wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

When we moved into our house a couple years ago, the previous owners left a coffee table. They moved to Florida and this table didn't fit in with their beach decor. We needed a table for the living room and were really pleased with this freebie.

When our first little grandson started walking and the kids came down for a visit, they noticed right off the bat that this table was dangerous, and it is. The little guy could impale himself on the spikes that are above table top level. We put it in the storage room for the rest of the visit. And on subsequent visits, we made sure that the table was stored away before their arrival.

When the whole family is in town, this table causes a dilemma. I don't want little grandson to lose an eye but the space is so handy when the adult people are sitting around the couch with their food, computers, gaming remotes, books, whatever kind of stuff they need to put on a table.

I was brainstorming remedies and thought of swimming pool noodles. Get one of those thick foam noodles and cut it into pieces to cover the "spears." However, it's December and those are summer toys. Google search: pool noodles dayton ohio. Lo and behold the search showed that Dick's Sporting Goods had pool noodles. A Christmas miracle!

A quick trip to Dick's (how can anyone give a store a name like that? Sorry - I'm tired, I raised four kids, and I was an 8th grade teacher. The potty and body humor game is strong!). There were no pool noodles. Oh no! I walked toward the door to go home to figure out Plan B and there they were. Tennis balls...Oh yes! Add some festive hats and cute little scarves and voila! No worries about little grandson injuring himself.

And when my little guy sees this he's going to say, "Oh Didi, that's silly!"