It has been a crazy, busy 10 days. This week looks more manageable.

Besides Joseph breaking his collarbone (which he's since fallen on three times) we also planted flower and vegetable gardens, were gifted a beautiful new table, bought a “new” bed (both courtesy good friends who have since moved to CA), and have continued to de-junk. This past week saw the departure of our tall computer table, all our buckwheat hulls, and a tremendous amount of paperwork. (Lil'Nathan did most of the shredding, getting paid by the full bucket.) The buckwheat hulls went to someone's garden, though she did say she might make a few neck pillows out of it, too. The table was gone within 30 mins of posting. We are still trying to find a home for the desk downstairs.

Okay, now a minute to talk about tables.

Like I said, our friends (Morgan and Sadi and cute baby Henry) moved to CA b/c Morgan is now a student at Stanford. (Yay for them! Though, as Joseph said, with a stamp of his foot, “Why does everyone I like move to CA?!”) We had already made arrangements to buy their bed and on Sat night Morgan called and offered us their table. They brought it over about an hour later, after all the kids were in bed. It's big, oak-y looking, (parawood, I think), and fits 6 with ease. It opens with one hand to reveal a leaf in the center, that can be one or two leaves and expands the table. All self-contained and no extra pieces to store. And one person can do it alone. Sadi said Morgan “is extremely attached to this table and wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it.” We definitely appreciate it. They even gave it to us with 6 beautiful chairs. Real chairs, not the folding kind!

We set it up and went to bed. In the morning Lil'Nathan shouted up from the kitchen and wanted to know where the table had come from. We told him there was no table, and what was he talking about. He insisted there was a new table downstairs. We continued to insist he was nuts. So he took this picture and brought it up to us to prove he was right.

Our old table... I just couldn't part with it. There's a story behind it that makes it too cool to get rid of.

We were living in Lebanon, NH in our yicky townhouse, using a card table for our dining table. One day, taking the trash to the dumpster, Nathan spotted a wooden table sitting there for trash. So, he picked it up and brought it home. It was maple, scratched up on the legs, and rather old. But solid wood and it matched the color and style of all the furniture my grandparents always had, some of which they'd given to us (two small end tables, a dresser, and a twin bed). So, we kept it and about a year later, Nathan stripped it and sanded it and finished it with tung oil. Instant beautiful table.

And then my grandparents came to visit. They walked into our kitchen (by now 2 years away from the yicky townhouse) and my grandfather froze in his tracks. “Where did you get that table?” he asked. “Ei, come see this.” In walked Grandma and she said, “Where did you get that table?” They used to have one just like it and many, many years ago had given it to a friend who'd moved to Vermont. We told them the story our our acquisition, and they left convinced we had their table. (Same year of make date stamped on the underside.) My mom came a year or so later and said, “I don't think there could be two of those tables. Where did you get it?”

So, I was rather unwilling to let go of our table, and Nathan agreed. It is now downstairs to serve as a desk. (Right now it's actually serving as a bookshelf b/c we are in flux, but one day it will be a desk.)

Yes, flux. Getting rid of the computer table out has caused us to rearrange the living room. The big new table in the kitchen caused us to remove the bookshelf in there. A little (a lot, actually. Lil'Nathan says I'm hurting his brain) of rearranging and now the school books are upstairs in the kids' room, the bookshelf from downstairs is housing them. The kitchen bookshelf is now in the living room where the freezer was, holding the phone and many of the things that were on the computer table. The computers are kept in their bags in a corner. The freezer, who's top we attempted to keep clear, is on the opposite side of the room, now holding the living room plants b/c Charlie decided it's great fun to strip their leaves and then dump the dirt. Our extra blankets got booted from the couch storage and are now in the bed storage (awesome feature!!) and my “filing cabinet” is in the couch, with the extra printer paper and two blankets.

No wonder lil'Nathan's head hurts.

In other news, Joseph's goldfish tried to commit suicide last Monday. Lil'Nathan found him on the counter all crusty, but when he touched him to flush him, the fish wiggled. He quickly dropped him in the bowl and the fish began to swim. He's fine now, though his tail fins are gone. We don't think they survived the crustiness.

And lil'Nathan's black catfish is on it's way out. It's tilting and lethargic. The betta and the albino catfish, however, are doing great.

We just seem to have weird fish.

Charlie has begun to climb. His specialty is climbing from one thing to another, then standing and screeching for help down. Then he repeats the process. He's very methodical... Oh heck! We just watched him climb his high chair like a ladder and get on the table! That's a new trick. Anyway, he also loves hats. We give him 5 or 6 in the morning, and he takes turns with them throughout the day. Lil'Nathan's Red Sox cap is his favorite. New words: Besides “mama” (or “maaa!!”) and “daa!” he has recently added “coo!” (cool—especially when he sees and airplane), “haa” (hat), and “hah” (hot, which he does every time he sees the stove or oven on). He can sign “more,” “help,” “please,” “all done,” and “water.” If you ask him where are his toes, he sits down and picks up his foot. Ask him where his nose is, and he pushes his nose and says, “beee.” Ask him where his babies are, and he runs to my sewing bag and removes two of the little 5” dolls and gives them kisses. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get kisses, too.)