A little DIY...

Actually, any DIY is major for me! I purchased an old lamp at the thrift store while living in my last apartment and the switch has always been bad. It finally got to the point that I couldn't get it to stay on no matter how I tried. I've had a Make-a-Lamp kit sitting around the house for a while now, but wasn't quite sure if I wanted to try doing it or if I would wait until my son-in-law, Adam, seemed to have some spare time. Since he's working full-time and building a house in the evenings I decided not to bother him with what seemed like a small project. SO, I broke that kit open this morning and tried it myself.

I quickly became irritated at the instruction sheet. They kept throwing terms at me for the parts without any pictures or explanations, so my next option was....YouTube!

I watched three different videos, and each was slightly different, but none had a lamp quite like mine. Theirs all had a solid tube that they fed their wire through and it was much easier than my old lamp that just had a round hole in the ceramic and I had to figure out how to affix the brass threaded pipe so it was secure. After several tries I finally figured it out.

The video that helped me the most was this one:

This gal has a channel called See Jane Drill, lol. She showed how to make this underwriter's knot (is that the right name?) and then laughed and told us we had to untie it because we still needed to thread the wire through the base cap of the lamp assembly. (I did a LOT of threading and unthreading of the wire before I got it all right.)

A few pics of my process and successful finished product:

Yes, this is the knot I had to untie because "we" forgot to thread it through the base cap before tying. ;)

This is the antique plug that was on it before. I'm saving it because it's SO CUTE! The pretty bookmark is one my boys brought back for me from South Korea many years ago. It's a treasure.

Yay! So nice to have this little corner lit again!

 In a couple of hours I'll go over to Micah's and watch the  younger three while she goes to the school and watches the elementary kids and their Halloween costume parade.

Yesterday I spent several hours at Micah's while she and the two smallest went grocery shopping. I did some dishes and laundry and generally picked up, swept and vacuumed. I like to slip in and do some cleaning once or twice a week so she can come home to a tidy house. I know she has lots of homework in the evenings and it makes me feel useful. I took my computer along and did some of my online browsing while I waited on laundry.

Here are a couple of things I've finished and mailed off lately. This elephant postcard I showed you in a previous post, but I added watercolor.

Another lady requested a cow. So...

I watched The Sound of Music a couple of nights ago and just cried through much of it. It was a favorite with my family when I was about 11 years old. We must have had the soundtrack because I remember our family going for a drive in the mountains (we lived in Colorado at the time) and singing Edelweiss, and we even sang parts! On another occasion we sang a song for some visiting relatives. So, it holds a special place in my heart and I hadn't watched it in quite a while.

I just started watching the White Collar series. It didn't sound that interesting to me, but my daughter recommended it and I really enjoyed the first installment. I'm finding lots of movies and TV series at my local library. I guess a lot of folks donate their movies after they watch them, because some of them are fairly recent movies.

Well, I'm feeling a little eleven o'clock-ish so I'd better rustle up something to eat. Thanks for stopping by to hear about my exciting life! :) I'll try to return the favor soon!

Shalom, my family and friends!