The Window... Wa-WAH!

The Window.

That has taken on a life of its own....

In October of 2013, Gunnar came to me with a worried expression on his face.

Because of this.

The huge living room window had developed a crack.

And, no, I don't think it was the boys' doing.

More likely age and gravity.

We marked it with a Sharpie so we could see if it was growing.

Turns out, there was really no question.

Within a week the crack went all the way from bottom to top...

... and Kerry did this:

To protect us (good decision).

Because we had to live with it for TWO YEARS.

NO, it's not meant to resemble a Christmas tree,

and, NO, it's not modern art.

*sigh*

But finally, this summer...

Kerry pulled the wall apart,

and we hired a friend from church,

and we got the window out.

Good thing it was August, because what a mess!

Well, we had lots of fresh air ;D

And dust, and mess, and broken glass, and tools and clutter and noise.

All my favorite things... NOT.

Still,

eyes-on-the-prize,

right?

We're leaving this behind.

The guy from our church was quick to get the work done -

he had the old window out,

new gyp-board up inside,

and the exterior all trimmed out and weathered in

very quickly.

But Kerry had another guy in mind to do the interior trim.

I know he had some family stuff to deal with,

but still....

he seemed very unmotivated to get over here and actually

DO THE JOB.

It boggles my mind,

because when he finally came he did a great job

and finished the whole thing in about half a day.

So why did it take three months to get to it?

Things I'll never understand...

Of course, then all the trim needed painting.

And the only person around here who paints is Kerry.

(Ask me why ;D)

With that FINALLY done,

I could clean, and clean, and clean.

I debated even putting out any fall decorations.

And friends, I love fall.

I love the whole cozy inside-with-hot-tea-and-a-book-and-a-candle,

and more candles, and colored leaves,

and did I mention candles?

Why, yes, I think I did.

But it all seemed like too much work to make it all happen

and then take it down again to decorate for Christmas.

But we're hosting Thanksgiving.

And I couldn't stop myself ;D

So here's a peek around my house.

And by "my house", I mean the living room and dining room,

because that's all I can vouch for.

Looking into the dining room from the living room.

The other side of the dining room (no lights on in the kitchen, sorry.)

I like my bowl of lights.

They look like some kind of extra-terrestrial fruit or something!

Kerry bought himself a Christmas present in Algodones.

I'm sure the interlocking Escher-ness of it appealed to him.

I like a little bit of happy clutter on the dining room table.

Looking back into the living room...

I love leaf garlands with lights in them :D

From the other side...

Another view of the living room.

You know what's great about having a fake-leather couch?

When your husband gets paint on it in five places,

if you're lucky, you can rub it right off.

Whew!

And now,

the moment you've all been waiting for...

THE NEW WINDOWS!

They're in.

They're trimmed.

They're gorgeous.

And they're CLEAN.

No smudges and no water vapor between the layers.

Hallelujah!

There's just one catch.

Did you notice what's missing?

I'll give you a hint.

The other windows look kind of like this.

Notice something different?

No curtains.

I'm going to hem them up because they don't need to be so long anymore.

But that's not the only thing.

Notice the "curtain rod"?

It's a piece of conduit.

Kerry took the real curtain rod,

with the decorative things on the ends,

and all the little ring/clip things

out to the garage "for safe keeping",

and can't find them. 

 I'm scheduling a garage clean-out for Saturday.

Wish me luck!