Miss D. and I took things easy today, to give our aching bodies a chance to recover from the exertions of the past week and our journey from Tennessee to our new home in northern Texas.
We began by heading over to our house to await the arrival of the technicians who were to install our internet service. We’ve ordered a fiber-optic cable, which should give us much faster speeds than the typical cable-TV-based service we’ve experienced up till now. The techs were delayed, but arrived eventually, and wired up our new gigabit router very efficiently. While we waited for them, we unpacked several boxes of kitchen gear, and I assembled a couple of bookcases. More work will have to wait until tomorrow, after we’ve had a chance to relax a bit more.
From there it was off to Wichita Falls, where we investigated window blinds and curtains, and vertical blinds to hang in front of our new French doors leading onto the garden. There’s a lot to choose from, so this was very much a preliminary sort of inquiry. We came away with some brochures and much food for thought. We’ll probably take a couple of weeks to go through our options and make a decision on what to buy. We’ll do the same for bits and pieces of furniture we may need, a new dinnerware set to entertain guests (of whom we expect far more, and far more often, here than we had in Tennessee), new computer stands for our respective offices, and so on. We won’t be buying everything at once, of course. This’ll happen over a period of several months.
Tonight was ‘Meatloaf Monday’ at a local diner, so we joined Old NFO, Lawdog and Phlegmmy at what’s become a weekly ritual for them. Judging from the number of residents of our small town who trooped in and out, it’s a fixture on the local calendar. We look forward to making it a regular entry in our diary as well. We’re back at Old NFO’s place now, digesting happily and planning an early-ish night before getting down to work in the morning.
Peter
I dislike vertical blinds intensely. They are not very energy efficient beside the fact I don't think I have every seen any that I found attractive. While you are at Lowe's/Home Depot look for mini-blinds that fit inside a pane of glass that fits around the frame of the window in your french doors. They are about a hundred dollars a window (Okay $117.00). Because they are behind a pane of glass it keeps them cleaner or pet and kids from tearing them up. Here is what I'm talking about: http://www.lowes.com/pd_209214-424-BWM226401_1z11os6__?productId=3386722&pl=1#img
There is also a demo of the installation and it really is that easy to install them.
Good luck with whatever you come up with.
Glad that you have some friends to help get you adjusted to your new surroundings.
I hate hate hate mini-blinds. Poor light control around the edges, near worthless for heat insulation, too delicate, and annoying to clean. The only plus for them is the ability to angle the blades to let in some sunlight, while retaining privacy from some angles.
In addition, if at some point you need to replace some, invariably the model isn't available, or the color isn't, and the mounts are rarely interchangeable.
On top of that, window box-frames are rarely built to exact sizes, let alone consistent around the home. Which is why they mostly end up being mounted on the wall, instead of inside the window box.
If the windows slide sideways, people get lazy and try to move them without raising the blinds, which is pretty much a guarantee of bending or breaking several blades.
Have I mentioned how much I hate blinds?
husband served the greek orthodox church in wichita falls long ago.
loved the place.
after we left two side by side tornadoes tore up wichita falls.
look it up.
glad you are settling in nicely.
Now you need a Texas BBQ Thursday, and a Prince's Spaghetti Day Wednesday, and a Corned Beef Hash Tuesday……
C-90
Prince's Spaghetti Day…. It's a New England thing.
C-90
We had Roman shades at one of the houses in Ohio. I'm 'not sure I can describe them, but they were great in a house full of babies and cats.
Will,
I'm not thrilled about regular mini-blinds for the same reasons you stated. But the ones that are encased in a glassed-in frame that hangs on a door are really,really nice. Check them out next time you are in Home Depot/Lowe's
Gigabit router. Wowzwers.
Here on the outskirts of Terrell, for nine years, the only thing I had was an AT&T service offering 1.3M download and a 300K upload. There was no cable, fiber-optic or otherwise. There was satellite service, but it cost too much to install.
We recently got a new service in town providing up to 90M download for more money than I can afford, and 10M for a price I can squeak by with, so that's what I have now.
Anyway, welcome to Texan. I think You'll be glad you're here when the SHTF nationally.
Wichita Falls is your nearest large shopping center? My niece and her husband spent some time in the area when he was in the air force. She was at a Wal-Mart a few years ago when a large tornado ripped thru the area and she survived by hugging a toilet in the ladies room as the roof was ripped away. Quite and experience for her. She has long since tired of telling the story.
As I said, welcome.
Bob
Glad you're moved in! What a relief, eh? We shall also be moving soon as I found someone who offered to rent us a 30' trailer for $100/month (a deal straight from God!!!) . . . Now we are on overload for sorting and packing besides Matt in high school and me working 48+ hours/week . . I'll be so glad when were moved and the house is sold. Closing this chapter in our lives is like coming out of a chrysalis!! New adventures await 🙂
Might be worth your while to go to blinds.com. They have better prices than even the big bix stores (which is a little wierd because they are now owned by Home Depot, I think), and you get custom made to fit window treatments. They come with a guarantee that if they don't fit, even if YOU measured wrong, they will replace them for free. I'm not sponsored or affiliated with them, just seen them in action. Good stuff.
FormerFlyer
Blinds… Who cares about blinds! What company is providing 1Gbps Internet over there, that's what I'd like to know!
@Anonymous at 9:48 PM: See http://www.ntscom.com/