Month: September 2008

One of the projects Wade was most excited about was restoring the radiators. He had great plans to sandblast them all and then paint them a gunmetal grey. He even went so far as to get most of them out of the house and into the garage. About a month ago, he realized it might be best for this project to wait till next year. It would be especially nice if we could find someone else to do the work for a reasonable price. Wade had some help moving large items a few weeks ago and the radiators were moved back into the house. Tonight he hooked them all up. I am typing in the office waiting for them to start heating. It gets pretty chilly here at night. Because we drained the system before we moved in – for the floor sanding we had done – I have never had heat in the house. I can’t wait!

I got invited to a slumber party last night and decided to go. I knew theme was 1980 so I packed my old movies and a sleeping bag. Seven girls ordered pizza, pigged out on junk food, played games (Scene It and Catch Phrase), and watched movies (Footloose and Girls Just Want To Have Fun). There were even doughnuts for breakfast! Then reality returned and I headed home to get ready for church.

While in Paducah, I spent some time helping mom get ready for the rehearsal dinner. She wanted me to touch up the trim on some of the door frames. Being my mother, she didn’t provide me with paint but with white-out. I normally put on work clothes for anything even remotely messy, but didn’t think this qualified. I should have known. I somehow ended up with white-out on my jeans. I didn’t see it until it dried. I tried all the things I knew and couldn’t get it out. I even tried to cover it up with a fabric marker. Nothing worked. This happened to be my favorite pair of jeans and the only pair I brought to Paducah. I ran out to the mall and bought a new pair at American Eagle, but I was still bummed. I mentioned it to Wade on the phone and he said to bring them home. He’d try his magic.

Wow – Wade got out the white-out and the fabric marker! He has become really good at stain removal. His clothes always have random stains show up – we can’t even determine what most of them are or where they come from. This is the first time I have fully appreciated his skills.

As of this week, Wade and I only own one house! Our house in Anderson still hadn’t sold and the number of viewers abruptly dropped. It appears the housing market in Anderson took a good 6-8 months to drop off after the rest of the US. We had the appraisal done for the company buy-out and were shocked by the results. They were offering us almost exactly what we had wanted for the house (before the realtors told us we could get more). We left the house on the market for another 45 days and then officially took the buy-out. I canceled the utilities and we only own one house and that one’s in Milwaukee!
Good-bye Anderson House

We finally found greenery. I knew about a local nursery, Stein, but I didn’t realize they had an impressive inside with decorating touches. We made a quick stop at another mall before heading to the Third Ward for lunch with Maren and Elise. Mom was more than happy to have a little time to play with Elise while the rest of us finished lunch.

The three of us made another shopping trip after lunch and then headed home to put the finishing touches on my house.

Now I just have to get all my painting done and the only room left is the nursery.

Wade had been in Atlanta for the week and was supposed to fly in last night. Instead he bought a new car (2003 Audi A4 Avant) and was going to drive home. He planned to drive as far as he could and then get a hotel room. I woke up at 5 am to find Wade coming into the bedroom. Evidently he didn’t get tired and then was so close to home he drove the entire way. An 11 hour drive when you don’t leave until late afternoon is impressive. I had to get up around 7:30 (very early for me these days) to be ready to meet Curtis. (Curtis and his dad are putting in our new windows! We are having all of the standard windows in our house replaced with white vinyl – which should help with energy efficiency and make my painting much easier.) The first thing I did was sneak out to see Wade’s new car (stock photo, but you get the idea):

Mom, Carolyn, and I spent the day shopping. We found a used bookstore downtown that sold leather back books. We used these to fill the shelves in my living room:

Then we spent the rest of the day in Cedarburg – a small town north of Milwaukee with lots of charm and shops. We enjoyed walking around, but didn’t do much buying.

Wade had gotten some help moving my big white piece into the sunroom. Mom and Carolyn quickly had it looking good.

After shopping at all the old standby’s – Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Linen ‘n Things, Target, TJ Max, and Marshalls, we spent the afternoon looking for an equivalent to “Hobby Lobby”. We haven’t found one yet and evidently I desperately need “greenery”.
Now I just have to get the walls and trim painted – the next project on my list.

Mom and her good friend, Carolyn, came back to Milwaukee with me. They wanted to see my house and I love for them to “decorate”. We rode the train and arrived in Milwaukee around 5 pm. I had just enough time to pick Madison up from the kennel and then we decided there was time for a little shopping. One of our local department stores has a GoodWill Sale twice a year. For every item of clothing you donate to GoodWill they give you a 20% off coupon – good for any item in the store. I had 15 coupons and they expired today. Mom and I didn’t buy anything, but Carolyn found the bedding she had been looking for. To make it even better the store is no longer carrying Tommy Hilfiger so all items were already marked 60% off. Carolyn bought the entire set and had it shipped home for $17 – what a deal!

My mom was consumed this weekend with Allison’s wedding. Mom had a party on Thursday night and hosted the rehearsal dinner at her house on Friday evening. Then the wedding was on Saturday. Poor Allison has quite a few wedding stories to go with her big day. The local business pressing her gown burned to the ground hours after her dress was picked up. The rehearsal dinner was supposed to be outside but the rainy weather forced it indoors. One of her brothers got caught in a storm and was quite late flying into Paducah. One of the groomsmen’s wives was admitted to the hospital and he wasn’t sure if he would make it. Allison was supposed to take a carriage ride from the church to the reception, but the rain came at just the wrong time. Regardless of all the minor hiccups the wedding was beautiful and Allison is now married!

(I had a picture of mom and I, but my memory card and I fought over it. The card won and the picture has disappeared.)

I rode the train to KY on Wednesday and have been playing around Paducah for the last few days. I have eaten at my favorite restaurants (Chongs and El Chico). I have visited with family and friends. Then I ran all the errands that still seem easier to do in Paducah than anywhere else. For instance, Wade loves Gold Label shirts. The bad part is they are only sold at Dillard’s which we don’t have in Milwaukee. He tends to be a little hard on his clothes and the shirts don’t last as long as we’d like. Right now he is down to four. I went to Dillards and basically bought every Gold Label shirt they had in his size. Maybe this will last us till Christmas.

My workload has drastically increased since March and I am definitely working full time if not more. Wade and I decided having someone help with the cleaning would make us both happier in the end. I didn’t want to hire a service simply because I was looking for something more flexible and a little cheaper. I posted on Craig’s List and the first person I “hired” never showed up. The second lady came today. She was here about three hours and I am so thankful I didn’t have to do the cleaning.

I used to love the Schwan man chicken fajita meat and the breaded chicken strips when I was young. I can’t wait to see if they are as good as I remember.

Update – I had the chicken fingers for lunch just the way I remember – wrapped in a flour tortilla with ketchup. It was perfect. Maybe I’ll have the same for dinner. With Wade out of town my eating habits are always a little unusual.

I have been talking about getting a larger monitor for months, but have never really done anything about it. Wade decided we should go buy it this weekend and we did. I have a new Samsung 26″ monitor and I love it! I had been hoping for dual monitors, but my laptop does not support them. This is definitely the next best thing. I read papers on the computer all day so this should make life much nicer. It turns out my monitor is even bigger than Wade’s – I win!

Our neighbor, Steve, invited us over for a potluck afternoon. Steve is a musician and likes to play his instruments right outside our bay window, but we didn’t realize all of his friends were too. Wade and I spent a couple of hours listening to the music and enjoying the talent.

Wade loves soccer. Soccer does not love Wade. It was responsible for his messed up knee in 2003 and kept him from playing for a long time. He finally starts up a game here and comes home last night with a hurt knee (the other one). He stayed off of it last night and we are waiting to see how bad it is. We’re hoping just a sprain and not torn like last time. Only time will tell.

Update – Wade decided to go ahead and make a doctor’s appointment. The doctor evidently sees a lot of minor injuries and was intrigued by Wade’s. He has had his first appointment (confirmed torn ACL), is going now for his MRI, and has his follow up appointment this afternoon. At least they aren’t wasting any time. Maybe he can get his surgery scheduled for pretty soon. Hopefully he’ll be back to 100% and done with physical therapy by the time baby arrives.

I finished my project too! The windows have been stripped, sanded, and painted. I even went so far as to scrape the leaded edges and clean the glass. (For those of you who know my quirks – I had to use 3/4 of a roll of paper towels.) Now the living room looks put together. I think the last remaining project is retiling the fireplace, but we still aren’t sure what we want to do there..

Click here for a picture of the windows before.

Wade finished the closet inserts tonight. Obviously the bottom hasn’t been trimmed and he still plans to add a shoe shelf and bottom drawer. But my clothes can go back in – yeah! I think the goal this weekend is to finish the doors, but that’s all up to Wade. I just wanted my clothes back in a closet instead of all over the guest bedroom.

I think I am about done selling on eBay. It used to be a great way to get rid of weird items that were worth a little too much to donate. However, people have become insane.
Here is my post about my old cell phone, ” USED Motorola MotoRazr V3 (AT&T) – I have had this phone a couple of years – it is well used. There is a crack in the exterior transparent covering – it does not affect the exterior screen. The interior is shown in the picture. There are some cracks and scratches. There is also some dust under the transparent covering. The phone comes with a battery and charger, but not a SIM card. I used the phone until last month and did not have any problems. The phone does have a built in camera.” I also included a picture showing the bad shape of the phone.

I was impressed when it sold for $30. The winner (who is a first time eBay user) paid and then started asking questions. She kept asking if the phone was in good shape and to guarantee it would work (all after the auction ended). I explained that it worked last time I used it, but there were no guarantees. The phone was well used for two years and not in great shape. I knew she wouldn’t be happy when she received it and she wasn’t. Her comment on my feedback, “the phone exterior was in good condition, but the interior was filty and damaged” (her spelling). Geez. I thought I was clear, but maybe not?

Wade and I got the first baby gift in the mail today. My GSP friend, Travis, and his wife, Emilie, sent a baby blanket. The best part – Emilie made it. I am so impressed!

We still aren’t going to count the days it was not cleaned, but the fish tank is clean. For a while I used the excuse that the baby fish had never known a clean tank and might not like it. Wade didn’t find that one too funny. I finally got everything out to clean it and realized I didn’t have any filters. I love my tank (any other tank would have been solid green after so long), but none of the local stores carry the filters. I ordered a couple and they arrived today. The baby fish (who we never named) now has a clean tank and seems very happy.

Most people have bird feeders so they can watch the pretty birds. We have bird feeders to keep our dog entertained. She will sit for hours under the bird feeders just watching. Every once in a while she gets excited, but for the most part she just watches the birds come and eat.

Wade and I are have moved back into our bedroom. We still don’t have closests, but the messy part is done and the room is painted. Yeah! Wade spent the day working on the closets, but my guess is it will be a few weeks before the shelves are built, painted, and installed.

The before and during pictures are here.