Saturday, March 7, 2009

Mia Arrived!



Our new puppy arrived from A Place to Bark today and we are smitten! What a sweet girl she is. She was born in September to one of the hundreds of dogs they rescued last year, Gidget. Gidget looked mostly like a Boston Terrier as I recall but this cutie looks like she has Sheltie in her... maybe? She's already made herself right at home, prancing around from room to room, window to window....tossing the toys up in the air and chasing after them. The 3 cats and our beagle, Chloe all seem fine with her arrival. She's going to be a lot of fun, that's for sure.It is difficult work day in and day out, that Bernie and Jeff do at their rescue but this is the third dog our family has brought north from their place and each one is just amazing. Thnak you, Bernie & Jeff and all your helpers.

Monday, March 2, 2009

POP! of Orange

I love the color orange! I find it overpowering in large amounts but there are little sparks of it in my dining and living room. So after scanning eBay on and off for months watching for a swag light to hang in my bay window when I spotted this orange glass one I placed my highest bid" and held my breath. At the end of the auction, it was mine! It arrived about a week ago and though I loved the orange globe immediately, the wiring needed to be replaced.


So last Friday, when my work week had ended, I scurried over the bridge to Northampton and paid a visit to Sabin's buying 14' of old-school brown fabric covered wire and a new replacement socket.











It wasn't until after I arrived back home that I decided the chain that came with the light was too rusty to use in my living room (it will likely be re-utilized in my garden).



So I had to run out to the nearby big box store for 14' of lamp chain. The silver lining to that trip was that the store had glass pull chain fobs with an amber colored swirl twining around clear glass. It looks as if it was made just for my light so it went into the cart as well.


Then, over the weekend I spent about an hour re-wiring the light. First, I had to get all the little parts that support the large hanging globe onto the wire in the correct order. I'm to embarrassed to tell you how many times I had to re-d o this step. I knew how it went but each time there was one piece or another out of place.






Anyway, finally it was all in line and I wired up the new socket.























The expert at Sabin's had showed & told me, "The plain encased wire is 'power' & goes to the brass screw." I kept repeating that in my head lest I hook up the wires incorrectly. After that was done, I threaded the wire through the chain links and wired up the plug.






Once I mounted a sturdy hook firmly in the ceiling and.... Wa La!




Before & After -




I love the effect both day and night! In the filtered sunlight it adds a some pop to the large expanse of glass and at night it gives that entire end of the living room a warm glow.