Window Walking, Jive Talking, and All that Jazz

I found this to be appropriate for the day ... See, some almost 70 years after this house was built, and nearly 20 years after we moved in, we are getting new windows. All of the ones that were not added more recently (in the past two years) or covered up also in the past decade, are being exchanged for new ones. 

Disclaimer: I started writing this last week, but I can't remember exactly when ... Then I got writer's block. Tis what it tis. 

I know it's not the most riveting news, but for us, you see, it is. The years of draftiness and exorbitant internal-climate-control bills are about to be a distant memory. You do what you can do when you can do it, and when you can do better, you DO do better. 

I didn't really have a reason for throwing "Jive Talkin'(g)" in the title, other than I wanted to quasi-rhyme and now I have the Bee Gees looping in my brain cell. Here, have some, please. 

Okay, here on 7/14, a LOT has transpired. 

So, we got the new windows, and they're all installed and have created for us even more of a cocoon than we had before. You can't hear much of anything, and combined with the new driveway (gravel), sound from the outside has become elusive. 

Let's look at some pictures, shall we? 

First, a walk down the lane o' memories: 

This was the house as we knew it when we moved in, back in 2005: 

At that point, the original part was 50 years old, and I have no clue how old the rest of it is, which you can't really see in this shot. Where you see the big picture window closest to the car was originally a garage, and I'm fairly certain the house ended to the right of that, where the siding changes. 

We still have the original rose bush that you see on the left between the other picture window and the left end of the house, as well as the peonies and iris that my Beloved's grandmother planted over the course of the years. We also still have all the trees in the backyard. 

Some 10 years later, in 2015, we did some renovations inside and out, which resulted in this: 

I shared a while back that we were doing some things. Keep an eyeball in these pictures on the array of gnarly ancient hunks of concrete all about the perimeter ... 

We started with the concrete: 

Check the shitty condition of the windows, as well. You can get an idea of just how much they were in need of replacement. I'm fairly certain they were all originals. The only thing I kick myself about is that we FORGOT to have the concrete guy remove the chimney pad over there by the garbage can. DURRRRRRRRRRRRH.  O well. Actually the fill dirt they placed all around the foundation completely covers it, and eventually, it will turn to grass with a scant row of dirt for shrubs or perennials or who knows? 

All that then turned into this: 

That was step one ... 

Then we got dirt, and a newly graded and filled driveway ... 

Forgot to mention that we had the house powerwashed inbetwixt the concrete and driveway work, and then, this happened ... 

And now, it all looks absolutely splendid, like this: 

I wish all the picture windows had been this long because I absolutely love how this one looks. 

Next up, we'll be getting a new storm door for the front door, and some work done on the jamb, and siding to cover up where the monstrosity of a step used to live. 

Then, plants. I have my eye on some junipers that grow up to at least 6-7 feet that would cover the electric meters nicely. We'll also be getting the gutters cleaned, repaired, and gutter guards installed probably in the next week. Oh, and we'll be replacing the faux stone on the front because I overestimated on the window cost, and we have some wiggly room. YAY!! 

THEN, we start on the inside. 

- Cleaning

- Painting

- Bedroom ceiling in wood plank with ceiling fan 

- Kitchen and laundry room floors

- Laundry room cabinets being cleaned, sanded and painted

- Kitchen redo 

- Removal of large span of useless cabinets out here in my office - turning into flat wall with a small opening for the circuit breaker panel 

- Gutting the beauty shop rooms (pretty much apartment sized if someone wanted to make it that) 

- Painting and some cheaper probably vinyl flooring out there just to tie it all together 

Then, we'll see what else we want to commit to :) 

Because that all wasn't enough, my Beloved turned our backyard into a well-lit oasis cocoon by doing this: 

It's so beyond peaceful when we sit out there at night - it's a completely different world. I love it. 

That's a fuckton of pictures ... and not a lot of words. 

Maybe this weekend I'll have more to talk about? We shall see!