The night before Thanksgiving when I was supposed to be cooking half of the entire Thanksgiving spread for 20+ people, we were sitting in the car instead, waiting while a mitigation crew ripped up our kitchen.

At 11:30pm we were allowed back into the house and I cooked in this:

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The dishwasher had sprung a leak and water had gotten all up underneath the hardwood. Unfortunately, this was not the first time it had happened and mold was discovered underneath the kitchen and adjacent laundry room flooring. Just like that – laundry room: inoperable; kitchen: all but the same.

And then Thanksgiving morning came and as I walked through the little room that holds our water heater, I stepped into a nice. big. puddle. The water heater was down for the count. What are the odds? We just had to laugh…and clean up additional water damage and get Thanksgiving dinner out the door.

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Lately I’ve been feeling equal parts like I desperately need a break from my children because they’re making me crazy…and like I’m not spending enough time with them/enjoying them enough. Does anyone else ever feel all those feels at once? Continue Reading

Someone once told me that the most expensive words in home renovation are, “while we’re at it…”

I think they were on to something.

It all started with the roof. When we first looked at the house, the inspector told us that the roof needed to be replaced yesterday. His words were in fact, “I don’t know how it’s not leaking already”. That is never good. So we held our breath and a year later we set out to replace the roof.

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That’s when the “while were at it”s started. Continue Reading