LMOH: Do Something Good

It’s coming on the end of the year, and it’s time to make resolutions.  For the longest time I did those things, and then for the last few years I realised making resolutions at the end of the year was just trendy.  It wasn’t functional.  I’d spend the year doing what I needed to do or what I thought was the right move not because of a resolution but because of the bigger goals I had in mind.  Not everyone thinks about “life goals” as being impactful ways to guide your life, but they are.  If you don’t have big life goals, then you’re just trudging along on whatever path seems to appear as opposed to actively discerning every possibility against a greater goal.

But that can be intimidating for us if we’re not used to working with a “big goals” mentality, and that’s ok.  It takes a while.  So in the meantime, and for those times when I wasn’t sure what my next big “life goal” was, I tried to default to the “do something good or helpful” mindset.  It was incredibly helpful.  It made small decisions less overwhelming or points of would-be indecision easier because I’d just have to ask myself, “What would be the good or helpful thing to do here?”

So if you’re looking for a 2026 resolution, and because 2025 has been (as we can collectively agree) overwhelming, I highly recommend the “Do Something Good” resolution.  Drop off a canned good.  Pay it forward at the coffee shop, donate a used blanket or towel that’s fraying and at the end of its life to a local animal shelter or rescue (trust me, they are so helpful!), put one piece of litter back in the garbage can, read a book to your kid or niece/nephew, text a friend, “Hi! Thinking of you.  Hope you’re having a good day” randomly, just to make them smile….you get the point.  They don’t have to be big gestures, and they don’t always even have to cost money.  But they do require one moment’s effort, and that means you are “taking action” as most year-end resolutions require.

The best part? They make YOU feel good, too, and everyone can use a pick me up these days.  And I bet you’ll find it starts to become a habit.  And as the movie Klaus says, “One selfless act usually sparks another,” so maybe your act starts a ripple that helps do lots of good.  And we can all use a little more “good” in the world.

Happy New Year!

LMOH: You Are Enough

I saw a post on Instagram this morning that said something to the effect of:  If women felt confident about themselves as they are, whole industries would collapse.  And it made me smile.  Because it's true.  Yes, that also applies to men, and so we'll extend it to say:  Remember, you're enough as you are.  

At a time when Hollywood is reverting to the 60s-90s uber thin model, and everyone feels like their bank accounts are full of cobwebs instead of dollars, and it's also the holiday season so companies are trying to push you to spend-spend-spend, take a minute to pause.  Breathe.  Stop.  You really don't need any of it.  You don't need to be thinner or prettier.  You don't need to be taller or shorter or have a different nose or hair color even.  Yes we want you to be healthy, be balanced, be continuing to improve yourself mentally and emotionally, but the newest sneaker or eye shadow or toy or car or phone or highlight trend or one more pant size down isn't going to change who you are inside.  If you're putting in the effort to be a good, kind, honest, caring person, then you're probably pretty great just as you are.  No new labels, colors, size needed.

Remember.  You're enough as you are.

Happy holiday season.

AOT: Transparency in the Application Process Needed

I’m sure everyone reading this is either themselves applying for jobs or knows at least two people actively looking for work.  I know four.  It’s really unfortunate that four folks in my circle are actively looking, as that speaks volumes to the general discontentedness of the state of the American worker right now, but we can save that lens for another day.

Today’s focus is the lack of respect employers show when letting an individual know they’re not progressing in the application process.  #4 is the most critical and always comes up in convos when people complain about the backwards application process.

We all know the application process is a joke.  Between AI blocking candidates and companies having to post jobs externally for compliance reasons even though they already have a candidate in mind…amongst hundreds of other reasons, it’s a shot in the dark to go from applicant to interviewee.  We all know this, but given the hoops applicants have to go through, there should be some mandatory things employers should have to do as well.

(1) not require you to re-fill in all your information when it’s on your resume.  Period.  You all already use AI.  We know it.  You can read my word doc or pdf.  Stop making us parse our application.

(2) require your internal leadership to apply for jobs at their company once every 3 years to see the failure points.  I bet most of them would get auto-rejected as well, but you don’t see it because you don’t require your internal mirror to be held up (think Undercover Boss, but for applications)

(3) remove the sentence “After careful consideration”.  We know that line is bullshit.  Half of applicants don’t make it past AI (not a real statistic, just how it feels) so stop pretending you’re turning someone down within 72 hours of applying because of “careful consideration”.  You can use that after an actual interview, not before.

(4) the most critical - employers should be required to inform applicants how many folks applied when they are turned down.  Ex - the auto reject because AI doesn’t like your resume for some reason (granted, I don’t think this should be permitted as it’s bogus anyway, but if it has to continue, there should be a mandated info sharing). “Thank you for your application.  Your application will not be progressing.  576 applicants have applied so far.”  

Now, let’s say you made it past the AI but not to the first interview round.  “Thank you for your application.  Your resume was not selected for continued consideration for this role.  1025 applicants applied and only 18 are progressing to interviews.”

Either way, the lack of mandated transparency is sucking the lives out of applicants, including my friends, and it’s painful to see the lack of respect shown to people who need money to work and, for the most part, are capable humans.  There are few jobs (on a straight % basis) that require some specialized training, so the inability to get seen and considered is truly the pinnacle of the power dynamic between employers and employees.  I hope it improves.  It seems corporations just want us perpetually exhausted and disenfranchised because it suits their bottom lines better, but that’s not the way you treat people.  

HH&R: Home Flipping Mistakes

As mentioned, we like to frequent open houses because it's a hobby of ours.  I love homes and architecture and my husband loves being practical.  Recently we saw a 'renovated' home that is trying to increase the sales price by $275K.  It was a full gut, or so it seemed.  but all they did was change the superficial materials.  The prior seller had redone the roof, the exterior and patio, and poured a new concrete driveway.  The current sellers don't seemed to have done much other than 'update' the kitchen and provide some new paint and bathrooms.  Here's what I mean - these are mistakes that I believe made them have to accept a reduced offer.

The dining room;  It's still the entrance off the garage.  It's a 2500 sq ft home and they didn't create any kind of dedicated drop zone or mudroom.  They could have.  But they didn't.  Someone spending north of $800K is likely going to want somewhere to drop their stuff, and there's no dedicated space.  It's just straight dining room.

The kitchen:  

• They put vents on the floor.  Those can be moved to the baseboards of the cabinets.  Yes it costs a bit of money to move them, but by moving them you (1) gain the safety of not having people drop things and food bits down your vents, including liquids, and (2) make it so that you're not stepping on it all the time (or your robot vacuum isn't trying to work over it).  Especially when you're already moving the kitchen to a different part of the house.  So poorly planned.
• Also, there's no pantry.  They had space next to the door that went outside.  They could have moved the island over a twinge and put in a double door shelf pantry without issue.  
• OR they could have relocated the laundry room from the closet next to the kitchen to somewhere else and reused that space as a pantry.

Laundry room - did I mention they moved the kitchen?  Doing so means they so could have created a drop zone / laundry room.  So irresponsible.

Multiple rooms:  They left the wall panelling and just painted it.  This keeps the smell in the house.  It needs to be redone with new drywall.  That smell could be just old house, sure, but it also could be more nefarious and 'not worrying' about it and just painting it leaves the problem for the buyer.  I don't believe that's good practice.

Yes, the house is 'pretty' but they had to reduce their price to sell, and the buyer is going to have to contend with these misses at some point.  Spend a little extra to do it a little more thoughtfully and then you have a better chance of not only getting your WHOLE investment back but also of creating a name for yourself as a flipper people want to buy homes from and will follow you to do so.