Crisp Evening Walk

Spring has arrived! Well, for a few days at least. Ry and I decided to take a stroll in what we hope will be our new neighborhood. We parked around the corner from "our" house and walked by to see what's going on with it. The snow had melted off from the side yards, so we could see the patio area there with a tiny bit of green popping up.

The house doesn't have much of a traditional lawn-style yard, but I think this patio would be awesome useable outdoor space for us. We've seen photos of it in bloom and there are vines all along the fence wall that come alive in the summer, making it very private.

The parkway that's around the corner from "our" house. We met a pregnant woman named Megan who was walking a gigantic, old Great Dane. We also saw two kids tossing a football around and a family watching from across the street.

I'm reluctant to post any pictures of the actual house until things seem to be finalized. I talked to our realtor, Nancy, yesterday and found out that our file has traveled to one of the seller's bank where it is waiting to be assigned a negotiator. I'm learning more about short sales everyday and I'm using this knowledge as I scour listings for other properties. We haven't seen much that interests us besides "our" house. I can identify what look like many other unclaimed short sales; usually few to no pictures, random listing companies, a price that doesn't seem in line with the tax value shown. Nancy is showing us a bungalow further West in the Jackson Park neighborhood this Saturday. We walked past it on our walk and were a bit turned off by how close it was to Oklahoma. It also had a rental property next door and very little privacy with how close the houses were spaced together.

We continued our walk into Jackson Park, where we found lots of people with dogs and Mexican families playing soccer.

We walked into the neighborhood West of 43rd street and saw one of the old-school Milwaukee Police call boxes. I love these things! They are unique and make me imagine what Milwaukee must have been like back at the end of the 19th century.

Call box detail.

If you went to high school with me, you will know why I took this picture! This is almost the exact type of car I learned to drive and rolled around in as a teenager, except my mom's was bright red. I haven't seen one of these in a long time and it brought back memories.

I whipped up another Knudson family staple: Tuna and Pea Pasta with Pecorino. I invented this one day out of ingredients from the cabinet and freezer. It's awesome and now we'll have to say goodbye to it for a while.

Then we watched an episode of The Wire on DVD and hit the hay. I did a crossword puzzle while Ry combed political blogs in bed. What a bunch of nerds we are.

My night stand. Notice the University-issued monster phone that rings in the middle of the night when there are emergencies. This phone literally strikes fear in my heart because no one calls it except my staff. Don't get me wrong, staff, I love you, but when you call on this line there is usually something amiss.

Ry's night stand. Notice that he made this delighful piece of furniture, what a handy man. Notice also that he has a million food books!