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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

You are here: Home / life / We don’t have any unicorns either.

We don’t have any unicorns either.

November 30, 2009 Filed Under: life

Nothing says Thanksgiving like major bathroom renovations, right?

The in-laws were ever so brave and kind and came all the way out from Michigan to help us. The Larkin men finished demolishing the bathroom and even got the new tub/shower combo in (and it’s beautiful!), and I served up a dinner made by Wegmans (because finishing book edits, coming up with new book ideas, and demo-ing a bathroom really don’t lend well to cooking a beautiful Thanksgiving feast and no one makes better mashed potatoes than Wegs does anyway). But the holiday weekend was not without its hiccups.

On Wednesday, they delivered our new kitchen island/table, and I discovered that the stools I bought were so tall that they were almost the same height as the counter.

On Friday morning, I locked us all out of the house.

And throughout my in-laws’ visit, pieces of our upstairs bathroom were continually falling into our downstairs (and only working) bathroom through the drop ceiling, making for quite a dramatic restroom experience.

But these things were minor blips in comparison to what happened on Friday night. . .

My three-year-old niece’s hair was in her face. My mother-in-law said, “Maybe Aunt Al has a pony-,” she pulled Niece’s hair into a ponytail to show me what she was talking about.

“Sure,” I said, remembering a box of old junk jewelry I’d found during my cleaning binge a few weeks ago, thinking it would be my best shot for a kid-sized hair clip. I ran downstairs, and heard little feet and kid giggles behind me. And I felt like the coolest aunt in the entire world, because my three-year old niece was so excited to look for a hair clip with me that she was literally jumping up and down.

I rifled through the box of old earrings and broken necklaces. Niece walked over, rested her hand on the chair next to me, and leaned against it, crossing one leg in front of the other like she was trying oh-so-hard to act casual. She looked up at me with her big blue-grey eyes and said, “So, where are the ponies?”

And I had to tell my favorite little girl in the whole wide world that we do not keep ponies in our basement.

8 Comments

Comments

  1. courtney says

    December 1, 2009 at 12:53 am

    Ha! That is quite a disappointment to a little girl, to expect a pony and get a rubber band instead. Your Thanksgiving was certainly eventful, but I’m glad you have a beautiful new bathroom to relax in!

    Reply
  2. Kate says

    December 1, 2009 at 12:58 am

    That’s an awesome story.

    Reply
  3. Allie says

    December 1, 2009 at 1:49 am

    Oh, no no no no no! We have a beautiful new BATHTUB. We still don’t have walls, or a sink, or a toilet. . . But last night, I took a fantastically relaxing bath amidst the studs and insulation. :) Tonight, I drywall!

    Reply
  4. Reluctant Blogger says

    December 1, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Awww poor little mite.

    I remember when I was tiny watching an advert on TV which said that a certain sort of sweetie made you able to fly. I talked my mother into buying me a packet of these sweets (Refreshers) and ate the whole packet in one go and then launched myself from the top of the stairs. I had a big bruise! Lucky I didn’t jump out of the upstairs window really.

    Sounds like an eventful weekend.

    Reply
  5. Corinne Bowen says

    December 2, 2009 at 2:16 am

    Hope you’ll update us with some pictures of your renovations! I have this dungeon-like basement bathroom picture in my head. Is it that scary down there?

    I want more book news! Are you working on your next novel?

    xo

    Reply
  6. Ryan says

    December 5, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    I remember being so very very disappointed that the Thunderpunch He-Man toy didn’t actually knock down items several feet away, like in the commercials. I didn’t even like He-Man.

    Reply
  7. Wendy says

    December 6, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Aww, Allie you’re so mean! You could have gotten some “pretend” ponies down there for her. Or painted some ponies on paper and hung them up on the walls together. Or made pony cookies and had a picnic in the basement (maybe you could do that for Christmas – ponies instead of reindeer). LOL!

    Reply
  8. Mickey says

    December 9, 2009 at 3:27 am

    Oh, you destroyer of dreams!

    Reply

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Still writing. Still boring. But my dog is still c Still writing. Still boring. But my dog is still cute. Today she barked at the wind. #dailyroxydog #amwriting #dogsofinstagram
I have a hard time with new things. Once I get my I have a hard time with new things. Once I get my choreography down with an object that works for me, I will keep it until there’s no life left in it. Such is the case with the Adidas hat I bought at the last minute to have shade for my face on our wedding trip nineteen years ago. I liked the way it fit and I had the brim curled exactly the way I think a brim should curl and that was enough to spend almost two decades with a hat I didn’t particularly like otherwise. I’ve tried other hats, but they didn’t take, because I have very little patience for being distracted by clothing. But my new @hatxhats buddy showed up today and I know it’s a keeper. There was no adjustment period. The brim is already perfectly curled. It’s really nicely made and so lightweight. And x-ing out hate is much more my speed than the random brand of my ancient clearance rack hat. #newhat
Still have my head down working on my manuscript f Still have my head down working on my manuscript for a couple more weeks. Please forgive my unanswered emails and sporadic DMs. Here’s a flower from our walk today. Tulip trees = the ultimate 80s color scheme. #tuliptree #amwriting #seenonmywalk
Displeased. #dailyroxydog #huskymix (She’s fine. Displeased. #dailyroxydog #huskymix (She’s fine. She has a little scratch on her face she keeps re-scratching)
I didn’t get it on video, but I swear she played I didn’t get it on video, but I swear she played the opening to Eye of the Tiger on her rubber chicken. #dailyroxydog #rubberchickensofinstagram #dogsofinstagram #eyeofthetiger
Got some solar string lights for the pyracantha sh Got some solar string lights for the pyracantha shrubs, so now when Roxy hunts mosquitoes, it looks magical. #dailyroxydog #stringlights #ilovemydog #amwriting
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