Sanna's Bag

“I never seem to have what I need when I need it. I’m going to make a belt-bag that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside, and just carry everything with me.”

Sunday, January 17, 2010

In search of illumination

There are some dark corners in our house. As it happens, we set up the printer in one of them, and, being over fifty, we need the light to see what we're doing. After discussion as to what kind of a lamp would best suit the area, we decided on the renter's friend, the swag lamp. We both remembered when you could buy a hanging lamp that plugged into the wall, and was suspended from a hook in the ceiling, and off we went in search of one. Either no one makes those any more, or we just didn't know where to look. We tried Home Depot and Lowes. Then we tried a couple of stores that sell only lamps and light fixtures. They didn't carry swag lamps either. They had bored and lonesome clerks who tried to talk us into buying a chandelier and adapting the cord to add an electric plug. This made me a bit nervous (I don't DO electricity.) Then I noticed the prices and they flat out frightened me! And then we came around a corner and found the Pink Thing. It was a dainty little chandelier for a little princess' bedroom, with a pink drum shade and pink ribbons and pink dangly crystals and pink ruffles and a pink thousand dollar price tag. One pink thousand pink dollars! For a bedroom light that doesn't illuminate that much anyhow. And at that point I went into complete sensory overload. I mean, there are a lot of elaborate, extravagant, over the top light fixtures out there, but when you have to pee blood to pay for them? No thank you!

DH is a true hunter, and if the world goes to pot, our tribe will stay well fed because he just doesn't give up! We went to Ikea. There is a small twist in the temporal continum in that place. We walked through, discussed a couple of things for additional kitchen storage, admired the sleek designs and reasonable prices, and left. It couldn't have taken us more than fifteen minutes because there weren't any swag lamps and that was all we were interested in. However, the clock said we had been in there for over two hours! Does this happen to anyone else? And the crowds in that store! I think some of them might still be wandering around after having come in for the post Thanksgiving sales. You need a sense of direction or a native guide to get through the place.

Lunch time - hungry. We found a sushi place with one of those cool moving belts. DH doesn't care for fish, but can usually find one or two things - and did. He'd never been in a sushi bar before, and was entertained by the way the food comes to you, and all you do at the end of the meal is count your plates. Sushi is very low points. You can fill up on seven pieces and spend only 4 points, so I was very pleased. And he remarked that he wouldn't mind going back there some time. WIN!

But we were still lampless. And Home Depot had a floor lamp that we had liked the look and price of. We returned to Home Depot, and picked up - - -



The torchier brightens the whole wnd of the room, and the reading lamp puts light right on the printer. AND, we didn't have to put a hook in the ceiling. It was a good day.

5 Comments:

  • At 3:50 PM , Anonymous Dave Daniels said...

    Ah, the torch. it's a solution of sorts. I, too, have been on an illumination kick lately, too. I've been searching eBay for lack of anything reasonable priced in the city. (That pink lamp sounded fabulous until the price tag.)

     
  • At 7:35 PM , Blogger Rose L said...

    LOL I had not realized that it is difficult to find a swag lamp!! Now when I go to thrift stores or garage sales I will probably see lots of them!!

     
  • At 10:58 PM , Blogger Amy Lane said...

    Oh, very nice! I got one of those Ott lights for knitting and the whole family craves it! But I remember torcheres... those were nice too!

     
  • At 10:58 PM , Anonymous Barb said...

    Glad you're so well, you're starting a diet. I'm with you about food becoming an unconscious habit. It's so hard not to grab a cookie for a snack, because I have one (HAAAA HAAA) every afternoon. How did the package get empty so fast?

    Good luck on the lamp. Now if you could just convince restaurants to turn up their lights so I could see the darn menu. How id I get so old so fast? Must be the cookies.

     
  • At 6:34 AM , Blogger Donna Lee said...

    You have to make your own swag lamps now. I bought Kate a Chinese lantern shade and had to buy the chain/cord part separate. It plugs into the wall and hangs from a hook in the ceiling. I remember having a pink one with fringe as a kid (but no pink way did it cost a thousand pink dollars)

     

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