Author: admin (Page 29 of 89)

If we thought life was ever busy, we didn’t actually know how busy it could get! We are frantically working on 117 every free moment. Officially we have 5 days to finish, but the people that are moving in have help this weekend, so want to start then. We won’t be done, yet, and we told them that, but also told them they are welcome to start moving in this weekend. Which means we must get the bedrooms, closets, cupboards and other places they will want to put stuff ready. We are bogged down on trim. It just takes so long to measure, fit, re-trim, re-fit, re-trim and put it in, especially with the saw out in the garage. I’m frustrated, because we are about out of things I can do. I finished the piece of vinyl in the laundry room last night by cutting pieces to fit and glueing them in. Today I’ll be cleaning our things out of the kitchen, cleaning up the appliances (again) and emptying all the paint out of the pantry. Dad is hoping to get off early today and we’ll work like crazy on trim in the bedrooms and living room. I’m also going to work more on emptying the garage today.  Anyway, as you can tell, there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to get it done.

Plus, we bought the commercial property yesterday, so that is ours to start working on. Yesterday we just took a good look at it again (since we’d only seen it once) and made some decisions on what will happen first, second, etc. and how exactly we will configure the bathroom/laundry/walk in closet. And by bathroom, I literally mean “bath” room, because the toilet and sink are in another 1/2 bath, so this will only have the tub/shower, as well as our hanger clothes and the laundry. Anyway, there is a lot we could do on that place, but we need to keep focused on the other until it is done.

Also, for those of you who care, we finally wrote out our wills, had them notarized, rented a safety deposit box at First National Bank, and put them in it. We’ll be putting other things in there, too, as time goes on, and when you are around, we’ll update the paperwork so a couple of you also can have access to it when you eventually need the papers.

When I made my list of all the jobs I could think of that needed to still be done at 117 before the renters moved in on July 1, I had 53. As of this evening we are down to 35.

The transformation this weekend has been nothing short of amazing. We went from the house looking like a construction zone to looking like a house, almost. The main things done included carpeting the living room and dining room and putting most of the trim up in those two rooms, as well as putting the vinyl flooring down in the entry and the door trim up from the entry to the dining room. This all involved a lot of cutting, routing, sanding, priming and painting of trim boards, as well. I also got the hardwood floors cleaned really well and a new coat of sealer put on them, so they look as good as they can for their age and abuse. At least I know they are clean and can be kept clean. And the basement is as finished as it is going to be.

Thanks much to Erica and Chloe and Josiah for their great help yesterday and today. Maybe Erica will post pictures! I was too busy to take any yet (or even to remember to bring my camera!)

This was my first weekly weigh-in that I didn’t lose. I wasn’t really surprised, because I ate terrible all weekend and by Monday had three pounds to lose in order to be on track by Wednesday. So I’m a pound behind my goal pace, but happy to say I lost 9 pounds in the first month of my effort. Of course, 3 or 4 of them came off right away. But the rest of them have taken concerted effort.

Dad is doing somewhat better, but as he reminds me, he has more to lose. I think he was at about 12 pounds lost last I heard, but probably more by now. I’m thrilled with how seriously he is watching his eating, although I wish he’d get more exercise. He bought a nice used bike, but it has either been rainy or we’ve had to work on the house, so he hasn’t been out on it much. I think it is harder work than he remembered. The times he did go out, he couldn’t go far before having to turn around and head home. But he hasn’t exercised those biking muscles for quite a while.  And having a bike is a big step in the right direction!

We’ve got a closing date for our business property – next Wednesday (June 25). I’m really excited. I had five new people in tai chi yesterday after I ran an article in the paper!

I don’t remember a month with this much rain. And it isn’t like it is gloomy and wet all the time. Most of the time it is sunny and nice. Then will get another couple inches of rain maybe overnight or in the evening. Then another couple nice days and more rain. So what is unusual is that every time it rains, it is a significant amount, like an inch or two. Former fields are now lakes and show no signs of ever becoming fields again. The water is over the road some places and stays that way day after day. It is just weird.

But the one thing it is good for is a garden perched atop a hill. I wasn’t planning to water my new vegetable garden, but I know I would have relented if the weather had been really dry. But I haven’t needed to even think about watering it. Almost every time we go out there, we have to empty the rain gauge again.  And the plants are growing well, although a little hotter weather would help that and I hear it is on the way.

I know all this water is a problem for many, but for us, the only issue is the water in basements and that is being controlled with sump pumps. And we discovered last night that the remaining water in the basement of 117 New Auburn is from the hot water heater overflow valve. We’re not sure why, but it seems to be spitting out water when we aren’t looking.

I listed 117 for rent July 1 on Craigslist day before yesterday. We got a lot of calls, so we told them to come and see it last night at 7:00. Yesterday morning there were still tools all over, the floors were covered with sheet rock dust and dried mud, the kitchen was a disaster, and the yard was a mess. By 6:30, the place shone. I’d mowed and clipped around things with the hand clipper and picked up the clippings, I’d polished up the kitchen, from cabinet fronts to the inside of the microwave, I’d scrubbed all the sheet rock mud from the inside of the shower/tub, I’d washed floors by hand. Oh, and first of all, I hauled all the tools and building supplies to the garage, which we’d straightened and emptied a bit the night before. I was exhausted, but everything looked great.

Then only two couples showed up…..

But we know we have a couple coming on the weekend, and they sound most like the ones we want. She works in Chippewa Falls and he works in Rice Lake and they want to be more centrally located.

We still have all the carpet to lay and the trim to put up all over the house. (Anyone want to help!!). July 1 is 2 1/2 weeks away. I think we can do it!

Here are some pictures. Can you tell what the plants are?

Your choices are peas, corn, beans, and chard. Here is a picture of a sweet potato plant. First time we’ve tried these.  We planted it as a plant, not a seed (which is probably obvious.)

Our opening offer of $37,000 was accepted on the business property. We couldn’t believe it!  That is way less than you could buy even a house in poor condition. The value on the tax assessment is $47,000. Sure, it is next to a bar and has no yard. But it is over 1700 square feet inside and made of brick, so the sounds stay outside. And it has all the spaces we need. Who-hoo!

Back of the building – residential portion entrance.

Front portion of fitness studio. We’ll take out carpet and continue laminate throughout room. You can only see about 1/3 of the whole room. It will be big enough for classes of 8 – 12.

Room to become music studio. Can you see the grand piano against the far wall, your back to the window to take advantage of the light? When you look down the hallway, the bedroom is to the right, and the bathroom will be through the bedroom, in the area that is behind the door you can just see on the right side of the picture. But we don’t want our private bath to enter into the music studio. (There is another bathroom for the public in the back of the exercise room.) The existing bathroom for the back half is to the left in the hall, and that will become the walk in closet. And straight ahead will be the kitchen/dining/living area, with the back door straight ahead. So this picture was taken standing just about in the middle of the building looking north. when we close that door on the north end of the music studio, that will separate the private living area from the area for the businesses.

Realtor in one side of room to become kitchen/dining room, with living room area behind camera. It will be a small kitchen area just against the wall to the right. But that leaves room for a dining area and even for my hutch and baker’s rack. The living area will have plenty of room for the love seat and a chair or two and the piece that holds the t.v., etc.

There are also a couple of rooms between the fitness studio and the music studio that I don’t have good pictures of. One we are turning into a recording studio and the other will most likely be a waiting room. There are also two rooms to the west of the fitness studio, emptying into it. One will be the office and the other, in the front, will just be a storage area for our tubs, until we move to New Auburn. We will just keep that door always shut!!

But, you can see, there is a lot of room in this building and it is in quite nice shape. Almost move-in ready in the business portion.

Bigger picture of back of building. See – a tree! I really want to get in there and mow!

It is quite hot today! I’m glad, but I’m just saying…

We got the garden out at the property disked yesterday, so I went down on the scooter this morning and worked on tilling it and smoothing it out with the garden rake. It is hard work, but I probably got a 20 by 30 foot section done. There are a lot of rocks and clumps of grass and roots to pick out and throw to the side. The soil seems really nice – not too much clay, but definitely not sandy. I plan to transplant the cabbages out there right away, probably this evening, as well as some of the squash, leaving room for beans in between. I have to buy my seeds for the rest of the stuff yet, but I should get it all planted before the weekend is over. I’m excited!

I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful it is to be working in a garden in that particular spot. It is at the highest point around, so when I take a break and look around, the view is just spectacular, but no one is anywhere near close enough to see if I am all sweaty and covered in dirt! And there is always a bit of a breeze up on the hill, so it is sort of cool, even on a hot day. I would have stayed all day, but I had things to do for Don, like talk to the banker and the guy that is interested in buying The Garage. (Did we mention that?)

We looked at a building in Chetek that we are seriously thinking of buying. It would house my music studio and my fitness studio, for when we move to New Auburn, so we can totally rent out 123, without having to keep the music studio there, and I can get my classes out of the senior center and, hopefully, get some younger people (or some different people, at any rate). There will also be a small living space, so we can live there and save up money for building next year. It is the old Erspamer Law Office building, which was then the school district administration building for a couple years, then Video Hut for a few years until it closed. It is on Knapp Street in the first block, right between Mary’s Cafe and Bar and the Chetek Beauty Shoppe. It has been vacant for a while and the guy is interested in getting it sold. He’s asking $44,900, and we are hoping to get it for less than that. If we do, the payments will be around $350/ month, including taxes and insurance. Can’t hardly go wrong with that, even if it is next to a bar!  (I know what you are thinking – we are addicted to buying properties.)

Tonight is the middle school concert and when it is over, I am done for another year. Yea! It has been a great year, actually. The kids in middle school choir are all pretty well behaved and fun to work with.  The high school was really good again this year. We had an awesome year at solo-ensemble. Tonight they perform such contemporary favorites as “What Makes you Beautiful,” “Breakaway,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Deep in the Meadow” (from Hunger Games), “Hallelujah” (from Shrek),  “Roar,” and “Happy,” all of which were new to me!

I don’t mean to rain on Amy’s parade and I think it is great that she is excited about this new exercise program she has found. There are lots and lots and lots of fun exercise programs out there, many of which will do a great job of getting you into better shape. This particular program she has chosen, however,  is fraught with problems.

1) Fitness professionals have long maintained that sit-ups are NOT a safe exercise. There is a point in the movement where all except those with incredible ab strength use the hip flexor muscles rather than the abs to lift the upper body. It is just as good for your abs to get to that point where they can’t move your body any more on their own, then return to the floor. This is call the crunch and is a far safer exercise, particularly if your lower back is already prone to injury.

2) Burpees may be fine for high school students with young knees, but anyone past the age of 30 should be very careful to strengthen the knees with other exercises before attempting repeated burpees. They involve a greater bend in the knees than is generally regarded as safe for most people.

3) For many people, push ups can be very irritating on the shoulder joint. There are many exercises that involve lifting a lighter weight than your body weight that should be done to build shoulder strength before attempting repeated push ups. This is particularly true if you are more than 30 pounds overweight, as a push up would be equivalent to bench pressing maybe 50 or 60 pounds, which I don’t think you would attempt the first time out to the gym.

4) It is generally accepted in the fitness community that the most effective way to do strengthening exercises is slowly. Once you put speed into the equation, you begin using alternative, stronger muscles, to complete the exercise, rather than carefully exercising the muscles the exercise was designed to target. And moving slowly is even more important if you are carrying more than 30 pounds of excess weight, because your joints are already under a lot of strain just doing the exercise, even without attempting to move quickly.

5) This exercise routine is a stamina building routine. Building stamina is quite a ways down the continuum of getting into shape. First you want to make sure you have the core strength to move your body in a safe and effective way. Then you want to build a base of overall body strength. Once you have this base built, you work on increasing the strength and endurance of all the muscles. Finally you are at a point to begin working on power and stamina. That whole process could take years and some may never reach the end phase of stamina and power training.

And this is in addition to building aerobic endurance, which you do through your walking, running, biking, swimming, etc.

Please, all of you, remember that just because a workout felt like a “killer workout” does not mean it was a safe workout or a workout that is appropriate for you.