We're in the Basement Part VI

I'm not sure the first vlog was a success.  I realize it was shaky, so I won't hold the laptop on my lap next time.  And it was really quiet because I was trying to be quiet during Romy's nap.  I'll do it again sometime, but I'm going to try and finish this basement series.  For those of you who couldn't watch the video (like my mom who still can't get sound on her computer), the nub and gist of it (as Georgia Nicolsen would say) was that I am not sleeping well, partially due to mosquito bites, and INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER now has a TV option, which I guess doesn't mean too much at this point, except that not here is a tiny grain of possibility that it may become a TV show.  Since so many books are optioned, it has a very slim chance of getting written, turned into a pilot, picked up by a network, and then aired.  But everything sounds really good, and I think it has been taken on by the right people who know what they are doing.  I may go insane with the waiting, though.

And now to the basement!

This funky lamp belonged to my Grandma Sylvia.  It works, although there is burnt paper around the bulb hole (technical term, of course), so I am afraid to use it.  To carry him, because he is so heavy, you have to lift him by his crotch.  I also was the lucky(?) heir(??) to take my Grandma's handmade clown pictures, each about four feet tall and made entirely out of colored stones.  I have not taken pictures of those.  Let me know if I should.  My grandma also sold wigs for a living and worked as a carny in her youth.  She certainly was a character, and now my basement houses some of that legacy.

Speaking of carnies:

Yeah, I kind of had a mad fascination with the ol' circus sideshow, particularly during college.  I even made an (Award-winning!) movie called "I Want to Be a Freak" about a girl who becomes obsessed with a guy with no arms.  Oy.  Anyway, this masterpiece is a result of my obsession.  In case you can't tell (although you can always click on the images to enlarge them), it's a lamp shade decoupaged with sideshow folk that I made all by myself!.  That was side a.  Here's side b:

Note that it is sitting on a box of audiobooks.  This is just a meager portion of the audiobook bounty I received when I was on the YALSA Selected Audiobooks Committee.  Here are the rest (of ones I still have.  Hundreds have already been donated to libraries):

But back to the lamp shades.  There is a partner shade. I failed to take a picture of it, but you get the nub and gist.  I was considering holding a contest so that people could win one of them, but that seems like a pain.  Actually, I just got rid of a bunch of freak memorabilia, which probably would have also made a good contest.  Maybe I should try to get those back.  If people are truly interested in the shades (like, a lot of people), then I will set up a contest.

I have just a few more morsels to share before we complete the amazing journey that has been my basement blogs.  Check back tomorrow.  And stop weeping, please that it is almost over.  You can always reread the previous posts.  Calm down, everyone.