new S C R E E N S

I'm trying to focus on solutions rather than problems. Attempting that optimist-like perspective in hopes that it lifts me up. This week it's bugs. They're terrible and we know as it gets warmer they'll only get worse. More than once, I raved about the windows here. I still think they're fabulous, but they're missing one very important component- screens.

We're in the country, with chickens, cows, horses, fields, tons of flies and BUGS- we need screens. None of these houses {German or American rentals} have them. I just don't get it. Along with the abundance of insects, there is no air conditioning over here. Just another convenience along with ice-makers and garbage disposals that they have yet to figure out. Americans truly are spoiled. 

I discovered aphids last week on my basil plant {on our lower level}- no wonder I couldn't keep it alive. It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed aphids ALL over our bathroom window one level up.

There are no trees outside this window {actually, no trees around our house at all}, no plants in the bathroom and I have no idea why they decided to make their way in that window. That's just way too close to everything... our toothbrushes, brushes, our bedroom, our bed. Yuck.

So, Caden and I set out and bought screens. More like netting, we found them in the German store- in little boxes with tape even included. What a deal. While putting them up, it seriously felt like the most ghetto {even perhaps redneck-ish} project to date over here or even ever. Taping up screens?

I think I laughed out loud as I opened the window and saw Scotch tape holding the black rubber sealant around the inner rim of the window frame. That's not the only tape holding this house together, either.

The tape is adhesive on the back side, then little teeth on the other side. You put it up around the window, then stretch the netting up over the teeth-like edge. Done deal. You're supposed to cut off the excess netting as well. I didn't think it would make much of a difference, so it remains untrimmed.

My taped-up screens fit right in with the rest of this house.

Surprisingly, they're up on a few windows and they're actually working. Way less obvious than I expected and they are still in place. I thought for sure they would have fallen down by now.

Not one of my proudest DIY-moments, but I am excited to not have aphids.

For now, at least.