Welcome: Adventures in Home Improvement

Dear Fellow Adventurers!

So you're for one of two reasons:

1. You're looking to commiserate because everything seems to keep breaking and you hate calling repairmen.
or
2. Someone sent you the link as a joke after you spackled over the only outlet in your bedroom.

Either way, I think we can help each other out. I'm Susan, a single mom and homeowner. We live in a little brick cottage in a historic town in the Washington, DC suburbs (not the fancy schmancy kind, just the old kind). We've lived here for 10 years and I've finally decided that I'm losing the battle with my own house. With me being 33 and it being 74, it's managed to outsmart me on a number of occasions and I'm tired of losing to brick and mortar. But I've decided to take control and show this bastard who's boss!

Well, sort of.

Look, I'm tired of paying repairmen, or worse yet, letting things go unrepaired. I'm tired of living with things being broken or on the verge of being broken. Or going without simple, inexpensive upgrades because I'm afraid of what it'll take to do it. I like to consider myself of average intelligence and ability, (my kids would probably disagree but who asked them anyway) I can follow instructions, I assemble IKEA furniture, paint my own walls, unclog the toilet. I have some tools, I can do this!

So what am I doing here?

I figure I'm not the only fed-up, moderately able and intelligent girl out there. There are more of us! We can learn, laugh, share, and best of all DO....and we can do it together! So from time to time I'll post stories, pictures, problems - basically document my adventures in home improvement. I'll ask for help, maybe answer some questions, likely be called an idiot by some contractor who happened upon my blog. But I don't care, I get a weekly dose of humility at my local home improvement store. So join me on the adventure.

It should be fun....and at least you won't be using plyers to turn on the hot water anymore (true story, more later).