The busted blinds have been replaced.

I will write more than that, but that's pretty much the story of the day, so feel free to click on. This is going to be boring, but hey, I am determined to blog every day this month, so....

The scheduler called me yesterday to ask if the installer could come between 11 and 1 to install the new blinds. I probably overwhelmed her a bit with my enthusiastic, "YES! FANTASTIC!" but I would have rescheduled just about anything to get the ancient and I'm sure ORIGINAL, blinds replaced.

No pictures, because you really wouldn't appreciate the difference in photos. Basically, the back of the house was all elderly yellowed white vertical blinds, and two of the three vertical blind-covered windows (the big sliding glass door in the living room and the bedroom window) were missing vanes. The big slider in the living room was missing about a half-dozen vanes. The bedroom window was only missing ONE when I moved in, but every time I touched them another broke off, so it ended up down about a half dozen as well. The sun is intense on that side of the building and the bedroom window isn't protected by the balcony, and after, what, 20some years, those blinds were COOKED. They were baked to brittle, and any normal handling would cause a vane to snap. I was very grateful that I look out onto a golf course and the houses beyond are shielded by vegetation, instead of onto the back of another building, because my bedroom was lacking a little more privacy every week as they fell apart.

In the front, in the kitchen and my office/guest room, we had the oh-so-lovely ancient aluminum mini-blinds - they weren't broken, except for some unfortunate bent corners on one, but had issues with opening and closing and doing what they are supposed to do. Home Depot's installer had a flat fee for the entire house, while just doing a couple of windows would have cost as much/more, so I replaced those blinds too.

So, anyway, the new horizontal window blinds are 2 in. faux-wood affairs and far more esthetically appealing than the old as well as much better about actually blocking the sun, and the new verticals are basically the same color as the old but a neat curvy style that looks a bit like folded fabric when closed, but they are basically alabaster faux wood boring blinds, just new and not yellowed and brittle from the sun. Photos would mean nothing to those who weren't living with blinds breaking off in their hands at a touch. Now everything is clean and fresh and functional and DONE.

Next - the 80s called and demanded the light fixtures back.