When Life Hands You Disarray...

 

 My messy kitchen table is just an extension of the discombobulation going on here right now.

Very soon my husband's small business will move from a rented office building to our home sweet home.  After nearly 25 years, this will be quite a change for us.

We've been going full-throttle to sort through years and years of stuff in the garage, attic and son's former bedroom to make room for the desks, file cabinets, computers, new phone system, etc. needed for conducting business from home. 

I met Brett at work a long time ago and have worked along with him in some capacity since he started his business all those years ago.

Along with sorting through things here at home, we've been paring down to the bare bones at the office.  In amongst all of the stuff lies years and years of memories.  Former employees, office parties, business trips, loyal customers and on and on...

This (somewhat) unexpected move is reminding me how quickly time goes by.  There seem to be more of those reminders at this stage of life, I think. 

While I'm not quite sure how all of this will work out, I am trying hard to set it up here so that our office space is kept separate from our home space.  

Right now, the upstairs hallway is lined with stuff in transition.

I spent the morning scrubbing baseboards and carpet.

Now it's time to step away from all of that and bring some order and beauty to at least one spot.

I started by clearing the clutter from the table and then went in search of a clean tablecloth. 

 

Okay, I folded this one so carefully after laundering it last time.

What the heck happened?

I briefly considered leaving it. 

But, I just couldn't do it.

I love the looks of freshly pressed vintage linens.

I actually don't mind ironing them either.  Sometimes I'm a wee bit lazy when it comes to wrangling the ironing board out of the coat closet, however.

 I've been on the hunt for an oval tray to use in the center of my table.  My sister-in-law spotted this one the other day and the hunt was over.  I love the patina and the mixture of metals.  Let's have some fun playing with it as we spruce up the table, shall we?

My backyard is also in a state of discombobulation, but that's another story for another day.

I was able to gather a bouquet of limelight hydrangeas out there this morning.

I am liking the cut crystal with the tray.  How about you?

You know those posts where they give you step by step directions for creating the perfectly pinworthy centerpiece vignette for your table?  Well, this is not one of those.  This is just little ole me mixing and matching with my garden flowers and thrift shop treasures.  

 Speaking of thrift shop treasures, I pulled a few dishes out of the cupboards.

That tiny tea cup had no saucer.  It's tiny price tag made me no longer care about missing saucers.

I like my table centerpiece vignettes to have a candle included.

Looking for something less predictable than a candlestick, I'm going to try using the tea cup.

 

I think that is the cozy glow I'm looking for.

That little snippet of hydrangea fell off while I was arranging them.

I'm good with leaving it on the tray.  What about you?

The goblet in the forefront was given to me by my Aunt Marge.

I was still in junior high when she gave them to my mom to save for "Kimmy" (as my family affectionately calls me :).  Aunt Marge said she thought I would appreciate them and she is right.  I kept them neatly packed in a box in my closet until my wedding day.  

She received them as a wedding gift.

She was 13 years older than my mom.  If my mom was still alive she would now be 90.  I'm too tired to do all of the math, but I think we can conclude that they are very old.

I'm just happy to have them.  

Good memories of my dear aunt.

 While it's true that most of my house, yard and office are in a major state of disarray, all's well at the table.  

Oh yes, the beauty of blogland... a wonderful place to come to escape reality from time to time ;-D.

Now I guess it's time to get back to reality and make some dinner to go on that table.  I'm thinking this  will be on the menu tonight.  It looks like a great way to use the tomatoes and basil I picked from the garden.