New Windows!

We officially have 4 new windows in our house! That might not sound too exciting until you see what we were replacing:

This window has been cracked since we moved in, so we taped it up just like that last owners and put plastic over the window for the winter. The first floor of our house has all of the original windows, but the 2nd floor has cheap aluminum windows that were replaced a few decades ago. Besides one being broken, they are very energy inefficient, are always coming out of their tracks and are very difficult to open and close. So we used some money from Dave's grandparents to replace the above window, which was the worst, and the three windows in our bedroom, which we use the most. Maybe in 7 years when medical school is all paid for, or when we have little ones sleeping in the other rooms, we can do the rest of the windows upstairs.

We got aluminum clad wood windows from Kelly Windows, a local, family owned company that has manufactured their own windows for several decades. They do a lot of work for historic homes and can install windows without taking off the interior trim (woohoo!). I asked what happens to the old windows, knowing that both the glass and the aluminum are recycleable. The windows go in the dumpster, but they have a regular group of people who go through the dumpster to pull out anything salvageable.

This brief discussion about buying locally helped push me towards getting windows from a local company instead of from Lowe's. And after spending a few hundred dollars more for these windows and feeling oh so good about it, I have no qualms spending the extra $30 to buy dry-lock from our local hardware store. Thanks guys! We also briefly discussed getting vinyl windows instead, knowing that vinyl is standard for our neighborhood, but we knew that the long term environmental and financial costs would be way less if we did it right the first time and they don't need to be replaced again in 10 years. Besides, vinyl windows were not much cheaper and were of way lower quality than the wood windows.

You know what the best thing is about having new windows? I don't have to clean them!!! ALL the windows in our house were filthy when we moved in, and most had remnants of ivy stuck on the screens. With everything else we've been doing in the last year, deep cleaning windows just never made it to the top of the list! Dave's mom spent a couple hours cleaning ONE window in the kitchen (which looked amazing - check out the picture below of the half cleaned window!) and I was NOT looking forward to cleaning the rest. Now I have 4 windows that I don't have to clean. Hurray!

Life as the wife of a resident

In case you don’t know, my husband is a second year surgery resident. I’m really proud of him – he’s smart, he works hard, and he’s done a great job in his surgeries lately. But it’s an interesting and often crazy life. Fortunately, he’s in the post-80 hour work week world, meaning that he’s not supposed to work more than 80 hours a week. It’s averaged out over 4 weeks, which means he could work 100 one week if he works 60 another. But on average, he works 70-80 hours a week.

This is one of those weeks that’s been a little more crazy. He’s worked 50 hours already this week and it’s only Tuesday! Did I mention that I’ve only seen him for an hour and a half since Friday morning. I’m getting pretty good at being on my own when I know he’ll be gone, but I’m still having a hard time when I expect him to be home and he’s not. Since he was working Sunday night, I expected Monday to be an earlier day, but he didn’t get home until 8:00. So surely today would be earlier, right? Ha! I’m happy that he was able to do the case he did tonight, but I was about to cry when he called at 7:00 to say they were starting a case and that he wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, especially since I knew I would be gone tomorrow night and wouldn’t get home until nearly bedtime. That makes six days straight in which we will have seen each other for only a couple hours total. I know it could be so much worse. I have friends whose husbands are deployed and others who are on their own all the time, with and without kids. But it’s still hard and it still takes a toll on us.

I hear his car (it needs muffler work), so I’ll close now. Please pray for us that God’s grace would be sufficient, that we would find our joy in Him and that He would draw us together in deeper unity.

Recipe help needed

I have fairly large quantities of (opened) mayonnaise, miracle whip, mustard (yellow and honey dijon) and salad dressing (many varieties) in my fridge leftover from a family event. As these are not items I typically use in large quantities, I'm looking for some recipes or creative ideas for how to use them. I'd rather not let them go to waste and I need them to start moving out of my fridge, as it's getting a little too full! Thanks!

Updates

- The funeral went really well. Definitely a celebration of a long life well lived. It was really good to be together with family and celebrate my grandma together. Scott got in town Monday evening before the visitation ended.
- It was so sweet to be able to see Scott, even if it did throw all his plans off, and I saw him less than I would have according to the original plan. He’s had a great time at home, visiting with friends and eating lots of different kinds of food. He goes back Saturday morning.
- On Saturday, Dave and I went hiking for a couple hours at a state recreation area about an hour from here (kinda sad that we have to go that far just to get some forest, huh!?). I was literally craving some time in the woods and boy was it refreshing to get out of the city and into nature. We spent some time thinking and reflecting about where we are and where we’re going. We also decided that we need some time out of the city and into nature at least once a month, even if it is only a few hours.
- I was really sick on Tuesday. Like vomiting every hour sick. Marshall spent the whole day by my side, which was really sweet. I’m feeling mostly better today, but I’m still not eating much and was still out of breath walking up the stairs this morning.
School has started and I can’t believe how quiet our street and our house are! It’s a welcome break, but I’m starting to miss the boys!
- As of last week, my Wheaton College education is paid in full, just in time for our 5 year reunion! It kills me that it took so long to pay it off, but in the end we didn’t pay much interest because we paid it off quickly when it was not deferred ($2500 in 6 months before grad school and $5800 in 8 months after). I wouldn’t trade my time at Wheaton for anything, even having those loans to pay back, but it sure feels good to have them completely paid off. Now it’s on to medical school loans…