Pretending

The window on the right is now clean. Tomorrow I will clean its twin and eventually I will get around to its forty two other brother and sisters.

Hello folks, it's been a long time, almost six weeks since I have written anything new. With Christmas and then being sick for over a week after Christmas, this is the first day I have felt energetic enough to do anything more than lay in bed all day and feel sorry for myself while honing my computer scrabble skills.
So today I woke up feeling pretty good. The sun was shining which probably accounted for about 90% percent of my mood change. That SADD syndrome really gets to me in the winter time.
I decided that it was time to put away the tree and reclaim my house from all the Christmas finery.
Trotting from the house to the shed with the tree parts and all the various boxes, I could almost pretend it was spring already. The wind was blowing and the air was balmy. The sun was shining and there were big fluffy clouds in the sky. I cleaned up all the needles left behind by my ever shedding tree and then caught sight of that broken window left behind from a birthday party we had in October. My son turned fourteen and about fifteen boys spent the weekend. I lost a window pane and a curtain rod before it was all said and done. Because the glass was firmly set into the putty, I had put off removing it, until now. As I worked the broken glass out of the old window, I dropped a piece down in between the window and the storm window. Problem: This particular window, as many of the windows are in my forty four window house, was completely painted shut. Sealed off. Unassailable. Well, unopenable, anyway. I uttered an oath or two. I knew I would have to get the window open to get the glass out, as it wasn't just a little piece that fell, it was half the pane. Maybe I should say it was half the "pain".
Anyway, I have done this a few times, so I gathered the tools. Putty knife, hammer, screwdriver. I applied the knife to the painted areas, separating the window from the window sash and sides, and used the screwdriver to remove the caulk from around the ropes on the sides. I used the hammer to drive the putty knife down the sides of the window, through all the years and layers of caked on paint. Then I applied all my strength into pulling upward on the window to get it open. Nothing. Not even close. Again with the putty knife, hammer, and screwdriver. Again, it wouldn't even begin to budge. Again and again I went over it. I almost gave up. Finally after over an hour, I felt it pop free. I raised the window, slowly, as all the accumulated dirt between the storm window and the sash became apparent. Then I removed the storm window and the screen and cleaned the window with Windex, something I have been wanting to do for a long, long time. It really bothers me to look at the outside world through dirty windows. The problem is that there are so many windows. Each one is a project in itself, in that they all have to be unsealed, and all the storms have to be disassembled to be cleaned properly. It seems crazy that the thing which attracted me most about this house, the many windows, is the thing that bothers me the most, because of the maintenence involved.
I have thought several times that I don't have forty four windows, I actually have eighty eight windows.
That's a lot of Windex, folks.
Oh, and as far as the pretending goes, I'm also pretending that I'm rich and that I'm not fat, as well.
I'll get back to reality tomorrow.