Help! Anyone have some creativity I can borrow?

Kate’s birthday is next Thursday, and I haven’t had any really brilliant ideas about what to get her. I keep asking her, and other than telling me she wants one of everything at Justice, she’s not been too helpful. And as much as I’m dying to buy her one of these in every color, I’m still on the hunt for more ideas.

Today she mentioned that she’d like a table to replace the little Dora table & chair set we bought her several years ago (on clearance at Target for $12.97 – major score), because it’s gotten too small for her. She’s gotten a ton of use out of it, and she loves to write and draw and paint so much that I thought a new craft table might be the perfect gift.

I found some that I LOVE… there’s a really cute one from Land of Nod (that won’t let me save a picture… grrr!) for the low low price of $449, and check out this one (I love the paper roll over the top, and the storage areas below!) from The Container Store: which can be yours for a mere $375.

So.

Here’s the thing. I want a table like this (or at least with the same functionality), but I’d really not like to have to spend so much money.

Which is where you come in.

I’d love some ideas on where I could find a similar table that doesn’t cost a million dollars, or how I could take a cheaper table and create a similar workspace for Kate. Any thoughts?

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Best Purchase Ever

This year Bobby and I did something we’ve been wanting to do for a couple of years now.  We bought the kids a swing set!  We have a big yard by city standards, and we wanted to make better use of it.  This year we finally made it happen!  So my dearest darling husband assembled this bad boy:

swing set

It is awesome!  We got it at Toys ‘R Us.  I have no idea what brand it is but it’s been great!  Look how much fun the kids are having on it!

woohoo!

hooray for swingsets!

Yesterday we had a massive play date with four families from house church.  There were nine kids ages 1-6 running around, climbing, swinging,  and it was GREAT!  Truly an awesome afternoon.  And we’re in that 2-week period where Ohio weather is absolutely perfect, so we are making the most of it!  Sophie and I have been outside a ton this week.

So, I’m super in love with our swing set and so are the kiddos!  What are you loving this spring?  To check out more of what people are digging, head over to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.

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We’ve done it AGAIN

So here it is, April 14th. Our federal and state taxes have been done for months. Our refund is sitting happily in our savings account (after being unhappily held in the IRS “error resolution department” for a month). Even our school district taxes are taken care of.

However, it wasn’t until I logged onto Facebook and saw a friend’s status update regarding her local taxes that those even crossed my mind.

As I wrote about last year, I have a long and sordid history with local taxes.

To make a long story short, I never remember to pay them. You’d think after paying for about six years all at once and even blogging about it last year, I would have had it taken care of by now, but nope… haven’t even started.

The stupid part about this is that for whatever reason the local tax form confounds me. I don’t know how a one-page document can be so complicated, but it is.

I guess I know what I’m doing tonight! Sorry, Kate, your homework is going to have to wait til tomorrow.

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