All it takes is a bit of cooperation!

  Darling Daughter, Elizabeth, has just started her new job at the local school.  She is a Speech Pathologist and will have quite a range in the ages of her students although her class size will be small with only a few students at a time.  She is really excited about the opportunity to work with children.  Although her first real class will start come this Monday, she was already presented with a problem.  Her classroom came with three tables....but no chairs.  Alrighty then!  Something needed to be done to remedy this situation and it had to be accomplished rather quickly....not to mention on a tight budget. Although she may only have a couple of students at a time, they would definitely need somewhere to sit!  The school has ordered chairs but it will take a while for them to arrive.  She and I pondered the problem and started throwing ideas at each other as to how we could make some stools for the kiddos.  It was her main goal to make them all feel welcome, comfortable and happy.  

  While we were thinking over the situation, Son came in with a solution.  (I informed her that brothers are grand at that!)  Anyway, he had "thrown together" a footstool using some scrap lumber.  She protested that she did not want him to go to any trouble but made it clear that she "really, really liked them"!  That solved the problem.  He went out to make three more stools.  Once he had them complete, it was our job to paint the stools and cover the seats. I sanded, primed and painted the four footstools while she added cushions and fabric to the tops.  The job was completed using a scrap lumber, leftover paints from other projects and some fake fur that was a remnant from some costumes we did for a play years ago.  Those for stools cost a grand total of about $3 a piece which covered the foam used under the fabric. That fell well within her budget!

  Besides the point that she now has furniture for her classroom, the whole project seemed to be more of an example of cooperation. Several times during this whole ordeal, one or the other of us would comment on how well we work together.  The three of us were in close proximity of each other but never seemed to get in each others way nor did tempers ever flare.  Ideas were shared, methods compared and work accomplished. We giggled, talked and worked on the stools.  It was a grand time for each of us and the kids now have somewhere to sit! Teamwork!  Its what gets things accomplished!