Category: Kate

In exactly two minutes, it will be six years since my baby girl was born.

Six years.

Happy birthday, baby girl. You amaze me every single day.

I love you.

If you’ve ever had the misfortune to drive on I-75 in the Monroe, Ohio area, you’ve certainly seen Jeebus, a 62-foot statue of what looks like Jesus carved out of butter and sinking in quicksand:

As a side note, at the very exit where Jeebus resides, you’ll find not one but two flea markets, a maximum security prison and another medium-security one, a strip club, a giant anatomically-correct horse, and a Hustler store. If you’re ever in the mood to do some people watching, have breakfast at the Waffle House right there. Trust me. Amy and I did it on Sunday.

But I digress.

Since we’re lucky enough to have this monstrosity fairly close to us, our kids have grown up knowing Big Butter Jesus, but it never fails to illicit an interesting response from Joshua and Kate, who termed in “The Big White Giant” when she was no more than two.

Saturday afternoon the kids and I were returning from seeing “Sesame Street Live” in Kentucky (no, we didn’t try to walk there), and for the better part of the trip, Kate and Sam were alternately chanting “Mommy is a goofball!” and “Mommy is a chicken!” They were cracking themselves up. I was pretending to be highly offended, which of course made them giggle even harder.

That is, until I pointed out that we were passing Touchdown Jesus.

Kate immediately smashed her face up against the window, and in her sweetest, most innocent voice said “Hello, Jesus. I reallllly love my mommy. She is realllly nice and I realllly love her!”

I burst out laughing and said “Wait, I thought I was a goofball and a chicken,” and she replied, “I know, but I didn’t want Jesus to hear me say that!”

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?