Month: October 2007

Wade and I were prepared this year. We had tons of candy and didn’t run out till 9 pm. I still had to turn quite a few kids away, but it was much better than last year when we turned our light off at 7 pm. I am still astounded by the number of kids we have come to our neighborhood. The parents drive around the small park and the kids knock on doors.

Emma came to trick or treat. She is wearing a costume her dad wore when he was her age. Cute, huh?

It’s official. I now have a for sale sign in my yard. I have to admit I don’t like seeing it there. I don’t like knowing I have to leave my house. I’m excited about the move and Wade’s new job, but I want to take my house with me. Oh well, I’m holding out hope that I will find an even better house in Milwaukee.

Wade spent the weekend creating an awesome website of pictures to facilitate selling our house. I think he did a great job.

Wade has had a lot of problems remodeling the bathroom. In his words, “It fights me every step of the way.” He had to return the sink three times to the plumbing supply store because it didn’t fit the vanity top. The first time it was because the literature gave the wrong dimensions. The second time he got a sink from a bad mold. He has had these kinds of issues from the start. When he got ready to start the crown molding he was worn out. He called a man from our bible study, Danny, who works as a contractor. Danny came over and they had the molding up in two hours. Wade had intended to pay for the help, but Danny wouldn’t let him. We’re going to come up with a creative way to repay the favor.
I spent the afternoon painting the crown molding and doing a few touch up things. Now it is all done and ready to use. I just have to move all of our stuff back downstairs.

The bathroom is done -almost. The only two lacking pieces are the crown molding and the air vent cover. The walls and trim are painted, the lights are installed, the vanity and plumbing are completed, the tile is sealed, and the decorating is finished!
The old bathroom:

The new bathroom:

Wade and I have always had my pinball machine in the living room. My mom convinced us that didn’t look quite right. We moved the pinball machine to the empty dining room and created a new nook area in the living room. I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.

Melissa has a three-legged dog, Taylor. Taylor is about 7 years old and a very calm, well behaved dog. Madison is hyper and rambunctious and very lovable. Melissa had a lot of fun playing chase around the house with Madison and then jumping on the couch. I bet she will still be glad to get home to Taylor and a calm house.

If all I do is talk about the bathroom, that’s because it’s the focus of our life right now. We spent Sunday painting the walls and ceiling. Wade has spent all of today working on the trim. He is almost done with the baseboards and door frame. Then comes the caulking and painting. I can’t wait till we put in the vanity – that will make it look like a bathroom.

It’s midnight and Wade is still working, but I am headed to bed. My mom and sister are coming to visit tomorrow. I’m sure there will be some good, non bathroom, stories there.

My dad always seems to have an answer for all of my random questions. He seems to know at least a little bit about everything – something I also appreciate in Wade. Cars happen to be one of my dad’s specialities – what with driving a race car and all. We spent the day making small repairs on my car. I had gotten quotes for quite a few problems and was appalled at the cost. I ended up spending 1/4 of the money for the parts and we installed them ourselves. Wade also spent the day working on my CD player. He did get my CDs out, but it isn’t working yet. Darn wreck and stupid CD player.

After a little football and a short nap, we went to Chophouse 47 for dinner. I have seen this restaurant on our way to Bible Study and always wanted to try their steaks. Wade and i eat out a lot, but not that nice. Dad and Laura usually enjoy a nice meal so this seemed like the perfect time. Wade and I agreed it was a great meal, but I’m not sure I would go back. I think Chops in Atlanta has them beat.

Antolio came again today and put our tile floor in place. He was only at our house a few hours today – in comparison to the 14 hours yesterday. I think he has done a wonderful job.

On a very different note, my Dad and Laura came to visit for the weekend. They arrived on time for dinner so we ran out to grab a quick bite and show them the town. I think they were appropriately impressed with Anderson. Laura stopped at the Russell Stover Outlet and bought me chocolate so I told her she is welcome anytime!

I came home at lunch time to find a young Russian guy tiling the back of our tub. I had no idea he was going to be at our house until midnight. (The guy worked 16 hours!) The tub area did get done and the floor will be tomorrow.

It seems he and Wade had a misunderstanding. Wade showed him our materials and the design. Tony thought we had all large tiles. He didn’t realize how many small tiles would have to be cut for the shower area. It meant a lot more time and would have changed his original quote. When Wade realized all of this he told Tony he would pay more, but Tony wouldn’t hear of it. He wanted to stand by his quote. I think a big tip is in order.

We are racing against the clock. Wade finished putting up the drywall, but it has to be sanded before the tile guy comes on Thursday. Wade is determined to get it done today. I am headed to bed at midnight and he is still working – but he’s getting close.

Wade and I have some bug problems in our house – spiders and cockroaches (the joys of an old house in South Carolina). A few months ago we called a local company “Apex”. They spray quarterly for $65 per visit and come again in between visits if needed. A month after the initial visit I was still seeing bugs so I called to set up another appointment. A different man arrived and sprayed. After talking to him, we realized we had not needed the initial treatment that we needed – dusting. He said the man was new, but should have done it. He was out of the dust but told me to call and schedule for it or I would continue to have problems. I did as he suggested (all of this took another month or two). Then I get a call wanting to schedule my quarterly spraying for the same day the man is coming to dust. I explained to the woman on the phone that I was interested in paying for another service when I hadn’t gotten what I should have with the initial service. I told her it was essentially paying double for one service. I’m not sure if she ever understood or not. She spoke with her manager and then told me they couldn’t waive the fee. I told her I wanted to cancel my service – I had seen no decrease in the number of bugs. I think she never understood what I was saying. Oh well – we’re moving soon anyway.

Wade and I have some new furniture. Debra, from work, has a second job at Pottery Barn and helped me pick out some furniture. I finally got a new coffee table and he has a new desk. Now we just need a stool for his desk. The pictures below are from the catalog – I’ll get some of our house after I manage to clean all the drywall dust up.

The trip to Milwaukee was for Wade to meet with an employee of METCO and to get a job offer. After much discussion, Wade is accepting the job and we are moving to Milwaukee. His new job is in a group he is excited about, not to mention quite a raise. This is all happening rather quickly and they’ve told me I can’t take my house (so sad). Wade should start on October 29th and I should be moving up there around Christmas time. The relocation package is great, but we have to get the bathroom finished before we can put the house up for sale. We did spend some of our time in Milwaukee looking at houses and there are lots of old ones, but wow the prices are high. We are excited but a little overwhelmed with everything that has to happen now.

As for me – I know I have a job at METCO if I want one, but I’m going to wait and see. The guys at TTi are not happy about us leaving – especially me. It’s great to feel valued, but now I actually feel bad for leaving. I have had one VP offer to pay for my divorce and another offer to double my salary. My boss gave me lots of compliments and then told me he knew we had to do what was best for us. Overall everyone has handled it very well, but I will be sorry to leave. I love my job.
For some information on the city of Milwaukee click here.

Wade spent the whole day in meetings at METCO (Milwaukee Electric Tool Company). I spent two hours in meetings, a few hours working from the hotel room, and the rest of the day shopping for a new pair of jeans. I finally found the perfect style at American Eagle and bought two pairs – a short for to wear with flip flops and a regular to wear with winter shoes. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, I met up with Wade and some of the guys from work for pizza at Pistol Pete’s.

After dinner Wade and I were finding our way back to the hotel. We had a GPS unit, but Milwaukee is set up on a grid pattern so it is never difficult to find your way to one of the major streets. We were flying right along when suddenly a car turns around and follows us. Wade had just flown by a cop. The man pulled us over and Wade told him we were lost (which was true). He obviously took pity on us. He informed Wade he had been going 50 in a 30 mph zone, but was just giving him a warning. Then he even lead the way for us back to one of the major roads. Whew – thank goodness for the nice police man in Elm Grove. Wade has done really well in not getting tickets, but that would have been a doozy.

Wade and I are not normally picky about hotels. Give us some clean sheets and a decent bathroom and we’re fine. Well we did not have a good experience at the Double Tree in Milwaukee. In fact there were several issues:

1.) I woke up Saturday morning and took a lukewarm shower. I figured it had to be a scald guard, but there wasn’t much I could do about it while taking my shower.

2.) While taking a nap around 4 pm we were awakened by construction in the next room – hammering, power tools, etc.
At this point we did complain and ask about the scald guard. The man at the front desk had no idea what we were talking about and simply moved us to another room.

3.) The building is a O-shape. The easiest way to get to our room was to turn right from the front entry. Evidently their meeting rooms overflow into the pathways to hotel rooms – so they close down the path. That meant we had to walk all the way around the building to get to our room. We didn’t just barge through because it was a wedding, but sheesh.

4.) I got ready to take a bath and realized there was still a scald guard on the shower. At this point I just took it off myself. Someone else someday who stays in room 244 will thank me.

5.) The key cards to our rooms kept getting messed up. Three times we got to our room and the key didn’t work. We would walk back down to the front desk and have it reprogrammed.

I have to admit that the rooms were clean and the staff tried to be helpful, but this was not a good stay. Wade and I are still having fun in Milwaukee though!

Wade and I had a flight to Milwaukee at 1:40 pm from Greenville. I went in to work till 10:45 and Wade went in till 8:30. I got home a little late, but we thought we had plenty of time. We got in our cars and planned to make two stops – one to drop off Wade’s car for repairs and one to leave Madison at the kennel Wade had found. As we were leaving our neighborhood, Wade turned around and headed back to the house. I found out later he had forgotten boxers. I took Madison on to the kennel. When I arrived, I was informed this particular place didn’t board dogs, but they gave me a list of local places. I ran by the repair shop to pick up Wade and we started calling boarding places. We finally found one and dropped Madison off. At this point we also realize Wade’s boxers are still sitting in his car – oh well. We hurry to the airport and make it on board the flight with minutes to spare. We never seem to have an easy trip. Thankfully all of our flights were on time.

We got into Greenville in time for dinner with some work people at a great Tapas restaurant. Then we stopped for frozen custard – one of Wade’s favorite treats – and a popular dessert in Milwaukee.

I haven’t been giving daily updates, but the bathroom is still moving along. Wade now has all of the walls, ceiling, and floor out. Today the man came to reglaze our tub. I am shocked at the difference. He repaired a chip and put a two part epoxy on. The tub looks brand new, but still has the “old” charm. Now if we can just keep it protected while we finish all the work. The nice man did leave us some touch up paint after he saw the state of our bathroom!

It turns out eight pounds is pretty heavy when you drop it on the tip of your finger. I was just finishing up my workout and obviously my arms were a little tired if eight pounds was too much to manage. I was putting it back on the rack and it slipped – pinning my finger between the rack and the weight. I now have a nice bruised fingertip.