AEDM #15: Happy Firstday, Happy Birthday, Happy Chalkday

Usually I try to have something handmade on the celebration table for my daughter's birthday. Last year it was a mailbox, another year it was a dollhouse, and other years I did other things but can't remember what they were. This year I forgot altogether, until I went to the grocery store to pick up balloons and found a darling vase covered with chalkboard paint. Only four dollars! Ran to the drugstore, got some colored chalk, went back to the apartment, arranged the table, chalked the vase all in 10 minutes, just in time to pick her up from her first day at her new school. Lettering with chalk is not easy! It is a headstrong and ornery little thing. It skids, skips, screeches, and does not obey my commands at all. But she loved the vase, and I think we'll get plenty of chalking practice on it once the big day is through. First, though, we're walking downtown for a cupcake.