A Five Minute Read What's Grit got to do with it? Rita McWaters • March 2025 Hey there honey badgers! Finally, it's spring! Birds are singing, the weather is warming up, and there are a thousand more compelling things to do than checking the air conditioner, inspecting for termites, or digging weeds out of concrete…. Yet, we like ac, bug free homes, and not looking at weeds. We are also three months into the year, which is a good time to look back and make sure you didn’t skip any crucial...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
A Five Minute Read Swimming in Chaos? Here’s How to Stay Consistent Rita McWaters • February 2025 You and your contractors would so appreciate a walkway like this in the attic! Hey there, Honey Badgers! I don’t know about you, but this year started off with a bang! Between work, wild weather, sickness, and the kids’ activities and school, we hit the ground running. It’s this kind of whirlwind pace that can make even the basics—dishes, trash, laundry—feel overwhelming. So, this month’s...
3 months ago • 3 min read
A Ten Minute Read A New Year, a New Relationship with Your Home Rita McWaters • January 2025 Hey there honey badgers! I know, I know—another newsletter suggesting we add something to our plates for 2025. I hear you. But what if redefining your relationship with your home could actually create more time, energy, and even money for the things you truly love? It’s not about adding extra tasks; it’s about transforming how you approach what’s already on your list. The Three Pillars of Successful...
4 months ago • 5 min read
A Ten-Minute Read The Science Behind Getting Things Done: From Naval History to Your Home Maintenance Rita McWaters • December 2024 Today's focus: Intentional Planning Hey there honey badgers! Ever heard the saying, "If you want something done, give it to a busy person" or, "If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done"? Back in 1955, British naval historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote a satirical essay for The Economist that started: "It is a commonplace observation that work...
5 months ago • 5 min read
A Five Minute Read Happy Holidays? Rita McWaters • October 2024 I don't have the Christmas spirit yet.....Do you? Hey there honey badgers! The holidays are coming like a freight train. Are you ready? I think this season, more than perhaps the others, requires intentional planning if you have any hope of getting the needed winterizing and maintenance chores done. This is the time you want your home to be warm and cozy so it's also not a time you want to skip the chores. Consider setting up a...
6 months ago • 2 min read
A 5 Minute Read If you give a house a hammer Rita McWaters • March 2024 A little British humor from the show, "Black Books". It's a fun watch. Hey there honey badgers! One of my favorite books to read to my kids was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. It starts like this: If a hungry little mouse shows up on your doorstep, you might want to give him a cookie. And if you give him a cookie, he'll ask for a glass of milk. He'll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn't have a...
8 months ago • 2 min read
A Five Minute Read Sustainability & Chaos Rita McWaters • August 2024 You have to accept the storm if you want to see a rainbow. Hey there, honey badgers! July was a chaotic and challenging month for us, with a long string of things breaking - from the AC to the lawnmower to the garage door to the power washer to ...and then there was an incident involving bats. I’ll spare you the rest of the list, but it was enough to make me feel overwhelmed, mad, and depressed. I started to doubt myself,...
9 months ago • 2 min read
A Five Minute Read The 3 Body Problem & Home Maintenance Rita McWaters • March 2024 if only.... Hey there honey badgers! My family is huge fans of the Radiolab podcast. On the way to school this week, my son played the Zoozve episode which is about how a mistake on a children's poster led to the naming of a quasi-moon of Venus. It’s a fun listen. About halfway through the program, they introduced the mathematical conundrum known as the three-body problem. Basically, if you want to predict and...
11 months ago • 4 min read
A 5-minute Read Hey Honey Badgers, Welcome to the second edition of the Main + Tenacious newsletter! Love is in the air so let's talk about breeding.... hey, get your head out of the garbage. It's about breeding success. What you will find inside: This month's home maintenance tasks Skill building tips Some encouragement because this stuff is hard sometimes Success breeds success Being the daughter of a Texas engineer means that I grew up around tools and DIY projects. At the same time,...
about 1 year ago • 4 min read
