One thing you notice as you get older is that your house starts to look the way your body feels. The paint begins to crack, 
window frames look worn, tables get coffee-stained, and couch fabrics are torn. Even your curtains start to look wrinkly and faded from the sun. You know in your heart that it’s time for a makeover — for your house (although you could probably use one as well) — and you start to dream about how you could get on a show like ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
Knowing that reality shows are not in my near future (there is no “balloon boy” living in this house), I decided to restart my honey-do list. The vacuum cleaner was first on my list of repairs. I honestly believe this is the most important item we have in our house.
Going without a vacuum for even a day means wading through 3 inches of hair to get down the hall to our living room, only then to sit down on a chair to become covered by another inch of fur.
Leaving the house looking like an exact replica of your Golden Retriever is not very attractive. It would be very reasonable for people to stand as far away from me as possible, especially those who are allergic to pets. So you can see why the Sears call had to be first on my list. And $88 later I am still waiting for my vacuum to come home.
In the meantime, in between dusting the pet hair off my clothes, I have been obsessing about our front windows. Three windows actually: 2 bedroom windows and 1 bay. There are so many reasons to replace these windows that I will not even get into the details but let me assure you of one thing: Windows are not cheap.
And, just when you think you have found the cheapest windows out there, you are told that no matter what you do for your house NEVER EVER go with the cheapest windows. So now we are looking at over $6,000 just for a bay window. This eye-popping, “hurt my wallet” sum has made me write a poem that I will now entitle:
Ode to the Bay Window
$6,000 for a bay window
Now I know why I am feeling so blue,
This was the price of my new car at age 22.
$6,000 for a bay window
Single-paned, cracked, chipped and worn,
The decision to shell out more on this house is enough to cause me to mourn.
$6,000 for a bay window
They say I’ll save money in tax credits and heating
So if they’re right, why do I feel like they’re cheating?
$6,000 for a bay window
I’m willing my heating problems to some other louse,
Maybe it’s cheaper to just sell this darn house.
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