Remember how my lamp was broken? Well, it’s still broken, but now I have a lovely DIY solution to fixing a broken lamp:

See, I took a clip-on light that I had lying around, and CLIPPED IT ON to my broken lamp! Genius, right? Actually, it’s taking a long time to replace the lamp because the discussion about what to replace it with has turned into an all-out war of aesthetics and lifestyle in this household.

I never expected that buying a new lamp could cause so much strife. Then again, I never expected to lust for a $10000 lamp, either, but this one from Moss is a must-have for me now:

Manufactured in Belgium, it’s made of wood and polyurethane-coated paper mache, and printed with little black bugs. So cool!

I’m a reasonable person, so I also found another suitable lamp for 1/10th the price of the bug lamp. This one’s a steal at just $1K:

Gorgeous curves, no? Available at the click of just a few buttons from Jonathan Adler….

Back on Earth, Crate&Barrel has this lovely table lamp, which comes in an even lovelier light green in store:

Unfortunately, the charming Charlotte lamp called into question our design choices for the entire apartment. Suddenly, tables would have to be bought, other perfectly good lamps thrown out, and large pieces of artwork replaced.

Dreaming about a stunning new lamp is fun, but keeping a marriage together probably has more potential for long-term fun. So for now, lighting is a taboo subject, and my little makeshift clip-a-lamp is serving me well.

40 little lemmings dive off a cliff, only to swim back up on shore and dive off again.

What a silly, exhausting routine!

But everybody’s got to have a job, right?

The piece measures about 10 inches wide by 6.5 inches tall. Each lemming is about 1 inch long.

Yes, Gargle has made himself at home in the Mochimochi Shop!

Gargle is a rare spotless breed of giraffe, but awesome pattern tester Miki found a spotted cousin of his far off in Africa:

You can see Miki’s entire adorable playground photo shoot with her Gargle on her blog. Thanks, Miki!

I’m being very inspired these past few days by Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

For those of us who were kids in the late ’80s, this was the highlight of Saturday mornings – it wasn’t until I saw that slowly-building claymation intro that I knew the weekend had begun. Once the show was pulled from the air in 1991, weekends ceased to begin anymore and it was time to grow up.

Watching the show again on DVD, over ten years after I’d last seen it, was a little scary (what if it just kind of sucks in 2007?), but there was no need to worry. Pee-Wee is even more brilliant seen through grown-up eyes. The show won heaps of Emmys, after all, and had an amazing cast and crew.

There is so much to be said about the show, but let’s stick to the set. The set of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse is truly a study in anthropomorphic genius. Pretty much every inanimate object was made animate, including the floor, which is something I’ve never seen since. I’m having a difficult time trying to find a good photo of the set, but here is a miniature version that was apparently sold back in the Pee-Wee heyday (pretty cool in itself):

I remember that as a kid, my favorite part of the playhouse was the refrigerator. Whenever anyone opened it, we caught a glimpse of all kinds of mischievous ingredients dancing, singing, or getting married.

There’s something about claymation that is so much more enchanting than plain animation or computer-made stuff, and it’s even cooler now that it’s rarer. Also claymated in the playhouse were a family of dinosaurs and the Penny cartoons.

Also, seeing Pee-Wee’s animated ants again has inspired me to make a knitted ant farm. I can’t wait to make it.

I could go on and on, and I haven’t even gotten around to any of the main characters.

Anyway, about a year ago, Paul Rubens was saying that he had plans to make two more Pee-Wee movies, one of which was to begin production early this year. I so hope this will happen. We miss you, Pee-Wee!