New Digs

We spent the last week moving our stuff around Wisconsin.  Most items went over to our condo, so we finally have a place with furniture in each and every room.  We also decided to put all the boxes in one room for simplicity - leading to a room stuffed with boxes that all need to be unpacked, boxes collapsed, paper smoothed, and then recycled somehow.  Last Friday was the big move to Madison and after getting everything off of the moving truck, we spent a couple of days starting in on the unpacking.  It wouldn't appear we had made much progress even though we had piles of paper and flattened boxes to show for it - amazing how much waste there is in the moving process (we were able to get a few of our neighbors to take some of our boxes and paper, there is always someone in need of moving items it seems).   We managed a little relaxing with a great Mexican dinner the first night that involved multiple rounds of margaritas and then enjoyed an evening and dinner with Kathy and John.  Jo and Kathy got to model clown outfits that made for Halloween in high school before they headed to a garage sale - yes they both still fit into their teenage outfits, although apparently Jo is a bit taller than her younger years.

We came back to Milwaukee to start to get settled in to our other new home.  We had to find spaces for all the miscellaneous items we need until Jo is ready for retirement.  Everything fit, but we have things crammed into every nook and cranny leading to many treasure hunts - as in, we know it is the apartment somewhere, but where???  We are going cable free so I have spent a fair amount of time figuring out what is available for free.  Amazing what you can find - about the only we are missing so far is the ability to tape something to watch later.  Small price to pay to not have a massive cable bill for once.

We were also able to enjoy another basketball playoff game courtesy of Jo's employer, especially as the home town team won.  Great seats, exciting game, and pretty good food - plus with our new downtown location we could walk to the game.  Walking home helped burn off a few of the calories from the designer cookies we had at the game.

We also got to welcome our first visitors to our new place downtown.  John and Linda were in town to enjoy a concert their daughter was playing in.  We joined them for the band concert - which had some nice lively selections (which was good since both Jo and I were a bit weary from our moving events) and afterwards, showed off the great views from our 35th floor followed by a very enjoyable dinner at a nearby restaurant.

So far Jo is enjoying her one block commute and I'm really enjoying not having to patch and paint cracks in the walls.  Also, it is kind of nice that when something isn't working right - I get to call someone and it is their problem.  I'm sure there will be times that I'm going to miss having a yard to mow and gardens to weed - but it might be pretty rare.