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Dolly Parton once said (don’t you LOVE blogs that begin like this?!), in her most fabulous role as Truvy in my favorite (read: the greatest) movie of all time, “Sammy’s so confused, he don’t know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt.” (If you’re keeping track of how many times I will mention Steel Magnolias in this blog, this is only the second time.) Confusion and indecisiveness are tricky little buggers and folks, the hard truth is that Rhett and I are right there, feet firmly planted in the land of indecisiveness.

First, let’s address the big pink elephant in the room, shall we? Apologies all around to those who’ve been missing updates and stories of calamity at Tara (bah- it’s been exactly a month!) We’ve been busy bees, busy with everything but the house, mainly as a result of the aforementioned indecisiveness. But any excuse is a pitiful one, I understand, and to make it up to you I am back, writing away, ignoring the needs of my children and desires of my spouse (kidding!).

As the holidays approach, you’d probably not be shocked to find that home renovations typically slow down. After all, no one shouts in frustration “There’s nowhere to hang the garland, Delores!” and is met with a response of something like, “Well then let’s just level the whole front room!” Just because it ‘tis NOT the season for renovating doesn’t mean that people aren’t thinking about it. So while we’re not doing anything to the house at the moment, we sure are thinking about it. And the holidays bring up a lot of issues. Having guests over for parties makes you notice the cracked front steps. When relatives come stay, you wish you had a bigger guest bedroom. You get the picture.

Such is our predicament with Tara. The inside is completed (cue Hallelujah chorus) but what about the outside? Landscaping? Exterior paint and a bit of a facelift for the front? What about that back deck? Want to replace it and screen it in? How about a fireplace on the screened in porch…that would be nice.

Or wait…do you want to bust out a wall of our bedroom and add a master bath? Remember our house is only a 2 bath, so that would surely add to the resale value. And what about doing that playroom upstairs (er…we’d need to BUILD an upstairs first) for the girls? Or do we want to just insulate part of the flooring in the attic and make an office using the existing stairs that are in the garage?

Oh, and by the way the driveway is a mess. And we probably need a new AC unit.

See what I mean about confusion?

This is where you come in. I’ve cleverly commandeered renovatingtara@gmail.com so you can email me your suggestions. If you had a 4 bedroom, 2 bath ranch, what would YOU do?

In the meantime, I won’t leave you hanging. There’s a lot that we’ve done that you’ve yet to hear about! So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and help us with our house, reading a little about what we’ve already done along the way.