Open a New Window...

The first musical I did in high school (and I'd like to say it was the best musical we did while I was in high school) was "Mame."  I was only in the chorus (I never really got out in any production), but I loved the show and the cast.  Just this past weekend, the movie version of "Mame" was on TCM and I watched it.  Despite a great cast (I love Lucy), it falls completely flat.  It's not just that Lucille Ball was miscast (she might have been able to pull it off IF the production was better), but there was no connection, no sparkle.  I love the show.  I love the music.  I didn't love the movie.

The music and lyrics are wonderful, written by the late, great Jerry Herman.  (He also did the music/lyrics for 2 of my other favorite shows, "Hello Dolly!" and "La Cage Aux Follies".)  One of the many great songs from the show is "Open a New Window."  The opening lyric: "Open a new window; open a new door. Travel a new highway, that's never been tried before." has stayed with me and is literally quite relevant to what is going on in my life; I'm "opening a new window."

Now, many of you may think that this means I've got some exciting news or that I've got some big life change going on.  I do...sort of...but really it's quite literal.  I WILL be opening a new window.  Actually make that, WE will be opening new windows.

Let's go back a bit...

Almost, but not quite a year ago, Steve and I purchased a home in the Poconos.  (You can see where this is going now, can't you?)  The house has a lot of great features.  One of them is all the windows.  There are skylights in the living room, family room and loft.  There are French doors (beautiful, but not great when it comes to heat loss in the winter) in kitchen and family room.  And in just about every room (excluding the guest bathroom, kitchen and "library") there are 2-wide casement windows from Pella.  There are even great windows in the attached garage and a bay window (which I don't think is Pella) in the detached garage.  There's even a stained glass window in the attached garage.  (It's not accessible and you can't even really see it which is a shame. All of these rooms flood with light, which I LOVE.  

As I understand it, all these wonderful windows came about when the original owners did renovations. (Well, almost the original owners; it's a long story.  I'm going to call them the original owners because they purchase this house when it was a simple log cabin and turned it into the beautiful home that it is today.)  I have to say that the original owners had wonderful taste.  And they didn't do anything half way.  They were all in and it shows.

As we are in the mountains, I also LOVE to open these windows and let the air in.  I mean why be here if you're not going to take advantage of fresh air?  However, it appears that the previous owners weren't into that.  It seemed like the windows (and French doors) were rarely opened.  (Maybe I'm wrong, but...)

Now that spring is here and things are warming up, I'm all about opening those windows.

Last Friday, I had one of the front windows open to let in the cross breeze, but late in the afternoon it was going to rain, so I went to crank it closed. It was giving me difficulty, so I let hubby take a go at it. There was clearly a problem, so he went outside to check it out and...The bottom of the window/frame came off and the wood below was rotted out.  As a result the cranking mechanism wouldn't work properly.  Not a good thing!  Working together we managed to get it mostly closed; so that the rain and wind would stay out, but we knew we had a problem.

Not knowing exactly who to call, I went directly to Pella and they do have a service team.  They were actually very good (once I was able to get a hold of someone).  Using an app the rep was able to see the issue and establish when the windows were made.  Guess what?  They don't make them anymore!  Next step, having a sales person come out.

The sales person was here the next day.  (And kept us informed of when she would be arriving.)  And yes, the whole unit was going to have to be replaced.  This was, of course, the only 3-wide casement windows in the house (and really a centerpiece).  This was beginning to sound expensive.  There is another 2-wide casement in the living room/dining room and we went to open that as well (to check on how it was going) and guess what?  One of them was stiff and difficult to open, leading us to decide to replace it too.  I didn't want to do it; I didn't want to spend the money (even though I didn't know how much money it would be), but I know prices are just going to go up so...

The calculations were done and I was given the cost and...I nearly keeled over.  I'll admit that I've never had a window replaced.  (The windows in our house in NJ are old and have issues, but I've not had them replaced.  Yes, I've buried my head in the sand when it comes to that house for 30 years.  Sad and pathetic, but true.)  I won't tell you the shocking number, but I will say that the cost is about half a semester at my son's college.  I tried to keep my wits about me.  I failed.  There was a lot of tension in the room and it was coming from me! (Am I the only one who cries tears of frustration?)

I could have only had the 3-wide done and ignored the 2-wide for the time being.  However, that didn't seem to make sense.  It's not going to get better; it's only going to get worse.  The cost is not going to go down (because no matter what ANYONE says, prices are NOT dropping on ANYTHING).  So...we're getting new windows.

In trying to look at the bright side, my Discover card cashback bonus is going to go back up.   (I don't know if they love me or hate me, as I've been using it ALOT over the past 9 months.  I've come close to hitting my credit limit and have wondered if I should have it increased.  However, I have yet to not all of it off when the bill comes due [yes, my savings have taken a BIG HIT this year] so no interest fees go back to them.)  The deposit as gone through and now all we have to do is wait.  It's probably going to take 6-8 weeks.  (I hope it's not going to take longer, but the way things are going in the world...I wouldn't be surprised if it does.) 

Hopefully before my husband's birthday in July we will have new windows.  And you can bet that I will be opening those new windows just about every day!

(Side note:  after the sales person left, we went around to all the other windows to make sure they were in good/okay shape.  We didn't encounter any issues...keep your fingers crossed.)


Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 4, 2025 at 6:05 PM

    Good for you! Get it done and enjoy the results!

    ReplyDelete

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