Day 23. Tach it up, Tach it up, Buddy gonna shut you down

This has nothing to do with the Beach Boys, I'm just feeling a little defeated at the moment.

Mini-Blinds 1. Amy 0.

For the past couple of months I've been avoiding spending any time in my kitchen at night. This is because there are two windows in my kitchen that are currently un-dressed and have a nice view of the street. Now, my apartment is not THAT sort of apartment, I just haven't got around to installing any sort of curtain or blind (or even a bedsheet). So I feel sort of like I'm on display for my entire neighbourhood when I stand in my kitchen at night.

Simple solution. Go buy some curtains. *sigh* if only it were that easy...

The first hurdle in anything like this is deciding what window treatment to actually go with. I mulled over this one for awhile and finally chose simple, inexpensive, and practical: mini-blinds.

Second hurdle was a little more annoying. I have gianormous windows in my apartment! After checking and double checking all the stock of every store in town and realizing that all the blinds were a good 10 inches too short for my windows, I finally had to order custom-fit blinds from the Sears website. Note to future buyers: custom-fit means that you can't return them, so make sure you're careful when you place your order.

Third hurdle... I don't own a power drill. BUT, I do have a handy-dandy ratchetting screwdriver! (note to self: GO BUY A POWER DRILL!)

Now, here's where the fun starts. I opened the box, read the installation directions, dug out everthing I needed to get the job done, climbed up onto my windowsill and started twisting this overly-long screw into the window frame with my handy-dandy screwdriver. Over my head. Have you ever screwed a screw into solid wood with your arm way up over your head while standing on a windowsill? No? Well, lets just say it isn't the easiest job in the world.

All things considered, it was going smashingly well and I was very happy at the thought of actually having blinds on my window. Just a few more turns of the screwdriver and the bracket would be in place. And with one final twist... the head of the screw twisted right off!

AUGH!!!

And that's where I called it a night.

What exactly do I do now anyway? I've got an entire screw screwed into my window frame with no head on it - no way to get it back out again. Sigh...