The pit…of despair… Apparently I keyed into something cosmic on Thursday. Either that, or I taunted fate something awful with my tales o’ bodily fluids. Because the very next day our sewer pipe collapsed. Thankfully, we [now] have a very good plumber. (For those of you playing along at home, yes we have collected plumbers like little kids collect…whatever the heck it is that kids collect these days. Jacks? Worry dolls? I have no idea.) The plumbers are called The Scottish Plumber {Read More}
Indoor Air Is Highly Overrated.
April 16, 2012 By 5 Comments
“This house is made of Scotch tape and failed dreams.”“I know.” This coming July, we’ll have lived in this house for three years. Three years. During that time, we’ve ripped off a roof, dragged in appliances, patched and painted and edged and secured, replaced windows (and replaced windows and replaced windows), had the electrical system rewired, wiped out mold (and redid drywall and painted and edged and secured), made it clear that rats are NOT WELCOME, and finished a host {Read More}
Weekends Aren’t For The Weak.
March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Close-up of ugly door.Close-up of blogger’s old promo pic. P.J. loves it when I start a new weekend project. No really, he just adores it. What’s not to love? Go on, honey (he says), why on earth would I prefer to sit here and pound through episodes of Firefly? It would be much nicer (he agrees) to help you prep, clean, facilitate, and be the sounding board for all of your ideas and/or misplaced anger. And even though my preferred color {Read More}
Non-Squalor Home: Check.
March 5, 2012 By 3 Comments
About a month ago, we had contractors come and quote us for a couple of projects around the house. Among them was an estimate to finish the downstairs room- what was once a second kitchen, and was now a very real eyesore/storage unit amalgamation of awesome. They asked us what we wanted to do. We answered with the usual; new shelving, finished walls, maybe a new countertop, definitely a wet bar, perhaps a gas fireplace, a pool table, a craft {Read More}
Priorities.
February 23, 2012 By 1 Comment
This is the story of how one day- when things are wonderfully calm and simple- you suggest to your two year-old daughter that you bake something. Brownies, perhaps. And how she then proceeds to tear apart the kitchen in excitement, looking for wooden spoons, looking for aprons, trying to eat through the cardboard box to see what color the sugar is, etc., etc., etc. But then you turn on the oven. And, as the room becomes full- maybe overfull, even- {Read More}
No Room For R. Kelly In THESE Closets.
February 6, 2012 By 2 Comments
You’ll put this away over my dead, fiberglassed body. For all that I whine about my home, the place has a ridiculous amount of storage, closets, and crawlspaces. Ceiling fans that wouldn’t decapitate someone six feet tall or over- no. Rooms with miniature doors- yes. But every now and again, those spaces become crazypants crammed. So yesterday’s Big Dig was tackling Susannah’s closet, Nora’s closet, and the gigantic crawlspace off of Nora’s room. I hear that some other tackling went {Read More}
I’d Kill For That Nursery-Cleaning Mary Poppins Scene.
February 2, 2012 By 4 Comments
Stop trying to put away the baby. I have an issue. Rewind for a sec- I have many issues. Okay, fast forward back to where we were: I have one specific issue of which I shall expound upon today. I get overwhelmed easily. And when my level of whelm is through the roof, I become less than pleasant to live with. Take my house, for instance. (Please.) There are very few people who have not heard me whine about keeping {Read More}
Now We Can Buy MORE Stuff!
January 16, 2012 By 3 Comments
Peej is ashamed. Also, a good cleaner. Yesterday, I began the process of diggin’ out the homestead. (I initially entitled it The Big Dig, but I hear that’s been taken…) It’s not that we’re being bogged down by too much stuff (which, of course, we are- but that’s not the problem), it’s that we’re being dragged down by the wrong stuff. Or, rather, the stuff we weren’t even aware we still had. I’ve been feeling this project coming for awhile. Mostly {Read More}
