Whew! Installing windows can be hard work. Buck chaperoned me as I installed a window almost entirely by myself. It was good to understand the entire process. For most of the rest of the windows, I prepped it and finished it, leaving the big middle to him. Wrapping the exterior trim with aluminum is the most time consuming part. Some of the trim was in bad shape, so I'm glad I didn't let it go longer. It was certainly easier when “we” could stand on the front porch. My daughter and her buddy got a little thrill out of it too. The new windows look so much nicer.

Caulking isn't as easy as it looks. My first attempt was a mess. It is tough to get it into the rounded crack of the trim work, plus my tired muscles and reaching up high made my hand shaky. The picture is not of my first attempt. My first attempt I had caulk up to my elbows. Buck was kind enough not to laugh his head off at me until I left the room. I felt like a kid “helping” mom cook.

I used the chisel, hammer, utility knife, and pry bar to remove the old trim, take out the old window, remove the plastic slides on the sides, and hammer in or pull out any leftover finishing nails. Oh yeah, and my old favorite, the end nippers were good for removing those too. I needed my pink toolbelt to switch off. No sawzall after all. And I couldn't operate the aluminum break without someone to anchor it down while I yanked the handle into place, so I didn't do the metal bending either.

The blurry picture of him is blurry because I leaned out my window just a hair too far and scared myself. gheez! So much to learn!

Buck estimated he could do 4 windows a day by himself. We did 6 together on Saturday. Woohoo! The upstairs is done. They are so nice!

I can't help him tomorrow (Monday) though because I'll be taking that GRE finally. Cross your fingers for me!