Pain in the Glass

While the first floor remains blessedly cool throughout the day, my second floor suite becomes akin to the towering inferno - only not towering, and without giant water tanks to explode in a means to douse the flames.

Walking across the hard wood floor is like walking across the cement around the public pool, it's almost too hot to do without sandals on.

So, given the fact the second floor averages twenty-degrees warmer than the first, you can imagine my frustration over the fact only one of my two bedroom windows opened.

I've been trying since last Friday to open this damn window! Once, I'd taken off my shoes and my socks slid across the floor before the window budged more than half an inch up. I almost opened the window with my head. *grumbles* *stoopid hard wood floors*

I asked my uncle Ross, the hero of "If you can't fix it - break it." Even he couldn't manage to get it open.

Today, I was prying away at the frame with two flat head screwdrivers, trying to loosen the frame from the track, or wedge the window up by the small crack I'd opened at the bottom.

After about an hour trying to force the window up without breaking it, unscrewing the lock with the thought it was hanging up the window, and sweating profusely all over the silk curtains - I realized the lower window was getting hung up on the upper window!

I still didn't know WHAT was catching in the upper window, so I decided the only solution was to squeeze my big butt out the tiny window (the one that actually opened is right beside the jammed one) onto the roof to see if I can pry the upper window free from the outside.

Imagine my surprise when I'm prying at the lower window with the screwdriver, and the glass pops out. It's then I notice the glass has a lip on it to push up and down, and the lip in on the upper outside instead of the lower inside. A storm window had been jammed against the lower window so that the glass fit so exactly I hadn't had any idea there was a second pane of glass. The storm window was jammed against the regular window inside out and backwards, the lip of the storm window had been catching the upper window, so I couldn't raise the lower or lower the upper.

I was absolutely dumbfounded. Half the windows in this house don't have screens, but mine has an extra storm window. I think I'm having buyer's remorse - and it's not even my house, I'm just living in for a while.