Who Am I? Where Am I? How Did I Get Here?

So, you Googled “crappy houses” and you ended up here. Welcome! This is your lucky day for two reasons: First, misery loves company. I am your company. Second, I’m freaking funny and it sounds like you could use a good laugh. I mean, your house is crappy, right? That sucks. Believe me… I know.

This is me. I am a tiny woman with no money. I used to have a little bit of money, but then I bought a crappy house in 2011 and now that money is all gone. What I do have is time. And time is basically “free” so I spend that instead of the money that I don’t have. Since I can’t afford to pay most professionals, I have learned to do a lot of things myself. I’m up at all hours of the night working on various projects to make my crappy house a home. (I do a lot of work in my pajamas…)

(That’s me painting the grout in between my back splash tiles by hand with a teeny tiny brush because it was two shades lighter than I wanted and I never settle.)

I’m really (no, not really) enjoying renovating my crappy house and I especially like getting compliments for all of my hard work (from you in particular, stranger), so I thought I’d start a blog to share my DIY adventures with the world. My intent is not to teach you anything (though if you happen to learn something, awesome!), but to have a place to write about my experiences and show off my accomplishments so you can say, “OMG, did you really do that yourself?!” and then I can say, “Yes. I am a badass.”

This is not my main gig. I don’t make any money at this. I write solely for entertainment purposes; my own, and maybe yours. But mostly mine. Aside from this, I run my own company with one employee. (It’s me. I’m the only employee.) My boss is tolerable. (Again, me.) The pay could be better, but I pretty much do what I want when I want for who I want how I want, so I can’t really complain. Still, I manage.

Let’s see. What else… Oh! I have two cats.* A gray one named Egor and a black and brown one named Zero. You can follow them here on Instagram. (Yeah, people really do follow cats. Can you believe it?)

*Edit 2026: I have lost my sweet boy, Egor, to cancer. He was nearly seventeen. Not nearly old enough. I’m leaving him in my bio because, if you happen to visit my archives (and why would you deprive yourself of so much entertaining content?) you will see a lot of him and I want you to know who he is.

Was :*(

They love the camera, so you’ll see them appear in a lot of my photos. You might think I pose them on purpose because it makes good business sense (cats do rule internet), but honestly, they’re both just attention whores.

Speaking of attention whores, I also have a husband (Established: 2020, Code name: Schmoopy), but let’s just leave him out of this. Eyes on me, please. This is my rodeo.

In 2023, we adopted Mona Lisa Vito from the animal shelter. She’s got an Instagram account too, but her mother is a lazy ass who barely posts on her cat brother’s account (or on this blog, for that matter…), so don’t expect too much. Anyway, she’s a silly puppy face and you can read more about her here.

For fun, I am an avid pool player (I’m only OK), I love to read and do brainteaser puzzles to try to keep dementia away, and I’m also pretty crafty. But don’t worry. This is not a craft blog. The world needs another craft blog like it needs another Starbucks.

The world does not need another Starbucks.

So, that’s about it. Again, welcome to My Crappy House! If this is your first time here, may I suggest you start by taking this tour of My Crappy House? It will give you an idea of just how crappy this house was when I started so you can fully appreciate all I’ve accomplished so far and, thus, be sufficiently amazed at my progress. Maybe you’ll even feel a little bit better about your own crappy house and its potential.

I hope you’ll come back often to marvel at my mad skills and fabulous personality. (If I’ve already won you over, subscribe here to receive a cute, little, unobtrusive, not annoying email whenever I post something new. (Whenever that is…)) Let’s bond over our shared house crappiness!

Fondly, your new BFF (blog friend forever),

V.

P.S. Want to know even more about me? (I get that. I’m an intriguing person…) Click here to listen to a podcast where Doug from Thumb & Hammer and I talk about my crappy house and also how amazing I am.

P.P.S. The animals aren’t the only ones on Instagram. Follow me here. I post stuff on the rare occasion. Not as good as the fur baby stuff, but I try.

P.P.P.S. OMG! Last one. I just wanted you to know you can always contact me directly here. I love email and I answer everyone. (Except jerk spammers.)