Shouldn't middle age be a time of spending money on fun things? Maybe a trip around the world? Or maybe a trip to see the Northern Lights (on my bucket list!!)? Well . . .first things first. Our kids are now well educated and they are not in debt (neither are we - thank God!). As of Saturday, our lovely daughter has moved into her own place (will blog about that soon!!). Our handsome son and his sweet bride are settled into their place. We are still here . . .in our 20 year old house . . .that we have taken very good of most of the time . . .There are big repairs that need to be done. We can now mark one of those from our list. We are now the proud owners of 28 - yes 28 large new windows. Chunk of change!! They are lovely. They are energy efficient. They keep the hot sun from fading our furniture. The can be cleaned from inside the house (except for the large solid glass ones . . .and we actually have a few of those).
We took bids from three different window companies. Both of our next door neighbors have new windows and they both used a different company so we took a bid from each of those companies. We also took a bid from a company that replaced the windows in my friend's house. The company that replaced one neighbor's windows was the highest bid. The company that replaced the other neighbor's window was the lowest price. Amy's (friend) company was the middle bid. Now normally I would go with the middle bid. But this is the interesting thing - we walked over to both neighbor's homes and looked at the windows (and I drove by Amy's house - sorry - I promise I wasn't stalking). They all looked just about the same. The energy efficient ratings were all very similar. The construction of the window was very similar . . .so we went with the cheap guy . . .and then got him to get us his top grade of windows. . . .which was still cheaper than either of the other bids. That was a long drawn out paragraph and I apologize!!
You can see from this picture above - our windows were in bad shape. The glazing was missing from some of the window panes and the window sills were beginning to rot. We had to have something done!! I had to take a day of vacation to stay home while the workmen were there. They were all very nice. (read post from earlier about interesting thing about workmen)
Our house is up on a hill . . .and it is high . . .and those men were climbing all over the house and the ladders. I don't think I could do their job.
The weekend before we had the windows installed, Mark painted our shutters and I painted the front door. Of course, now we think we need a new front door because our windows look so nice. Isn't that the way it goes? You fix one thing and you realize how many other things need to be repaired?
Our next repair job . . .probably next year . . . will be a new roof. We have got to decide whether we are going to stay in this house and grow old (older . . dang!!) here or if we are going to put it on the market and try to move to the small town where our church is located (10 miles away). When I was growing up, I always lived within walking distance of my church and I would love to live within walking distance of our church today.
If we are going to stay, I would love to blow the back wall off the house and add on to the kitchen (granite counter tops and a double oven and a giant island and cooktop . . .oh such a dream) and family room and add another bathroom upstairs . . .but why do I even need more space? Goodness gracious, I can't keep this one clean as it is!!
Anyway, I love our house. It is more than just a house. It is where we have raised our kids. It is where we have entertained untold numbers of folks. It is where we have awaited visits from Santa and the Easter bunny. It is where we have heard the call, "Trick or Treat." It is where we have carpooled and where we have ridden our bikes and where the kids have roller bladed (is that even a word?) That red brick house . . .it is our home. It. Is. Filled. With. Love!! Yes, it is!! (and it has brand new windows!!!)
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