Starting 2008

The new year is underway. I made a resolution not to procrastinate. Other than that, I haven’t committed myself to change much.

I did make a big change in 2007 when I moved from my country house to an old remodeled house in town. It took almost a year to redo the house which had been trashed. I’m proud to say that my son and I did all the remodeling by ourselves, with no outside help, with the excepti0n of two rooms of carpeting.

We painted all the walls in every room, including ceilings. I painted all the woodwork and baseboards which my son removed and placed on scaffolds. That took a while since I put two and three coats of white enamel on the woodwork. I also painted all the doors, ten of them, and the kitchen cabinets, inside and out.

My son repaired the walls which had holes in them. He also removed the old carpeting in the living room and dining room and replaced it with laminate flooring. He laid porcelain tile in the kitchen, two bathrooms and hallway.

 I could go on and on but I won’t. There was a lot more re-doing and decorating, but you get the idea.

 I am enjoying my house in town but I can’t forget the 20 or so years I lived in the country. There were ducks and geese on the pond, wide open spaces, woods all around the house that were alive with deer, foxes, coyotes, raccoons and ‘possums. I enjoyed watching a blue heron land on the bank’s edge and catch his morning fish. I liked fishing for catfish in the backyard pond or just sitting in a lawn chair by the dock in late evening.

 It was my husband’s idea to build a house in the country. He thought rural life would be more economical. We would grow a garden and build woodfires in the wintertime, thus saving fuel. He chainsawed the wood on our property and I helped haul it and stack it. Woodfires were our main source of heat in the wintertime. We also had a window air conditioner in the summertime. Here in the town house, which I often refer to as The White House, I have central heat and air, a blessing.

 This house is old. It dates back to depression years, I’m told. It has a wrap-around porch and a root cellar. At one time, there was a storm cellar but it was filled in with dirt in later years.  The house was updated by a previous owner, then fell in disrepair. I bought it at auction in August 2006.

 Well, I’ve rambled long enough. There are dishes to wash, floors to dustmop, and clothes to fold.  I mustn’t procrastinate.

Until next time.