Nagging projects day.

Ever have something in your house where you're like, ok, one of these days I'm going to change/fix/get rid of/replace that?  And you see it every day and you think, ok, soon, it's gotta go?  And then one day you've just had it, can't take seeing it anymore so you just go at it?

Yeah, that was today.

A while back I bought a floor lamp at Ikea mainly because of its price and for its functionality.  It wasn't expensive, wasn't a look I would normally go for, but it was to serve a purpose -- light.  A place holder lamp until I can get something that I really like.  Somehow this little inexpensive floor lamp has survived four moves with us in the last three years.  Pretty amazing considering the shade is paper.

We've got a few electrical outlets over by where it's placed in the living room and for one reason or another, the lamp keeps getting plugged into different spots.  The cord is therefore all over the floor and to me, a nagging eyesore.  I am all about neat, tidy, out of sight minimalism; the only way I can think clearly is if I don't see a big mess.  Very visual person, I am.

So I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought, ok, if I have to look at a cord all the time, why not wrap it up.  Pretty clever idea, whoever thought of it.  I weighed all sorts of options but went with twine.  So a little hot glue and a while sitting on the floor wrapping and voila, less of an eyesore!  Now it won't bother me as much.  Though now I need to figure out how to replace that shade....

Don't worry, I don't let the cord lay all over the floor like that in everybody's way, especially with Hailey being a tripedal now.

The whole time I was sitting there wrapping I kept thinking about the ceiling fan in my office though.  I could feel its beady traditional shaded eyes staring at me.  I already bought a tiny little fixture from Ikea a few months ago so any time I'd walk in here, I'd see the huge ginormous ceiling fan bearing down on me, then the tiny little light fixture in its package, aching to be my ceiling savior.

What's hilarious here is that this room, just off the kitchen, looks huuugge in this photo compared to reality so you can't tell how annoying and heavy and looming that fan really is, especially with the portion of dropped ceiling over the window.  The room is only eight and a half feet by nine and a half feet, and the fan is 52".  

But I had it.  Couldn't take it anymore.  I plugged in the finished lamp and beelined for the fuse box.

And I can't even begin to tell you how much lighter and airier and less heavy and bigger (if that's possible) the room feels now.  It is a strangely sized fixture but it's actually really great in here.   The little painting on the wall there is by my sweet nephew Jake and I love it.  The yarn weaving I did when I was a Brownie.  Do not ask how long ago.  And yes, this room is on the paint docket but I have so much stuff to move out of it in order to paint.  It's coming though.

I think all this came about today because we had our follow up appointment at the vet hospital.  Hailey is doing fantastically and we're so proud of her.  After talking to the oncologist and listening to our options, she got her first dose of chemo today which we were very nervous about.  It sounds like this stuff shouldn't affect her much at all which is a huge relief.  

We've been through a lot (Understatement of the Year) in the last month -- so much worry, fear, stress, sadness, tears, then some relief, some hope, and then joy in seeing Hailey returning to her (new tripedal) normal self.  Doing things she used to do before she started hurting, yay!  I mean, we're just exhausted.  But the oncologist (and I know it's his job and his responsibility to be honest and upfront) gave us a prognosis that sort of lopped me off at my knees, sucked the air out of the room and stole some of the joy I was feeling.  Not that I was living in some delusional little world, but I wasn't ready to hear about her death and when it will be.  Just when I've finally stopped crying all the time, the tears have returned.  I wish he would have waited to say something like that, ya know, until maybe after the chemo is done or something, I dunno.  Give me some time to heal too to better weather future storms.  But I will buck up.  I have to.  Hailey deserves nothing short of Mommy at Her Best.

So, when I get upset, I do things.  Especially things that have been irking me, like a lamp cord or a ceiling fan.