I am an evolving experiment in self-actualization. After a 31+ year corporate career, I ditched my suits and pumps and finally tumbled into my “why” in the fall of 2018. My first (possibly only?!) book, “Zen (and Rage) and the Art of a Never-Ending Home Renovation,” was published in December of 2021. It is a humorous and sometimes harrowing account of surviving, and even thriving through, a decade-plus home renovation project being jointly delivered by my husband and me, with an occasional few contractors and (sometimes more than) a little help from our friends.
I continue to share the ongoing saga on my Hump-Day House Stuff posts. My passion for the links between food and public and environmental health can be found in my “Food Friday” posts. For fun (and profit), I am a practitioner of value investing and disciplined trading strategies. I’ve been on the adventure of marriage to my husband Tim since 1993. We have 2 (arguably) grown sons, James and Owen, and the best family (including my mom & dad, whose care I’m helping with, which I also blog about in Mom & Dad Monday) and friends I could ever have imagined for myself.
“Zen (and Rage) and the Art of a Never-Ending Home Renovation is Marcia Formica’s first, and perhaps forever only book. It’s a humorous and sometimes harrowing account of surviving and even thriving through a decade-long home renovation project co-produced with her husband. This is the story of the monumental project they undertook to morph their adorable little colonial reproduction home into an energy-efficient, sustainability-minded house over twice the size in just over three times the original timeframe––with almost no lasting loss of sanity.
Marcia’s vivid, deeply self-aware, portrait of marriage and resiliency, Zen and Rage, family and friendship, is by turns poignant and funny––and sometimes both at once. It’s down-to-earth and relatable, even if you don’t have a spouse with the talents of her husband.
Part memoir, part how-to, and part self-help, with consistent doses of humor, this guide will teach you much about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of energy-efficient home renovation, and even a few pointers for fostering your own Zen when your world is full of chaos.”