Uncategorized – Page 24 – Kick Ass or Die

Working Portraits

February 4, 2010 4 Comments

While we will have a pretty thorough record of all of the construction at Memorial through this website and my incessant picture taking, I’ve been

Things I Learned in Contractors Class: You Do Not Know It All

January 28, 2010 6 Comments

Huh. It says it right here on my notes. When we got to this section of the course I gave MysteryMan a look that said,

Things I Learned in Contractors Class: How Not to Die

January 20, 2010 2 Comments

Last month I almost fell off my chair in excitement when MysteryMan agreed to take the Residential Builders Pre-licensure courses with me, and believe me

Contemplating Life in a Gas Station

January 15, 2010 8 Comments

Feel free to count “moving from my refinished 3 bedroom house into a half-finished one room gas station” among the things I thought I never

Blank Slate: Man-Cave Bathroom Style

January 6, 2010 10 Comments

It’s about that time again. You know, the one where you find yourself buried under the oppressive weight of two million paint swatches? Yeah. I’m

Loves Tools, Needs Life

December 21, 2009 7 Comments

I’m not one-hundred-percent sure, but I think that the fact that I get a warm-fuzzy feeling when I take pictures of rusty metal objects makes

Spare Parts

December 13, 2009 No Comments

Maybe I’ve mentioned this before here once or twice, but I have the good fortune to be bound-for-life-through-homeownership to an engineer. Professional engineer, that is.

Last One This Year

December 8, 2009 No Comments

It’s shopping season for sure, and this time last year I had 8 broom orders to fill in the two weeks before Christmas. As soothing

What’s in YOUR Toolbox?

November 17, 2009 6 Comments

Does anyone actually carry a tool box anymore? Usually my tools are at either one house or the other, but recently I’ve been running simultaneous

Dirt, Wood, Steel & Smirks

October 26, 2009 6 Comments

Us, busy? No way. Last week I said to MysteryMan (regarding some project or another for the house), “let’s just do that in the winter

DIY Resources: For Sale By Owner

October 20, 2009 7 Comments

Might as well keep with the theme for this week, and save those pictures of me, MysteryMan and his dad stuccoing over the old station

Feeding the Addiction: Porter Cable 2-1/2 x 14″ Belt Sander

October 9, 2009 1 Comment

The orbital sander is doing a decent job at the stair refinishing project, but right now I’m seriously short on time, because the house is

Ready For Next Year: Harvesting Dried Bean Seeds

October 4, 2009 2 Comments

The Summer of 2009 will always be known in our household as the Summer of Tiny Vegetables. Our corn was about 4 feet tall (and

Station Progress: Let’s call it halfway.

September 9, 2009 No Comments

Since we decided to hold off on breaking ground on the actual house, we’ve put all of our energy into turning the station into a

Harvest

August 24, 2009 No Comments

All is as you would expect it to be on the Isle of Insanity (otherwise known as my life). There are new concrete floors, new

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)

THE STORYTELLER

Back in 2004 I started writing about my adventures in fixing up houses on the internet. A lot of things have changed since then, with me, with my houses, and with the internet. These days I am basically a cranky old man trapped in a slightly less old woman’s body. The internet has changed and I am staunchly refusing to change with it. You won’t find any algorithms here, or feeds, or ads, or social media. Just good old-fashioned stories about a woman drinking beer and building shit, and living an unexpected life.

(While you won’t find updates on social media, you can sign up to receive new posts via email here.)