May 26, 2011

The days just keep speeding by so I'm a little late with my posting as I try to get back to my one per week schedule.   My only excuse is we have been continuing to work on getting our new home settled.  We have gotten all the boxes unpacked, the furniture in its most likely final spot, and are starting to figure out where all the art work will go on the walls.  I've included a few photos of the dining room and living room to give an idea of our current layout.
We have started to start some changes to the house, including laying out some of our initial plans to renovate the bathrooms and third floor.  We have already upgraded the security system and installed a hot water recirculation pump so that it is possible to get hot water in the kitchen without draining Lake Michigan of water to do so.  As you might imagine for any new home owner, there have been several runs to Home Depot for little odds and ends as we try to update some of the house's infrastructure.

We have also have gained first hand experience in the joys of owning an older home.  As I have had the plumber out twice now to fix leaking valves and pipes (if you also include the trip to install the recirculation pumping system that is three trips in three weeks - I'm thinking of just putting him on a retainer).  The first instance was when a water shut-off valve for an outside faucet started leaking when I opened it for the summer season.  Not a big deal since I could just close it again and wait for the plumber to show up.  The second instance was way more fun.  I went into the basement to experience hot water jetting out of a pinhole leak in a pipe and covering the walls and floor with water.  Once again the plumber came quickly - we have found a really great plumber, fortunately - and we are back in business.  All of these fun events, coupled with the thrill of our pressure system toilets from 1919 has made me an expert on where all the shut off valves for water are in the house.  Of course with a 90 year old house, there are lots of shut off valves as various homeowners and plumbers over the years have added valves they felt were needed.  I started counting the all the valves once but gave up after I hit 20 (gas, hot water, cold water, radiator heating lines, you name it I've got a shut off valve for it - plus they span several generations of technology, my own little historical museum of valves).  There is one upside to an older home I discovered, floor drains in the basement which do make it easier to clean up water spills.   

Enough of the house.  Last week was filled with visitors. Our good friend from Connecticut, Bruno, had a conference in Madison and was able to join us for an evening to see the house and fill up on our homemade pizza.  The next day as Bruno headed out in the morning, my parents and sister, Cheryl, came up from Chicago on Amtrak.  After seeing the house and having lunch at Harry's Bar and Grill, it was time to put Dad to work on the house.  We removed 4 doors to open up the floor plan and tightened up all the handles on the house while Mom helped in reorganizing the rooms - including a great suggestion in the kitchen allowing us to bring up our larger kitchen table.  Sis had to head home the same day due to work, but Mom and Dad stayed overnight to enjoy the Milwaukee Art Museum and dinner with Jo in downtown Milwaukee the next day before catching the train back to Chicago.  Then this last weekend, we enjoyed a visit from Jo's sister, Kathy.  Jo and Kathy got together with some friends from their hometown and high school that were in town for Marquette's graduation.   Everyone got together at "Saz's" which apparently is a locally famous bar/restaurant by the ball park.  Afterwards, we enjoyed catching up with Kathy discussing retirement (like all good aging baby boomers do now) and getting her ideas on our home layout.  Sunday dawned bright and sunny so after our run we walked with Kathy to a local coffee shop before she had to head out.  After a quick trip to the gym we then tackled a nap and some more house organizing chores.

Jo's job continues to go well and she is feeling more and more settled into the role and company.  She has already been there 3 months so time does fly.  We are looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend and hopefully the start of summer - if it would only get warm and stop raining!!! 

May 17, 2011



Leaving Jo's Temp Residence

It has been a long time since the last post due to the move into our new house.  First, we were without any internet access for a week and then we were swamped with unpacking hundreds of boxes.  We are finally through unpacking those boxes that we plan to unpack now, so it is time to start back with some posting.  I'll try to get back to a more regular weekly update although since we aren't probably going to get a in garden in this year, I'm not sure what I'll be writing about as the summer wears on.

The New Homestead

Jo and I are settling into our new home.  As with any transition there have been a lot of adjustments from Jo's new commute, figuring out where everything should go, what shouldn't make the cut for being in the house, new gym, and the list goes on.  As with any change, each day is a little more settled than the day before.  We are enjoying the fact we can now walk to our gym and there are restaurants within walking distance.  Although, we are missing some of our favorite foods that aren't carried by the local grocery stores. 

The New Kitchen

The last two weeks have been primarily occupied with opening over 300 boxes, figuring out what is inside and where it should now go.  One of the first challenges was clearing enough space in the room to actually have somewhere to put the unpacked items.  We had so much stuff that the boxes and furniture alone filled the room.  While we have most of the boxes unpacked, the third floor and garage look like the warehouse at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.  We don't have sufficient bookcases for the many books we have accumulated, so until some construction happens, there are about 40 boxes filled with books stuffed upstairs.  We are also still adjusting our furniture to find the right combinations for each room.  Not sure we have all that set yet, but we have a workable version 1 (or 2, 3 depending on how you count our rearrangements so far).  A few photos are included to give an understanding of the challenges of shrinking your house by almost 50%.

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

On the "not working on the house front 100%", we have enjoyed several visits from Kathy, John, and Drew (Jo's sister, significant other and Drew) which is one nice advantage of our new location.  My sister has visited and my parents are coming up from Chicago in a couple of days.  We are slowly finding new running paths with the advantage of many different runs due to the number of interlocking streets.  We particularly enjoy the runs along the lake although we are ready for more spring/summer like weather in which to enjoy our runs.  We also attended our first Brewers game courtesy of the Northwestern Mutual luxury box to which Jo can obtain access occasionally with her new job.  So it hasn't been all work.