Having a Cool Yule. Literally!

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated and there isn't really much to report. The boyfriend helped me pick out some curtains for the TV room and hung them for me a few days ago. They're heavy velvety brocade in muted browns and beiges. They look much better than they sound. :) I did find my camera last week but have misplaced it again. It's been like that for the past 3 weeks.

I've done a little decorating for the holidays though I never did get a proper tree up. Both the bf and I are not physically up for hauling his tree from the attic so we've made do with the 2 foot table top tree that belonged to his mother. It has fiber optic lights and is super cute.

I've been hurting enough from surgery that I haven't felt like doing much. I did go back to work and that's been taking my house energy away. Ah well. Patience is my lesson this season and it will all eventually get done.

I did cover my leakiest windows with plastic and have noticed a huge difference in the breeziness of the joint. Or rather, lack of breeze in the joint. My electric bill came in and it's just awful. The lack of insulation in my walls and my leaky windows are the guilty parties. The fireplace guy said that the $4000.00 high efficiency wood burning stove would solve my heating bill and that I would, in fact, be wearing shorts in the house because the heat would be so intense. I have to admit that the idea of shoving logs in the stove and ignoring the windows and walls would be lovely. Now all I need is 4k and lots of wood. :)

This is my first Christmas season without my mom. It's been tougher than I thought it would be. Friends tell me that they've never stopped missing their parents who have passed but celebrating the season brings them some joy. I know my mom would love my mantle and the festive goodies I put on it.

I didn't do a lot for Solstice but did count my blessings. The bf lives on top of a mountain and the snowy view is so beautiful that I remembered why I love this time of year so much. I'm lighting lots of candles and celebrating the light's return. :)

My fireplace

I had my fireplace looked at and cleaned by a local chimney sweep outfit today. I have to say that they did not want to clean it, largely because they didn't want me to waste my money. Alas! There will be no cheery fires at my house this winter as the chimney is not in good shape nad prolly is not worth the money needed to fix it. I just liked the thought of the damned thing being clean. :P

Apparently at some time in the past the chimney was damaged enough to get a rebuild from the roofline up. A poorly done rebuild. The chimney guy said that he's not 100% sure he can put in the required liner tile and seal it enough to get the whole thing up to code and safe because of bad materials used in the fix. Bleh. The other thing is that it has no smoke chamber, something common to the fireplaces built in my neighborhood. He says it's prolly because most folks burned coal in this neighborhood. Oh well. Candles will look pretty in there.

His suggestion was to either put in a gas log or a wood burning insert, complete with stainless steel liner. Gas I'm not excited about, but the insert is gorgeous. It's also *cough* a $4000.00 job. Candles will look pretty in there. :)

The final results!!!!

The cancer is gone. My surgeon called me yesterday to confirm the lab results.

Some friends gave me a shirt a few months ago that says "Hey cancer! You picked the wrong Bitch!"

I'm going to start wearing that shirt even more than I already do. :)

let the house projects begin!

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.

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.

Once again, the lovely old bungalow

The bungalow is for sale. I saw a for sale sign on the front of the porch last week so I pulled into the driveway (the place is empty) and wrote the number down. While I was doing that I noticed that the city had tacked up a sign saying that property had been condemned. That makes me sad - such a lovely house. I'd still love to know the story of this house and its owner.

I called the number but keep getting a message that says the number is not taking messages. I'm really curious about how much the owner wants for the property and if I really want to get myself into such a huge - and expensive - project.

That Lovely Old Bungalow, Again

Curious, I looked up the civic plan for the neighborhood in which the bungalow resides. The entire neighborhood is not designated historic, but a few of the major thoroughfares are, and some of the more interesting houses. The lovely old bungalow is one of the historic sites.

The civic plan makes two interesting observations in two separate sections. First, in a description of the district, the planners write that the neighborhood has a disproportionate number of low income residents. Second, in a section describing the historic sections, they wonder why so many of the houses designated historic have not been restored. Could it perhaps have something to do with the high number of poor residents? A look at the tax map shows that many of these houses are owned by older folks who purchased the houses long before the historic designation. I imagine that some of them are rentals, too, though most of them look well kept even if they aren't restored. A couple of the larger houses obviously need a lot of work, the lovely bungalow included.

The planners do say that there are some funding programs available to help residents with restoration, but I wonder if it's enough, especially when a house owner has to choose between feeding and clothing the family verses spending money on fixing up a house beyond basic maintenance?

I've been looking at lots of house blogs and haven't found much discussion of the problems associated with living in a historic district.