Spring cleaning and a surprise...

You may recall an earlier post about a cruel trick by Mother Nature...snow after a tease of spring. Well, I'm so glad the real thing seems to be here. I was telling my dad how nice it was that it was 60 degrees yesterday, and unfortunately he had a chilly 29. Poor thing! I thought we had it bad!

But, it's spring...and to me that means spring cleaning...bustling, organizing, brighter days and capris. With the impending move and the kids on Spring Break, I am in full clean out mode this week. It's good timing to switch out wardrobes and pack away the winter clothes for three (ghast! Will I even want any of it by then?) years. That has kept me from making this overdue post.

Every year when we do our taxes, we are glad to get some back, even though we have it worked that we don't have lots of extra taken out through the year (why give Uncle Sam need a tax-free loan?). But, it is nice to make a double bill payment and maybe get something fun. This year, with Dennis gone, I made a decision to get something big and surprise him.

We were grateful to get my parent's dining room set when we needed one years ago. It was a sturdy oak pedestal set with 6 chairs. But, over the years, I have grown to dislike the oval shape (can NEVER find table cloths) and it seems to take a large amount of space for the seating available. So, we talked about leaving it here and getting a new set at our next station.

Well, I was told that furniture selection isn't so great, so I started to look around here and found this set...I liked the idea of a bench seat (you can slide a lot of kids in on that one) but had not pictured this set in my mind at all. I had imagined cloth seats with wood backs, a more solid color, medium stain table. This is so completely not my style. Way more modern than I imagined. I did, however, fall in love with it instantly. Especially those deep chocolate high back chairs. I got 5 of them, plus the bench...that's a minimum of 8 seats (and more if your hineys are small!). I found it on the German economy, was able to use a VAT-relief form, and got a GREAT deal. I've received good feedback from my girlfriends...here it is:

Plus, doesn't it look pretty with the polish pottery settings? And, with a spill already of strawberry milk by one daughter and gum between the legs of another daughter (I'll let you guess which is which) that I was able to clean off of both chairs, I am so glad I found these! I hope Dennis will be too! Surprise! What do you think, hunny?