girl at large

I like to write about life when you have a job, some kids, a fixer upper and a fatal disease.

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  • Big Difference, Little Touches

    The floors! What a great decision—refinishing the wood floors on the ground floor BEFORE we move in. Time and money is tight, but this is worth it. Our Contractor Don Patzke (www.cutwell.net) came through despite a dramatically reduced time line. We moved our move in date up by a month to next week Saturday. The photos above are Before and During—the oil finish goes down on Monday. I can’t wait to see the result. And yes, this means we will want to put wood floors in the upper level now too.
    While the crew got started on the floors, I puttered around changing outlet and switch plate covers to these new metal ones in a copper finish. My favorite thing to do in a new place right away is to change the covers (and toilet seats!). It’s a small change, but it makes a big difference.
     

     

  • Home Is Where The Hammer Is

    I’m sitting in a folding camp chair in my empty dining room.

    Eight years ago, I was doing the same thing. In Portland, in a tiny one bedroom apartment that had once been a Stumptown brothel. Now, it’s MY dining room. As in MY mortgage. And it’s in Milwaukee. Ok, Shorewood if you want to be a stickler.

    I walked to get a cup of coffee this morning—out my front door and down just one sunny block to the coffee shop. I love this neighborhood. Like all my favorites before (Monroe St Madison, Historic Savannah, NorthWest Portland), it’s lively without being loud, warm and walkable. The gourmet grocery, coffee shop, and pharmacy are all within a comfortable strolling distance.

    It’s a great house. Not the house I was looking for, or the house I dreamt of, it wasn’t even on my radar. It’s not the modern glass box I’ve always wanted, it’s not even the retro ranch that would have been fun to make mine. It’s everything I said I didn’t want—“traditional”, a detached garage, two stories, no space for a studio/shop, and so on. I had looked at so many houses that were perfect on paper (sound familiar?) but fell flat in person. Many were foreclosure nightmares—frozen pipes, bombed out kitchens, water damaged walls. Others weren’t architecturally interesting enough to overcome location problems like train tracks in the back yard or suburban isolation.

    But Kenmore Place has the things I didn’t realize were so important until I walked in (and said to myself–“Finally, a real house!”)—warmth and quality. That’s Quality with a capital Q. The original construction is solid, and so immediately apparent. The woodwork, the windows, the dry solid basement walls, the coved ceilings. What’s the point of renovating things that weren’t good construction to begin with? That’s not renovation, that’s replacement. This little tank of a house will be a joy to bring back to life.

    Which brings me to the next topic…all the work to be done! Stay tuned for many renovation updates as we dig into the giant project that will no doubt occupy our next decade.

     

     

  • Baby Two Point Oh!

    Little “Chee Chee”, as everyone (except myself) calls her, is five months old now. Though she’s been doing it for two weeks, I still am shocked every time I see her sitting up. It’s a different baby there, surrounded by pillows, looking at me horizontally. Sitting up, she looks even more like Paulie. I think it’s the way the light catches those ears.

    I gave her a little liquified banana this weekend. She let it rest in her mouth, then pushed it out with all the usual drool. Her first taste of food was very exciting for her Papa—I think he envisions her merrily chowing down on lasagna next week. I don’t want to disappoint him with the truth of the very long series of baby steps until that point. And the diapers! Oh, the solid food diapers!

     

  • Count Down

    Less than a week now until we close on Kenmore Place. Every piece of paper has been signed, every document copied, all our accounts verified. The numbers are frightening—does anyone really look at the final number they will pay for a house after 30 years? Even at 3.875%? And that doesn’t even touch the cost of insurance, taxes, maintainance, repairs and emergency funds. Add renovations to that and the idea that a house is an “investment” is nuts.

    It is, I will accept, an “investment” in lifestyle. In community, in family, in comfort. And in activity–Paulie and I listed 10 years of projects in just ten minutes of “what if we did…” discussion. We will never again be without something to do on nights and weekends.

     

  • Home Sweet…Holy Crap We Have A Lot To Do

     

    Three weeks to go until we close on the house on Kenmore Place. We went through for the third time today, to take key measurements and see for ourselves with clear minds what we have committed ourselves to. It needs work. Lots of work. Lots more work than I recalled. After inspecting crawl spaces in need of insulation, opening non-motorized barn door garage doors, counting more than 30 painted-over light switches and outlets, seeing at least 7 different trim treatments (dark finish, light finish, no finish, grey paint, mauve paint, white glossy paint, white flat paint), eyeing a dozen light fixtures in need of changing and more…I’m already tired. But my beloved, bless his heart, is already drawing up the plans on his computer as I write.

    You know what we need? We need to buy a boat. An old, waterlogged boat that we can fix up. And we should get another dog. Or two! Because we need more to do. Ah, being project people. Vinnie, you’ll be swinging a hammer before you walk my darling. And come to think of it, you may learn to walk gingerly…there’s carpet to tear out, mind the tacks!

     

  • Secret Ingredient

    Man, one head of cabbage makes a lot of slaw! Paul will have cole slaw in his lunch for at least a week. Just don’t tell him it is boob cabbage.

  • Home Sweet …What Did You Say?

    The call came in. The counter offer is a good one, well within our budget. Paul asks me, “What do you think? Do you want it?”

    I reply, with what I think is a romantic meaningful look, happy tears in my eyes: “It’s not what I thought I wanted, but then again, neither were you.”

    I have no idea why he stays with me. But now I know we’ll be staying in a house we own together!

     

  • This Is Family Life

    Transcript of the conversation in the bedroom this morning:

    Is that my night bra? I’ve been looking for this!

    Night bra? Crazy woman and your night bra.

    You just imagine, if you had to nurse you’d want a night bra too. I’ve handled this breastfeeding bullshit pretty well!

    *hack hack hack*

    Ruby, are you still barfing up that pizza box?

     

  • Is This What Irony Means?

    Baby girl slept through the night last night. She didn’t wake up at 4am on the dot as she has every night since before birth. Yes, she awoke at 4am in utero. Every. Single. Night.

    But not last night. Last night she slept peacefully, pacifier-wiggle-ing-ly, swaddle swaddle-y all through the long, cold night. As did we. Blissfully.

    Until we awoke with a start at 7:30 am. On a work day. We have to leave the house at 7:30.

     

  • New Year, New House?

    Why do people more frequently say a house is too small?
    I have yet to be advised that a house is too big, even when it’s a 2300 sq ft beast ( not counting basement and garage). That is twice what we need—twice the renovation cost, twice the heating and cooling, twice the maintenance, twice the work.

    It’s just us three, Vivienne will not suffer for having been raised in a modest house with only one bathroom. Yes, two would be more convenient. But it’s not the end of the world. And we can always add one.

    I’m not going to commit to buying a house in an area I find boring as hell just because it comes with an extra crapper.

    The garage, however, is a different story. According to Paulie, and I am beginning to see his point, you can never have a too large garage.


    New Year, New House?