Local politics

A very nice representative from the city came to our neighborhood association meeting last week. One of the things I love about my neighbors, at least the ones who regularly come to the meetings, is that they are not shy. They are not shy about asking difficult questions or saying what is on their minds. They are also so nice about it that one cannot be offended.

We asked the rep about everything from recycling (he'd come to tell us about a recycling contest between our neighborhood and the one next to us) to civic plans. The city spent a lot of money on an Architectural Planning Guide to guide folks through the exterior renovation process. It recommends things such as period appropriate colors and building styles and adornments. Some of us have been suspicious that it is a move toward designating more neighborhoods as historic. So we asked. The rep said that our neighborhood was not in the works for any kind of historic designation. A lot of us heaved sighs of relief. Nonetheless someone did ask the million dollar question: if the neighborhood were up for consideration as a historic district would we be informed? The rep looked a little surprised and said of course we would be informed. Being a suspicious sort I'm still going to keep my eyes open.

The rep did remind us that Old Southwest residents requested the designation. True, but I suspect that a lot of those people did not fully understand what the designation meant in terms of rules and costs. I've looked at one or two other areas with historic review boards and it does seem that Roanoke's is pretty draconian. I would hate to see my neighbors a few doors down have to remove their rusted chicken sculptures. I swear that they look much cooler than that description would suggest.

And furthermore!

I Got Stuff Done this past week. Small things but for me, huge.

I cleaned and polished the oak floors in my TV room and put down an area rug. The color is totally awful for the curtains in the room and I absolutely refuse to put up a picture. Ok, maybe once I'm ready to replace said clashing carpet.

The other reason it took me so long to put down a rug was my 3 cats. or rather, the 3 cats who own me. Claw the carpet they must. I sprayed with some Lambert Kay Boundary Indoor/Outdoor Cat Repellent, stuff I used when I was an apartment dweller. It worked really well for that place, and I'm hoping that between the spray and the expensive kitty condo I put in the room here the little darlings will claw appropriately. Sure they will.

Holy Moly it's freaking COLD!

Even though southwest Virginia tends to be way warmer than my former home in the greater Philadelphia area, these mountains are COLD this week! It went below 30 degrees last night!

What does this have to do with my house? Ha! My house, like so many 1920s abodes, has no wall insulation. Brrr. And let's not EVEN talk about my leaky windows that are still leaky even after the shrink plastic. There were cold breezes wafting though my kitchen last night. I had my thermostat turned up to an embarassingly high temp last night and it was so cold out that my inside temp never got over 66 degrees. That's frigging cold.

I look into my crystal ball and forsee blown-in insulation. Oh Hell, yeah.

In other news the radiation treatments are going well. I feel a little better each week despite the tightly controlled sunburn. That nasty yet life saving chemo is slowly leaving my system. w00t!

City Dwellin, Chicken Havin Folks

I heard that at a New Year's gathering from one of my neighbors, who was decribing some other neighbors who have some "heirloom" chickens. Here in Roanoke, we're allowed to have chickens and other sorts of birds. I wish I could have a couple of sheep, but alas it is not to be. And yes, I fantasize about having pretty egg laying critters all the time. It's prolly too much work for me at this point but wouldn't it be fun to be a city dwelling, chicken having folk?

I love my neighbors.

Season's Greetings and Happy New Year!

The holidays were nice, and quiet, and I'm glad they're over. I started radiation on Thurs and will be getting zapped for the next 6 weeks. It's really nice to be getting a treatment that doesn't involve geting stuck with sharp pointy objects.

I'm so happy I finally recaulked my shower stall after putting it off for so long. I finally had to sit myself down and give me a peptalk. "Self," I said "it won't be perfect. It's your first time doing it and there's a learning curve. Put on your big girl panties and deal!" So I did. It is indeed imperfect, but there's a good seal and it works. w00t!

My list further down in the entries has been greatly modified to reflect how tired I've been lately. :) My big goal for 2008? Refurbish ONE window. I'm not EVEN going to talk about unpacking boxes, nosireebob.

I may peek at the earlier to do list when I'm feeling better. :) Even at my slow pace the house becomes more of a home every day and that's the most important goal of all.

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. :)