Monkeying Around

Today is the first day this week that I get to spend (mostly) at home. I've got laundry to do and some minor cleaning. I have supper planned and thawing in the sink. Let's hope Noodle doesn't get it before I do. But for now, I've got a sick Anna home from school, Lindsay being her usual princess, some knitting, some sudoku. My kind of day.

Taking chances

A couple of years ago for Christmas, Rob said what he wanted most was better lamps for our family room. Hmmmm. That seemed a little intimidating since we mostly make our decorating decisions together. As I walked through Annapolis Lighting, I saw some OK things but I was really taken by a surprising lamp:

Its totally in keeping with the style of our family room and I found it a bit whimsical and Rob and I always like to inject a bit of whimsy in our lives. I was a little worried about how he'd feel about this particular piece but it was extremely well received. This left us with one final lamp in our family room that needed to be replaced. The need to do so was escalated a bit when Noodle ate the electrical cord.

So it was that yesterday, I was headed to Michael's to buy a learn-to-knit setup for a friend of mine whose husband has been in the ICU for 3 weeks...I passed by the window of a furniture shop and saw a lamp that I thought could work. I went in, checked it out, wasn't as impressed but on the way out, I saw this:

It was a bit pricey... I talked to the salesperson about the conundrum, he offered some alternatives. I really didn't have time to negotiate so I told him I'd come back later. Magically, upon my return, the lamp's price had been reduced by 30%. It was still a couple hundred bucks more than I wanted to spend. Lots of talking, lots of proposals for alternatives and I finally walked out with the lamp I wanted for the price I wanted. I love my monkey lamps. What a bit of serendipity that put them in my family room but they're just great and they really do amuse me. Best of all, Rob is really happy with them and the kids think they're the coolest... sorry the photo sucks so badly---the lamp itself is a very heavy and painted metal, sculpted like a coconut palm; there are two monkies hanging from the palm fronds and a cluster of coconuts. I love the pineapple finial atop the palm frond patterned shade. I think I might try to find another one for the red monkey lamp.