Elvis the carpenter is very good at doing the polite "customer is always right" thing while clearly thinking the customer is very wrong. He thinks I'm totally nuts for wanting the toilet door to be split rather than a single one opening outwards (there’s not enough room for a single door to open inwards). But... Continue Reading →

I thought it was time I gave you a renovation update. It won't take me long because NOT MUCH HAS HAPPENED. Well, nothing that really makes you go WOW! Progress! I have louvres in the laundry: I have lots of new architraves, but I won't bore you with pics of those. I've decided against Tranquil Dawn... Continue Reading →

I've been feeling really happy over the past few months. Actually, happy isn't the right word. I've been feeling very content. I'm happy too, but I think the contentment is the important piece of the puzzle. I don't want to jinx it, but I’m wondering if it’s a sign that the hormonal storm of the... Continue Reading →

Picture this ... There's a plumber in my powder room fixing the dodgy piping; there's a builder on my deck assembling a bathroom cabinet; there's another builder in the laundry measuring up the shower screen glass; two blokes stagger through the front door with my new velvet sofa; and my friend Mel arrives to do... Continue Reading →

It was the builder's turn to send ME a photo yesterday. Fortunately he meant to do it. It was a pic of a piece of benchtop in his storeroom that he thought might do the trick in my laundry. I'm so desperate for the renovation to end that I'd probably accept a piece of masonite... Continue Reading →

All the secrets are coming out today ... well, a few teeny weeny ones. Former weekly magazine editors tend to embellish ... OK ... DD's first name is David. Gasp. My builder's first name is Daniel. Both names start with “Da” and because I’m long and short sighted I accidentally texted the builder a pic of... Continue Reading →

I bought my first-ever new sofa in my lunch break yesterday. At age 52. Took me a while. And, blimey, I didn't opt for something safe. I went for a green velvet one: The youngest is HORRIFIED. She hates it. I hope I haven't made a terrible mistake. Most sofa places have a three-month wait,... Continue Reading →

My hopes for getting a functioning laundry/shower room were dashed yesterday on multiple fronts. 1. The plumber needs a big hole jackhammered into my side path to get the new drainage in. 2. The shower outlet is very low, as it was positioned before we decided to raise the ceiling. So the shower head I... Continue Reading →

Rats are a lot like printers. They're cheap up front, but the ongoing costs are a killer. Business Insider notes: "A gallon of printer ink can cost you $US12,000. When in cartridge form, it’s more expensive than vintage Champagne." Why is printer ink so expensive? "Oh that’s simple: greed ... basically it’s a formula: The... Continue Reading →

You know that compulsive nesting thing that pregnant women do? Well mine saw me hunting for a house when I was weeks away from giving birth to my first child. I was living in an apartment in Bondi that was up 50 steps ... not very practical with a pram. We couldn't find a house... Continue Reading →