A little more skiing and Cedarburg

Winter decided to let us know it wasn't quite done with us as yet.  We had a 7 inch snowfall Thursday night into Friday morning.  This was enough to justify hauling out the snowblower so I got some enjoyable time flinging snow far and wide.  Unfortunately when your driveway is only about 30 yards long you don't get to enjoy it as long as you would like.  The snow won't stick around long since we are supposed to go up into the 40's today and possibly get some drizzle.  With the new snow, we got up Saturday morning and headed to Lake Park to get in an hour of cross country skiing.  This provides some nice cross training from our usual running and without all the pounding on our 50 year old joints.  It was cold enough though to make us enjoy the warm shower right afterwards.  The other good news is we found another park this morning during our run that we could try out for skiing so you can get some pictures with a different background.

I spent the week cleaning up the house from the aftermath of our party and then doing my usual painting.  I have now finished the entire first floor of the house - well at least I had it finished, more on this below.  It is time to move up to the second floor and finish off two closets in the master bedroom and Jo's study and then that floor will be done as well.  Although, we just decided to redo the banister which is adding more paint work - will it ever be done.  On top of that we are experiencing a small leak from our master bath which is causing some spotting in the living room ceiling.  We have the contractor who did our bath renovations out trying to the find the source and fix it, but this is going to mean some demolition of the living room.  Leading to, you guessed it, more painting - oh yeah!  My other big accomplishment for the week was finally getting the pottery studio completely set up in the basement.  All that is needed now is to order some glazes, find a local supply of clays and supplies, and get the kiln hooked into the electrical system and we are ready to generate more pots no one really needs (but you have all been to kind to say no to receiving).

Jo had a lot of evening dinners with work this week as she is trying to hire some new folks for her team and had a professional women's dinner to attend.  Then she had a one day conference out of town so I was a bachelor for an evening.  All her travels went well but she didn't have much downtime this week.

Saturday morning after our skiing and lifting, we headed up to Cedarburg, WI which is supposed to be a cute historic town somewhat like New Hope, PA or Mystic, CT.  It was certainly a lovely town and we had a great lunch of delicious hamburgers.  We stopped in several of the stores, mostly just window shopping although Jo did find a necklace and earrings for $20 - quite the deal.  After taking a picture of the Interurban Bridge (was used for a train from Milwaukee to Green Bay with a stop in Cedarburg) we headed home.  We caught up with Sheri and Bruno in CT, via Facetime (again what cool technology) and a dinner of broccoli/cauliflower stir fry (which used up leftover vegetables from our party).  Today we plan to laze around the house and catch up on a few chores.

Neighborhood Party and Old Friends

We had a busy, busy weekend, more about that down below.  Our weather continues to be quite balmy for a Wisconsin winter and it has been great since we haven't had to lose a lot of running days due to snow.  Unfortunately, we also haven't had the chance to get a lot of use out of our cross country skis.  But being warm is always nice.

Nothing too special about the work week.  We had a evening dinner for work as Northwestern Mutual was interviewing a candidate and significant other.  So I had to suit up for once but we had a wonderful dinner at the University Club in downtown Milwaukee so it was probably worth it.  The food was excellent, although the dessert was a tad overcooked.  I completed painting the spindles on the first and second floor railings - there was a fun job, can't wait to tackle the spindles to the third floor.  Otherwise, we worked out during the evenings and planned for our weekend party.  It is almost getting light enough in the evening to start doing our evening walks more regularly.

Friday evening, Jo's roommate from college and fellow Quincian came up for a visit along with her fiance.   We hadn't seen Mary for quite a while and she was her usual hilarious self.  It was also nice to meet Greg who she'll tie the knot with later this year.  Friday was spent catching up on all the happenings and stories from Jo and Mary's high school and college days along with the news on high school classmates and the story of how Greg and Mary met.  We stayed up way too late, especially for me, but it was great to hear all the news.

We were up bright and early on Saturday and after a quick run, we started preparing food for our party.  Kathy and John came over from Madison to see Mary and help with the party so the energy level in the house was high (a nice way of saying with Mary, Jo, and Kathy all talking the introverts in the crowd could have used a quiet place).  For the party, we had invited all the neighbors on our block along with a few other folks to help beat back the winter blues.  It was also a chance to show off all the renovations we had done, including the new painted job.  Everyone was polite enough to say our bathrooms look great but we also had quite a few comments about my Mom's artwork that decorates many of our walls.  We had made too much food, but I always figure it is better to have to put some away then explain to someone that there isn't any more food.  Plus I love leftovers.

To cap off the weekend, after a walk to the local coffee shop/bakery for a cinnamon roll, we headed to the Greek festival.  This was mostly to see the Frank Lloyd Wright designed church since it was open for tours, but we also got to enjoy some Greek food (gyros for Jo and I) and dancing.  It was quite a full weekend with lots of fun activities but it did feel really good to collapse into bed, read the newspaper a little, and get a good nights sleep.

Friday Night Fish Fry

As I mentioned previously, talk about how warm the weather has been and nature will get you.  As with much of the country, our temperatures plummeted on Friday.  We woke to a chilly 9 degrees Saturday morning with a 20 mph wind.  Which I'll admit was enough to convince me to snuggle back into bed and then later head down to the basement to do some cross-training on our elliptical machine (cross-training is my nice term for when I'm to lazy or wimpy to get outside and run).  It was one of those cold days that being outside for just 15 to 20 minutes started to give you a headache from how cold your forehead would get. 

We both had a reasonably calm week with our respective jobs - Jo at work and me home painting - so we decided to have a busy weekend.  Thursday night we went to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see their new exhibit (Accidental Genius) featuring the work of artists that where self taught.  While there was many interesting works, there were also a fair number of pieces where I struggled to figure out what made this art as compared to someone just scribbling on a piece of paper.  Also, it was interesting how many of the artists where in mental institutions at some point in their lives.  But either way, it was good to get immersed in some art and spend time discussing the merits of the various pieces.  They also had a display of local high school kids works and some of which were absolutely phenomenal - well worth going to see.

Friday we headed out for a Milwaukee tradition of Fish Fry Friday's, which happen all year round not just during Lent like many other communities.  We tried out Tess's which is only a few blocks from our home.  We had excellent appetizers - squash ravioli and spinach salad - which we shared and then enjoyed tucking into some fried fish and sweet potato fries.  You sure can't beat deep frying for making food tasty - we both decided the perch was a little better than the talapia.  Well worth a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood, although if you want an inside table a reservation would be recommended unless you don't mind eating at the bar (which we didn't and the bar tender was really friendly).

Saturday morning after working out inside we headed to Woodman's grocery store to fill up our food stocks and then met several Quincy folks at a local restaurant for lunch so Jo could fill up on her hometown's gossip.  The Quincy folks have been getting together for many years as a result of having their kids attend Marquette (Quincy is heavily Catholic so Marquette is a popular college choice).  Now even though many have had their kids graduate they still get together to see a basketball game once or twice or year.  Since we are now here, we have managed to get in on the party.  After that we headed out to the Milwaukee Home Show to get ideas on things to do to our house and see the latest home technology.  We spoke with several cabinet makers, looked at cool floor plans, and got some interesting ideas for our future kitchen.  Then it was home to a home cooked dinner of scallops with pasta and some well deserved rest.

Today we decided to brave the 15 degree temperatures and headed out for our daily run.  While chilly, it wasn't too bad especially as the wind had died down.  We are planning to read the paper in front of our fire and then I'm sure some naps will be in store later.  Just to keep the thread going on the painting front - all the major rooms and halls are done on the first two floors.  I have several closets to go and the spindles on the stair railings, but the end is in sight.  There is some major work on the stairwell to the third floor and the bathroom on the third floor is till waiting for me.  I figure I'll be finishing just in time to get ready to paint the outdoor woodwork.

Trip to Madison and Badger Hockey

Another week of winter behind us although even though Punxsutawney Phil, our favorite groundhog, saw his shadow this winter hasn't been too bad so far - of course, making comments like that is usually enough to bring on the snow and cold.  Last week was filled with our standard fare - painting for me (finished the stairwell to the first floor and part of the first floor hallway), work for Jo, and exercising for both of us.  We did manage to squeeze in a night of yoga which left us both feeling a bit sore, but more stretched out.  We need to find more time for that.

Friday night was pizza night and catching up on some of our taped shows.  Then after a run Saturday morning and some lifting we headed over to Madison.  We caught up with Kathy while watching the Wisconsin/Ohio State basketball game on TV.  That evening we all attended the Badger Hockey game.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a good day overall for the Badgers as they lost both the basketball and hockey game.  Even so, it was a nice day out and we got to enjoy seeing a bit of the campus again.  I included the Zamboni picture because what are hockey photos without a picture of the Zamboni.  Also, given the altitude of our seats - that's what you get when you get tickets the week of the game - doesn't the hockey rink and players look like the kids game where the players are all on sticks.

Sunday we toured around Madison looking at houses to see if there was a different location we might want to be in after Jo retires and then drove by our current place to see what shape it is in.  Bottom line, not great.  Apparently renters don't take as good of care of your house as you might.  Oh well, nothing a little paint wouldn't fix - and I'm great at that.  Then it was home to watch the Superbowl before getting ready for another week.  In case you are curious, I'm painting again this week - the front foyer and vestibule (or whatever you call the room that is adjacent to our foyer and leads to the dining room, living room, and a hallway.  With this completed the only thing remaining on the first floor is two closets to paint.