Level Set: My house was built around 1927. When I bought it in January of 2009, it had had two renovations done—to the best of my knowledge. The kitchen had been brought up from the 20s to the 50s. And the bathroom, likewise had come to the yellow tile phase of American decor history. All the windows were original, including the two in the “Maid’s Room” that had old original rope pulleys and heavy weights. The ropes would soon rot, making the windows nearly impossible to open. Something had to be done.
In 2010 or ’11, Jas’s paternal cousin’s maternal cousin (Welcome to Youngstown!) installed nine new glass block windows in the basement. I felt much more secure in the house with that renovation. In about 2012, we got two new windows in the second floor “Maid’s Room,” to get rid of the rotten pulleys; one new window in the adjacent clawfoot tub bath; and three new windows in the kitchen. Major improvement. In 2018, we got the rest of the second floor windows and all the 3rd floor (attic) windows—26 in total. In 2024, I refinanced the mortgage. The appraisal came in much higher than we expected, but there was also an issue about some windows needing to be repaired, related to some thrown-rock damage the first year I lived in the house. The options were to take some money out of the mortgage to do the repairs, or to take even more money out and get new windows. If we opted for the new windows, then every window in the house would be double-paned and 21st century! Definitely an improvement on this beautiful old house. So we got the windows and I couldn’t be happier.
Jas has this cool little handheld thermometer. You point it at something, and it tells you the temperature of that item. In the office, Jas pointed it at one of the new windows. The temperature on that new windows was 62°. Pointing it to one of the old windows, the temperature was 46°. I looked at my Apple Watch, and it told me the temperature outside was around 20° and there was fresh snow on the ground! Rejoicing was heard in the cold house!
In January, we got some shades, which you’ll be reading about then.