Table + Lamp = Nothing I Want in My House Any Time Soon

I visited my sister, Melissa, this past weekend. We had a great time and some good laughs. We always wait to long between visits, not by choice though.

We were sitting in my sister's living room and our attention turned to the lamp/table combo that is sitting next to her husband's Archie Bunker chair. Basically, it is a floor lamp with a small table built around it, circa 1970, perhaps. In the chair's defense, it is a lovely leather recliner, with built in massager.

In the table/lamp combo's defense....okay, there is really no excuse for the table/lamp combo.

Our predicament...what to call the table/lamp combo. Is it a tamp? or a Lamble? a TLC? All I know, it is nothing that I want in my house anytime soon.

I think Melissa has secretly plotted ways to get rid of this TLC, to no avail. Sadly, her dream nearly came true this weekend, only to snuffed out.

Justin was on the floor playing with Landry (b/c he is a good uncle that loves babies!) when he got up to sit in his recliner. All of the sudden sparks are flying out from underneath the recliner and there is a loud series of pops. Justin jumps about 8 feet in the air and then had to go change his underwear. Okay, maybe not the underwear part...but it shocked him, it did.

Meanwhile, I grab my nephew, Josh-a-woo-woo to protect him from the ELECTRIC CHAIR, while Landry sits like a duck on the water. Sorry Landry.

Justin turns the chair over where we see it smoking...and I kid you not, the first words out of my sister's mouth, "Can we sue somebody?" Then she began to daydream about her dream chair, with just the right shade of red and a matching ottoman.

The chair was fine. We then discovered that it was the TLC's cord that was pinched in the chair to cause the sparks. You could see the joy light up Melissa's face. The TLC was done for....until Justin said, "oh, I can fix that."

It's moments like this that I am thankful that my Robert is not a jack of all stinkin' trades. We would have been out the door and off to buy a new lamp and table. Not Melissa, 'cause her husband "can fix it." Poor sister.

So there Melissa sits, with her now burnt Archie Bunker next to her table/lamp combo, but now with a new accessory......

...black electrical tape.