Babble

Hmmm, where to start. Last week turned out to be happy as expected, but also came with a fair amount of sleep deprivation and stress. We kicked off the week with a surprise birthday party for Molly at Rossario’s: all-you-can-eat spaghetti on the board for 30 of Molly’s friends and family followed by a Monday night out in Monona. It was fun, but probably not the best way to kick off one of the busier weeks of my life. You would think 3 drinks wouldn’t kill me over the course of 7 hours, but then again you’d also think I’d be smart enough not to mix beer, wine and rum. Not so much. Tuesday was rough — for a multitude of reasons….

Tuesday night we had our final walk-through at “Vilas” (which we’ve come to find out is not in the Vilas neighborhood at all, but actually Greenbush.) Unfortunately the owners had not started work on one of two major contingencies, which set off a series of distressed calls to and from the attorneys, the mortgage people, and the owners again. We learned about escrowing money for unfulfilled contingencies and the option of walking away.

Wednesday we waited, not knowing whether we would be closing or not. As an aside, there was one amusing moment where I was short $0.25 at the farmers’ market for a tomato plant and was given a discount in sympathy. An ironic situation, given I was carrying the cashier’s check for the down payment of the house in my purse. (Let the days of being cash-poor begin.)

Thursday we had a second, last-minute walk-through at 8:30 before the closing at 10:00. The results were somewhat disappointing, and part of the work will have to be re-done, but at that point it seemed more advantageous to fix it ourselves then continue to deal with the owners (who are nice people, but dealing with some unfortunate circumstances.) We walked into the closing to find my mortgage banker (brother Nate), my attorney (my neighbor), the Title Co. rep (who I went to high school with), the sellers, and their attorney (also recognizable), and chatted about Parkwood Hills, where the majority of the group had lived at some point. Aside from being acutely aware that I was putting down semi-permanent roots in the smallest town ever, the closing went smoothly. And so, Schroeds and I now own a 3-unit home in the heart of Greenbush. Yay!

There was little time for revelry though — we still have two homes to sell and Jeff’s celebrations were just beginning. On Saturday we enjoyed watching Shirley Abrahamson who talked about “parting, partying and packing” — how apropos — and David Walsh, among others, who ushered Jeff through graduation from the Executive MBA Program. A reception at the Fluno Center followed, and then a great party at Jeff’s with lots of friends, family, cake and beerpong capped off the night. We also slept at Vilas Saturday night, which was a lot like camping (particularly given Schroeder’s tendency to open windows even when it’s 43° outside.) Pretty good feeling to be in our new home though. Having stuff like cups, toothbrushes and furniture will be gravy.

Sunday we took a little more time to ‘party’ with Dres & Les who were in town for the weekend before getting back to the ‘packing’ and ‘parting’ portion of life. And so begins another crazy-busy week….