I'm Rae. I make fonts & blog. I reside in a city on a lake but spend most of my time living in my head.
A quiet packing day that must include a nap. Still lots to deal with and now I am going room by room to finish up. I am trying to do the basement which is of course full of the things you most want to avoid.
I would be in tears if we had not had the HUGE garage sale last Fall which was really mostly basement stuff.
Nephew Taylor and a big heart thing that will someday become a art project, so must be stored.
In honor of the 4th we are taking the day off. John went for a 2 hour bike ride with a buddy. I got a pedi and had lunch with a girlfriend. And John is putting the house back in order. Each room is torn up or empty. We are joining my cousin for a 4th cook out in a couple hours.
Tomorrow we will start going room by room and doing the Madison packing.
Yesterday was a huge day. We took a truckload on non-Madison items to my brother's storage facility in Dorchester. All my type books, a medical scale, a mannequin, table legs, crystal, the Tracker is full of Christmas decorations, garage stuff.... stuff that we don't want to wedge into a 1100 sq. ft. apartment. It was good to get that layer of stuff gone.
I hope everyone is have a day of rest or merriment. Happy 4th!
Making progress... 4 rooms of furniture either bought, given away, put in storage or staying for the new owner. 5 more to go.
Taking my Mac in for it's free 3 month check-up.
And heading out shortly with the truck full of stuff to go to storage.
Lunching with my family.
And then home in time to pick up my computer and head out to the neighborhood pre 4th party.
Full day.
The packing continues...
John was in Rochester at the Mayo Clinic yesterday where his Mom got a new battery in her pacemaker. All went very well. We are thankful.
We are packing for a trip next week to our non-Madison storage unit nearby. I haven't packed myself for a move for 20 years. I am so in love with the U-Haul boxes that hold certain things. Right now I am thrilled with the wardrobe boxes, lamp boxes, the mirror/art boxes and the bubble wrap and Styrofoam corners for paintings. This is really helpful as our stuff will be moved often. The first step will be into a storage unit in Madison where we await the availability date of our first choice of apartment. Nothing was available for July 1 there, or most places.
Yesterday I went to knit at Yellow Dog. That was bittersweet as it may be my last time doing that. Friday knitting has been important to me as someone who works from home. It was good to get out and I always learned something new-- knitting related or not. This time I got a new scarf pattern and some new yarn. I will miss the whole experience of Yellow Dog. But on the upside I will get to find all the knitting stores in Madison and visit any that I have not yet been to as I try to find my new knitting group.
And we just spent an hour and a half with the darling new owners. They bought the lawn mower, snow blower and some furniture. They will be a delightful addition to the neighborhood. I am so happy that our lovely home will be lived in by such a nice family.
And they all lived happily ever after.
"A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit." ~Greek Proverb
Yesterday we walked around the yard and noted how great everything looks. John likes to work in the yard and plant. I only like the idea of gardening. He has done a very nice job. It will be lovely to hand off to the next person. This is our 3rd house in 10 years. Two were brand new and one was almost new so we did a lot of planting only to never sit under those tiny little trees.
Boxes have been acquired and the packing has been started. Starting with stuff that goes into storage that won't be used in Madison.
More pictures from my early Saturday morning walk in Madison... walking back to our friends house where we stay I once again walked past this nice house that invites you into their yard for a drink of water. Lovely.
26 days and we are gone... back from Madison with good leads on good apartments. We are waiting on our first choice.
The appraiser has come and gone. We have reserved a U-Haul trailer to put some things in storage near here next week, a friend may take porch furniture and the new owner will come Saturday to see what she may want. A good morning's work.
Here are some photos from Madison... I took an early morning walk Saturday, got a latte and went to Wingra Park to sip. Saw this camper that was probably there over night. You gotta love Madison.
Conversation Saturday driving around looking for an apartment to rent... Me: No.
John: This is a nice neighborhood.
Me: I don't want to live anywhere that would make me cry.
So the bar has been set.
We have been looking for apartments and now is it day 3 with one more day tomorrow.
Saturday we drove here to Madison and starting looking at areas and apartment buildings we knew of. We were shocked that we could not get in anywhere and we left messages generally with no one calling us back.
Sunday after brunch we headed out for more of the same. Got in 3 that would make me cry. Most places were closed and once again no one was returning calls.
Today, Monday we have been able to talk to people but to see most things that we are interested it they need 24 hours notice to alert the people who are in the apartments. So we are staying over another night and have showings booked every hour from 9:30 to 2:30. We saw several 'white boxes' that would be do-able. We will do that if we can't get... 1. funky in the Monroe St area 2. something DT
John also met with the talent agency and picked up his contract to read over. The woman he met with thinks she can get him 'regular work'. We liked the sound of that. I've been taking pictures but did not bring my cable so I can't upload anything. I didn't intend to blog, nor did we intend to stay this long.
We just saw a VERY funky 900 sq ft place right DT on the lake. John really likes it I'll let him describe it...
John: The plaque on the wall out front said it well...but not completely. "The Bellevue was the largest and most expensive apartment building erected during Madison's pre-WWI apartment house boon. Advertised as "a place of ease and comfort" The Bellevue featured such Victorian luxuries and leaded glass bookcases and fireplaces. The building pioneered modern conveniences including electric elevators, food and laundry services and centralized vacuum, trash disposal and refrigerator systems." I think what touched me so uniquely about this 95 year old building, was that it reminded me of places my Grandpa and Nana Weitz used to live in, in Dubuque, when I was very young. In a word everything seemed...substantial! From the Oak crown molding with picture edge (Rae and had to explain to me how that worked), to the plaster walls, to the black linoleum floors in one room next to the oakwood floors everywhere else, to the brick fireplace, to the heavy doors and clawfoot tub with a shower curtain hung from an oval metal rail and draped into the tub. Then there was the tiled floor with actual patterns in the multicolored pattern. The elevator was one of those where the hallway door opens like a regular door once the metal elevator door closes...sometimes. The owner (more on him later) wondered why there wasn't a screwdriver somewhere in the elevator to poke in a hole by the door if it didn't open. And this was not scary or anything. It was charming and quaint. I LOVED it! The kitchen was long, narrow and said "1940's"? And although I can't do it justice, I HAVE to mention the clothes dryer in the laundry room in the basement. Really, the Smithsonian should have one on display. This "dryer" was basically a huge metal box. Maybe 8x8x8. It had rails extending out from it and on these rails rode enormous sliding...hangers(?). You pulled out one of these drawers/hangers that were as tall as the unit (save the heating element below where you built a fire and hoped it didn't get too hot) and the 6 foot high drawer/hanger pulled out on these rails exposing tow levels of three metals racks or rods on which wet clothes were placed...then slid back in for warming and drying! It was beautiful in a manner. Now the owner. It came as an obvious surprise to him when he walked out the front door of the apartment building. As I introduced myself, a flicker of recognition came on and he attempted to let us in. Attempted because after coming out of the building, he apparently forgot his keys! Fortunately, a resident came by and let us in. It initially "concerned" me that his name did not match the monogram on his Oxford button down shirt. I was watchful. Here's this guy, did not have keys to the building he was showing us and his name didn't match the monogram. I was beginning to wonder where the real owner was and who this person could be. When he took us down a dark stairwell to the basement "to get his keys" I felt like Alfred Hitchcock might be down there still working! But all was well. The owner was gracious, accommodating, informative. I liked him almost immediately. (Once he produced apartment keys that worked I was OK!) We have been through, as Rae would put it, several "vanilla boxes" yesterday and today but this was a horse of another color. I can't adequately describe why this apartment evoked such "comfortable" feelings in me but I felt I could live there. Now, this says nothing about carrying whatever furniture we DO want, up 5 flights of stairs, because the elevator was NOT large enough for much. I guess that's why I have a young son with large friends. Look for the photos! More later.
John
Last night we got and accepted an offer on our house. We close on July 21. We are thrilled to get this move going. Now all the pieces are falling into place...
Other good things are that Monday John signs with The Rock Agency in Madison to do talent work. What I didn't mention in the last blog on that subject in addition to possible work as Dubya they had lost their grandfather/biz man gray haired guy. So they think they can book him as soon as he gets signed. He is also looking into a Milwaukee agency and then we will check out a Chicago agency. This can pay well. John is a natural for voice or video or commercial work having done much of this in his TV days... and since he is a ham he really enjoys it.
Here are some samples from this weeks photo shoot with our friend Jill from Chumas Photography...
And the icing on the cake is that Bush signed a bill this week to fund the war, give aid to the Midwest and extend unemployment benefits by another 13 weeks. And John's was running out this week.
So after 9 long, hard months things are falling in place.
I'm Rae. I make fonts and blog. I reside in a city on a lake but spend most of the time living in my head.
