I’ve had one of those weeks. My daughter had two meetings, I had a business trip to Tulsa, we had a fashion show and a wedding to attend yesterday … well, I’m pretty pooped. I certainly didn’t want to find the time to go select our granite slab for the basement wet bar. After all, it’s just a big ol’ rock, right? Cut it and slap it on there. I don’t have time to deal with it this week.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. (Shhh… don’t tell my husband.)

We arrived at the granite distributor and trudged our way through the showroom to wait for the salesperson to walk us to inspect our exact slab.

“Hey, look, hon!” I said. “Here’s our color. Mojave cream.” I pointed to a small slab. Uh oh. Beneath it was a sample Home Depot didn’t offer. Blanc Noir. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. My head started to pound in panic. Mojave cream wasn’t working for me anymore — as the name suggested, it was more cream where we wanted white.  But maybe our slab would be more along the lines of what I had in mind, right? …CONTINUE READING »

Those of you in relationships know how interesting it is when you first visit the home of your romantic interest. You get a real insight into the person when you see the surrounding in which he or she lives.

When my husband Steve and I first started dating years ago, and I walked into his house for the first time it was like touching down on some alien planet. I’m not a snob but I’m one of those people who cares pretty deeply what my living environment looks like and a ceramic Uncle Sam head (yes, he had one) is not entirely my idea of a tasteful home interior.

Steve is not a patriotic zealot. Sadly, he just liked the way the Uncle Sam head looked.

And then there was the black velvet painting. I tried to bargain with myself by telling myself that at least it wasn’t a black velvet painting of Elvis, but really, is that even a relevant argument? I’d like to say the painting was some kind of kitschy so-uncool-it’s-cool attempt at decorating, but I would be lying.

One room was painted gray except for a 3-foot by 3-foot area on one wall where he’d run out of paint. Apparently he wasn’t bothered by seeing that blank space day after day. I, on the other hand, a woman with obsessive/compulsive tendencies that would alarm Monk, took two trips through that room and was ready to confess to the Lindbergh kidnapping. I repainted the whole room. …CONTINUE READING »

Well, I’m not going to win “Mother of the Year.” At least, that’s how my microwave makes me feel. It quit working this week, and I am lost without it. I never realized how much I depended on it. But, now that it’s gone, I don’t know what to do. I guess that’s how it is with most appliances.

We’re definitely buying a new microwave this weekend. However, I can’t help but wonder, how did we ever manage without one? It’s become as important as a refrigerator to me. I know, you’re yelling at your computer screen as you read this, “Hello? Have you heard of an oven?” Yes, I know about the oven and I use my stovetop a lot, but I use it for defrosting, quick “nuking” and instant oatmeal – which my daughter loves and eats almost every day. The oven is just not a match for my need for speed and instant food – a need easily met by my microwave. …CONTINUE READING »

You can blame it on the economy, poor decision making, or the rain (Milli Vanilli), but the end result is the same. I can no longer afford to live in my house. The only problem is… no one wants to buy it!

I’ve been dealing with this dilemma for almost a year now, and I know other folks have had the same experience. Last December, I contacted my realtor, put my house on the market, and waited. A ton of people have looked at my house – and I made sure it was sparkling each and every day – but not one person has made an offer.

The most logical thing to do in this situation is to drop the price, right? Well, some people don’t have the luxury of wiggle room, especially when you factor in paying realtors and closing costs. And seriously, it doesn’t seem right that after financing a mortgage for over three years, I would have to pay someone to take it off my hands! …CONTINUE READING »

In June, I bought a (faux) leather jacket and I’ve been aching to wear it for the past few months. After spending a weekend in humid Shreveport, La. at a wedding, I was delighted to return to a crisp and chilly Atlanta last night. Let the autumn dressing begin!

There is something about getting wrapped up in layers of warm clothing that makes me so happy. Gloves, scarves, hoodies, tights, leggings…I love it all! And, since I despise feeling cold, I recently purchased a Snuggie. Yes, in fact it’s one of those “designer” Snuggies — zebra print! In case any of you don’t know what a Snuggie is (you must be living under a rock or don’t own a TV!), it’s a blanket with sleeves that leaves you arms-free and delightfully warm, wrapped up in a bundle of fleece. Yes! You can finally knit and stay warm at the same time! …CONTINUE READING »

Our home has sprung a leak!

This blog entry was going to be about our carpet and how happy I am to have had it professionally cleaned – it feels ready for the little one to be crawling and rolling around on now – but after coming home early today due to the crazy flooding in our area, I found my new blog topic.

I knew it was too good to be true that with plenty of time before the baby comes, we would get our kitchen done and love it.  Our house feels clean and under control.  Things are coming along with the nursery.  I am relatively stress-free considering our upcoming arrival.  Here comes the wrench!

Let me say this before I launch into complaints:  we are lucky that our home is not at a low level and we don’t have a lake in our yard like many others I have heard of.  My car is not inundated up to the doors and we don’t need to be rescued in a raft.  There are no gaping holes in our roof from trees falling (knock on wood).  These are all things I have seen in person or on the news over the last 24 hours. …CONTINUE READING »

When my husband and I built our home five years ago, our daughter was just a year old. How big the house seemed then! We had enough space to get away from each other when needed and two spare bedrooms. Our daughter had a playroom and Bill had an office.

Fast forward five years and, well, the house doesn’t seem so large anymore. Now that a knock on the door brings seven (count them! Seven!) neighborhood kids wanting to play video games and hang out in the house, it’s time to finish the basement.

Unlike Annie, who had to live through her remodeling project, we’re fairly fortunate –– we have a walkout, so the contractor and his crew are able to come in and out at will. It’s odd to sit in the greatroom alone and hear the basement door slam as they arrive. We’re learning to adjust to the noise and surprisingly, Bill and I haven’t argued (much) over design. …CONTINUE READING »

The twins are at that wonderful, innocent age. Actually, they’ve been at “that wonderful, innocent age” for a long time – but now, I can finally use it to my advantage. While I was cleaning the house this weekend, they decided they wanted to help. Yes, that’s them in the photo cleaning the sliding glass door. Because they started fighting over who should do what, I intervened and made them work together as a team. She sprayed, he wiped. Please ignore the messy room behind them. I don’t know if they were bored with the game they were playing, or really wanted to clean, but they just dropped everything. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
…CONTINUE READING »