Home improvement

It's been a sawdusty week here at Chez P, metaphorically, at least.  J. has been putting in our new Pella windows (and thank God for those - I HATED our old windows; they were leaky and never looked clean, even after you'd killed two whole days washing them).  I'm pretty impressed at his initiative.  I know I would never have had the cajones to buy and install windows knowing nothing about either process.  Anyway, now we have 4 in and 2 more to go.  By next spring we might be able to afford to buy some more, perhaps some nice big ones for the three-season porch we just insulated.  

To highlight the new windows as well as our new warmer living room decor, I've been sewing valances in a fabric my dad gave me long ago.  It's taken me about a week, but they are done now and look very nice.  We had a small incident with the iron, however, (I left it out unplugged and wrapped up, Max unwrapped it and put it on the new carpet, and J. plugged it in thinking it was the cord to the vacuum).  Now our bright brick-like carpet has a spot that looks like a footprint.  That's after an hour on my stomach with scissors and a razor blade.  Polyester melts, it doesn't burn or scorch.  Fortunately, since we bought two of the same carpet, one for the living room and one for the dining room, we could situate this bad spot in a less visible space.  

We spent a good deal of our home improvement budget this last month and considerable personal energy, but I think our house is starting to shape up nicely.   It's funny - we haven't worked this hard on the house since we moved in.  I think in the back of his mind, J. thought he'd be trading up shortly.  But after a talk we had a little while back re: the cost of children and private education, he seems motivated to beautify the home we have now instead of waiting to improve our future "dream house."