New (Old) Desks

Earlier this summer Nana found a treasure in her barn: Mama's old desk that she used to study on when she was a girl!

Nana generously offered to let us have it, and Emily seemed to like it, so we brought it home and Mom made it her summer project.Mom took off the wood top and sanded everything down. There was orange paint underneath the green paint, and some of the metal parts were a little rusty.She primed it, then painted it in the color that Emily picked out: Brilliant Blue.Mom worked on the desk off and on all summer, whenever she had time. It was still a work in progress when Uncle Bob and Aunt Tawnya visited.When she had the metal parts done, Mom replaced the old wood top (which was splintering) with new oak plywood.For the final touch, she used new stainless steel screws to attach the new top to the desk.Tonight was the big night of the desk unveiling. We had also prepared a new (old) desk for Kate, which was a plastic "art bin" type desk that we got from our friend Tina.

We snuck the desks up to the kids' rooms while they were playing. Mama reminisced about doing homework in her younger days (although not with a Spider-Man notebook). Can you believe she still fits into that little desk seat?We stowed some writing supplies for the girls so they could put the new desks right to use.Then it was time! They were both very excited, and kept running back and forth from room to room squealing.

Emily particularly likes her big cabinet for stowing things, and the fact that it used to be Mama's desk.She promptly opened her book and started doing her "homework", which was writing her name.Kate was also thrilled, and started working on her homework too.She really likes the fact that her desk has her name on it. That's always a big hit with Kate.The girls were so wrapped up in their new desks that they had to be dragged downstairs for snacks and stories. We hope they stay this interested in doing homework!Thanks again Nana and Tina for the wonderful new (old) desks!