About Dom and Lori

Welcome!

This blog is basically my personal journal.  It is where I rant and rave or swoon and coo over whatever happens to be going on at the moment, be it world-wide, community-related, or only in my head.  It was originally called “Things, Life, What-Not.”  I titled it from a scene in Sixteen Candles when the geek asks  Samantha, “How’s it going?” She snarks back, “How’s what going?”  He replies with, “You know, things, life, what-not…” and then she slams him with, “Life is not ‘what-not’ and it’s none of your business.” Except that I make it everyone’s business.  I really do.

The home building pages chronicle our journey of building a house, which was 100% incredible.  We finally moved in on December 7, 2012. Dorothy was right…there’s no place like home.

The Munchkins are the extra beings we birthed into the human race.  I intended it to comprise mostly my favorite pictures, but I’ve shared more than a few tidbits about the kids who kept us simultaneously on our toes and on our knees. I think I have finally stopped referring to them as Munchkins irl.  They are adults now, after all.

The Critters are our furry children.  We have only one dog now, Maximus, our yellow Siberian Retriever.  Mason, our yellow Lab and the Best Dog Ever, died in May 2014.  Mabel, our mischievous but lovable black Lab, died in August of 2021.  The pain is still real, and our hearts still ache.  Our critters used to also include two rabbits (Marsha Mallow and Graham Cracker) as well as up to three tanks of fish at one time.   Victoria has a cat named Socko, and Aaron has a cat named Pepper (aka “Pepperoni”).  Never in a million years did I think I would ever become a cat person…but oy! Their cuteness!!!

The Cancer Chronicles are essays I’ve written that pertain to the cancer journeys of Dom’s parents over the last (nearly ten) years.  We lost Pop to his cancer in 2018.  Nothing has been the same since.

The Host Experience details our new life as vacation/short-term rental hosts.  It’s an endeavor that officially kicked off in December 2022. Oh, the things we have learned!

In an attempt to consolidate all my internet real estate (because I truly am a domain junkie) I imported two former blogs into this one.  The Purpose Driven Mom was my venture into healthy stuff where I made a positive change every day for a year and blogged about it – the good and the bad. It was a trip, but it ultimately ended on a good note.  The Paleo Principessa was my recipe blog.  I dumped the blogged recipes here, but it did not keep me from reconstructing the physical books for my own kitchen.  What a project!

You can find  me on Instagram and Pinterest, as well as on Airbnb, Vrbo and MarignyCottage.com.