Case in point: I have this cheap reading/crafting light I bought in New Brunswick last year when I was on that week with my dear friend Lana. I had to buy it as the cabin we rented was high ceilinged and no bedside light. Something like $10 at Walmart. Honestly? It is one of the best focussed lights I've ever had. But the switch at the top of the shade has gone temperamental. As cheap switches do. The threads wearing out on the cheap connectors. So I struggled the last time I switched it on. It took several minutes and I sighed and thought this effing disposable consumer culture we have. Even though I contribute to it by buying cheap lamps at Walmart. So I was on the point of wrapping it up a couple of hours later when I thought: It will still work if you just plug it out and plug it in when you need it. I felt inordinately proud of this moment. Would you have arrived at that conclusion immediately?
This place goes mad at Christmas, cookies and chocolates everywhere. Parties with live music. Doors dressed in snowman gear. Here's a few samples.
Mr. & Mrs. Clause
I've always loved lit miniature villages, this one covers the entire mantle piece in the upper gallery.
This is a bit blurry. But this is the scene looking down to the main community room from the gallery at the Xmas Tree and all the lights.
Haha where there's a will there's a way! Don't know if I would have thought of that or not, would have depended I think on how accessible the plug was. Most of mine aren't. I have one lamp that is devilishly hard to turn on/off because of its tiny switch size that I can't grip hard enough. Solved that by wrapping the switch in masking tape to make it bigger and easier to grip. Just wish I could do that with hard-to-open jars!
ReplyDeleteAn extension cord on my long table Annie. You may remember that long table from my house's dining room.
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Re the jar thing? I have found a wide elastic band around tight lids means I can open most jars.
DeleteMust remember that EC. I do struggle with those bloody jars and actually broke a jar opener in my frustration. I am amazed that a good gadget hasn't been invented!!
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The place you live looks very nice.
ReplyDeleteGlad you have an accessible plug in.
Thanks GP, I've only shown a very small part of it. The gardens are wonderful and the patios and bbqs. And many of us play the piano in the afternoons and donate to the great little library. I feel very lucky.
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Afraid my brain works that way too! I get these AHA moments.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know Jackie!
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Would I have thought of the plugging in/out answer to your light switch problem? I think it would depend how important it was that I should have a source of light at that very moment. If it was important, I probably would have given quick deep thought to it, but if not, and just in the course of ordinary daily activity, I'd likely have cussed a little, then tossed the light into the nearest dustbin with little further thought. :)
ReplyDeleteI bet that model village is lovely to see in real life, maybe we'll have a closer look sometime, WWW?
it's difficult to capture, I may have to bring out the big gun camera and try and get it properly as it is quite heart stopping.
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Love that model village. Hooray for aha moments which sadly often take me quite some time. Too much time.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd that, simple problems have simple solutions but they don't often occur to me.
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Great decorations. I would have thought of just plugging the lamp in but dismiss it as I would have to get out of bed to do so, and again to turn it off.
ReplyDeleteThis is on my do everything table, close work, reading, knitting, designing. Quite a perfect lamp for the job so easy to plug in and out!!
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Some very clever lateral thinking. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris!(polishes fingernails on her Tshirt modestly)
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I can relate to what you're saying here.
ReplyDeleteI can miss the most obvious solutions -- for example, when lying in the tub with my top half not completely covered by water, my chest feels cold. I used to keep swishing water over it till I learned ... somehow ... that it's the evaporation that cools the skin so all I have to do is lay the facecloth over my chest et voila! comfortable as can be and don't have to keep splashing water over myself. It's the simplest science but took me till sometime in my fifties to wake up.
Or homemade face lotion that has to be kept in the fridge because it has no preservatives. Ooh but it's cold! Well but how easy is it to rub it between the palms of my hands before applying et voila! problem solved.
So simple, yet so elusive for so long. LOL. And so proud of myself when I make the adaptation that gives me easy comfort in small ways.
Kate
I was talking to a friend yesterday about simple solutions to old age challenges and he mentioned sticking one of those suction bathmats on the side of his tub so he can climb out easily (he hates showering so bathes, TMI) and I was extremely congratulatory with him. Brilliant.
DeleteAnd bully for you!!
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I LOVE the Christmas Village scene. I always wanted to buy pieces like that, but could never afford them and now of course I don't have anywhere to put one. But they are so beautiful, so thank you for showing me this one.
ReplyDeleteMe too River! My maiden aunt would buy us baubles for our xmas tree growing up and one was a church that fitted over one of the wee lights and I was completely enchanted and remained so but like you could never afford to even start the village. So this one I pause at it every time and must take closeups before it gets taken down.
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Your place looks so spacious and nice. And yes those easy solution that avoid us. I've been known to speak such solutions out loud when they hit me - not always in an appropriate time or place - embarrassing ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd I blush when it's so simplistic everyone else has done it but for me it has been an Einstein moment worth sharing.
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No, I would not have. Let me illustrate. I use a copper flask for water for my bedside. A few days ago, it slipped out of my hand and fell and the mouth got bent out of shape. I decided to discard it and left it among the stuff earmarked for the recycle man. Yesterdeay, I had to remove it to find space for something else and I just tried on the cap and the fit was better than before the mouth got bent! I retrieved it and have started to use it again.
ReplyDeleteYour nativity arrangement is lovely.
I am so glad I am not alone in these small challenges of life! Love you story on the copper flask and lid testing it once bent.
DeleteI was desperately looking for a new pill/medication container as the old one couldn't carry all my pills and voila!! dollar store and two cheap containers did the job rather than Amazon at $20.
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I love to look at Christmas lights on trees as well as on walls and eaves. They sure do cheer me up.
ReplyDeleteMe too Gigi, there's something about them all, isn't there.
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We have lamp in the bedroom that was difficult to turn on and off. I "solved" that with this remote control.
ReplyDeletehttps://amzn.to/2M0vnJI
Wow! thank you Mike, though my bedroom one I've managed to wire onto the headboard and it's great.
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Sometimes I have brilliant solutions to those little problems, sometimes not. I'm always very pleased with myself when I realise I can repair something rather than chucking it out. I also like miniature villages. As a kid I once went to the Bekonscot model village in Buckinghamshire. I was quite overcome with delight.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand Nick, I can just sit and stare for hours and hours and feel myself inside the wee houses and buildings.
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