Spring and Windows

Spring is finally here and last week was my third week without a project and on the "bench." I have interviewed for a few roles but haven't found anything that will be a good fit, so I have enjoyed waking up in my own bed, eating home cooked meals, cuddling with the cats and lots of exercise.

Mer Mer working out with me :)

We don't do much during the week after Andrew gets home from work but it's nice to see my husband every day. One night we did manage to head to North Philly to check out some ghetto cheap doors - we were very excited to have cheaper options after getting a ridiculously expensive Pella quote.

We need to replace the kitchen doors this spring before installing the new kitchen and it would be so nice to have the summer with nice new doors. I really like the doors with half glass (above) so that we have sunlight in the kitchen. We will also be replacing the storm door with something new.

New storm door

On Friday night we had Cody and Claire over for homemade pizza (my new favorite) and french fries. It was a relaxed little night in with some not-so-healthy but very yummy food.

I have been buying the frozen dough at the grocery store, along with the pizza sauce and cheese, and it all ends up only costing about $5/pizza. We roll out the dough, experiment a bit with toppings and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes. It is SO GOOD. 

Yum!

After a delicious Friday night, we were finally ready to get back to house projects. We have a nasty habit of finishing projects 90% and then losing interest in completing the project. We started the exposed brick project about two months ago and never finished it up (mostly because we don't know what we are doing and it makes a mess)!

We worked on the wall for about an hour before taking a break to meet with an Andersen window consultant to discuss new windows. Again, we only wanted to replace the windows in the kitchen so we were ready for our new kitchen installation.

The salesman knew his stuff and he was very convincing that we need new windows throughout the house, something we also knew (see our window disaster from October). We also know that windows are very expensive and we have some other bigger, more value-add projects that need to take precedent.

Current windows from the 1960s

  

We aren't really sure what happened in the two hours that the salesman was at our house but we ended up signing papers for 9 of 13 windows to be replaced for an astronomical price. We both felt sick to our stomachs and took our aggression out on the exposed brick.

We made a mess but we accomplished a lot before heading out with friends for a drink and to contemplate the windows. 

Our ending point

I woke up Sunday morning with a window hangover - I just did not feel right about the cost of the windows and how it was going to affect our upcoming year. We looked at our contract and saw that we had three business days to cancel with no penalty, so we called and cancelled. It was like a huge weight was lifted! I don't think we will make a similar, impulsive mistake any time soon. 

It was a beautiful day so I met up with my sister and we walked into Old City to explore.

Historic Philadelphia

I love Sundays with my sister, they make it my favorite day of the week. In the past, I have had anxiety issues on Sundays but when I spend them exploring the city with my sister, I forget about the upcoming travel and stressful week.

Lunch at Wedge and Fig

This week will be my fourth at home and not on a project so I will be looking for new opportunities, while also taking vacation time to enjoy the beautiful spring weather! This is the best I have felt in six months and I will be sad when it ends.