• Building an Outdoor Cat Shelter, Part I

    Future outdoor cat shelter

    Helter Shelter

    This week, I’m working on building an outdoor cat shelter for our strays. It’s going to be purrfect! I fully expect to be the talk (meow?) of the kitty neighborhood with this little cat crib. I found a bunch of ideas online, but none of them spoke (meowed?) to me, so I decided to design my own. Hey, how hard can it be?

    Egor in the cooler ice chest

  • Building a Shed on a Budget

    He Shed, She Shed

    I have a shed. It sucks. Not because it’s old (that’s ageism), or because it’s broken (which it is). It sucks because it’s a cheap shed and you get what you pay for; a crappy shack that’s too small for an adult to stand up straight in, with cantankerous doors that are always looking for a fight, and metal walls that sound like high-school-theater-thunder when you accidentally (on purpose) run into them with the lawn mower. This crappy shed was an appropriate sidekick to my crappy house back in the day, but the time has come to kick it to the curb. My Crappy House is too classy now to associate with such basic trash.

  • Before and After Crappy House Tour

    Happy Blothday to Me!

    On October 3, 2013, my blog was born. It’s my blog’s 7th birthday! Can you believe it? My, how time flies… In this post, we’ll take a tour of My Crappy House with some shocking before and after photos to celebrate seven years of blogging.

    Also on October 3, in 19-BLEEEEEP, I was born. Here’s a picture of me to celebrate. Guys! It’s my Blothday!

    Yep, that’s really me. I’ve heard there’s not much left for an unborn baby to do in the last month but to pack on the pounds. I guess I really enjoyed my mom’s accommodations (accommommadations?) because I tried to add an extra month to my stay. You know, late checkout. So, on the day I was born, I was already three weeks old and needed a haircut. I weighed ten pounds and twelve ounces.

    Sorry, Mommy.

    But enough about me. It’s blog day! Let’s look at some crappy before and afters, shall we?

  • Magically Floating Shelves

    What Sorcery is This?

    Having been well established in My Crappy House for many years, surrounded by all of my many crappy possessions, you would think that it would have been a challenge making room for Schmoo when he moved in with me. It wasn’t. Lucky for me, he wasn’t attached to much of his stuff. Just his clothes, tools, a few manscaping products, some books, and a handful of treasures.

    This post is about the treasures.

  • How Can We Get Some Backyard Privacy?

    Privacy, Please

    When I first moved into My Crappy House in 2011, my neighbors, both to my right and to my left, were drummers who liked to practice outdoors in their respective backyards. Seriously. What are the freaking odds? Eventually, it got too cold outside to play. Then, finally, mercifully, they both moved away. Ahh, peace…

    But not for long.

  • Building a Shadowbox for an Heirloom

    Shadowbox for heirloom

    Procrastination is in My Blood.

    You’re in the right place. I’m going to show you how I built a shadowbox for an heirloom, but first, I want to tell you a little bit about my grandma. Please indulge me. She passed away when I was only four years old. I only have fuzzy, unfocused (aka misty, watercolor) memories of her that I’m not even sure are real.

    Me and my grandma on my 4th birthday

    Still, from all I’ve been told, I feel like she and I are kindred spirits. My creativity comes from her, as does my propensity for procrastination…

  • It’s Crappy House Appreciation Day!

    Let’s Celebrate!

    Today, August 17, 2020 is Crappy House Appreciation Day. I just decided. I don’t know who’s in charge of creating official holidays, but I don’t care. I just did it myself. Mark your calendars. It’s done. Take the day off to celebrate, if you like. (That’s what I’m doing.)

    I have very recently reached a new level of appreciation for My Crappy House. If you have a crappy house that you aren’t feeling particularly fond of, I can help. There’s one very specific thing that you can do that will make you instantly smitten. You will fall in love with your crappy house just the way it is, in all it’s crappy glory. And it’s such a simple thing! Are you ready? Here it is…