When my two oldest children were 5 and 2, we moved from one house in town to another. We didn’t gain any square footage, but the new house had a huge yard, front and back, and forty trees in a better neighborhood. The house had been vacant for months. The sprinklers weren’t working in the… Continue reading The Sprinkler Man and the Glass Coffee Table
Category: house
A Crash Course in Feng Shui
I didn’t know much about Feng Shui when it became an issue for a married couple I know buying a house. There are rules. The staircase cannot face the front door. The front door can’t be hidden. The front door and back door cannot line up. The house must not be across from a T… Continue reading A Crash Course in Feng Shui
The Road Not Taken
(re-run) GPS is a wonderful thing. I didn’t choose it; it chose me, being included with the 2014 Prius close-out car that I bought in November of that year. It was time to make way for the 2015 models. It was marked down. I bought it. If I’m coming back from a new place with… Continue reading The Road Not Taken
A Scary Five Seconds
(re=run) I had followed the same routine dozens of times. Arriving in my beach town, the dogs got excited and wanted out of the car. There’d been an accident in San Jose, so we were running a half hour behind. Daisy (Jack Russell) started barking and pulling on her tether as soon as we got… Continue reading A Scary Five Seconds
Trading Up in Omaha
(re-run) Alice got a teaching job in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She decided to live across the Missouri River in Omaha in an old Victorian that had been converted into apartments. A military guy from Maryland moved in upstairs. She ran into him in the hallway after a bike ride one evening when he was coming… Continue reading Trading Up in Omaha
The Road Not Taken
(re-run) GPS is a wonderful thing. I didn’t choose it; it chose me, being included with the 2014 Prius close-out car that I bought in November of that year. It was time to make way for the 2015 models. It was marked down. I bought it. If I’m coming back from a new place with… Continue reading The Road Not Taken
Loved the House, Not the Marriage
I donated a big bag of curtains this week. I’d been saving the curtains from each of the last three houses I’ve lived in, here in California, all in the same town as my current house. Who has lived in four houses in one town? Me. The first house was the starter home for a… Continue reading Loved the House, Not the Marriage
Keep Your Nose Clean
(re-run from 2021) When I was a young adult, this expression was a warning to us to straighten up and fly right – to stay out of trouble. It was said to young men more than it was said to young women, but it meant that things would come our way if we followed the… Continue reading Keep Your Nose Clean
A Crash Course in Feng Shui
I didn’t know much about Feng Shui when it became an issue for a married couple I know buying a house. There are rules. It’s all about the flow of energy, called the chi or the xi. Feng shui means wind and water. I’d read somewhere that a red front door is a good thing… Continue reading A Crash Course in Feng Shui
The Road Not Taken
GPS is a wonderful thing. I didn’t choose it; it chose me, being included with the 2014 Prius close-out car that I bought in November of that year. It was time to make way for the 2015 models. It was marked down. I bought it. If I’m coming back from a new place with GPS… Continue reading The Road Not Taken
