This table is tops!

The Inquisitive Investigator would be appalled.  We've been eating on the card table since December.  Why, do you ask? (The Inquisitive Investigator would be proud.) Well, two tables was too many, until both moved out with their owners and then we had zero.  Or actually, a half- we pretend that a tablecloth makes the rickety card table legitimate, but it's like putting magazine photos in picture frames and hanging them as art.  Useful, but tacky.

I went out looking for new table.  Complications immediately arose.  Cool tables right now are either a) square or b) counter height; and all are c) expensive.  Older tables can be found on Craigslist, but they are generally a) ugly or b) in bad shape; and all are c) difficult to transport.  Our long, narrow dining area and non-matching kitchen and living room woods made it hard to find anything that would fit.  Hoping to sometimes have company means we need an expandable table, but having no storage space means we may employ folding chairs.  Waaaaaah!

Finally, I gave up and was on my way to purchase a table that was only moderately ugly and would seat 6 at the expense of obscuring the door.  Checking the contact info on Craigslist, I saw one newly listed table with no chairs for $120.  Thinking cheap ugly trumps expensive ugly, I stopped by to get a better look.

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  It wasn't ugly.
  

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  It was gorgeous.
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  It seats 4.
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  It fits in my dining area.
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  It expands to seat 10!!!!!!
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  It was handmade to match these chairs, using common sense instead of mass production. Gpa N would like it.
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  The chairs were listed separately, because as the owner put it, "they're old, from the 1930s. The table was built in the 70s, so they don't really go together."
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  I got the chairs, too- old or not, I had to have them!
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  It comes completely apart with no tools.  I put it in the Prius no problem and assembled it myself when I got home.

The table is one of a kind, which I can prove by having looked all over the city before finding it.  The only problem was it needed to be sealed.  My dad just happened to bring everything I might possibly need, including instructions, when he came to do another project, which also happened to be the day the chairs needed to be picked up.  Heather Josselyn, as part of saving my spring break, donated some labor.  Things were looking good- until the rain delays.  Seriously, I think this year is the record for most rainy Saturdays after Easter.  Finally, there were enough clear days to get it done and it turned out pretty nice.

So now you are welcome to eat with us- as long as you don't spill on the table!