Thanks, Rachel Simon, for sharing your thoughts, emotions and experiences with us! What a story of relationship building and personal growth as one event leads to another and yet another until they start rolling along, including ups and downs and roadblocks and show stoppers then finally settling down and resting solidly on a new foundation. ( )

What this book isn't: a memoir of renovating a home. Ms. Simon has very little to do with the actual renovation of their home, so consequently, this isn't a book celebrating all the decorating and design choices along the way. Except for a little bit about she and her husband's choices to make "green" decisions, the book deals with the renovation as a metaphor for the personal growth that Ms. Simon goes through as she and her husband face the various challenges that come with upheaval and unplanned "surprises". What this book is: a celebration of discovering the wonderful parts of relationships that grow and are supportive and make us better. Ms. Simon has some great things to say about what makes life meaningful and what it means to be committed. A great book. ( )

This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. Although it reads like a novel, I had to keep reminding myself that Rachel is REAL and was telling about her very own life. And it's Rachel whom you get to know and with whom you want to be one of her "kindred spirit" friends. I'm glad I can now back up and read the book about her relationship with her sister because I picked this book up by accident and just plain loved it. Supposedly Rachel is writing a novel now---and I can't wait to read it. ( )

I really liked this book better that her more popular book, Riding the Bus with My Sister. In the book Rachel struggles through a barrage of issues and minor disasters to share the process of remodeling a home with her husband both in the literal and the figurative sense. ( )