Spring Facelift

The other day when I was in the supermarket picking up a few things for my rotisserie chicken palooza and my requisite flowers, it wasn't enough to put a $2.50 bunch of daffodils--my second of the season (they only last a week)--in my basket. Right there I decided I needed something more, something to get me through to spring, real spring, not meteorological spring, which apparently began today. I needed something to brighten my room and my spirits besides a bunch of flowers while I wait to open my windows. And I don’t mean Easter tchotchke. (Do you have any idea how happy I am to have found the Miriam Webster spelling for that word?) I needed to bring spring inside.

Now don’t go crazy thinking I went to the hardware store and picked up some paint. If you don’t know me personally, I was the daughter who told my parents, when they built a new, beautiful house after my last college tuition bill was paid, “I don’t have appropriate clothes for painting.” I needed to give my dining room table a facelift: a new, vibrant tablecloth and maybe a new bowl for my 5 pounds of D’anjou pears.

So I left the supermarket, and drove to Marshalls. I hit pay dirt when I found this Italian ceramic bowl (that you can't really see well while it's full of said pears) on clearance for $5.00! Then, even more, with the bowl in my back seat as I drove to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I imagined a buttercup yellow tablecloth. And, wouldn’t you know, it was there! And because I always travel armed with coupons, this microfiber cloth was $15.00 instead of $20.00. Honestly, it’s a little more than I typically like to spend; I usually shop house wares on clearance, but for a grand total of $20 I brightened the room and changed my mood in the process.

With absolutely no manual labor involved.