“I’m Sure Your Husband Will Do It.”

“It’s not going to fit.  It won’t go up those stairs.” The delivery man places the brand new pink velvet chair that was perfect for the loft room, but turns out to be somewhat larger than it appeared in store, down underneath the loft stairs and examines the underside, where four slim gold legs poke…

Why Am I So Rubbish At Stuff?

I recently read a cheerful article in the Guardian which said that there was no such thing as a gifted child. That’s a good thing, by the way. It’s a good thing because it means that anyone can be gifted.  Our brains are plastic.  It just takes practice. Ten thousand hours of it, to be…

Homeowning Dream Turns Into Crack in Ceiling Horror

My mother is livid. “YOU DON’T NEED A KING SIZE BED,” she thunders.  “NO ONE NEEDS A KING SIZED BED!” I calmly point out, quite tactfully I think, that king sized beds might have been considered wildly hedonistic luxuries back in the 1970s, the sort of thing that Rod Stewart might have had in his gold penthouse,…