I love Milwaukee! Up till now we’ve had some flurries, but today we had serious flurries. As I am typing the roofs are white and the non-paved ground has some white. We aren’t supposed to get any accumulation, but it makes me happy.
Update: It turns out there was more snow than I realized. When I went to take Madison out there was about 1/2 inch on the ground. Yippee!
Wade came home last Thursday not too happy. He had taken off his wedding ring in the shop and put it in his pocket. Later that day he realized he didn’t have it on, but it was no longer in his pocket. (The funny part here is Wade no longer takes his ring off every time he sits down – only in the shop.) He was 90% sure it fell out of his pocket when he was in physical therapy. He even went by there to check the locker room for himself, but couldn’t find the ring. He spent the weekend wearing Uncle Frank’s ring, but was still annoyed about misplacing his. When he arrived at physical therapy today they had the ring! Evidently someone turned it in a few minutes after he left. So for now the count is still 3 rings in 4 years.
The four of us got up and had breakfast in time for church – a great accomplishment compared to the past two lazy mornings. After church we had lunch at one of my new favorite restaurants – Claim Jumper. Karen wanted a rematch in Spades and we never turn down a game. Then we decided to round out the afternoon with a little more Mario Kart (Karen kicks everyone’s butt).
Today we had some fun. We spent yesterday playing Mario Kart and today we decided to race real go karts – the fast kind. We drove almost to Chicago and had two races. Good luck on guessing who is who with our suits and helmets on.
Then we returned home, loaded Karen up with caffeine, and played Spades.
I finished up all the things on my list yesterday so tonight we get a nice relaxing evening before Daniel and Karen arrive. Wade made a fire and we spent most of the evening in front of it.
I always have a large list of things to get done before we have visitors. Daniel and Karen arrive tonight and the list included painting Wade’s office, painting the nursery door, and rehanging the nursery door. (Not to mention the cleaning, ironing, grocery shopping, etc.) It was late, but I got it all done. The door to the nursery is painted and hung. Wade’s office has painted trim, touched up wall paint, and a painted ceiling. The doors will have to wait for another day. Before:
Wade and I have slowly been accumulating new (and sometimes old) furniture. Today I found a downside. I no longer have a place to sit in my paint clothes. I used to be able to take a break at the kitchen table without changing clothes or worrying about the paint touching furniture. I was working on the trim in Wade’s office and as I looked around I couldn’t find a single chair (or coffee table) that I wouldn’t mind a touch of paint on. It’s a good thing I am almost done with this painting stuff.
And a new goal for getting my painting done – before my stomach outgrows my paint jeans. At 24 weeks I can still wear them, and I only have one more entire room to go….
I think Madison is a little embarrassed by her new favorite toy – a pink elephant. She doesn’t often play with toys and rarely seems attached to one in particular. A few weeks ago she was bored inside and I wouldn’t let her out because of the rain. I tried to entertain her with a new toy – a pink elephant that squeaks. She loves it and often carries it around, but she immediately drops it if I pick up a camera. The only thing I can figure is she is embarrassed.
We turned on the heat in the house a few weeks ago, but my office is still cold. A room full of single paned windows and no radiator is not good in Milwaukee. Wade had been hunting for a radiator but couldn’t find one to match our existing ones. Then he had the great idea of moving a radiator in the upstairs hall to the sunroom. The upstairs is always warmer than the downstairs and we are rarely up there except to sleep. We moved the radiator in to my office, but when Wade was installing it he stripped the threads on the piping. He was stumped so we called in a professional. After a week of waiting and a second visit, the man got it installed. I am now sitting in my nice warm office typing away. I love heat.
I love the snow! I knew today’s high was around 32 and snow was predicted, but I didn’t really think it would snow. We saw flurries on the way to church and they continued all day. Nothing stuck to the ground, but it still put a big smile on my face!
There are some projects I just can’t seem to start. Wade completed the closet doors and my only job was to remove the paint that had ended up on the windows. Normally this takes a straight razor blade and a few minutes. The kicker is the glass is textured and the paint was down in the grooves. Thank goodness the paint was latex and Judy told me Krud Kutter would remove latex paint. I did enough experimenting to verify it would work and then still couldn’t seem to finish. Well I did it – finally! It took three hours, a toothbursh, sponge, and dental pick, but the windows look great.
The only thing left is the top piece of molding around the door baseboards. Wade found a local place to reproduce the trim, but we haven’t installed it yet.
It seems that every house requires different tools, even if I am basically doing the same job. At the last house I was painting everything -walls, trim, ceiling, etc. My favorite tools were a heat gun and a belt sander. In this house, my favorite tools are my heat gun and an orbital sander. I think the type of sander has more to do with whether the trim was painted before (yes in the old house; no in the current house). The bad news is I am evidently hard on orbital sanders.
In the last few months I have managed to break all three of the sanders we owned – 2 porter cables and one Milwaukee. Granted we “acquired” them all used and they had already been fixed by Wade at least once before. Wade finally had enough and bought me a new Ridgid random orbital sander. I used it to finish up the sunroom and was quite pleased with how it worked. Wade picked it up to finish a door and it wouldn’t work. I claimed innocence – it was fine when I used it. He said history showed otherwise. We’d only had it a week so he returned it to Depot and got a new one, but I’m beginning to wonder if I am just bad luck.
Now for a trick to painting stained trim. I have mentioned in the past the trouble I have had with painting. No where on the internet or the local stores could I find a solution to both the stain showing through and the cracking. My best option had been to use the orbital sander with 60 grit sandpaper to try and remove all the varnish/shlack and then use Zinser BIN to seal the stain. If cracking occurred I would sand some more and apply a second coat. It was a messy, tedious process. Then by accident I discovered that my heat gun will remove the varnish/shlack. In fact, it works easier on varnish/shlack than paint. Then I can do a quick sand and paint – with no sanding in between coats or additional coats of Zinser. Too bad I realized this towards the end of my painting. Another quick fact – spackle actually works on the cracking wonderfully – especially for those areas that are almost impossible to sand.
Wade called me to his computer sounding very excited. Evidently he has just discovered that one of his favorite t-shirt websites, Threadless, now sells onesies. He now has something baby-related that he can get excited about. I have to admit that I was shocked he knew what a onesie was.
My dining room is getting closer and closer. Wade had bought a new light on Sunday, but didn’t start to install it until after the stores had closed. Turns out that there wasn’t actually a box in the ceiling, only a threaded screw. For once he didn’t have the necessary box on hand so the project was delayed till today. Now I have an installed light that is much improved over the original (which is going for free on craig’s list). The only thing left in the dining room is the windows – which are in my garage. The big question is when will Curtis come to install them?
Not to be outdone, I did stuff today too. I spent the afternoon in the basement organizing and rearranging my storage area. I am trying to convince Wade we have plenty of room to store the mattresses currently living in the nursery and our old kitchen table.
Well we were those people. We showed up to church an hour early – in time for the last few minutes of early church. Darn time change. Now the big question is do we go back at the appropriate time?
Update – It turns out we did not make it back to church. Wade’s knee was hurting so he took a long nap and I did some work. Then we were super productive – raking leaves; buying a new dining room light fixture (which is partially installed); tried a paint color for the nursery walls; cooked a few meals to freeze for Wade; and I finished off with ice cream with the girls.
Wade and I bought a dining room table today. When we moved to Milwaukee and got pregnant, we realized Wade probably wouldn’t have time to build us a dining room table for quite a while. Our old kitchen table was a little too small for the room. Thus began the hunt for a hard wood, but not too expensive, table. We finally found one we liked at World Market. Today it was on sale and we saved 10% by opening an account with them. Wade spent the afternoon assembling it as he listened to the GaTech football game on the radio (They won).
For once I am not the lazy (read as sleep the latest) one in the house. Madison has decided she doesn’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. She always gets in the bed with me when Wade leaves for work and now stays even after I get up. Today she came downstairs at 11:45 – what a lazy dog I have.
Milwaukee weather is surprising – it warmed up. When the weatherman predicted a high of 60 degrees, everyone wanted to be outside. Maren called and asked if I’d like to join her for a walk. We ventured out by the lake and had a great time. Elise stayed warm and shaded while we did all the work!
They (the weather people) predicted light snow mixed with rain and I didn’t believe them. I was wrong. I am sitting at my desk looking out my newly painted windows and seeing a little white stuff in with the rain. Since the temperature is in the low 40s I know nothing will stick, but it still puts a smile on my face!
We had visitors tonight! Christin and Kyle brought dinner (lasagna) and their English Mastiff puppy, Fred, over to visit. Fred is only 6 months old (I think) and weighs 110+ pounds. The first time he and Madison met they were the same size. Now there is a noticable difference and Madison is very perturbed not to be dominating. We laughed at the dogs antics and enjoyed the lasagna dinner.
Wade is definitely improving and trying to slowly wean himself off pain medicine. We were invited across the street for board games and gladly accepted. I had met Amber and Nick, but Wade had only heard about them. We did a lot of talking and played a new game (to us) “Apples to Apples” before Wade’s knee screamed for ice and medicine.
Wade had his ACL surgery today. His surgery time was 7:30 am so we had to be there by 6 am – very early for me these days. He was joking and happy before the needles started:
I would have taken a picture of the groggy Wade, but I wasn’t sure he would like that. He had a lot of trouble waking up, but we eventually got him home and into bed. The doctor said everything went well and to keep him on the pain medication at least until tomorrow.
One of Wade’s favorite holidays is Halloween – mostly because he can carve pumpkins. This is the first year we ventured out to a pumpkin patch. I think I was most excited to find a carmel apple.
Although it was fairly late when we got home from dinner we all carved pumpkins at Wade’s insistence and had a great time.
Wade’s parents came to visit for the weekend and wanted to help us with projects. How wonderful! We spent Friday and Saturday working and I now have all the trim in the hallway, the window frames in my bedroom, and all the trim in the nursery painted. I couldn’t believe how much quicker the painting went with help!
Hallway (balcony door and window frame):
Nursery (all trim – still need to find a wall color):
It took me almost a month of working pretty much every day, but the sunroom is stripped, sanded, and painted. I am so glad there are no more windows to paint. I think I would have to put them off till next year! Before:
Boy! We had our ultrasound this afternoon. After confirming the baby was healthy and developing on schedule the technician informed us we were having a boy.
Maren and Elise came by for a little while and we were playing in the living room when Wade got home. He had fun showing Elise how to play with my iphone.
I again worked all day on the sunroom windows – this is a bigger project than I thought. When Wade got home from work I wanted to go to Kenosha (an hour south) and look at a dining room table a man was selling on craig’s list. It was mission style and supposedly in perfect condition for a not so bad price. Wade decided if we were going that far we should drive further down to IKEA in Chicago to look for shelving for a closet in the nursery. The table was not solid wood, which the man had thought. For most people this might not be a big deal. Wade and I are hard on furniture and would like the option of refinishing a table top. It took much longer than anticipated to reach IKEA and then we realized they were closed – an hour earlier than we thought. It was a long night with nothing productive accomplished at the end. I did finish my book with all the car time.
I have heard it said that if TV were used in campaigns like today that FDR would never have been elected. I can see how that is very true. I just got around to watching the Vice Presidential Debate last night and the latest Presidential Debate this morning. I’m not much for posting on politics and don’t plan to. However by watching the debates and ignoring the discussion on issues, I have to say some of the candidates come across noticeably better. It’s amazing how much a joke that falls flat, or a goofy grin at the wrong time can help you to form an opinion. Strictly off the personality criteria I’d have to say my two favorites are Obama and Palin. They just seem much more personable, with-it (age does seem to matter), engaging, and a little less “me, me, me”. I liked that Palin agreed with Biden when appropriate or included him in her comment about they do both know what the role of Vice President entails. I didn’t like how McCain tried to make a joke about how he would actually answer a question or insert a comment about how Obama still hadn’t specified the health care fines. The points he was trying to make were fine, it was the way he said them. What annoyed me is that I would find myself paying less attention to their actual words (on the issues) and more on how they were delivered. Maybe I can get a transcript of the debates somewhere and just read their responses.
Curtis has been installing our new windows. He worked a couple of days and got all the vinyl windows installed and most of the exterior aluminum wrap done. We are still waiting for the wood windows to come in. Our house is going to look funny for the winter, but the white aluminum wrap should make painting the house next spring much easier.
I’ll get pictures of the windows from the inside after I get the woodwork around them painted – they all look a little odd right now.
I was taking a break from working on my windows today and decided to watch a little TV. I happened upon a show focusing on the deconstruction of a house (with no cable we only get about 8 channels). They pointed out a pneumatic nail remover, which I thought was super cool. I called Wade to tell him I wanted one and before he even really knew what it was he said, “No”. I can’t really blame him, but how cool would it be to have one?!?
Wade and I both spent the day working on our projects. His goal is to get the closet doors finished and mounted before his surgery. I am trying to get the sunroom done before our next visitors arrive. We’ve both learned we work much better with a goal. I was getting hungry for lunch and opened the refrigerator doors to this:
I think we have as many paint rollers and paint brushes (in the ziploc bags) as we do food. That’s normal right?
I took the week off work and have been working to get all the trim, and windows in the sunroom painted (or this week I worked on three windows and the two front doors). Wade and I had plans to go to a high school football game – something he has wanted to do for a while. I rushed to shower and when I came downstairs, Wade and Madison were curled up in front of a fire. Wade evidently decided it was a night to stay in, build a fire, pop popcorn, and watch a movie. I couldn’t have agreed more.
Wade and I joined the young couples at our church for a night of games. After dinner of pizza and salad, the boys disappeared into the living room to play the newly repaired Xbox (game of choice – Rock Band). The other three girls and I sat around the table and talked. It turns out Wade is an awesome singer or maybe it’s that he was so bad at playing the instruments. No one specified. Regardless, we both had a great time and ended up staying so late that no more projects were done that night.
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!