Work continues on our big opening between the kitchen and the dining room. I still forget the doorway exists until I walk in the room in the morning, feel the sun on my face and burst into song and dance. Seriously — it feels like a little Disney moment here. While we finish door jambs, trim and a wooden ledge for the half-wall, we wanted to introduce the newest member of our household. It’s felt like forever since I added to my collection of white ceramic animals, so I was thrilled when John surprised me with this tentacled specimen:
Apparently I had mentioned being in love with it a while back, but it was out of stock. John got an alert when it came back and secretly ordered it for me — around the same time I was secretly planning his surprise 7 for the office. Cue the collective aww.
We’re calling the gift my belated “congratulations on finishing the office stencil and not having permanent claw-hands” present. I’ll admit it makes me a little jealous that I don’t have eight arms to speed up projects, but I couldn’t be happier to add this piece to the family.
Some details about my new ceramic friend: she’s from Plasticland (though she’s porcelain), and I haven’t decided on her permanent spot yet. She’ll most likely go on the dining room built-ins with the rest of our ceramic crew so she’s out of Clara’s reach. The octopus was $19, and with shipping she ended up costing about $27 — not my cheapest find (roughly $3.37 per tentacle), and not my largest (she’s about the length of a dollar bill at her widest), but she’s my first octopod. Best of all, she was a surprise from John, so I didn’t try to talk myself out of it. Her name is Henrietta — no deep reason, it just felt right.
Happy Friday to octopods, bipeds and quadrupeds alike! Anyone up to anything fun this weekend? I’ll likely be found dancing in that sunny doorway with a toddler and a dog. I won’t record it — I reserve this annoyingly chipper, awkward side for private moments — but it kind of looks like this.
Psst — as if John wasn’t already adorable for surprising me with a tentacled friend, the video of him introducing Burger to Clara for the first time (well, to her scent) is pretty darn cute.