We moved from the basement level at Megan and Jeremy's home to our own home, so the title seemed catchy and appropriate.
Whew! Long day today. We started signing paperwork on the close of our
new home at about 11:20 am. We ended up finishing around 1:15 pm. Our agent,
Anne Monroe, was with us throughout most of the process. The Northland Title owner,
Ross Danielson, walked us through each piece of paper we signed and was very thorough
in answering my questions.
At one point Ross jokingly asked me if I would like a job handling his
bookkeeping on the rental properties he owns. I told him sure if it were part-time,
and I could work remotely, and it did not involve any HR work. He said he is
going to give it some consideration. He does his own bookkeeping now.
As we left the signing, Anne gifted us with a beautiful plant. In
addition to her work as a real estate agent she also has a floral business. You
may recall she is also the saver of brides who forget their checkbook and must
write a check to the judge. At least Anne
saved Megan’s wedding day. When she gave us the plant she pointed out, “The
strawberry plants are for Joe.” Joe was thrilled. I love that my very first
plants for the new house are from someone who loves plants as much as we do.
It snowed for most of the day – the good news is that it did not stick. This was helpful as we drove from the title company to the new house first thing and unloaded about eight of the thirty-nine boxes for the kitchen we have in storage. Then we headed up to Rockford to get another load of boxes for the bedroom, bathroom, and freezer. Back to Saint Michael where we unloaded the boxes from the car and started unloading the actual boxes.
It took a good thirty minutes for me to figure out the dishwasher as I
wanted to wash all the dishes that have been in storage for the past year. In my
defense the dishwasher start button had the words 'control reset' next to it, so I
thought it did not have a start button. An Internet search and the manuals the sellers
had left behind did me little good. The panel on the dishwasher did not match
the panel in the manual. Finally, Joe said, “For the sake of argument let’s
press the button next to the words control reset. Damn, it worked. Joe Coehlo comes
through for the win.
We then drove up to Rockford to have dinner with Megan, Jeremy, Caleb,
and Charlotte. Megan made us breakfast for dinner. She had been up since early
this morning decorating cookies for a Girl Scout function this weekend. Tomorrow,
she picks up her troop of eight girls and they drive for 45 minutes to the location
of the weekend event. That is commitment… or perhaps she will need to be
committed come Sunday morning.
After dinner, we loaded up the car again with our cat Alto’s belongings
and Alto in her carrier to bring back to her newest home. When she saw Joe with
the carrier she hid under the bed. He left the bedroom, and I started talking
to her. “Look, it is time to go to our new home. You will have a lot of room to
roam. Most exciting of all, there are no dogs.” She hopped up onto the bed and let
me pick her up and put her in the carrier. She cried for a long two minutes but
settled down when we were in the car. As soon as we got to our new home, I
released her. She started exploring immediately and a few times she would look
at me and I swear she was saying, “All of this for me??”
Which pretty much describes how Joe, and I are feeling. Joe said that without
furniture the house today feels smaller than he had been thinking. I have
always had warm fuzzy feelings from this house since the moment we walked in
the front door. The sellers had agreed to meet with us last night for the final
walk through to explain the upscale systems in the house. Upscale for Joe and me.
The built-in vacuum system for the house, the 4-level air and heating system. In
the days to come, I will write more as we settle in. There will be photos of rooms
as they get furnished. Right now, the kitchen looks like a cyclone came
through. I tell myself it will all be orderly in four or five days. One box at
a time we will regain order.
As I write this tonight, it strikes me that I am exhausted and yet feel
incredibly peaceful at the same time. With the dishwasher running in the
background, Joe sitting at the kitchen island across from me reading on his
iPad, and Alto wrapping herself around the legs of the stool I am sitting on, I
am feeling elated to be sitting in this space.
Here are three empty rooms to check out.
Dining Room
Today is my baby brother, Todd’s birthday. He is ten years younger than
me, and that means he turned fifty-eight years old. Still a baby! Happy Birthday,
Todd!
My joy for today is using for the first time the built-in ice maker and water dispenser on our refrigerator.
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