A Roof over My Head

I live in a small townhouse. It's not very well built, and the architects, if indeed this place had architects, did a rather mediocre job of shoehorning two bedrooms, two and a half baths, one stair, one kitchen, one pantry, three closets, space for a laundry (yet another closet), and a fireplace into just 1040 square feet.

It does have one stellar qaulity that is really nice. It's all mine. No mortgage, no home line of credit, no liens, ....just all mine, repeat, all mine. It was really just sheer luck and timing. First I sold my condo way up in Leesburg, Virginia for a lot of money. I knew my sister was down here in Cary and she liked it. So down I came. Found this little place for 87 grand and bought it. Of course it was worth every penny. Some days I think I stole the place, other days, I think that Scott, the previous owner made out like a bandit. Lately, after discovering the rot inside my chimney shell, the general opinion of me, myself and I, is that Scott did rather well. Still, My roof.

The condo was much better built, copper plumbing, nice big rooms, big kitchen, enclosed sunporch and lots of sunlight all day long. Seven years there, repainted and renewed everything. Still, people living below and people living above. The condo was mine too (well mostly mine, that thing called a mortgage) but I owned a block of airspace lined with drywall, wood and paint. So here in the townhouse, this slice of attached building sitting on a tenth of an acre, it's my kingdom.

It will be two years come March that I came down here. In that time, the kitchen has been rebuilt, the pantry, the coat closet, the laundry closet, the upstairs landing, and the half bath have all been redone. It's still a work in progress. The living-plus-dining room is now down to sub floor and there is that rotten chimney shell. The back deck needs attention too, not dangerous, but the railing needs to be replaced along with some of the steps.

It really depends on being employed or gainful income, on what happens here. If I'm working, one or two projects are rolling along, if not, tools get downed and only much needed repairs get done. Right now, unemployed, or temporarily retired, so here it sits, looking like some improbable rebuilding/demolition job.