Moving is a Dirty Word

Motivational photo:  This is the patio door at the new house.  This door is one of the reasons I decided to buy that house instead of the house next store that had essentially the same floor plan.  I took it last Sunday, during my final walk-through before closing on June 30th.  This is the only photo in this long post.

Uber-busy getting ready for the move on July 7th - no time to relax and enjoy the weekend. OY -- too tired to go into all the details of how I got from Offer to Purchase to actual closing, and now the actual move. I have not worked so hard for such long stretches since installing sod here many years ago, when I was much younger and had a lot more energy and stamina!  I HATE PACKING!

After nearly 24 years, I am leaving Maison Newton, turning it over to a nice and eager young couple (the young lady is the daughter of a high school friend, and I've known her since she was born).   They will be moving in the weekend of July 12th. 

I can't believe how much stuff I have. And I've been regularly giving things to charity and family members for years -- furniture, clothing, dishes, knick-knacks, books. Geez - where did all of this stuff come from?  I have been relentlessly tossing items into the trash or putting them into a donate pile, but it's tough parting with some things.  In March I donated 7 boxes of books to a fund raiser by a local bar (laywers') association, and I did that with a large lump in my throat.  But now I have to ruthlessly downsize a library collected since the 1970's, so I am keeping only my favorite novels and nonfiction books.  I could open my own library.  I still have to sort through three more bookcases upstairs.  Every time I toss a book or add it to the donate pile, I feel like I am losing a part of myself.  Books have been my friends since I was old enough to read.
 
Yesterday morning (4th of July) before 8 a.m., I hiked the mile to the new house, lugging a large bag with me, to hang curtains on the picture window in the living room and the first bedroom. The sun was glaring in both windows Thursday evening when my friends, Barb and Tim, brought me and a large load of boxes and garage items over to the new house. We loaded up here at Maison Newton and then unloaded things to the new garage and house.  Let me tell you, Barb and Tim are machines when it comes to loading and unloading boxes and stuff.  I was panting and managing only to put in one box for every three of theirs!  When we were finished unpacking, in an unbelievable short amount of time, we took a tour of the new house.  Barb had seen the outside, but had not been inside. Tim had seen neither outside nor inside. 

This morning I walked into the living room to prepare to put up the curtains, and I see what at first glance appear to be brownish-black specs on the cream colored carpet. Spots that I had not seen the evening before, with the light of the western sun glaring in.  I looked more closely, thinking to myself what the hell? I didn't see anything like this last night. What IS that?  And then, I saw them.  HOLY HATHOR! BUGS!

First instinct when I see a bug is to run in the opposite direction. I HATE BUGS! They give me the creeps. But I found my courage, because there was no one else to fall back on; I had to go back into the living room and deal with those - BUGS! I got a closer look at them. Some kind of long-bodied flying insect. Crawling all over the carpet. Newly hatched? OHMYGODDESS.

I had seen no bugs the evening before, and we were in and out of that room several times putting boxes in one corner, admiring the view out of the picture window (with heat pouring in from the setting Sun), checking out the new front door and peep-hole, the mailbox and the front porch light.

I had no vacuum at the new house yet. So, no way to suck up the bucks quickly and efficiently.  But I had brought over a fresh roll of toilet paper (just in case, you know; sometimes people don't leave toilet paper in the bathrooms when they move out). So down on my hands and knees I went and, one by one, I squished them in between my fingers wrapped in toilet paper. It took me about 45 minutes to get all that I could see crawling around. Some had graduated to flying, but I got them too. All were flushed down the toilet.

Eeeeeuuuuuwwwwwwwww!

Let me tell you, this is NOT the way one wants to start one's day. And such a lovely day, too. Sunny, warm, a little bit of a breeze, just a wee bit too humid for me. Just a few degrees difference in the dew point makes a big difference in my stamina and how well I can breathe. I am a LOT slower than I used to be, and wouldn't you know it, my left hip was hurting, too (the humidity). But I made it back home and on the way did my errands, too. And squashed probably 100 bugs for extra exercise.

On the walk back home, I stopped at the Pick 'n Save and picked up a large can of Raid flying insect spray that can be used indoors and outdoors. It will go back to the new house with me on Sunday, along with my Mighty Mite vacuum. And that carpeting is being ripped out and the hardwood floors underneath will be refinished!  I won't be able to afford refinishing the floors right away, but I don't care what they look like. No more carpeting anywhere in the house, only area rugs.  I know it is silly to equate those bugs with the carpeting, but there it is, it's stuck in my brain, so the carpeting goes. 

I did take time to celebrate July 4th. I picked up some treats for myself for supper and breakfast/lunch tomorrow:  Beer Bratwurst sausages! Potato Chips! Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies! Fresh Botilla rolls!  I started packing up the kitchen.  Why do I have three sets of dishware???

I Got the Kitchen Blues

Hola darlings!

This is the kitchen I wanted -- at 4029, the house I did not buy (could not reach agreement with sellers on a purchase price, we were $2,000 apart in price and both stuck to our guns; ultimately, this house, listed for $169,900, sold for $168,000 -- much more than what I paid for 3982 with identical square footage and general lay-out, just up the block):

This is the kitchen I'm buying at 3982:

The basic lay-out and floor area of each kitchen are mirror images of each other, right down to the angled double sink in the corner looking out through two corner windows.  But - oh my - the differences.  Holy Hathor!

And the Winner Is....

Two houses in contention, but I can only buy one...

4002
 

3982

And the winner is -- 3982.  I am closing on its purchase on Monday - finally!  It took a ridiculously long amount of time to get to this point.

I really really liked 4002, but in the end, I was swayed by the list of recent improvements that the owners of 3982 had undertaken: new siding on house and garage; new concrete patio in back yard; new privacy fence to screen patio; new furnace and AC unit in 2013; beautifully refinished hardwood floors in the bedrooms; newer architectural style shingle roofs on house and garage; new vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen/dinette in a luscious dark cherrywood tone (that clashes horribly with the oak finished cabinets); newly remodeled main floor bathroom; updated kitchen; new front and rear exterior doors; new windows; new sliding patio door with steps down to the backyard (not shown on any of the listing photos, but if you look in through the picture window above you can see straight back through the living room to the patio doors in the dinette). 

I still have tweaks of panic now and then that I bought the wrong house (4002 has many appealing aspects), but to back out now would be disastrous for the young couple buying my house, and the young couple selling me their house, and the people who are selling my sellers their house!  Just cannot do it.  My rational side tells me that I will have little to worry about for years to come in buying 3982, other than installing a new water heater in a couple of years and decommissioning the old chimney.  Oh, and the brick veneer across the front of the house needs to be "re-tied" to the studs in some places and the stone cap on the brick half wall underneath the bedroom windows needs to be reset.

So, I will live right next store to 4002 and be witness to see what the lucky person(s) who eventually move in do around the place; it is under contract but has been pending for months.  I believe the buyers cannot sell their house, or more likely, cannot sell their house for the money they need to afford to buy 4002. 

So, shortly I will be embarking on the next phase of my life -- that of living in a much smaller house and yards.  My hands are itching to get at it.  As you can see, 3982 doesn't have much curb appeal, and there is lots of painting and minor remodelling to do inside.  What a thing to take on nearly at my 63rd birthday.  Geez, Jan! 

Shopping for a New House: House 5

Hola darlings.

Spring has, at last, sprung at Maison Newton and I've been so busy the past several weekends doing yard work, OY!  This is one of the reasons I wanted to downsize to a smaller house and smaller yard than what I have now. I love my yards and my gardens, but they are, quite frankly, too much for me to handle on my own at this point in my life.  My plan was for Mr. Don to be here with me during our Golden Years to help with the necessary.  He loved puttering around in the gardens, too.  But it did not come to pass.   

So - on to House 5.  If you take a look at the prior posts, you will see my adventures with Houses 4, 3, 2 and 1. 

House 5 went on the market on or about May 1st.  When I opened up the browser early one morning, still half asleep, sipping my instant coffee before doing the trudge back upstairs to get ready for work, my eyes widened and I instantly became fully awake when I saw A NEW LISTING!

The house is 3982 S. 74.  In fact, next store, directly to the north of 4002 S. 74 (House 4).  I had finally viewed 4002 on May 2nd, and so admired what it had to offer and its potential, I was ready to put in an offer to buy it.  BUT -- I wanted to see 3982 before reaching a final decision.  I was itching to pull the trigger on a house at this point. I had had enough of looking at houses and dickering with sellers.  I wanted to settle on a place and BUY IT. 

There she is - 3982.  This is a typical basic ranch style house for our area: three small bedrooms, one bath, one living room, one kitchen with dining area.  Full 11 course concrete block basement as large as the square footage above.  Stone or brick facade on front of house, aluminum or vinyl siding on the rest of the house.  Ranch-style windows (narrow and short) in bedrooms.  Separate garage built at the back of the lot.  They were put up in our area by the thousands during the 1950-1960's.  This particular house was built in - 1955.  4002 and 4029 were built the following year, in 1956, but have the exact same floor plan, with minor variations in bedroom configurations, and identical square footage on the main living area. 

Here is what 3928 did not have: 4002's lovely bay window with crank-out windows on either end to provide cross-ventilation with the dinette window (that had two narrow windows on either side of a large picture window that could be opened), and a curved front sidewalk with a beautiful decorative flowering tree, expertly trimmed shrub linking the public sidewalk area to the house walk-way, and the driveway-side lot line adorned with climbing roses at either end of the house;  OR 4029's cute and smartly-designed front garden area, sharp decorative paint job with cool colors, decorative shutters, and decorative metal thing hung between the two front bedroom windows to provide the final finishing touch.

All can be fixed, of course, but still...

OF COURSE 3982 sellers' schedule and mine did not coordinate.  I had hoped to see 3982 the same evening I saw 4002, but alas, it did not come about.  I was not able to view 3982 until the evening of Friday, May 6th. Four long days of waiting, tick tick tick, and having ants in my pants the entire time...

The property listing for 3982 made a point of noting that the following items were new: (1) furnace; (2) air-conditioning unit; (3) remodeled main floor bathroom, with new bath tub; (4) siding on house AND garage; (5) exterior doors (front door, side door that exits at driveway and -- PATIO DOOR!!!!!)  The Patio Door is extremely important because that meant these owners took the time and expense to replace the 1950's style picture window in the dinette area looking out over the backyard with a brand new (mini-blinds inside) sliding patio door, with new steps, down to a (6)  beautifully finished concrete patio and (7) fully privacy-fenced backyard.  Let's see, did I miss anything? Oh yeah, (8) a new high-end laminate floor installed in the kitchen/dinette area in a rich deep red mahogany-like color that I fell in love with instantly upon seeing it in person.  This flooring was NOT shown in any of the listing photographs, BTW.  Neither was the patio door. 

Shopping for a New House: House 4

The continuing saga of ...

I had started my house hunting by looking first at the brick ranch on Allerton, and then viewed the house at 4029 S. 74 that I fell in love with (fully remodeled living space and loved the kitchen/dinette area), but the seller and I could not reach agreement on a sales price.  I had also scheduled a viewing some weeks ago of 4002 S. 74, located to the north of 4029 (across the street but on the same block), but the seller had cancelled because she was not feeling well.

I had not pursued 4002 after that, but it was always on my radar.  I was checking the listings daily to see if any new properties were coming on the market within my target area (and price range) and also checking to see if any of the houses I was interested in (still including 4029) had been taken off the market or had "pending" offers (contingencies satisfied, getting ready to close).  Thus, after deciding that Allerton was just not what I wanted (despite putting in an offer for it, and receiving a counter-offer that was waiting for a response), I was eager to see 4002. 

I viewed the property on Tuesday evening, May 6th.  It has been on the market for several months; I was hoping that if the house showed as much potential in person as it did in its listing photographs (despite the snowy scenery), it would jump to the top of my list.  I was very tired of the search and wanted to be settled!

With some minor variations, 4002 has essentially the same lay-out as 4029 S. 74.

I loved the curved sidewalk approach to the front door.  I loved the bay window that floods the inside of the house with light, the end windows of which crank out to provide great ventilation with the dinette window at the back of the house.  I really liked the creamy colored brick with black and white speckles in it, and the white aluminum siding and soffits would work with just about any color scheme.  The 2-1/2 car free standing garage is also sided in white aluminum.  The siding is in excellent condition.

This is a solid house.  We could not see any step cracks in the foundation (not unusual in Milwaukee County's clay soil), hardwood floors are all intact (although the bedrooms are still carpeted, the living room had the hardwood refinished and varnished).  There is a lean-to fully enclosed shed area added all away across the back of the garage. 

The back yard is partially fenced -- with neighbors' fences.  To the north, the back yard is shielded from view by a tight planting of tall mature arborvitae and the next-store garage.  The view to the south is open, but partially fenced with a neighbor's chain link.  The rear of the lot is partially shielded by the garage and several shrubs and trees along the lot line, and neighbor to the east's short wood fence (see photo above).  Privacy needs improvement.

Shopping for A New House: House 3

The small brick ranch on Allerton was Plan C that got bumped up to Plan B when the house that was potentially Plan B (4002 S. 74) was not able to be viewed.  But I was feeling uncertain about Allerton and kept looking.  I checked the listings every day to see if anything new had come on the market.

This little brick house, with a family room addition added later at the back, was built in 1939 and is situated on a huge lot.  I wanted to see it because I've walked past this house five or six days a week for nearly 24 years now.  I always thought it looked like a little fair tale cottage and admired its classic lines.

Oh, I know I know.  Crazy.  It was the exact opposite of what I wanted -- a smaller lot, a move-in ready house!  Oy!  But this house tugged at my heart strings.

The house was foreclosed, unfortunately.  The young couple that had lived there were gone.  Fourth of July decorations still hang from the coverless roof frame over the patio on the west side of the house, looking forlorn.  The property is now owned by a bank, and banks could care less about maintaining foreclosed property.  This house is on the market for $146,900:

Yes, that is grass growing out of wood gutters that I would think are original to the house.  Nobody has wood gutters anymore - but this house does.

The brickwork is in excellent shape, did not appear to be any mortar missing or step cracks.  Original woodwork is intact in the original part of the house (except for a disastrous kitchen remodel), but the varnish is crackled and bubbled, the wood dried out.  The house needs a new roof.  The windows, so pretty from a distance, up close have rotting frames and are single paned glass.  It would take extensive repairs to replace the original window framing, repair the rot, and provide storm/screen over-windows to protect the original divided light windows that dress the front of the house.  The wood floors on the first floor are intact, but need refinishing.  All of the rooms in the main part of the house are small, except for the kitchen, which is a bit disjointed.  The best updating was done in the small main floor bathroom.

There is a garage built out of concrete block.  It too needs a new roof and its wood frame holding the garage door is rotting from the ground up.  Because of the family room addition that was put on the back of the house, the garage is less than 2 feet away from the back wall of the house!  I don't think a regular size compact car would fit in that garage.  Better to tear it down and build a new one further away from the house; the lot is plenty large!

Above, side view of the house showing the one story family room addition at the back of the house, and the little amount of space left between the addition and the concrete block garage.  I do not think a modern-day car would fit into that garage, LOL.  But, there is plenty of space on the lot to build a 2 to 3 car garage.

The family room - no framing around the windows and no insulation tucked in (or foam sprayed to seal cracks to keep out cold damp air, snow and rain), so cold air was leaking into the house all winter long; the house felt very damp and very cold.  Here is a picture of the family room from the listing:

The carpet is "inset" into the floor; it is thick, good quality carpeting, and filthy.  The rest of the floor is laminate.  I puzzled as to why until I realized that the people who used to live there used the side door (not seen in this photo, on the left) as the main entrance into the house, and the laminate was their answer to having an easy-to-clean floor.  The area is open to the kitchen, up two steps.  Part of the back wall of the house in its original brick is exposed to this room and it adds a lot of charm.  You can see the rot around the inside of the uncased windows.  Oh my.

My Last Mantle/Mantel

Hi everyone.

As you know, Maison Newton has been sold.  I am still actively looking for a new home for myself, with little success. But, as the saying goes, hope springs eternal in the human heart.  I have put an offer in this morning on a home and will hear back (I hope), later today. 

None of the homes I have looked at have a fireplace in it.  None of the (now) three homes in which I have put in an offer to purchase have a wall where I could reasonably have a direct vent fireplace installed.  This makes me very very sad, as one of the things I love most about Maison Newton is my cozy fireplace in the front room where I can snuggle on bitterly cold days in the winter or even during cold damp rainy days during the spring, summer and fall.

So, here are some photos of my spring/Easter mantle/mantel decorations.  The last you will see from me for maybe - forever.

My heart was not much into the project this year, as my home was already sold when I did this.  I won't lie -- I've been feeling meloncholia and nostalgic ever since J&J finally signed off on the contingencies in their offer and I knew Maison Newton was well and truly sold.  Despite that, I do like all of the prints of dogwood blossoms that I printed out from the internet and installed in frames I already have, and the old Home Interiors print with the dated border colors from the 1980s (but beautifully framed).  To be honest with you, I'm not sure if the flowers in that print are magnolia blossoms or dogwood blossoms, LOL!  But hey, they sort of look like dogwood and none of my friends who visit know the difference anyway :) 

You may recognize some items from last spring:  the plastic eggs; the ceramic basket filled with artificial green straw and more plastic eggs; the tall pastel green votive candle holder and the large "tome" (a fake book-safe) with the beautifully illustrated covers (TJMaxx purchases a season or two ago), and my favorite, the Godiva Chocolates bunny in bib overhalls, holding a "basket." 

The trio of ceramic bunnies on the right were purchased last September at a rummage sale, as was the candle snuffer resting in front of the t.v. on the right, the little glass globe egg in basket located left of center, and the little bunny that you can only partially see down below; he's resting on top of the fireplace upper vent.

I filled a couple of large decorative glasses with plastic pastel-colored eggs and added two eggs from my collection (left of center) to complete the display.

I put a larger framed print of a dogwood blossom up above the curio cabinet.  I see I caught myself in the mirrored back taking the photo, LOL!

On the Queen Anne side table on the right side of the fireplace, I put up an old watercolor I did years ago (copied out of a book teaching how to do watercolors, LOL), a colorful egg from my collection, and my three ceramic birds (bird on the left is a TJMaxx purchase; pair of porcelain doves on the right were a gift from one of my sisters many years ago, I believe they are Home Interiors).

I added a few framed dogwood prints by the front entry, and a trio of prints (below), centered above my front room desk:

So, that's it for spring/Easter around Maison Newton.  I'm taking it all down this weekend, starting to pack.

It's a beautiful day here today (we haven't had many this "spring") and I'm headed out now to the Pick 'n Save to pick up much needed supplies.  I started to make mac 'n cheese for myself for lunch (my stomach is demanding to be fed) but I realized, right after I dumped the macaroni into the boiling water, that I did not have a drop of milk in the house!  So - off the fire went the pot.  And instead of doing this I really have to get my butt walked down to the supermarket and get some milk, eek!