YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE

This past weekend, I was finally able to get my hands on something I have wanted, nay, coveted for a long time and now, it's finally mine, Mine, ALL MINE!!!!

It all started a couple of years ago in Palm Springs.


My Brother in law and I decided to check out an estate sale near the house.  However, this estate sale was pretty much a bust.  Unless you were looking for old Corelle dishes and 8 track tapes of Vicki Carr.


There was really nothing of value until we went into the bedroom and saw It.


We stood there, completely enthralled and I said, "You HAVE to buy it, it's THAT awesome!"


We arrived back at the house with our fabulous purchase and presented it with a flourish.


We knew we had found something really, really special and Our Find was placed in the living room for all to admire.


But instead of accolades over our fabulous find, we heard things such as, "Are you out of your freakin' mind?" and "You have got to be kidding" and "This is a joke, right?"


We were stunned.


How could everyone overlook the spectacular awesomeness of our purchase?


How could they say it was hideous and Must Go?

BIL and I defended Our Find and tried to convince everyone that this was a Great Thing.


But they laughed at us.


Finally, my sister rolled her eyes and allowed Our Find to be placed in the Living Room for all to see and comment on.


And comment they did.


And not in a good way.


But for about a year, Our Find was  present in the living room and then one day, it was quietly replaced by something less "stylish" and awesome.  Our Find was banished to the garage and there it sat, unloved and neglected and slowly covered in a layer of dust.


And every time we went to Palm Springs, BIL and I would lament about our poor unloved and unwanted Find and how nobody appreciated its awesomeness and its beauty.


I couldn't stand the thought of that magnificent object being so neglected so finally I offered to take it off their hands and give it the loving home it so richly deserved.


My sister couldn't hand it over fast enough.

I brought it home, cleaned off the layers of dust it had acquired from its banishment and placed it in its new home.

The reactions of my family were varied.

TheManTheMyth stared, shook his head and headed out to the garage to continue refinishing the kitchen cabinets.


Thing 1 laughed and said, "You are such a Gypsy!"


Thing 2 walked in, stopped and stared in disbelief.  "WHAT is that...that...THING doing here?" she asked.  "Isn't that supposed to be in Palm Springs?  WHY IS IT HERE??"


I ignored them all.


Nobody, except for my BIL, "gets" how fabulous Our Find is.  They just don't understand.


Once I finished cleaning the layers of dust off and polishing the parts that needed polishing, I flipped the switch and stood back and admired:

How awesome is that lamp?  Is it not the most gaudiest thing?  And that's what makes it so fabulous!  It's just so over the top and big and just so...so...BAD!

Look at those prisms!!

And the pineapple leaves they're attached to.  The fringed lampshade. The cut glass bowl.  


The incredibly ornate base.

Not only is this lamp huge AND hugely over-the-top, it weighs a ton, too. 


And is completely out of place in any room with the exception of the boudoir of a flamboyant gay man.


Liberace would have loved it.


And I love it, too.


Because it makes me laugh my fool head off.


And if you can't laugh at yourself, trust me, there are plenty of others who will.