The House!

After more than a year of practically begging people to take our hundreds of thousands of dollars, we finally found and bought a fantastic home in Elm Grove. Yahoo! I actually saw this property at an open house five or six months ago, but at the time we weren't really considering 3-bedroom homes and it was *way* overpriced. Fast forward to another open house in March plus a mega price drop and the three of us walked into the place and immediately had 'the feelings'. We had our agent schedule a private showing for the next day and wrote an offer the day after that. We lowballed the sellers but the property has been on the market since June of '09 (can you imagine?) so like a World Series of Poker team, we played our trump card of being able to close practically overnight. Voila! They took our offer without any negotiation and as of April 14 we were officially property tax payers again.

We have some minor and some major plans in mind for this place but the layout allows for lots of flexibility and space which is the most important thing. There also isn't anything that needs to be fixed like, yesterday, which is a nice change of pace from every other property we had seen.

The first floor has an entryway, formal living room, formal dining room, family room, kitchen, and one of the least attractive half baths you've ever seen. There is also a screened-in porch (which will one day fulfill its destiny of becoming a mud room) and a two and a half car attached garage. Attached! This will surely be the little luxury of my life.

The second floor has a cute little Dutch door and airing porch, two bedrooms, a guest/kid full bathroom, and a master bedroom and en suite full bath. The lot a lot larger than we're used to and Matt is super excited about slogging it out with the push mower for another year.

The basement is a huge blank slate and will one day house a sweet rec room and probably another bedroom. It's also roughed in for another full bath so I'm sure we'll add that too...someday.

After we closed we had our first family dinner at the house, and about an hour later the decorating and remodeling commenced.

She is crazy for this bench in the breakfast nook. We're assuming it's buh bye high chair.


Cheers!

We're painting our room, GG's room, and the family room right away. Surely you realize in Maio-land that does not mean just slapping a roller on the wall. Oh no, it means two coats on the ceiling, primer + final on the walls, and all windows and trim. Not an insignificant task. Thank goodness we've got our Crackerjack decorator on the scene!!

KJM Painting, rockin' the house

Here's a little photo-tour of the rest of the place:

From the street

Ginormous garage. Lurve it.

Darn right accepted offer

Entryway looking upstairs


Formal living room, to the right of the entry way


Formal dining room to the left of the entry way (staging furniture has since been moved)


Close up of the molding original from 1938. So cool.


Dining room and family room - view from the entry way


Family room built ins. The right one is storage, the left one is a wet bar.

More family room, with a door to the deck and backyard


Little view of the kitchen from the breakfast nook


Top of the stairs - Dutch door and airing porch


Spare room


GG's room (we couldn't get Ralphie out of there the first few visits due to terror of the hardwood floors. Brilliant as always)


Upstairs bath #1


Master en suite bath


Starting construction to install new fixtures and fans


Dad, I make these safety glasses look good


Buh??

We're officially moving in next weekend and the weekend after that will be spent getting any last boxes out of the Stallis house and all of the stuff out of storage. It'll be like a treasure hunt unearthing the stuff we haven't seen in months. Our goal is to have the house looking semi-lived in by the time the first mortgage payment is due June 1. Having already made about 75 trips to Target, I know we're well on our way. Home sweet home!

Twinkle: The Remix

Hangin Around

Now that we're renting, there is suddenly a shortage of stuff to do. No major housework to attend to, only one bathroom to clean, and I can vacuum the entire house without changing outlets once. So last week when GG was in a particularly funny post-nap mood I decided I'd just grab the camera and try to capture some of her silly moments.

Ready to run errands


And a hair change when we return home


I call these her Liza Minelli pants. She loves them.





I think this is the photo she should use on the inside jacket of her first novel

Catching Up

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd, we're back. The last three weeks have been a total blur, starting with Matt's trip south and our at-home adventure with the Snowpocalypse; then our annual weekend with friends for Super Bowl (made extra important this year); followed by packing up our worldly belongings and moving out of good old 2323 N 66th.

It's always fun to get together with our friends for Super Bowl weekend, but Super Bowl XLV was a big deal in the Maio household. Matt was so wired that I even agreed to own an Aaron Rodgers jersey just to try to settle him down (side note: he ordered the jersey from a land far, far away, and it literally arrived on the slow boat the day after Super Bowl. Shame). It was also supposed to be our year to host but for some reason people didn't feel like sleeping on hardwood floors. Hmm, weird. So a huge THANK YOU to the Bansemars for stepping in to host.

Everyone piled in to West Bend sometime late on Friday, and on Saturday we all met at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum downtown. We are members there and G loves it so we knew the other kiddies would like it too. It's always amazing when we get together to see how much everyone has grown, especially now the six kids are ranging from ages 1-3. They all wore themselves out and we stopped back at the Tosa house for a quick lunch. As we sat on the floor with McDonald's take out, Anna's had the quote of the day, "Remember when we used to go out to the symphony and fancy dinners?". Vaguely.

G and the Bug

Big boy Ethan


Miles building the mother of all castles


Addie hits the slide!


Shawn & Alana give it a go too


Cutie patootie brothers


Miles doing a little work under the hood


And G following suit. She did not enjoy getting grease under her nails.


Ahh, sandwich-making. Much better.

Sunday was, of course, the Big Game. We headed to West Bend after G's nap to get the party started. Actually Genevieve wasn't feeling too hot at the beginning of the evening but we got her in her Packer jammies and she perked up after about the first quarter. Thank god Shawn, Scott, and Kyle were there to keep Matt busy.

Reliving memories from the Wall of Shame

And as per usual no one left hungry.

Matt + Fluff = Love


Champions!


Absorbed in the game? Nope, try Dora.


Silly Packer girls


Mandatory kiddo photo. Don't they all look thrilled??

Of course you know the outcome of the game. There was much joy throughout the land. Now we just have to get through Matt's least favorite time of year (the weeks between football ending and baseball starting) and we'll be back in the swing of things, Brewers-style.

After the fun and games were over it was time to get serious about packing. We dropped the kids off at Grandma & Grandpa Maio's on Friday night and started in for a long night of packing. Even though we had been making progress for weeks - including taking two box-trucks full of stuff to storage - there was still a shocking amount of small stuff to be packed. We hauled a$$ until about 12:30 in the morning. Then we pulled a college-style "we'll just sleep for a few hours and then get up early". Except it is ten years later and we were in pain the next morning. One last trip to Cranky Al's for donuts and coffee and a few ibuprofen later we were back at it. The movers arrived around 9. Oh yes, we hired movers. The days of moving our entire lives in a minivan are o-v-e-r. And thank god we did because despite the stuff in storage and the half-dozen Pilot-loads that were already at the new place, that truck was FULL. At one point the movers told me, "we don't normally pack the truck this high." Whuck?!?

Bye bye, stuff

I have no idea how we procured so much stuff, especially since we are major purgers. Well, one of us is. The other one packed loose change.

Yep, that's loose change packed in a box. Bet you can't guess what happened to it during the move.



Cleaning for other people: one part cathartic, two parts irritating as hell


Bittersweet. At least the weather was perfect.

In short we spent Saturday moving our 1,700 sq foot house into an 1,100 sq foot box. Don't get me wrong - we are INCREDIBLY grateful to have this place. Believe it or not the multi-bedroom, cheap rent, sure we'll take your dog month-to-month lease simply does not exist. And Uncle Kenny has been working has tail off to fix this place up. Every wall has been painted, every floor has been refinished. But the house is about the same size as the house I shared with my roommates senior year in college (holla, 920!) so it's an exercise in moderation. Here are some pros and cons of our move:

Con: We moved out of our house and into a rental
Pro: We are in a power position when we find our next house

Con: We moved to West Allis
Pro: The drive to the musky show, boat show, or any other mullet affair at State Fair Park is a breeze

Pro: As he plans to sell this house after we're out, Kenny is working incredibly hard to make it fresh and new
Con: He is our permanent house guest. When he wasn't here yesterday, GG was very worried and asked, "Where's Uncle Ken?" This is a concern.

Con: Moving blows
Pro: We burned enough calories to sail through Holidays 2011 without remorse

Con: There are no sidewalks
Pro: Easy to maintain
Con: Hard to walk the dog with the kid in the street

Con: There is a car on jacks in our driveway and a 2 1/2 car garage which is full of stuff (not ours)
Pro: Ummmmmm.....let me get back to you

We're trying to assimilate. For example:

Genevieve is unfazed that the dream closet is no longer. She happily pilfers my dressers for bathing suits and make up brushes no matter where we are.


Kenny's tile guy brought this over. It says it's a beer but....I just don't know


Matt and Geeg watching the race on the All-Stallis channel


Matt making homemade pasta. Quote, "What else am I supposed to do on a Sunday without football?"

The hardest part to get used to isn't living without a dishwasher, garbage disposal, or privacy. No, it's definitely the electric stove. When I'm busy burning everything I cook, I remind myself how grateful I'll be to have a gas range again, which will hopefully be someday very soon. In the meantime we are going to make the best of it, damn it, and continue to hope that the light at the end of this tunnel is rapidly approaching and more blinding than the sun!

Snowmageddon '11: Thoughts

This morning I had an opportunity to do something I haven't done in, well, approximately 28 months: have nearly three hours of uninterrupted time to think. Of course this precious time wasn't without its cost. Snowmageddon '11 hit overnight and it was a whopper. It was an official blizzard with wind at 50 mph and who knows how much snow. I could have predicted the whole thing as my husband is out of the country, and whenever he flies the coop mid-winter, we inevitably get the biggest storm of the season. Happens. Every. Time.

The first thing I did this morning was let Ralphie out. Oops, can't go out back! Trapped. Front? Maybe. Fortunately he's not a bolter so I stood in the sunroom watching while his long legs navigated the drifts long enough to pee.

After surveying the surrounding snow situation I decided the first order of business would be to make a huge batch of oatmeal raisin cookies to use as currency should the National Guard need to be called in. There was no telling how many bribes I would need to issue to get out of this.

After the kitchen was back in order I summoned the assistance of our fabulous neighbors Steve & Erin. GG got some quality auntie time with Erin while Steve and I figured out how we were going to conquer drifts and plow-overflow above our knees. The entire job required removal of 2 to 3 shovels-full before the snow blower could be put to use. Brutal. During this time I had a lot of stuff cross my mind. Here's a random sample:

• I dominate the snow blower. Although it has an electric start I must have pull-started it at least a dozen times after clearing the first three layers of snow in various parts of our property. I totally showed it who was boss.
• Until it stopped running. I have never prayed for anything as hard as I did in hopes that it was just low on gas (bonus to knowing that if your husband leaves town you will get clobbered with snow: foresight to ask him where the snow blower gas can is). A few ounces and a pull-start later, we were back up and running. Continued domination.
  
• Steve gained excellent experience in being a future homeowner. He learned how to use the snow blower and that it's nice but not necessary to shovel the garden.
  
• I feel like an asshat neighbor for not doing June's sidewalk and driveway. June is our 90+ year old neighbor who lives on her own and rocks at life. She once told me in disgust how ridiculous she found it that her kids make her wear a Life Alert necklace. And between us and the neighbors on the other side we are always rotating and helping her out. But the thing is I know she also has a snow service and after almost three hours I opted out of doing her drive. I SUCK. Sorry June, maybe your next neighbors will be cooler.
  
• Speaking of June's next neighbors, I hope they don't mind that chunk of lawn that has now gone missing from the front yard. Also sorry about snowblowing the deck, but I seriously had no choice. And, in about 8 weeks, I shall think of you when you discover the Ralphie mine field that is now buried under three feet of snow. Bwa ha ha. Serves you right for asking to close in the middle of February.
• I am capable of pushing a small car out of a snow bank. After helping me with the drive, deck, and three sidewalks, I helped Steve dig out his and Erin's cars. Erin's was pretty wedged so while he tried to rock it back and forth, their landlord Herb and I stood at the bumper and gave it all we got. After that, Herb's snow blower died, so I loaned him ours. Continued snow domination.

At the end of the adventure Erin had GG down for a nap and I took a long hot shower. Temporary bliss. I am totally screwed when the plow comes back through but for now I am enjoying not smelling like gasoline and this golden hour before my muscles start their revolt on my body. I'm not sure how actual single moms do this, but for now I say stand down, snowpocalypse. I'm scrappier than I look.

Dallas Bound

The Packers are going to the Super Bowl. Oh, haven't you heard?

But before anyone could book their flights the Pack had to win the NFC Championship last Sunday. I don't think I've ever seen Matt more jacked up than he was before the game started. Since one of his favorite hobbies is to pepper me with questions when I'm reading or watching TV, I thought I might take the opportunity to return the favor (note: only between plays) asking stuff like, "if we eat animal crackers, would it be weird if Ralphie at human crackers?" and "can we talk about our feelings for a really long time?" Hilar. GG's nap wrapped up right during half time so she joined the fun. First order of business was to get her out of her clothes and into the appropriate cheering ensemble. Second was to cheer on her daddy's team. I have also hopped onto the GB Bandwagon, if for no other reason than the direct correlation between their success and the general attitude in my home. So hallelujah Packers. Bring home that one last win and maybe I'll be able to get that tennis bracelet (ha!).