About the blog

I saw that movie Julie and Julia and it got me thinking (a bit more deeply than usual), about whether I should set myself a challenge similar to the one set by blogger Julie Powell.

Except it would have nothing to do with recipes but, rather, my home. There’s a lot to do, you see, and we’ve lived here way too long now for excuses.

So why not (I thought) go public with all my DIY and remodeling projects, and set myself a goal? One year to complete them, and a happier house and household at the end of it. Perhaps I’d also complete my own journey of self-discovery. Perhaps agents would start calling. And then, and then…

And then the year ended, and we still had a ton to do. We’re still working our way down the list (and, alas, the list gets ever-longer rather than shorter) but I’m giving us all a break now. No year-long challenge. No deadline. No pressure. Just the realization that this home and its projects are our third child and our hobby and our past-time and -given the age of the house and the way we live our lives – that’s how it will always be.

I hope you’ll join me in the journey. There will be ups and downs, celebrations and lingering standstills. There will be tangential detours as I mull over things other than DIY. Things like life and parenting and work. Because fixing up a house when you have a family to raise and two pets to mollycoddle is not like an HGTV show. Or maybe mine is, a little – the ‘before’ scenes, that is…

And here we all are:

Me: Dab hand with a paintbrush, sewing machine and hammer, but clueless about power drills or electrics, and somewhat lacking in common sense. Also a do-er and quick-fixer who just wants to see progress of any kind, even if it means doing a bit of a shabby job of it.

Hubby: Dab hand at anything associated with DIY (the guy even designed and made our bed and kitchen table), and probably right when he says he can do a better job than any contractor. But he’s lacking in time and, apparently motivation. He’s a procrastinator and a perfectionist who takes so long when he does tackle a job, that fashions have changed, coastlines have eroded and several Presidents have come and gone in the meantime.

Sweetpea: She’s 10, larger-than-life and she dreams of being an actress, belting it out on Broadway. Then, she says, she’ll move into a mansion in L.A. It has to be modern, mind, because she’s had enough of crumbling piles like ours.

Munchkin: Aged 4 and already proving to be handy with a hammer and screwdriver, although sadly (for me) they’re of the plastic variety, or else I’d have signed him on as my own little Bob the Builder a while ago.

Thing 1: Our aging, grouchy cat. He wails, he dribbles, but most of all he sleeps. In my next life, I want to be a pampered feline please.

The Mutt: A new addition to the family. The humans of the pack are besotted with him. Thing 1? Not so much.

So  join us  the journey, why don’t you? We’d love to have you.

Gillian Drummond