• What Happens When You Don’t Respect Your Power Tools?

    ‘Twas a beautiful spring day in 2023. Having just adopted a dog (!), we were upgrading my crappy house to accommodate her. To spare our little Mona Lisa Vito (Yes, that’s her name. I know. Adorable.) from leaping out the back door house hole (as I, myself, had done for the previous twelve years), I finally built some crappy steps. And to keep her from running into traffic (as I, myself, had done… well, just that one time), I built her a fence.

    Ah, wouldn’t that be something to brag about? Building a six foot perimeter fence by myself? As if. No, we hired a fence company for this job. Some tasks are just not worth dying for, you know?

  • I Built Crappy Steps for the Love of Dog

    dog on steps

    A few months ago, a thing happened. Well, several things happened, but one thing was a catalyst for the rest of the things. This post is about two of the things. The first one, the catalyst, is a human interest sort of thing (That’s assuming I am interesting (this paragraph not withstanding) and you are interested…) and the second thing is an actual DIY, which may or may not satisfy the seven or so people who still read my blog for that purpose. Anyway, the first thing was this:

  • Before and After | My Crappy Driveway

    Let Someone Else DIY for a Change

    This is my favorite kind of post. The kind where I get to tell you about a major improvement to My Crappy House that I didn’t have to do myself. Because who even DIYs a freaking driveway anyway? The answer is crazy people and pretentious show-offs. Admittedly, I do usually fall into the latter category (yeah, OK, the former too), and, you’re right, this is a DIY blog, but even I have my limits.

    Besides, my steamroller was in the shop…

  • How to Paint a Panel Door with a Brush

    Painted Front Door Feature

    Do You Want to Know What a Panel Door Is?

    All I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more. This post turned out to be much longer than I’d anticipated. Yes, it’s about how to paint a panel door with a brush, but it’s become so much more than that. More than I could have ever imagined. Maybe it’s more than you want. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You click the BLUE LINK – you skip right to the information you came here for, and believe… whatever you want to believe. You click the RED LINKyou stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…

    Welcome to My Rabbit Hole

    Yeah. I heard it.

    After painting it a lovely shade of gray, and updating the trim, My Crappy House is more attractive than it has ever been! Which… is really not saying very much at all. The landscaping and driveway still look like hell, but those are big ticket items and I just paid for a big ticket wedding. Who has any big ticket money left? Not me!

    Painting a crappy front door is one way to gain a little bit of curb appeal without spending big ticket money. If the eyes in your face are the windows to your soul, then the front door to your home is the portal to… your living room, probably. Maybe a foyer, if you’re fancy. (No, not Narnia. That’s a different door.)

  • Snow Sucks. Rage with Me.

    Snowman with scissors in head cat looking on

    Let’s Kill it with a Chainsaw

    Or with manicure scissors… I have a hate|hate relationship with snow. I mean, I hate snow… but I also hate snow. It’s a fine line between hate and hate. That’s where you’ll find snow. And, also, snow sucks.

    Mini snowman stabbed with mini scissors

  • Building an Outdoor Cat Shelter, Part III

    building cat shelter feature image

    Won’t you take me to… Crazy Town?

    Why, yes. Yes, of course, I’ll take you to Crazy Town. Let’s go!

    (This post is the last in a multi-part series about building a cat shelter. If you’re just joining me, you’ll want to start here, at the beginning. I promise, it’ll be worth it. I’m an excellent writer.)

    The day has finally come! It’s our last trip to Crazy Town. (For this project, I mean. I go to Crazy Town all the time. I’m a regular. I’ve got a time share. It has a guest room, so you can come too.) Anyway, my outdoor cat shelter is finally done, in all its crazy glory, and I’m here to tell you all about it.

    Right meow.

    Egor lying on back thought bubble

  • Building an Outdoor Cat Shelter, Part II

    Cat Shelter II Feature Image

    I’m Not Kitten Around Over Here…

    For the last six weeks, I’ve been spending much of my time in Crazy Town working on building that pawesome outdoor cat shelter I mentioned last month. If you don’t know wtf I’m talking about, you need to go read The Plan post right meow. I’ll wait…

    Entering Crazy Town_1000px

    I know it feels like furever ago that I told you about my plan to build a house for my stray cats, but the time has finally come for me to share it with mew. Um, you. This is “The Build” post!

  • 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.