Thursday, October 29, 2009

shopping for a fantasy

So I was in Wal Mart a month or so ago

Which is exactly where you would expect a fantasy to begin right? The fantasy of being the sort of person who does not shop in Wal Mart. But I am that sort of person, just sometimes I get these ideas in my head and I forget just whose life I am leading. I call them my Martha Stewart moments.

I needed table linens. Actually I needed table plastics. The dog had somehow snagged a claw in the last decent looking wipe off table cloth (ok, vinyl) we owned and ripped it. My table’s surface is…unattractive.. It’s the table from DH’ family kitchen & was low end balsa, later covered with fake wood look stick on plastic. It needs covering.

Off I went to Wal Mart, the source of my previous table vinyls, to purchase some new ones and some plastic placemats & to see if my one time buy of 8 white cotton napkins could be repeated. (I saw them once on sale for $5 and have never seen them again)

Table vinyls were only available in bright aqua. My kitchen is very earth toned, grey slate, medium wood, green trim. I looked at the table cloths (made of actual cloth) and got this wild idea that “I could do that. Just throw it in the wash from time to time. Get cloth placemats too. How dirty can they get?”

Because I’d forgotten I had 2 messy eater children and the cat problem wasn’t even in my head to be forgotten.

I ended up going to Target, JC Pennys and Kohls before I found placemats, napkins and table cloths that I like the look of and at a price point I could live with. I brought my booty home and set the table. 811

Ah, see I can be the person with cloth!

But then we had dinner.

And most of those things had to be washed because there were mashed potatoes and ketchup ground in on half the table. Then it happened again a couple nights later. I have 2 sets of table linen that I alternate between but I just wasn’t too happy with the constant laundry of all this.

Then I noticed this

823

Thank you for the comfy bed

And this

DSC_5453

And this DSC_5341

They never laid on the table vinyl.

I can’t be in the kitchen constantly shooing them off the table & the table is the first thing you see when you come to the door, so it has to stay covered.  And I am already washing the things more than I thought possible.

So I suppose I am not the sort of person who can do actual table linens

Maybe I can get some table vinyl and put it over the table cloth for mealtimes?

12 comments:

Jen said...

Oh you have so brought a smile to my face - I remember those moments from when my children were small!!

Mary said...

Oh Stacey....what a giggle, that's just the sort of thing that happens with animals in our house. If not the beds then the chairs of a pile of freshly laundered towels or.....well the list goes on!

Lee said...

I am laughing....sorry, but those cats look so comfy!!

humel said...

rofl!! Love the idea of a tablecloth to protect the tablecloth...

Nadine said...

I LOVE the cats! -gushes

what's the breed for the first one?

Sian said...

Now, just going to Target is a fantasy for me! It sounds wonderful. Just dropping in from Shimelle's class to say hi

helena said...

loving the way you tell a story and those cats are so cute
helena (shimelle classmate)

vix24 said...

Oh bless! Why do they always seem to know just where to go to be the most unhelpful!

My girl's favourite place is behind the monitor on my computer desk where she keeps turning round and almost knocking it over!

(VickiA from Shimelle's class)

Jay said...

Lovely. What sweet kitties you have.

Creative Junkie said...

How about just painting the table? They have these products out now that can make surfaces appear like granite or something similar. Or, just painting it with maybe a decorative stencil image and then sealing it? I'm thinking of doing something similar to our table - it's so old and ugly and stained.

Aunt Becky said...

I am laughing my ass off because I bought a table cloth when we moved to our house and that is EXACTLY what happened. I used it ONCE before I decided it SO wasn't worth it.

But the fantasy was pretty rad!

April said...

oh no! That's so not what I would have thought would happen with your bright and happy table linens. (I guess there's a reason I have no pets as the kids are bad enough!)