After Madison was born we decided to take out the slab and replace it with a screened-in porch. We built another, bigger, slab and covered the porch with a roof. We put down indoor carpet, bought wicker furniture with real cushions, and installed a ceiling fan. One of Madison's hand me down cribs went out there, and she and I would take little naps listening to the rain on the roof or the wind sounding through the trees. When Madison got older she would play out on the porch in her little hand me down playhouse. I loved having an area with light as the inside of our house was quite dark by Floridian standards. The only problem we encountered was during the summer months when our fun would only last twenty minutes before Madison's cheeks were red and her hair wet from sweat.
When I got pregnant with Darcy we talked about adding on some room for our growing family. We contemplated an upper level but dismissed that at the thought of our electric bill in cooler an second story. We talked about enclosing the garage and building another garage in front of it, using the old garage for a new room. Each time we thought up a new plan we would shake our heads and go back to enclosing in our screened-in porch. My big no to doing that was the loss of all the light. But when it came down to that being our logical reality Tom promised to put in lots of windows to let in much-needed sunlight.
The new room was finished before Darcy was born. There were three windows on the wall facing our neighbors, four windows on the wall facing our backyard, and one window on the only spot that didn't lead into our house. The last wall was against our garage and thus was windowless. I was thrilled with all the sunlight that poured into the room, and never really worried about covering them. We called the new room the playroom, but it also housed our office and a seating area, as well as a place for all of Madison's toys.
Darcy came along then and the uncovered windows exposed quite a bit of us to those neighbors who chose to look. I had to pump my breast milk because of Darcy's sucking problems and the area we set up for that let everyone into our world. I didn't care at the time because I was sleep-deprived and stressed from the frequent attempts at latching the kid. Later after that problem was solved, I enjoyed the sunlight streaming in the windows as Madison played and Darcy cooed on the floor. Eventually, summer rolled around again and with it came the unbearable heat against the glass and soon Madison's hair was wet and Darcy's little cheeks were red.
We looked at different window coverings. We thought about curtains, but the fact that we would have to practically cover two entire walls with material made us leery. We eventually settled on wooden blinds and ordered them to match our different sized windows. When they arrived Tom put them in himself, and I was quite relieved to know that I could now pick my nose in private away from my neighbors prying eyes. The blinds were a hit and we were quite pleased.
That is until I realized they attracted dust ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SLATS. While they did hide our dirty windows, the sun beaming through those slats showed up quite a bit of dust. I tried using a dust cloth. I tried using a damp paper towel. I thought about bringing in the hose from outside, but the thought of smelling wet carpet for days put me off. I finally used a combination of dusting and Clorox wipes. The process took hours and usually days. That was when I decided that being in that room was more enjoyable at night, and keeping the blinds closed during the day saved on our electric bill.
A couple of months ago while Madison was home sick and lying on the couch in the playroom watching TV I decided to keep an eye on her by washing the blinds. I started at the wall leading into the backyard and worked my way around. After each blind was cleaned I would open it and let the sun shine in. By the time I was finished Madison was cured and back in school, and I was hooked on sunshine again.
Tonight as I sat typing at my computer I realized I was probably terrorizing my neighbor with the faces I was making so I stood up to close the blind. I leaned forward over my desk, reached up to twirl the stick to close the slats and there attached to the inside of the slats was a layer of dust.
Horrified, I moved my eyes to the blind next door and then to the next blind and the next blind and the next until I had completely turned around in a circle to stare at all eight blinds full of dust that I had just cleaned two months ago. And I thought to myself, "Who the hell thought all of these windows was a good idea?"
No comments:
Post a Comment