Window Washing Workout

Last night a cold front came through, and we turned off the air conditioner and opened up the house. The nice weather won't be around for long, so I decided to take advantage of it. Instead of showering when I woke up, I put on a sports bra and old clothes. I had a job to do. It was window washing day!

For the past few weeks, every time I look out the dirty windows I think "I should do something about that". The problem is that it's is a big project, because there are a little over 30 windows around the house. The family room, master bedroom, and kitchen each have bump out bays, and the kitchen also has two additional windows over the corner sink. Each of the other rooms has two, including the master bathroom. There's also a decorative window in the foyer, two doors with glass inserts, and sidelights on either side of the front door. That's a lot of glass to clean.

After breakfast, I read the newspaper and spent some time on the computer until I convinced myself it was time to get started. I gathered my supplies and started on the shady west side of the house. First I removed the plastic grilles that make the large panels look like multiple glass panes. Next, I opened the windows to pop out the screens, then closed them almost completely so the cats wouldn't decide to explore. As I washed and dried each window I could feel my shoulders working, and I realized that I was exercising them just as well as if I had gone to the gym. I started to figure out what other body parts I was strengthening:

• Carrying the bucket of water was good for my biceps
• Getting to the bottom of the windows required some serious squatting
• Pulling out the couch to get to the windows in the family room and sitting on the ledge to get the outside of the hard-to-get-to windows took a lot of core strength
• Walking up and down the stairs was good aerobic work 
• Squeezing the excess liquid out of the rag helped improve my grip 
• And as a nice added bonus, by the time the job was done I had completed my steps for the day

I cleaned for 90 minutes before lunch and another two hours after. In addition to the windows themselves, I sprayed off the screens with a hose and cleaned the dirt off the grilles. When the cleaning was done I spent another hour putting all the screens and grilles back where they belonged.

After dinner I collapsed on the couch. It was time to catch up on all the internet surfing I hadn't done during the day.

Five years ago today: Got To Keep On Dancing