How To.... with Emily Pauley

Being alone and not really having a set bedtime has given me quite a bit of free time on my hands. I have found different nesting projects for myself. Such as rearranging all of the dishes in my cupboards, alphabetizing all of the DVD's in our collection, and organizing all of the clothes in our closets in order of color. I am always looking for something to fill the empty time that I have.

I am known for being handy in my house. Brandon loves to watch me and shake his head. I like to call it extreme creativity. It may have come from being raised with a father who is very much the same way in his creativity. My dad does things the right way, the way they are supposed to be done. He will spend the time, energy and, money, to finish his project. I am limited in my patience and will find anything that looks like it might fit and make it work. I get this from my Mom, who sees a need and just wants it to get done no matter how it happens. It always turns out good in the end. So with his creativity and her inability to wait another second, and a bit of common sense, I am quite the well rounded handy woman. I have strung curtains in my living room with Brandon's paratrooper cord. They look great by the way. And I have hung upside down in the snow from a ladder and hung christmas lights with zipties and a staple gun. Oh so festive! Zipties pretty much hold my entire household together. They are the single most useful item I have ever used, besides duck tape and twine that is. My latest project was one to be proud of. Truely a work of craftswomanship.

I sat in Brandon's office and realized that I was squinting at the computer screen from lack of light. Clearly I needed a lamp of some sort. I just so happened to have a tall corner lamp. But the glass shade on the lamp was broken. A shade, where would I get a shade? Digging through the closet I came across a nice shade that I couldn't find a home for yet. Perfect. They were made for each other as far as I was concerned. However, the shade was not the right kind of shade for this lamp. I needed to improvise. I came up with a plan in a matter of seconds. I took 2 wire hangers and bended them with needlenose pliers and ziptied them together. There it was. The most genius plan ever. A lamp shade holder. I put them together and they looked great. My project was finished in about 5 minutes and I now have light in my office. Courtesy of a Navy Wife Extraordinaire.