I am so pleased to welcome you to my little corner of the internet! If you’ve found yourself on this page, then you obviously would like to know what Life in a House is all about and learn more about what we love, what we don’t, and our little family! While this particular page may be lengthy, it will give you a better understanding of who we are and why we do what we do, so grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit back, and enjoy!

Growing Up

I grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania with my brother, mother, stepfather, and his parents – Grandad and Nana to my brother and I. When I was a sophomore in high school, my baby sister came along and added to our family – much to the surprise of my parents!

We spent much of our time as a family split between working on my grandparent’s farm and camping at Locust Lake State Park or Knoebel’s Grove Campground. We took several family vacations that I remember vividly, such as our Christmas in September events at Knoebel’s Grove, our two-week East Coast beach campground trip, visits to Hershey Park, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

I graduated from high school in 1985. My stepdad and mother wanted me to join the Army and see the world – knowing my wanderlust penchant and curiosity about different cultures and the world around me. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was in 5th grade, and therefore there would be no military life and travel for me.

Marriage #1, A Child, A Divorce

So I did the next best thing, I married my first love who was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps in 1986 and we moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina to where he was stationed, at MCAS New River.

Fast forward about 29 months, and my first child was born – my daughter, April. Fast forward another 5 years, and April and I found ourselves abandoned in North Carolina. Her father told me the day we moved out of base housing to move to South Carolina where he would begin as a drill instructor, that he no longer wanted to be married and April and I would not be accompanying him to Beaufort.

Single Parenting and Moving to Virginia

I did my absolute best to provide for and take care of my daughter. We eventually moved to Richmond, Virginia with a dear friend of mine around Thanksgiving 1992. She was also divorced and raising 4 sons on her own. After several months, she decided to move back to California to be near her family, so April and I were once again on our own.

In and Out of Love, More Babies

Shortly after my friend moved back to California, I met my future husband, John, and we decided to stay in Richmond instead of moving back home to Pennsylvania.

John and I met when I needed some repairs done to the lemon of a vehicle I bought from a less-than-reputable car dealership on Boulevard at the time. We had a mutual acquaintance who introduced us, and our relationship blossomed after that. We welcomed our first child together, Jonathan, in 1999.

Fast forward two years and my relationship was falling apart, I was feeling emotionally and mentally battered as John was dealing with anxiety and depression and control issues, so I took my children and moved out of the state without him knowing in the fall of 2001. It was a couple of months before he tracked us down, and several heated telephone discussions and custody battles ensued.

I returned in late February 2002 to Virginia. John and I both did a lot of growing and soul-searching while we were separated, and in 2003 our second child, Tre, was born.

Doing What I Love and Shifting Gears

Prior to Tre being born, I had spent a decade-plus advancing my career as a personal injury and worker’s compensation legal assistant. I loved the fact that I was an integral part of helping someone who was injured in an accident through no fault of their own.

After he was born; however, Jonathan was diagnosed with ADHD, and having two children under the age of 5 in daycare cost more than I made in a week – so we made the decision to become a one-income family.

I tried several different ways to supplement our income – I was a virtual assistant for several lawyers for a few years. I also started a SMC (Specialty Merchandise Corporation) business, designed my own website from top to bottom, and sold a whopping $96 worth of merchandise in a year. I did a few temporary legal assistant gigs, but they were few and far between once Jonathan started elementary school.

How We Started Blogging

If you are a stay-at-home parent with small children, you know what I mean when I say you begin to go a little stir-crazy – especially if you are living in the country with no vehicle until your husband gets home in the evening. My daughter introduced me to a graphic design program called PaintShop Pro, and an entire alternate universe opened up to me – graphic design and website design.

I absorbed everything I could and started a blog on Blogger, using my own blog as a guinea pig to learn HTML coding and creating designs. I also fell in love with creating Incredimail email designs and signature tags and started working with several artists who sold their design tubes and created scrapbooking kits as well.

So about this time, my eldest son was beginning school, my daughter was in high school, and I had a one-year-old at home. I needed an outlet, a place to vent, so I started what I call a “day in the life bitch blog” on LiveJournal. It was basically an accounting of the crazy that went on in our lives on a daily basis that I only shared with several friends and family members. My “official” start date there was April 11, 2004. My daughter was 16, my first son was 5, and my second son had just turned a year old.

I soon realized that I loved blogging. Period. I loved the comments and interactions with people and decided to take a leap of faith and become a “professional blogger” full-time and made the move that meant business – moving from Blogger to WordPress.

We initially started out as The Mad White Woman, and then changed the title of our blog to Life in a House of Testosterone, and then three years ago in August 2017, I made the final name change to simply Life in a House.

What We’re Passionate About

My passions change frequently, but the core elements of what I am passionate about never falter. I am a champion for the underdog, I abhor any type of bullying, racism, or treating fellow human beings without respect for our differences or hatred because someone is not what we consider “normal” in our corner of the universe.

We all bleed the same color, there is no difference in us at all underneath our skin.

I support LGBT+, I believe in pro-life, I believe in fairies and magic and that God is ever-present in every living thing around us. I believe that love conquers all, I believe that children should never be put in a juvenile detention center unless they have murdered someone, and I believe that people should treat others in the same manner that they wish to be treated.

I hate politics, but I will vote every time for the individual that I think will do the job in a manner that is best for ALL Americans and not just because they are a candidate for a particular political party. I will also call out politicians when I think they are doing a crappy job because yes, I voted, and if you aren’t doing the job you promised, you’re going to hear from me!

What We Talk About

You can, quite literally, find just about everything on Life in a House. Our catch-all is family and lifestyle – but we have a bunch of great tips and articles just waiting for you to discover! With over 3,000+ articles, there is bound to be something for everyone.

Bloggers

We have something for every blogger – from the new blogger to the seasoned blogger! This is our resources for bloggers page where you can find everything you may be searching for.

The Ultimate Blogger List is a mailing list I initially set up for bloggers around the world to sign up who wished to receive paid work from contributors and companies. We eventually moved to a Facebook group where contributors and companies can pitch their offers directly and you are welcome to accept whatever strikes your fancy.

Our Blogger and Contributor Blacklist is a collection of individuals who just did not stick to their word and honor their agreements. We are soft-hearted, and always willing to give our fellow man a second or third chance. These are individuals who just take advantage of every chance they can.

If you are a blogger – at any level – then our Blogger Resources category is just what you’re looking for. Take some time to scroll through the listing of articles here for information and tips that we’ve found helpful over the years.

The Daily Dazzle Giveaway Linkup has giveaways you can enter, opportunities for bloggers to participate in upcoming giveaways, and more!

I am the first to admit that I am not your usual blogger. I dance to the beat of a different drum – my own! A few years ago I was in several blogging groups and ALL the bloggers were in an uproar over whether to do-follow or no-follow links in their posts. Well, I decided to put my own thoughts out there on our Disclosure Statements, Page Rank, and to Follow or Not to Follow. Google eventually did away with their page rank and recently added some new terminology to the follow/no-follow scenario which you can check out and become confused all over again ha!

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The Family

About Kim, Your Resident Blogger

Mom to this motley crew of mine, I love to read when I can find the time and I miss crocheting. It was something that I would do in the evenings when the boys were little and gone to bed while hubby and I were watching television. My favorite colors are pink and purple. I love Pink Moscato wine. My most favorite place in the world is the beach. I love listening to the waves crash upon the shore and hear the seagulls call to each other. There is absolutely nothing in the world that calms me more than being able to take a walk along the beach at sunrise or sunset and feel the water tickling my toes. Our plan is to retire in a few years to one of our favorite beaches here in Virginia where hubby will fish all day and I’ll be walking the beach every morning and evening and blogging about the joys of beach life in between.

I LOVE WHAT I DO. In my previous life B.B. (before blogging) I was a legal secretary for several prestigious law firms in North Carolina, Virginia, and New Hampshire. I spent 18 years working in personal injury and workers compensation law and, while I wouldn’t trade that experience and the wonderful people that I met and worked with, my heart is too kind and caring to have been able to continue in that line of work. So when Teen #2 was born, I left the legal world to devote myself to being a stay-at-home mom and raising my children to the best of my ability.

The opportunities that I have had since becoming a professional blogger – the companies that I have had the honor of working with and the products I have had the pleasure to review – have all made me a better person in one way or another. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned from my fellow bloggers and my beloved readers, and I adore being able to share new products with them or tell them about the latest escapade of the teenagers.

If I had to sum myself up in just a few words, it would read a fun-loving mom who tries to be totally cool but fails miserably most of the time, see the world through rose-colored glasses, has a heart she wears on her sleeve and a soul that absolutely thrives on helping others.

John, aka Hubby or ‘The Man Thing’

Hubby loves fishing and being outdoors. The man cannot stand to be cooped up in the house for any length of time unless he’s so sick he cannot put one foot in front of the other. In addition to fishing and the great outdoors, he is a former mechanic (the man can fix just about any vehicle out there) and has been the Maintenance Supervisor for our apartment complex for several years. He is the one who keeps the peace around here and makes sure that everything is running smoothly for all of the tenants.

Hubby is a beach lover as well. We both have a undescribable need to be near the water every few months to relax and regroup. When he isn’t fishing, you’ll find him at just about any NHRA event nearby or at the local drag strip. When he’s not being a spectator, you’ll find him in the crew area helping a friend or two who have their own race cars. He fulfilled his dream this past year and bought himself a race car that he is in the process of fixing up to race at Richmond Dragway whenever he gets the opportunity.

I have been trying for years to get him involved with the blog. To have him review some products, or give me his thoughts and opinions on events that we attend so that I can formulate them into a blog post to share with our male readers. Finally, and after promising that I would do all the typing and real work so that all he had to do was talk and let me snap a few photos, he has agreed to start doing some reviews so be sure to keep an eye out for those!

The Kids

Jonathan (aka Jonny) is our eldest son, an avid gamer, and a music lover. He is a single dad of one daughter, Amelia, as of March 2020. Amelia has a very rare chromosome deletion and is special needs, but you’d never know it from looking at that angelic face of hers! She is his world, and he does everything within his power to make her happy and comfortable.

Tre is my youngest son, a music producer, and an artist. You can find his music on all streaming services. He is also a single dad of one daughter, Aubree, as of January 2021.

The Grandkids

Amelia and Aubree are my world – literally. Now that my own children are grown and on their own, visits from my granddaughters are the highlight of my day. I literally will drop everything to spend time with these two.

Mollyanna (RIP) and Riff Raff

Mollyanna, or MoMo or Molly for short, has been a member of our family since 2009. We lost her sweet self to cancer on December 16, 2023.She was a Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix. We adopted her from another family who was having to move and unable to take her with them.

Like the rest of us, she has had a troubled childhood. When she was just a pup, there were some young children (6 to 9 age bracket) who were extremely mean to her and threw rocks at her. She’s never forgotten that, and she doesn’t do very well around younger kids, which made her perfect for our family.

Ms. Molly loved her treats, hated wearing a collar, and loved to chase anything that moved. She may have been small in stature, but her appetite rivaled that of a teenage boy.

Our eldest son, Jonathan, brought a cat home and hid him in his room for about 3 months before we realized he had a cat … his name is Riff Raff. He is an orange tabby and everything you have ever heard about cats with zoomies and orange tabbies being absolutely crazy is … absolutely TRUE! It was too heartbreaking for us to replace Molly, so Riff Raff has become the family pet and we all love him to death. Even Aubree calls him her buddy and follows him around and makes him play fetch!

Life is All About Changing, Evolving, and Growing

So there you have it! A little background information on my family and I. If your company has a product you would like for us to review, just use the contact tab above to get in touch with me!