Owning a 250 year old house is a job in itself. Being single, on a severely limited budget, and having bought a condemnable 250 year old house, relegates my life to servitude. Well, it sometimes feels that way. I've been here 16 years, 11 months now, and I don't regret having bought it. I've learned to pick my battles with the house, and to summon to the forefront of my mind my vision of the finished house, when the reality in front of me threatens to render me sui- , homi-, or housicidal (should be a word, because it figures largely in my life). This visualization exercise has saved me on countless occasions, and is my ultimate coping mechanism. That vision of the finished product reminds me that whatever the day's problem is, whatever mess I'm staring at, is TEMPORARY, and someday I will live in the fully refurbished, fully functional, fully appointed house I see therein.
Of course, not every day necessitates that level of coping. Usually, I can take a look around at how far I've come, and convince myself it's worth it. Or post a humorous rant on Facebook, and feel better for having vented- better still when the conciliatory replies and LOLs roll in. And, sometimes, I just have a drink- or several. But, I digress. Back to that bold-typed word. Many of facets of my home, from decor to infrastructure, are or are comprised of TEMPORARY MEASURES.
A temporary measure- in Tea's House- can take any form, and may persist indefinitely. Basically, the whole place is a system of temporary measures, strung together. Projects large and small in various stages of completion, repairs I haven't made or have mickey-moused until time or funds allow a permanent fix, seasonal adaptations to life in an old, unfinished house- all these and more are temporary measures.
Today, for instance, I performed maintenance on one of my seasonal temporary measures- the laundry buffer. That is to say, I folded a large pile of laundry. "Huh?", you're saying , but my explanation will show you (I hope) how flexible and ingenious I am. Basically, my utility room is at the rear entrance to the house. The door to said room needs replacing. It is an oddly-sized (of course), old, multiply cracked, loose in its jamb, wood door, which has long since outlived its useful lifespan. In the winter, the wind howls through the door, and, even absent wind, the cold seeps in at a nearly uncombattable rate. So, I fixed it, by hanging a few blankets over the door and surrounding wall area, to cut the draft. Effective solution.
But, folks, I've refined this measure over the past few years. (Yup, temporary measures can be improved upon without being made permanent.) I noticed that my folded laundry, atop the dryer, made a nice buffer to the draft at that level. So, a few years ago, I resolved not to put away the folded items in the winter. Stacked there, they add an extra layer of insulation, and - BONUS- I had less laundry to put away. (Way to incorporate less housework as a heat saving measure, huh?) This year, however, I've further refined the system. Since the door is the biggest source of draft, and the piled up laundry tended to cascade when the washer was unbalanced, I decided to pile the folded laundry, three stacks wide, across the already shrouded back door. It works.
I don't mind this temporary measure at all. As long as I remember to preselect clothes and bring them upstairs when I shower, they have time to warm up- I learned that one the hard way. It is a huge labor saver, in that I don't have to schlep the foldable clothes upstairs and put them away, and this excuse is the best one I've ever come up with for not putting them away- I really dread spring, on that front. I do have to shift the leftmost pile when I do laundry to access the dryer, but no temporary measure is perfect- or it would be permanent. As far as I'm concerned, I've effected a solution to a serious winter problem in my old house.
So, if you stop by before, say, May 1st, remember to use the front door, and do not judge when you notice the three 4 ft stacks of laundry at the back door. Hell, they're clean and folded, and serving a larger purpose.
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