My name is Alison. I love to cook, and sew, and garden; basically anything involved in keeping our house wonderful. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job that keeps me from realizing domestic bliss. I manage to fit a fair bit in, though, and I am anxious to share my recipes, tips, tools, and thoughts with you! I firmly believe that taking care of hearth and home, and loving those around you through food (among other things) is the most important job a person can have.

My husband (The Renaissance Man) and I have quite the menagerie at home. No kids, but three dogs, a hedgehog, and assorted reptiles keep us busy for now. Here’s the whole family, in case they make an appearance:

Leo: the mentally impaired Italian Greyhound I adopted before meeting The Renaissance Man; the poor guy was a puppymill breeder dog; they screwed him up, it’s not his fault…

The spotty blue lug with him is our Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog (that’s a mouthful, huh?) His name is Bourbon, and is a mamma’s boy to the core.

Alice is her Daddy’s girl; she still hasn’t quite forgiven me for coming onto the scene. She does, however, enjoy it when her mamma puts flowers in her hair:

We have a few other assorted caged critters, and TRM prefers to remain anonymous. Rest assured he is the most attractive man I have ever seen (though he would humbly disagree with me; he is wrong, don’t listen to him).

We have a lovely fish tank with a spotted puffer in it. He has not yet been named, but he is super-cute.

Our newest member is my veiled chameleon, Pascale (yes, I named him Pascale. Laugh, if you must). He is still quite young, but will be beautiful one day.

We have another new family member: TRM’s job occasionally puts him in the way of animals that need to be re-homed, and this beautiful bearded dragon is one of them. We’re not sure if we’ll re-home him or keep him with us yet, but until we decide, he merits a picture on the page. Plus, he’s really chill and hangs out with me while I’m on the computer.