Housing News

 Moving  3 Responses »
Jun 212010
 

We are still trying to buy a house.

This is house #3 of our Milwaukee attempts. It isn’t quite in the neighborhood(s) we targeted, but is about 2 blocks west of one of our top 2 choices. And it has 4 bedrooms and a finished basement, which are mighty fine attributes in a house, I must say.

But.

We were supposed to close on Friday. Then we were supposed to close on Monday. Now we are supposed to close on Wednesday or Thursday. The seller “didn’t understand” that his second mortgage was a mortgage he’d have to pay back in order to sell the house. Pardon me while I express extreme skepticism about a doctor not understanding that fact, ESL notwithstanding.

They moved something like 6 months ago, so the wild garden has been growing unsupervisedly since spring first began. Although we haven’t closed yet, Grandma pulled out 4 thistles the size of 10 year olds on Saturday, plus sundry other large and healthy weeds. She also generously donated garden gloves, a denim shirt, and the last couple of ounces of scary weed killing chemicals. I bought giant and regular sized garden clippers.

Today I cut down and rained death on the formerly 2-4′ tall weeds blocking access to the garage, using up the scary chemicals. Then I chopped out — I couldn’t get the root out — a thistle 5′ tall and nearly as big in diameter. I pulled 3 more that were “only” 3-4 feet tall. And I cut clear the path between the alley and the backyard.

More expensive and intimidating than the garden is the roof.

I’m still getting bids, but essentially, we need to tear off a 2-part roof: 3/4 is crumbling, defective, 10-year-old shingle; 1/4 is only partially damaged, maybe salvageable, poorly installed rubber. And in the middle of the rubber roof, there’s a chimney that needs repointing. It seems to regularly “pop” chunks of brick across the roof. Last week I climbed up and looked for myself.

Roof BeforeRoof Before

See all those little bumpy dealios on the edges of the shingles? They aren’t supposed to be there. They’re the shingle curling up. Unsurprisingly, that also makes all the little rocky parts get loose.

The part where it looks like it has a skin condition isn’t actually part of the problem. I think the previous owners were trying a home-grown “maybe we can get the light to reflect and then upstairs won’t be so hot” effort. The problem is mostly around the chimney.

So anyway, we’re getting a bunch of bids to replace the roof and fix the chimney and it seems like every person who comes through has a new suggestion of what’s wrong and what needs to be done to replace it.

And while I’m out there getting estimates, I’m also doing yard work.

If this sale falls through, someone owes me (and Grandma!) for a LOT of yard work.

 Posted by Liza at 5:02 pm

Bye Bye VOIP

 Moving, Opinion, TV  No Responses »
Mar 072009
 

We have had a lot of technical difficulties with our home land line here in Wisconsin.

I know, a land line? We aren’t using it for phone service, so if you would normally think of calling us at home, please don’t be offended that we didn’t give you the number. Jill needs a land line for faxing for work.

First we went the traditional route: AT&T. Somehow I managed not to sign up for long distance with anyone, and so Jill wasn’t able to send 90% of the faxes she needed  to send.

Then someone came along selling a Time Warner Cable cheapo deal where we would get everything including free Showtime for about $5 more than we were paying for basic cable and fast Internet already. So we agreed to try VOIP/digital phone.

It has been a very difficult 12 days.

We have not gone 3 days without a service call, although to be fair, some of those calls were for cable or Internet problems, not only phone. But 3 were because we didn’t have any dial tone. Three separate technicians have come to our house.

Two calls ago, TWC credited our account with a free month. At that point, we thought we would use that month and then go back to analog phone service.

Yesterday, when the dial tone wasn’t working again, Jill’s head exploded.

The soonest we can have analog service again is Wednesday. We thought we might try to catch up on all of the episodes of The L Word that we haven’t seen this season — which is all of them — before we cancelled.

Unfortunately, Showtime On Demand didn’t work last night either. So we have watched two episodes, and the prospects of our fitting the rest in before Wednesday are dim. At least we already heard that Jenny dies.

 Posted by Liza at 7:58 am

I Hate the Last 22 Hours

 Moving, The Real Live Girl  2 Responses »
Jan 292009
 

Edited to add: at least they’re cute. (Video is 1:03 min long.)

The worst moment was about 30 seconds after Josie finished projectile vomiting. Three bouts. Preceded by one non-projectile round.

My entire front was drenched, shirt and pants. Josie was drenched. She’d pooped through 2 layers only an hour before, so she was wearing 2 clean layers. Fortunately the vomit didn’t soak through the fleece layer. My house slippers were spattered, as was about 2 square feet of wool rug. The chair where I usually sit to nurse and/or watch TV had an approximately 8 inch diameter pool of vomit soaking into it.

By the time I figured out where to sit Josie down, and stripped both of us down to vomit-free layers, she was over it. She was the smiling, WIDE AWAKE, cooing baby that is the kind of child who makes you want to emulate the Duggars.

And there we were, smelling like vomit, with mountains of the stuff to clean up, and a finally asleep after a long struggle big brother, and no other adult around to help.

After calling and leaving Jill a pathetic message, and a little mini-meltdown of my own, I did what any self-respecting almost 40 year old adult woman would do (if they could). I called my Mommy.

And because I no longer live in Atlanta, where all she could do was sympathize, she came over. So did my Dad. He held the baby, mostly, while I started the laundry (in the frigid, uninsulated basement) and had a quick shower. Mom cleaned up the rug and chair, then tag-team played with a sleepy and getting less coo-y and happy Josie.

And Mom moved my car to the legal overnight parking side of the street.

Thanks, Mom & Dad!
BTW, my theory is that my consumption of broccoli romanesco is what disagreed with her. But who can turn down a vegetable fractal?

Noah woke up in an exceptionally horrible mood, with lots of screaming and kicking.

The second most horrible part of the day is that I got yet another frigging parking ticket while parked in front of my house. This time I took the kids to the local police station to ask someone to please explain the rules so that I can quit accidentally violating them, and if there are any more permits I need to buy, can I please have one?

I liked the answer almost less than I like getting ticketed.

For no discernable reason, there is unwaivable, unpermit-exceptionable, absolutely, positively only 1-hour parking on my block from 7 am until 7 pm. And no parking at all on either of the cross streets. If I don’t want a ticket, I must move my car every hour all day.

Or, I can park across a busy street, or a block away.

That was fun in the 23 degree weather, with both kids. Stroller + snow = suck. But easier than carrying the infant car seat.

Now I have to decide whether to go move the car after both kids are asleep — I have a permit to park until 7 am. Or, when I have to take Noah to school tomorrow, we can walk the complaint-filled, frigid block first thing in the morning.

Yes, I will be contacting my Alderman.

 Posted by Liza at 7:07 pm

Open Letter to AT&T

 Money, Moving, Opinion  2 Responses »
Jan 022009
 

Dear AT&T:

You called me this morning around 11:40 am. It is now 1:08 pm.

You called to tell me that I hadn’t activated my DSL service. I knew that; I’ve been trying to cancel it for about 10 days now. Cable, not that I love them either, offers me more than twice the speed for about $10/month more. So I picked them instead.

When you called, I pressed the “talk to someone” button, and was immediately transferred to tech support in India. (Guessing from the accent.)

When I told “Jody” that I wanted to cancel the service, she transferred me to someone who sounded like they were in the US. Hold time was about 5 minutes. That person thought I was trying to cancel a business account, but I don’t have a business account. After much back and forth over the fact that I don’t know my new land line number and HEY DIDN’T YOU PEOPLE CALL ME? DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT ACCOUNT THE COMPUTER CALLED ME TO DISCUSS??? she eventually transferred me to what she said was 800-228-2020.

Since being on hold with that transfer, I have pumped 9 oz of breast milk, plugged in my cell phone so that the battery won’t die — it is still trying to — had an argument with my wife about our new banking plans in our new city, resolved the argument, researched 2 banks and 3 credit unions, read lots of updates on Facebook, bought long underwear online, had a hormonal roller-coaster & stress driven meltdown, complete with tears and door slamming, and resolved that too. Oh and made and eaten lunch.

I’m still on hold.

You’re never going to let me cancel that DSL service, are you?

After we go open up our new savings account, I have another priority errand, but either late this afternoon, or next Monday, I’m going to be calling and leaving a message for some nice paralegal in your legal department, asking them to help me cancel the account so that I don’t have to take the issue to small claims court.

You see, even though I am currently a stay at home mom, I still have better things to do with my time than spend more than 2 hours on hold to try to cancel an account. ESPECIALLY since, may I remind you, YOU CALLED ME.

Oh yeah, and this is the second time I’ve danced this exact dance with you. You called last week, but I gave up being on hold when I got to the grocery store — only 10 minutes after you called.
Total time spent connected to AT&T that produced exactly zero results: 1:42:31.

Hi, Vonage? I still need a landline for Jill’s work, maybe you can help?

 Posted by Liza at 1:24 pm

Business as Usual

 Money, Moving, Personal  1 Response »
Dec 292008
 

I could write a sad and mopey post about how Jill left yesterday and we all miss her and I hate this business about living apart. And I could tell stories about how Noah woke up this morning and immediately went running through the house calling “This Mommy! This Mommy!”

But it sucks enough without reliving it for the Internet to share.

Instead, I’m going to have a bitch moment and a “yay me!” moment.

First, the bitch moment: My plan today was to get my car registered and get a new driver’s license, go grocery shopping, and deal with computer/network issues. Then if I had time before I have to pick up the kids, I could also blog.

The Wisconsin DMV web site has a great deal of information on it, none of which can be found associated with any other piece of necessary information. It looks nice and there are lots of hyperlinks, but as far as actual functionality is concerned, I give it a D+.

I tried first to get the emissions test done, since in Georgia, you have to do that first, and in Wisconsin, there’s no information available about what you have to do first.

Nope. The guy managing the line told me that I needed to go inside to get my paperwork. So much for benefiting from the nice short line. Inside, the line was also short, but slow. The woman disuaded me from getting the emissions test done, as it would be free after I got the car registered in Wisconsin. (Huh?) But she couldn’t do the registration part.

(Amusingly, the web site asserts that you can get a “driver license” with an out-of-state license online. Fortunately, I assumed that was only included in the “Online services – save yourself a trip” section as a joke.)

The site is also confusingly organized, such that I thought the downtown office was a full-service DMV center, when it actually only deals with drivers licensing, and even that, not if you have to take the test.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived and figured out that I could only get the driver’s license there, not the vehicle registration. However, given that it took more than an hour to get from the person with line ticket number 4 to line ticket number 19, me, I think it is safe to say they could not handle additional work. Incidentally, 4 of the people between #4 and #19 had given up and left, so they only actually spoke with 10 customers while I was waiting.

Look for a future post here, outlining what you need to do and in what order, if you are moving to Wisconsin with your car. After I figure it out.

On the “yay me!” front, I am feeling like Ms Smart Shopper. Last week, I joined the local food coop. I love food coops, and the big local one here has a large branch in the best local grocery shopping area that I’ve found so far.

One of the member benefits they gave me was a book of “try this for free” coupons. When I looked at the coupons on Saturday, I noticed that they all expire on 12/31/2008. So I went to spend them today.

Total value: $49.87, including Seventh Generation all purpose cleaner, Cascadian Farms frozen vegetable of my choice, Traditional Medicinals box o tea, quart o soy milk, 2 different non-dairy fake ice cream products, and a number of other items. Some I would have bought anyway, some I would have bought a cheaper substitute, and some I would probably not have otherwise purchased. Still, for $0.62, I am well satisfied. (That’s the tax, which I still had to pay.)

My real total was $3.50 higher, since I did also buy a gallon of skim milk. But either way, that’s thirteen cents shy of 2 years worth of ownership fees, already saved. And I saved about $11 in owner sale pricing on my first trip. It may not be as cheap as the big box food store, but since it already paid for itself, I’m very satisfied.

 Posted by Liza at 4:29 pm

I’ve Missed You!

 Moving, Personal  5 Responses »
Dec 102008
 

Hi Blog! Hi readers! I’ve missed you!

Since the last time I was here, it’s been a wild ride.

FIRST, Noah, Josie, and I drove to Milwaukee from Atlanta. It wasn’t a bad drive, except for one serious meltdown in Indianapolis. Noah started throwing things while we were going 70 mph. And all the exits were in scary decrepit industrial areas. When I finally decided to stop no matter what at the next exit, it was Kessler Boulevard, and half a mile down the road, we spotted a Presbyterian church with a big parking lot — better still, it turned out that the church had a playground behind it. Thirty or 40 minutes later, Josie was fed, Noah had run off some steam, and we were all feeling better.

NEXT, we arrived at Grandma & Grandpa’s house, where we stayed for just shy of 2 weeks. Grandma & Grandpa had “baby boot camp” and were amazingly helpful.

DURING THAT TIME, I had a job interview, all of our household stuff was delivered and divided between our house and Grandparents’ basement, and everyone got terrible colds. Noah got to play in the snow for the first time. He had a blast, but has subsequently developed mixed feelings about it.

Noah has also developed a few other interesting preferences. He hates being forced to wear 2 shirts, and also pjs with a zip up wearable blanket on top. Unfortunately, no layers is not an option in winter in Wisconsin. He also has a new friend, Andy, with whom he clearly has the potential to become best frenemies. They are still learning to share, but they mostly entertain one another.

LAST FRIDAY, we moved into our new house. Right now, we’re at the marginally functional Rubick’s Cube state of unpacking. But we’re getting into a routine and settling into the new place.

SATURDAY, I spent the whole day away from Josie for the first time. It was at a continuing legal education thing I needed to do so I can work here. It was both interesting and rough. Today I’m doing it again, and I have 2 more full days after today. As much as I miss them, having a day where I can stand up, go to the bathroom, and eat something on my own time frame. No one is shrieking, I have changed no diapers, and I’m enjoying the lack of having the movie Cars playing in the background.

As much as moving has been hard on all of us, there have been some great moments already, and I know they’re going to build. Noah has now spent enough time with his Milwaukee Grandma that he isn’t shy with her, even at first. Grandpa is only a hair more intimidating. I’ve also had a great time hanging out with friends like Madelaine & Eric, Peter & Meredith, and with extended family — especially Aunt Susie and my cousin Kirsten.

Thank you, village!

Of course, even with all this amazing and wonderful help, I’ve figured out that what I really need is more help. I don’t know how stay at home moms manage! And I don’t know how single moms manage. I especially have no idea how an unemployed single mom is supposed to find a job — it just requires time and childcare, both on a predictable and regular basis.

So. Friday the kids and I are going to look at 2 day care centers in the neighborhood. One has immediate openings for both kids, M-W-F. The other will have openings in mid-January. I think that will give me the bandwidth to keep unpacking, to organize the pantry, etc. And it will give Noah somewhere to sing and dance and play games and wrestle and generally have more fun than I can provide. (Not that Eric is inexpert in any of these things! But Noah misses school, and I am a complete washout as far as singing and playing children’s music is concerned.)

Anyway, we are settling in, and I could not be happier to be getting online again.

And a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to the whole village.

 Posted by Liza at 3:38 pm

Tweet Tweet

 Moving  1 Response »
Nov 212008
 

I *might* find the time to make one more post before getting on the road, but don’t hold your breath.

And I tried to figure out how to make blog posts from a site called Twitter (half of you are twitter addicts and half of you have never heard of it), but my blog software won’t cooperate.

For the half of you who have never heard of it, Twitter lets you post very short updates on what you are doing, and reply to those from other people. And you can send them from your phone, if you have text messaging capability on your cell phone.

I promise not to text while driving, but I will be texting updates to Twitter when I can on the trip.

So.

If you want to know what and how I’m doing on the road with Noah and Josie, you’ll have to pop over to Twitter and follow me.

 Posted by Liza at 9:14 am
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