by So I just shocked myself – you know stuck my finger in a light socket – yah I’m not all there. It’s one of those moments in time where I figure I can do it all and why wait for my husband to come home.
We have a very tall ceiling in our foyer area – and 2 of the 5 light bulbs are burnt out – and have been for quite some time. Lazy some may say but I’ve procrastinated changing them – first I needed to buy 5 replacement bulbs – because if I’m changing two I may as well change them all to make sure I don’t have to crawl up the ladder again anytime soon – and well I’m hoping they last until the new people live here – then she can shock herself. Needless to say I’ve never changed nor cleaned the shades on this ‘chandelier’ in the 6 1/2 years we’ve lived here – boy that sounds terrible but the lights have never burnt out so why crawl up a 10′ ladder and stretch to my capacity if I don’t have to, right?!
So I pulled “Chuck” out of the snow yesterday and brought him in to dry off before I crawled up. Now Chuck (in all due respect to my deceased step-dad) is a cheap aluminum ladder that Clark “inherited” when the original Chuck died. It was a ladder we teased him about when he was alive because I’m sure he either stole it from someone or bought it at an auction because who really would buy this type of ladder on purpose. It’s almost like a cartoon ladder that should bend in the middle when you step up on it but amazingly it doesn’t.
Cooper was against me going up from the start – now I’m not sure if he’s had a run in with Chuck that makes him so leary or what but he kept asking when Dad or Colton would be home so he didn’t have to be my ‘spotter’. So my initial climb went well – I was able to unscrew all the light bulbs as well as the little plastic jobby that holds the ‘globe’ on and take it all down while balancing on the very top of the ladder – OK not the tip-top but the next step down. Kinda of a half turn to be able to reach the chandelier as well not a full on facing the ladder as I needed to be able to reach the closest area to stack the bulbs, shades, etc onto.
Step one complete – I toss the globes into hot scalding water, burn my hands while I scrub the 6 1/2 years worth of dust off – dry & restack where I can reach them to reassemble the chandelier. I crawl up and then call for Cooper – that way if he says No he’s not helping I can tell him I’m already up let’s rock & roll. As he grumbles about me being on the ladder I ask – did we turn the switch off (I had it on as I removed the bulbs – why – first off I wanted to see what I was doing – and second I really wanted to burn my fingers as I unscrewed the bulbs. Anyways Cooper’s answer – I don’t know – about that time my finger slips into the sockets and ZZZZZZ – I feel that tingly feeling. I stop – and say in a calm voice watch out I’m coming down – immediately he knows somethings up. So I say I just shocked myself – now maybe for an 11-year-old boy he would expect me to go stiff – all 4 appendages to stick straight out of my body – forming an X almost – hair straight up – and a skeletal look but alas I didn’t give him that pleasure but he stared at me as I reached the ground. Then asked shakily “Are you all right” – OK honestly for a split second I was going to flop onto the ground and do the funky chicken but then figured that wouldn’t be very nice of me – so said yes it just tingles I’ll be OK but lets leave that job for Colton or Dad. He loudly agreed.
Mental note – look at the new house plans and see if I’ll ever need to be in this predicament again – and if so put a solid ladder on my Wish List for Christmas!!
Cheers!
Shannon