Blogtober 2022 : Day 8

We have a lamp in our living room that came from that well-known Swedish furniture store around the time that we moved into our house.  It’s a tall lamp with energy saving bulbs (which means that it’s rubbish for knitting as you can’t see properly) and it’s got a long paper shade that runs the length of the pole.

The lamp stands behind the sofa and probably would have stood there for many years to come if it were not for furry Teeny Trashers who came to live in our house earlier this year.

“Oh no!  There’s a rip in the lamp shade!”

“How on earth did they manage to get up there?”

“Never mind, we’ll turn the lamp around and no one will ever notice.”

This might have worked had not the Teeny Trashers continued to use the lampshade as – well, I don’t know what they used it for.  A backboard for bouncing off during fights, I think, mostly, and that is not what paper lampshades are designed for.

At last, the day came when the lampshade could be turned around no longer.

From any angle, it didn’t look good.

Even paper tape could not fix the paper lampshade.

Which is why, when I went into IKEA yesterday for some more tea lights, I came home with a few more items than I went in for …

We’ve got a big IKEA in Warrington and it’s easy to pop in at quieter times during the week.  Too easy sometimes!  To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve ever come out of IKEA with just what I went in to get, and even now, looking at this photo, I’ve realised that I forgot to get myself a tube of those round Daim chocolate things that I can’t seem to resist.  I might need to go back.

I did get the tea lights that I originally went in for, and I got some other candles that I thought would look nice around the house now the nights are drawing in ..

And these!

I’ve been buying gingerbread house kits for my girls to make at Christmas time for as long as I can remember and they have still not grown out of wanting to make them.  It started off as supervised affair, me helping them to glue the houses together with icing and them sticking the sweetie decorations that we would buy onto the sides and the roof, and as the years have gone one, my assistance has no longer been required except to referee when it became more of a heated competition than a fun activity involved too much sugar.  It’s only quite recently that IKEA brought out the six house kit; before that there was only the large house kit and every year, the house has been decorated to the point where it’s touch and go whether it can stand up or not.  Often not – and that’s the excuse to dive in and eat it!

Yes, I know it’s only October but these things sell out and so I got them whilst I was there.  It’s called being organised for once! 🙂

I also bought a new lamp to replace our poor deconstructed effort that really does need to be retired.  It was reduced on an IKEA family price (a discount applied to certain times for loyalty card members), and my plan was to build it this afternoon … but by the time I had driven not so small daughter into Manchester for a workshop, been out for brunch with my husband and then gone back to Manchester to pick not so small daughter up, it was time to start dinner instead.

Curry night tonight – chickpea and potato curry from this Sam Stern’s Eat Vegetarian book, one of the first vegetarian cookbooks that I bought.  It’s really easy and really good – just what we need on a Saturday night!  Feet up, glass of wine, film on the TV.  The lamp can wait until tomorrow! 🙂