Lady of the lamp

So I mentioned in the last post Decluttering is a dirty word that I’m not great at throwing stuff out – at least not if I think it could be repurposed in some way. I did not inherit this trait from my mother, a woman who positively delights in the art of chucking out and has turned it into some sort of lifetime mission. Today, for example, we bought some of those fake candles, the really convincing ones with warm, flickering (but safe) candlelight effect. When we got home and stuffed the requisite number of batteries up their various orifices, one of them refused to work. On close examination, the contact points for one of the batteries turned out to be corroded, hence the absence of warm, flickering (but safe) candlelight effect. Me, being of the low-paid but creative mindset, beetled off to find some wire wool (see, you never know when stuff will cime in handy!) and fix the problem. Mum, on the other hand, was ready to sling it in the bin. Now it works and everybody’s happy.

A couple of weeks back I found a lamp by the bin, waiting to make its exit. It had got toppled from a table and the china base had broken. I really liked the shape and so I rescued it and repurposed it. Am keeping it hidden from mum though, as once she’s decided something needs to go, it’s really hard to change her mind!