My German is leaving. Last Tuesday I left for work just as the sun came streaking over the houses, slowly rolling away from my quiet little corner neighborhood where all seemed copasetic. Nine hours later I rolled back around, barely paying attention in my late afternoon, post work, haze until a bright new sign caught … More The German in the Gingerbread House
I walked into Home Depot armed with a coupon and an intention. My intention was to just buy sodium crystals for my fancy six-month-old water softener and a couple of paint supplies for my kitchen door. My pretty red door had cracked and flaked off in giant swaths during the midwinter freeze into some kind … More Showerhead Showdown
There were two plumbers here today to lay some pipe. Long, sturdy pipe. It’s okay if you’re queuing the music. I know the tune because it’s in my head too. Baw Chicka Baw Baw. It’s extra loud given that these gents, unlike my previous encounter with Plumber Jim, are quite attractive and not douche nozzles. … More Master Plumbers and Maybe, Maybe, Maybes
The decision to let Bessie go is what brought boiler salesman Charles-Charlie-Call Me Paul into my life. Hey, I’ll call you Twinkle Toes McGee if it gets me a deal. Seriously though, Parents of the World, don’t name kids a Jr, a III, a IV, and then call them by their middle name, making it … More Single Girl Home Owning: Boiling Point (Part Two: The Winter of My Discontent and Disgruntlement)
When I moved into the Huh House in the Fall of 2013 I knew part of the package deal was a home heated by fossil fuel oil fueling baseboards with forced hot water. For those green minded urbanites blessed with geothermal units, Eskimos harnessing ice in igloos, and others not in the know, that means … More Single Girl Home Owning: Boiling Point (Part One: Saying Good-Bye to Bessie the Behemoth Boiler)
On a good day I have my morning hustle down to a pat 30 minutes from feet on the floor to keys in the ignition. The Type A in me prepares everything the night before so the not such a morning person, more likely to grunt than talk before coffee me has no idea what … More Single Girl Home Owning: Sewage Edition (AKA How I Spent an Evening with Plumber Jim)
There was a man in my bedroom this morning. It’s not what you think. He had his head up my crawl space. Wait. It’s still not what you think. Stop with the *nudge nudge wink wink*. Get out of the gutter my friends. Join me up here on the roof instead where the wind came … More Ladies Night at the Shingles Bar
I grew up eating government cheese and wearing Dollar General jelly shoes that gave me bleeding blisters. When I was very young we raised pigs to slaughter and stored homegrown root vegetables next to the coal in the basement to make it through the winter. We were sustainable chic before it was hipster. When you’re … More Bubbles and Budgets
I’ve always had a problem with emotionally unavailable men and this one certainly was icy. He swept in all hushed and magical, descending with fluttering wet kisses on my cheeks and eyelashes. I’d been warned about him. My friend Jim Cantore warned me. But who thinks with a name like Jonas there will really be … More Dumped by Jonas: I Get By
The first Christmas I spent in my home I was a wee overly excited to have my own entry doors to decorate. This seasonal eagerness may have totally precipitated a gotta handle it yourself Single Girl Situation. You see, in Life Before Mortgage I lived in a second floor apartment with multiple doors to … More One Flew Outta the Cuckoo’s Wreath
Sleeping on the Diagonal 