Bits of My House are Falling Off.

Happy Imbolc. 20 minutes ago I was startled from my computer by the sound of (what I thought was) snow falling off my roof.  We have experienced a surprisingly deep snow for Virginia- almost a foot.  Yes it was snow...and also my new gutter. ARGH!!  They were cheap and crappy and installed by the previous owner merely to shut us up.  I hold no grudges.  I probably would have done the same.  It's the stuff you do sometimes when you need to sell a house.  I was *hoping* they would last a year or two until I could learn some more about gutters and colonial drainage in particular but no luck.  The education starts now. 

Clearing the Junk

I haven't posted in a week.  Three things have kept me from the blog. 1. School started- don't want to waste your tax dollars by getting less than an "A". 2. Bricks- a wonderful woman gave us 500 free bricks on Freecycle.  We spent yesterday afternoon hauling 1/3 of them home, and 3. Junk!- we have a huge pile of crap in the back yard.  We inherited it from the previous owners.  We have to rip down the fence surrounding it so the junk guys can get in to haul it away.  Nothing makes me happier than making a clean spot.  Seriously, it's a total spiritual, zen moment for me. In order to gain this precious clean spot we will be working in the rain and cold for the next three days to get it all cleared for the junk guys to attack on Sunday.  I can't wait.

My !@#$%^&* House Bit Me.

I took my daughter on a tour of my neato attic today.  We have two rooms up there.  There are columns from a georgian porch the was removed years ago, 6 or 7 doors spanning 2 hundred years of the house's history. According to the previous owners there were slaves quarters in there.  So anyway, I'm stepping from one room to the next across a gap in the floorboards. I'm looking at the boards and not paying attention to the top of the door and how it's 4 inches shorter than the door across the hallway. BAM! Suddenly I'm seeing stars and there are tears welling up in my eyes. I have never hit my head this hard. Anything that hurts this much should be bloody.  That's all I'm saying.  I have a knot on my head the size and shape of a banana.

And One More.

Flickr is beyond my skill set

I've lost the ability to link to Flickr. I will enlist the help of my brilliant spouse later but in the mean time let me drop a couple of pictures of my awesome Georgian era staircase. Needs a paint job....but still fabulous.

Saying Goodbye to the Ghetto

We got the last of our stuff out of the old house today. People who love big, old houses tend to end up on the dodgy end of town periodically. We were not the exception. I felt uncomfortable every once in awhile but it became down right dangerous for my 15 year old son. Still, it was a good house. Not a great house...but a good house.

I might be in over my head.

3 months after purchasing our dream home and I'm finally starting to panic a little. Will a blog help? Who knows, but if I kill myself from excessive home restoration at least there will be witnesses.

Here she is:

The oldest parts of the house were built in 1785. The other parts between 1805 and 1835. I'll get more pictures up on flikr today. I know how much us house bloggers love home improvement porn.