Update December 26

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! About 4" on the ground and counting . . .

I think we've triggered some kind of sensor in the universe. Coans + Crestview address = weather extremes. Earlier this year, we had continual, ridiculous heat. Hottest summer on record. 95+ degrees for a majority of the summer, including May. Just going outside and standing still was bound to dehydrate you in a matter of minutes because all the moisture in your body had to leave the closest pore INSTANTLY. Now it's the coldest December on record, and we've had measureable snowfall twice--and we almost had an official "white Christmas", which happened here once in 1947. My apologies to the universe for upsetting the balance.

We have passed ALL our inspections! We're legitimate now! Still missing tons of trimwork, flooring and one counter in the kitchen, still need to do a lot of painting, but the city of Raleigh says we're good, so I guess we can stop. Hee hee!

We're having an insulation guy come out on Tuesday to blow in insulation in the attic and seal the attic for all air penetrations. We actually qualify for a power company rebate by doing that, and a federal government tax credit, and the guy said we lose about 2/3rds of our heat through the attic anyway, so why not start there. Too bad we couldn't do it before the snow, but oh well. Pretty soon, we could be toasty again. And gee, the brick walls have an R value of 5, so what more could we ask for?

Planning on reading, watching movies, playing Atari, and eating all day. I wish we had a working fireplace. The one we have is good only if you want the whole house to be on fire, not just the firebox itself. And although I love a roaring fire, I'm a bit hesitant to go that far. At least we have plenty of other things to do. I better get started!