Mesa, Arizona Celebrities
One of the two major local papers in Phoenix is the East Valley Tribune. Today the Tribune ran a story about my family.
Are you wondering why?
It’s not because this local Mesa blogger is obtaining new writing opportunities.
It’s not because of any activist involvement on my part.
It’s not about my agnostic/secular viewpoints at all.
It is because I use an ottoman for a coffee table.
That’s right. You heard me. Trinity has been calling herself famous because the Tribune has an interest in coffee tables, especially our ottoman-coffee table. They’re so interested that they interviewed me on the phone, came to my home, and took 50 pictures.
“Well, right now my kids are playing poker on it,” says Noell Hyman, a Mesa mother of three, before she reminds her chidlren to wipe their hands before continuing the game.
The sand-colored ottoman in the Hymans’ living room is upholstered in microfiber, a highly stain- and kid-resistant material. Which is good for days like today, or other days when 3-year-old Aiden plays marbles on the ottoman while eating Oreos.
“Stains wash off really well,” says Hyman.
When Blake, 8, Trinity, 6, and Aiden aren’t playing games on the ottoman, it can easily be transformed into a more adult version of a coffee table by placing a tray on top to hold drinks or hors d’oeuvres when Hyman and her husband, Israel, have company.
The couple purchased the ottoman after they had kids, fearing that a coffee table made of wood or another harder materiral would pose a danger for toddling youngsters.
“I didn’t want my kids falling on hard corners of a wood coffee table when they were learning to walk,” says Hyman.
But she said she was surprised at how versatile the ottoman turned out to be. Now, Hyman says her favorite part about the piece is its addition to family movie night.
“We can pull it right up to the couch, so a few of us can snuggle and stretch out like it’s a bed.”
Did I really call it a couch? Ahem, it’s a sofa.
Note: If any of you live in the East Valley of Phoenix, you can find this article on page H4, the At Home section of the May 20th (Saturday) paper.
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May 20th, 2006 @ 10:05 pm
that is funny!
May 21st, 2006 @ 4:37 pm
Congratulations on being famous for your creative use of an ottoman. Oh, and I love that microfiber stuff. We have a couch and two ottomans upholstered in it. Oh, and a chair in the nursery, too!
Except nobody around these parts seems to care…
May 22nd, 2006 @ 12:13 pm
Hi, I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks now and I really enjoy it. I have a problem and I’m hoping you can share a few words of wisdom. I was also raised LDS. My heart left the church a while ago but my body is still very active. I’m curious as to how you made the transition. I have a very LDS husband and extended family as well as about 90% of my friends. I’m having a hard time letting go and even imagining my life after. I think only someone who has been there can understand. Care to share your story?
May 22nd, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
Sounds infinitely more kid-friendly than our coffee table, which is marble. You’re famous!
May 23rd, 2006 @ 6:13 pm
It is very intersting to me who comments on these kinds of posts and who on the more theorectical, political and educational. What’s up with that?
May 23rd, 2006 @ 6:15 pm
Different interests. It has been of great interest to me, too.
I like to talk about both, so I’m glad there’s usually at least SOMEONE interested in either types of topics!!!!!
May 27th, 2006 @ 2:15 pm
Just came across your blog today. We got rid of our wooden coffee table and never replaced it. I really like how much room we have to play, and yet I miss having a surface to put things. Too funny about being put in the paper for it. I think I still have last week’s paper, I’ll have to look that up.
June 4th, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
That’s wild! I’m amazed at the random way newspapers come up with human interest stories.
We had a coffee table - a beat-up Early Married model. When our kid started to learn to walk, we screwed plastic bumpers to the corners, which took its resale value down from approx $1.00 to approx $.10. But oh well. Now we have no coffee table at all, and don’t miss it. Hmm. Come to think of it, whatever happened to the $.10 table?