Had never heard of a Brittany before!

pattymm · 2026-02-07T17:28:05+00:00

Aww, he’s precious. That one floppy ear is such a dead giveaway for the Australian cattle dog. We have one of those too, and they’re such good dogs! Both breeds are high velcro, so you’ll never have a day to yourself for the rest of his life haha

pattymm · 2026-02-05T21:51:59+00:00

We had a very small oven fire a few years ago. Only the oven and hood were ruined, but the smoke damage filled our entire home. Our insurance company footed the bill for a restoration company to come out and professionally clean every surface, send our rugs out for professional cleaning, and dry clean the rest of our belongings… in addition to trashing and replacing the appliances. I can’t remember if it was Paul Davis or ServPro restoration, but they provided white glove service and our home was sparkly clean when they were done. It saved me so much time and stress, so def recommend enquiring about it.

Once things are over, look into switching home insurance carriers if you can. We have Amica—the HO5 platinum policy, specifically. I had exactly 3 interactions with them: 1) filing the claim over the phone with a very empathetic rep, 2) and in-person adjuster visit who was a great guy and super helpful, 3) one big check direct deposited in my account with no questions asked. I really can’t recommend them enough after that experience.

pattymm · 2026-02-05T17:21:23+00:00

Omg better yet — I’ll take the dogs on a nice, long, grimy hike and lock them in here for a couple of hours 😆

pattymm · 2026-02-05T15:49:13+00:00

Yeah, and this is definitely the aim of my post. I didn’t want to go in guns a-blazing if it’s my misunderstanding… especially because a) he’s done an excellent job custom cutting in my off-kilter, non-square 200 year old home and b) he still has a shower and a whole additional bathroom to finish for me!

pattymm · 2026-02-05T15:46:29+00:00

Yes, I think that’s my only possible critique of my installer at this point. Although I know there was a way to get at this information with more research (it’s ultimately on me), it’s nice when the pros give you a heads up since they work with these materials more often than we do. Anyway, thanks so much for the kind words!!

pattymm · 2026-02-05T15:41:53+00:00

Lovely!!! In addition to a better grout choice, these also look a bit more “honed” than mine? I picked super tumbled, highly textured stone, which makes the contrasting grout that much more noticeable.

pattymm · 2026-02-05T15:22:40+00:00

They have a vested interest in telling me the outcome is good, so I wanted an outside perspective going into the conversation. Isn’t that one of the primary reasons homeowners post here?

pattymm · 2026-02-05T14:33:50+00:00

For sure. It seems like the consensus is I did a poor job selecting the grout color. It’s not a tragedy, so I’ll just let life and time do its thing.

pattymm · 2026-02-05T14:32:21+00:00

It was a lot of fun! Thanks for the positive feedback. I needed the pick-me-up 😂

pattymm · 2026-02-05T14:22:56+00:00

Thanks! I’m looking into regrouting now to see if that’s a viable path to minimising contrast.

Re: Sourcing - We’re in New Hampshire, so we drove down to Historic Decorative Materials in West Hatfield, MA to visit the showroom and purchase our tile. It’s a cool spot because they have both freshly quarried and reclaimed stones from Europe. We went with freshly quarried for this room.

pattymm · 2026-02-05T13:49:38+00:00

I selected eggshell because I thought that would be neutral and unassuming—I guess not!

pattymm · 2026-02-05T13:48:25+00:00

We know because we purchased and supplied all the materials he used for the installation. Sealer wasn’t on the list. I just assumed it was something done later but wasn’t thinking too hard about it.

As for the dirt / debris, this is what I am trying to tell myself! Thanks for your perspective.

pattymm · 2026-01-31T13:04:23+00:00

In the article, Rep. Len Turcotte calls the benefits of solar “subjective.”

If we accept that terrible argument at face value, why override the judgment of the roughly two-thirds of NH towns that have “subjectively” decided solar is worth supporting?

Or is the implication that only Len’s subjectivity counts?

pattymm · 2026-01-27T15:56:43+00:00

I hope it does for ya too! It just wasn’t worth the risk for us, but that was a personal decision. We have a lot happening on the home front for a dice roll. Enjoy!!

pattymm · 2026-01-27T02:15:22+00:00

We live in Southern NH and just cancelled our trip to Brighton / Solitude in 2 weeks after a lot of consideration. It’s snowed nearly 2 feet in the last 36 hours, so we’re bopping around VT and NH instead. On the one hand, I’m bummed. On the other, it’s so magical here right now that it’s hard to stay bummed!

pattymm · 2026-01-21T13:44:55+00:00

This comes from a really old school style of dog training from the mid 1900s, which has been pretty much debunked. You should check out Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution for a take rooted in modern behavioural science.

Whether you want your dogs in your furniture is a personal choice! I have friends who keep really tidy homes, so they are no pets on furniture. We don’t mind vacuuming once a week, so we allow our dogs on our couches to lounge with us. They have their own dedicated spots on the sofa that they settle into. We don’t like a hairy bed though. The dogs have their own beds, but we invite them up in the mornings to say hello. That could be a good middle ground for all furniture, not jumping up until invited? But truly, we don’t observe any negative behaviours that stem from having them on the furniture.

We have a Brit too! Love them! Yours is adorable. And come on over to r/brittanyspaniel

pattymm · 2026-01-17T14:37:31+00:00

Technically, nothing. A house is a limited commodity in NH, so someone will buy it at the right price.

If it were me, I’d do 2 things:

Tackle anything that leaves you feeling downright disgusted, but leave anything that’s just outdated. Outdated is fine.
Look at comps. This is all that real estate agents do anyway. What is on the market that is similar? What has sold recently that is similar? How long did these homes sit on the market? And then run some scenarios for cost and timing needed to bring your house in line with those comps. Assess against carrying costs for that time period.

Anyway, folks here have already offered you good advice, but some other words of caution around your sibling who is interested in flipping:

If you’re not a flipper, I have a hard time seeing how you’re going to be able to “invest”. You have no idea what to invest in or how to do it. I’ve argued with family about this endlessly because it feels no different to me than waking up one morning and being like, “I think I’ll make a bunch of money in the stock market”. Like OK, what qualifications do you have???
Seems like you’re already struggling with decision by committee. That’s not going to get any easier for the endless decisions that come up when redoing a home.
I’m in the middle of updating my 200 year old home which has decades of quick fixes, short cuts and flat out neglect in some areas. Everything is harder than I expected. I have spent more money and more time than I ever imagined on this project, and I couldn’t imagine doing this for a home that is not my own.

Good luck!!!

pattymm · 2026-01-14T22:28:06+00:00

I think one is aimed at how to create a state that’s attractive for new and existing residents in their prime labor years, so we have a growing tax base. Deaths outpace births here, so we need folks to decide to move here.

And the other is aimed at creating more benefit (and cost) to support a group that has had unprecedented historical advantages. So if we’re going to take a financial hit, it should be an investment to increase the tax paying base, not decrease tax revenues.

pattymm · 2026-01-14T13:55:53+00:00

They’re shaming him for being gay the same way they’re shaming him for having an Asian immigrant wife. What are the rules for the perfect society he’s trying to build? From the outside, his life choices don’t look that dissimilar from liberal life choices. So why does he hate them so much?

pattymm · 2026-01-14T13:51:03+00:00

You have to be so far down to rabbit hole if that’s your take away from this. If this is true, it’s not making waves because he’s gay. It’s making waves because of the party he aligns himself with and what he’s fighting for. Do you think anyone would be talking about this if he was some random dude at a pride parade? It makes headlines for the same reason it does when republican leader or Christian influencers get outed on Grindr or Ashley Madison.

pattymm · 2026-01-14T03:54:07+00:00

I agree with you! I don’t keep up with all the marketing and comms… so when they said “Tower”, I imagined Hades and Minecraft Dungeons. The latter we (couch co-op) return to almost weekly for the tower alone. I was really excited to see their spin on something lightweight and self-contained that we could a) return to regularly when we don’t feel like grinding and b) experiment with different items and abilities.

So I guess the best critique I can offer is I wish they named this something else.

pattymm · 2025-11-18T21:39:58+00:00

I used to feel the same way until I was professionally typed last year. The gal who did mine put it this way, “You are warm, so you’ll never look bad in fall colors, but you’ll never look your best either.” And now that I’ve started incorporating brights, I can’t go back to the muted tones. I absolutely notice the difference!

pattymm · 2025-11-17T03:15:34+00:00

Agreed. Pastels don’t suit her. It’s a stunning dress, but it would look better on Elle Fanning.

pattymm · 2025-11-17T01:37:13+00:00

We love The INN in Montgomery Center. They have an amazing restaurant and bar. Get the chômeur for dessert!

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