little elbow room. We have simply outgrown it...in every sense of the word.

Perhaps that is what saddens me the most. The reality that the reason we need a new table, is not simply the number of people, but the size of those people. Our children are growing up. And that is a hard pill to swallow. Oh sure....things get a little easier. Fewer spills at the table, and better manners....but along with that comes the reality that in a year from now, our oldest won't be eating dinner at our table. She will be away at college, beginning a new chapter in her life. And our oldest son will be in middle school, no longer a boy, but a pre-teen on the verge of a growth spurt that will definitely make sitting at a tiny table, less than practical.

At first I thought that I was the only one feeling sad about this. As a matter of fact, every time my husband mentioned getting a new table, I just couldn't even think about it. But then I found a table that looked like it had the potential to serve our family AND fit into a small area.

So today we all worked together assembling the new table and eight chairs. Everyone was excited and anxious to see the end result. But it was all I could do not to cry, when my sweet 7 year old came through the living room after it was all complete, and saw the disassembled "old table". Tears were in his eyes when he asked, "what are you going to do with this one?"

You see....even though he was the youngest child, and had eaten far less meals there than anyone else in the family, there was something about all of the memories that he didn't want to part with. And we won't. That table will be put away in the attic and saved for future memories. Perhaps it will belong to one of my children one day, and they can begin their life with their spouse and children and have a whole new set of memories around that table.

You know, when my daughter was in "Foods" class in middle school, the question was raised, "How many of you eat dinner with your family, every night around the table?" And out of a room full of kids, only two hands went up. My daughter's hand and one other person.

I can't believe how many conversations and memories they were missing out on! It spoke volumes to me when Jack was worried about what we would do with that table. It showed me just how meaningful and powerful those times had been.

Oh sure. We have a nice new table. But I wonder what new memories, meals & conversations are going to be had around this one? I can't wait to find out.

I'm just sayin'.

Got Washcloths??

'Cause we do. Lots of them.

And I'm sure you're wondering....what in the WORLD is she doing with that many washcloths?

I'm glad you asked.

You see.....a friend of mine, Mary Ostyn, (might I add that she is the oldest of eight children, mother of TEN home-schooled children, photographer, awesome cook, blogger AND author) wrote a book recently, "Family Feasts for $75 a Week".

Already doing a pretty good job of being frugal (I thought), but always open for new ideas, I started reading it. And truthfully? I sort of felt like I was reading about myself! There were so many areas that we were so similar in! Yet I had not seen or talked with her or her family in over 25 years! (Don't you just love how Facebook reconnects people??)

One of her suggestions was using cloth napkins or washcloths instead of paper ones. Something I had really never thought of. But I thought, "What the heck....I'll give it a shot....if we don't like it, then I will have new washcloths for the bathrooms."

So on my next big trip to Wal-Mart (which might I add I would rather take a beating than go through...I'm just sayin'), I grabbed a package of fall colored washcloths. They had them displayed in a package of 18 for only $4.oo. Decent price, pretty colors....what did I have to lose? I had never noticed that they put new ones out every season in different colors!

So I brought them home...washed them and got them ready to be used a first time, and gave STRICT instructions to everyone that these were to be used in the KITCHEN only.

Who knew?? Everyone loved them. They were softer on the face, added color to the table, and began saving me a lot of money! I couldn't believe it the next time I went back to Wal-Mart (yes...I torture myself every two weeks), when I STILL had an extra roll of paper towels under the sink that had not been used because our paper towel consumption had decreased by SO much! (Of course, moving the paper towel holder AWAY from the sink area helped not to tempt wet little hands to pull off 5 at a time).

And how hard is it to just throw them in the daily load of towels? It feels like that's all I ever wash anyway.....and folding them? Nah....that's nothin' for a 7 year old. Perfect job.

He even knows that we segregate them. No....there is not an equal opportunity for our washcloths. There are some that just simply are NOT allowed to be in the kitchen wiping our faces. Those belong in the bathrooms. Anything that is white....is automatically a kitchen rag.....washing dishes/wiping counters, etc. The new, brightly colored ones (and yes, I buy a new pack every time the season changes....they just had patriotic ones for the 4th of July...SO cute!) are for the napkins, and the older ones that are colored that we have had forever, get banned to the bathroom.

And at first I felt sort of silly. You know....the first time someone came to our house, and I had to explain why they had a washcloth sitting at their spot at the table....but so far, everyone has really liked the idea! Which then of course, I can't take credit for, and it leads me into yet another discussion about Mary, and her book....and her blog. I think all of my local friends have heard about her now.

The funny thing is....even my 7 year old likes her book. Really! I'm driving home the other day, and had left it in the van....and apparently Jack felt it was worthy reading material. Out of the blue, as I'm driving down the road he says, "Mom.....did Mary inspire you to make homemade pizza?"

What???????? Did he just say, "inspire" and use it correctly? That boy cracks me up.

Trying not to laugh out loud.....I explained that I had actually been making homemade pizza a long time just for the sheer savings of money, but that yes, Mary had truly been an inspiration to me in many other ways.

I'm just sayin'.