Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A tentative project list

Now that I'll slowly be shifting back into regular life I guess I'll do That Thing House Bloggers Do and make a list of things I want to do to the house. Ha!

I'm really really lucky because it's all cosmetic with one or two small plumbing items that are more maintenance related.

In no particular order:

1. finish painting the bookcase I'm placing in the craft room so I can unload the rest of the craft book boxes and set up my workspace.

2. caulk the durned shower stall. This one is so silly - the caulk the flippers used dissolved after a few showers. Duh! I got some good guidance from a nice gal at Lowes and am putting silicon caulk in there. This is a first for me, as a life long renter I've always just called maintenance. Let the lessons begin!

3. Get some soygel and start cleaning up the 41 windows. I'm going to start with the upstairs bathroom since there's only one small window in there. Oh dear gawd, this could take years!

4. The windows are all spilling heat out into the ether, so I have to decide on a method for stopping it. I do want to make some insulating roman shades for the bedrooms, but I've also been looking at interior storm windows. I saw some instructions on how to make simple frames with heat shrink plastic and I may try one or two to see how they go.

5. Get the plumber to fix the outside tap. It's leaking.

6. Paint my walls pretty colors.

7. Make curtains. I love making curtains. It's a good thing with my budget!

8. Take a friend up on her offer to help me paint a "rug" on my porch floor.

9. Set up my spinning wheel and make some yarn.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A major hurdle cleared

At long last, I had my surgery. Yesterday. The tumor is gone. The chemo showed amazing results that could be clearly seen on my mammogram. The doctors were all really happy about it. I'm waiting for the final biopsy results, then I rest for a month and start 3 weeks of radiation. Then I can finally leave this liminal state and get back to making plans for the future.

Said plans aren't all that complicated - I want to start taking long walks again, start painting my rooms, sew fanciful window treatments, and unpack the rest of my boxes. I'm raring to go on my 41 windows, too. I talked to a nice man who presented at the Renovate Roanoke window restoration workshop and he invited me to call him for advice on restoring my 41. Oh, and go back to work. My old job is no longer available, unfortunately, but it does open a new door for something new that will make me happier.