New windows and such

Ok after a very deep post- lets move on to something else for awhile. There will be more posts like that to come so posting other stuff in between is important!

Chris and I bought our house at the end of 2009.. and it sure seems like we sunk a lot of money into it! Not in doing renovations or cosmetic stuff really, kind of necessary things. $4,000 for a new furnace (old one wasn't functioning well) $1,000 to fix the brand new furnace 3 years later, $2,000 for a new swamp cooler (old one didn't work) $1,000 on new gutter (ice built up and the gutter fell off the house) stuff like that. We did redo our bathroom, but part of that was because the floor was starting to bubble up.  $2,000 for a new driveway., Chris built us an awesome shed. The whole time we've lived there, I've wanted new windows! All that other stuff we did was way more important, but its been driving me nuts! I'm kind of a tree hugger. I'm super conscious about the amount of water used, energy, I combine all my trips to save gas, etc, and the windows in the house were crappy and I couldn't stand the energy wasted by having crappy windows!

The windows that are in my house, half of them are the new vinyl windows, the other half were the old aluminum ones. Where the aluminum ones were, it was always cold!! And the newer vinyl ones were installed super crappy and there was always a huge gap at the top of the windows, so I had to put something in there to prop up the window and to close the gap all the time. And the screens were all ripped.

I finally decided I was getting new windows! I used my tax return this year to get new windows, I got the Low E, Argon filled windows. I was so freaking excited to get them installed but I ran into so many problems! Who would have thought it would be so complicated? Because I ordered the windows through a company with someone who got me a huge discount, then I was going to have someone install them for I think $75 a window, he wouldn't get back to me. then I called Jones and they said they wouldn't guarantee their labor because I didn't buy the windows through them, and it would be $105 per window to install. and I'd have to pay to have them come look at the windows, as well as pay for a paint test or something. I was seriously in tears ha I wanted my windows so bad, why does it have to be so complicated??

A guy at work convinced me to ask another guy at work to install them for me, he had worked at Jones for like 12 years installing windows before he was a cop.. So I finally got up the courage to ask him, and he got a few guys from work together to come install my windows. I was so happy I wanted to burst. I don't know why this was such a big deal to me, but it was. 

I had to work, and when I got home, my windows were ripped out and they were hard at work! I am incredibly grateful that these 4 men took time out of their busy lives to help me, to help me keep the cost low and help me accomplish this task. 

I tried to help but there wasn't much for me to do, so I just followed them around cleaning up their mess :) I bought them all pizza and I guess that was good enough for them! There is some trim work and caulking that still needs to be done on the outside but the windows look great! and I am just so excited, they all close so good, there are no gaps, I am excited to see the difference it makes when it gets cold again. 

Thank you everyone for your help on this!

I don't have any AFTER pictures yet of them in all nice and pretty, but i'll update soon!

I also decided I was going to get a sprinkling system installed. I usually just hand water my lawn, but you have to be home for that and its pretty time consuming watching the clock making sure you're monitoring the time right, moving the hose/sprinkler head every 25 minutes for the whole front and back yard. With working two jobs, and sleeping out of a suitcase half the week at other people's houses who help me with Samarah..  I will not be home and not have time to hand water my lawn, and my yard is very important to me. So even though it cost $3,000 (thank you, TAXES) I decided to go with it. The burden and weight off my shoulders and peace of mind from having a functioning automatic sprinkling system will be worth the money spent. I love having a nice yard. I take pride in it, and its like therapy to me. So that got installed a week or two later after my windows. And its amazing! I have peace of mind already just thinking about it!

It was kind of hard seeing my yard all tore up! But they put it back together great! I just need a little grass seed to fill in dirt where the trenches were!

AAANNNNDDDDD, I decided to install a kitchenette in my basement laundry room with the remainder of my tax return. I have people that rent from me, and they are family and we just share the kitchen upstairs and its no big deal. But I have been seriously contemplating moving for awhile, and that way I could rent out the top and the bottom. So that got started the same days as my sprinklers. I already have enough going on, I have too many projects at the same time. It's freaking stressful and I'm in way over my head, and its taking longer than planned, but oh well, we'll get through it and it will be amazing when its done. 

Here are a few befores... I will have afters for all of these projects in another post later down the road..

I took some time off work to help with the kitchenette to help keep the cost low, and my dad has also come down to help the contractor and put in a significant amount of time to reduce my labor costs. I can tell you that it has made me appreciate how much a house costs. What seems like such a simple task, moving plumbing from the middle of the turquoise wall, to run a line around and underneath where the sheetrock was ripped out, seemed so simple. HA. Wow. There is so much work involved and it took a good 9 hours or more just for that. And running the dryer vent/electricity to the storage room, that was so much work. I am so grateful for good family and friends willing to help me. 

So that is still in the process and I will keep everyone updated!

:)