Finishing Some of the Trim

 

 

Birthdays are special around here.  We decorate with bunting and balloons and the Birthday Chair, and other fun things.

And of course for the kids, presents are probably the highlight.  Toys still reign as the number one requested gift, along with books, movies, and occasionally now, clothes.

 

Glenn and Alix picked out a beautiful red Transferware plate for me this year – I love it!  And a really lovely silver serving stand – the kind you can set a 9x13 size dish into. 

He is such a thoughtful husband.   

I received many beautiful handmade cards from the kids, drawings and poems, chocolate covered almonds from a friend, 4lbs of Jelly Bellys, and a lovely set of handpainted floral notecards from another sweet friend.  Alix and Kate even made me a beautiful and delicious chocolate birthday cake!

One flowered napkin ring at my plate simply wasn’t enough – the kids gave me a bouquet!

 

 

There was the blessing of time which Glenn and I spent together –  running errands and having lunch out and just being Two, instead of nine, for an afternoon.

 

But I have to admit that the icing on the cake for me was…… trim in the hallway. 

Yes. 

I think I am officially a DIY- mom because getting the trim practically made me giddy. I sighed and squealed over it.  And I have spent a strange amount of time just staring at it.  Admiring it.

Glenn knew I was excited – so he wasted no time getting it cut and nailed into place as soon as we finished the birthday dinner.

Here we are – Glenn showing me how to caulk the seams, and both of us feeling very pleased about it.

Although we still plan to board and batten this hallway, like the main hallway, for now we are content to have it trimmed and finally looking more finished.

Would you like to see?

Ta-da!

 

Even though we only needed to add the trim at this point, I thought it would be fun to show the progression of this little hallway, formerly part of the garage and part of the backyard. 

 

     

 

You can see by the flooring in the doorway, the place where we joined the former wall of the garage with the new mud room addition we built.

 

 

And looking the other way.

       

 

Happy Birthday to me. 

 

                                             

How to Attach a Lamp Harp

 

A few weeks ago I found a sweet little white lamp at Goodwill.  For just 2.99, I had to get it.  Kate needed a new lamp on her desk and I knew she would love this one.

The only thing it lacked was a cute lamp shade. But I am a hoarder of such things, and I knew there were a few in my closet to choose from.

The one I found which looked best required a lamp harp.  But my little lamp didn’t have a harp.  Up until just recently, this meant I would need to add something to Glenn’s “to – do” list.  But, not now! 

Last summer I asked Glenn to show me how to rewire a lamp and affix a lamp harp.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I admit I felt a lot of satisfaction when I plugged it in afterwards, and the lamp worked!

Many times, the perfect shade can be found without having to attach a lamp harp.  But just in case you ever pick one up, take it home and realize you need one, I thought you might find the following pictures helpful.

I’ll do my best to let the pictures speak for themselves, with just a little bit of explanation.

 

Here we look down at the socket and see the shade slips over it with a ring and 3 wire prongs which are attached to the old shade.

After sliding the old shade up and over the socket, grasp the socket and gently pull on it.

Carefully separate the top and bottom pieces of the socket, to expose the wires inside.

Pull away the top half and set it aside.  Then pull the inner parts up and away from the bottom half of the socket.

Unscrew the two little screws on either side just enough to loosen the wires and detach them. 

Close up of how they are attached.

The two wires will be tied into a loose knot.  Untie them.

Slip off the bottom half of the socket.

From the bottom of the lamp, push the cord up toward the top of the lamp.  This will make it easier to work with the wires.

Here is a medium size lamp harp, which should fit this lamp just right.

Slip the two wires through the hole in the base of the harp.

 

Replace the bottom half of the socket and then tie the two wires into a loose knot.

Like so!

At this point, you can pull the wires back down a little from the base of the lamp.

Next twist the exposed copper wiring strands back together so they will fit behind the screws easier.

 

Now gently tighten the screws to keep the wires in place.

You will probably still have an extra amount of the wiring underneath so just pull it down from the base of the lamp.  Otherwise the bulging wires will keep the socket halves from fitting back together.

I’m holding it with my left hand, and pulling down the cord from underneath the lamp with my right hand. 

Flatten out the remaining wires as best you can into the bottom half of the socket.

Replace the top half of the socket, making sure to line up the narrow grooves so they fit over the switch.

And that’s it! 

The lamp fits perfectly on Kate’s desk – and she loves it!

 

And that’s it! 

I think it took me less than 30 minutes to complete, and I’m far from proficient.  I’m sure you could do it.  And see how much cuter the lamp is with the right shade?

                            

 

Now off you go!

Grandma

                                 

                                            

Grandma died yesterday.

Quickly and quietly, without causing a stir as she went.  Sitting in her wheelchair at the rehab facility, where she has lived for the past 5 years, among the nurses and staff who took such tender care of her. One minute there with them.  The next – a breath in between – her spirit departed.

She hasn’t always been the quiet, fragile, tiny old lady she has been these last several years.  Unable to communicate very well through words, she could still express volumes through her eyes.  She didn’t suffer from any terminal illness, or cancer, or debilitating physical pain. She had dementia, to be sure, but she still knew my mom and dad, who have seen her almost every day these last five years.  And she knew the people who took care of her.  She loved them, you could tell.  And of course it was easy to see how they loved her.  Many of them had become family to her.

It’s been years since she was the Grandma I have always known.  Strokes took away a lot of her ability to communicate well.  But she used to be one fiery, laughing, twinkly-eyed, say-what-she-means, toe-tapping, piano-playing, nature-loving Grandma. 

I can hear her laugh so clearly in my head.  She laughed a lot and it was a funny, contagious laugh.  The kind that when you hear it, you can’t help yourself.  You have to laugh, too.

She loved the Fourth of July, and red, white, and blue.  She loved beautiful flowers, and working in the dirt, and reading, and coffee in the morning.  She loved a glass of wine in the evening, and sometimes even a cold beer on a hot summer day.

She loved to talk with us about the things that were important to us – no matter what age we were.  She was an excellent listener.  And she loved to tell us about her parents and grandparents;  she wanted us to know who we came from.  Who our people were.  Family was very important to her, and she wanted us to feel it, too.

She was born in 1921, in Virginia.  And that was what her parents named her.  My parents gave me her name for my middle name. She was the youngest of six children – 2 strong, handsome boys, and four lively, intelligent, and beautiful girls.  She absolutely loved them.  I can still remember being a little girl, at her house, watching her play cards with her sisters, or laughing with them, talking, talking, talking.  They sang – oh, did they love to sing!  That was something which they all passed down to each of their own families – a love for singing.  There was not a visit to Grandma’s house where we did not end up around the piano; her playing, and all of singing and harmonizing.  I know a lot of really old songs.   Songs which my grandma and her sisters and brothers sang when they were growing up.  Songs like, K-k-k-Katy, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, My Wild Irish Rose, and the one we were always sure to sing, Poor Babes in the Woods.

My children don’t know this Grandma. 

They only know the quiet, frail Granny of the last many years.  But I can give them Grandma.  I can give them what she gave me – stories of who they come from; stories of their people.  Stories of her.

And I want them to know how important it is to love the Grandma and Grandpa they know now – my parents.  And to not take a day of knowing them for granted.  So that someday, when they have children of their own, and their children know Grandma and Grandpa as “Granny” or maybe “Great-Grandpa”, they will be able to give them the grandparents they have known growing up.  They will be able to tell them about how their grandparents went sledding with them on the Big Sledding Hill – even though they were in their 60’s!  They will tell them about the monthly birthday bashes at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and all the cousins, and the pink lemonade, and the laughing, and the singing.  About all the love. 

In a few days, there will be a funeral.  And there will be cousins, and more cousins.  And we will sing, and even laugh, I’m sure.  We will talk about Grandma –  and share stories about her, stories about her sisters and brothers, stories about each other. 

Stories of a life lived well, and loved well.

 

                                                  

 

Love you, Grandma!