March Madness in full throated scream. Our season ended with a bang on Friday night. Maybe you saw it on ESPN’s Sport Center? They put the 28 foot Hail Mary shot that beat us at the buzzer up as one of their top three plays of the night.
Sadness.
The pain of losing never gets less sharp but as the years go on, you recover a little faster.
While Jay and the Tommies left town on Thursday, Tyler was flying in on Friday. He was coming up just for the weekend to attend the going away party of a close friend who is moving to Florida and to look at houses. They have some interested buyers for their spread in Texas so it’s time to seriously find their next home.
I was excited. It’s always fun to have one of the kids come visit. Ty is slightly allergic to the cat so I spent the morning removing cat hair from every surface of the house. I was thinking how strange it was that a few years ago I had a house full of kids and now all of them are grown up and three currently live in other states. I’m usually too busy to feel lonely but just for a moment, while vacuuming, I did. I hate vacuuming.
Then Ty landed and we had a lovely afternoon. We had lunch and played backgammon while he texted his buddy, telling him how sad he was to be missing the going away party before surprising him by showing up. We invited Grandma, Grandpa, Katie and Adam for dinner Saturday night. Ty went off to the party.
Then UST lost their game and the trip that was supposed to last all weekend was over before Saturday morning. Jay got home around 3 a.m.
The realtor was picking up me and Ty to go look at properties in the morning and my Mom joined us.
We looked at six lovely places, all within forty minutes of my house.
The first was a ten acre spread in Prior Lake. The land was gorgeous and horse ready with a huge yard, plenty of fenced pastures and a five stall stable. The house was nice but very out dated. It had been built in the 80s and you could tell. The kitchen and bathrooms were perfectly functional albeit a bit ugly. But the whole house had big windows, tons of natural light and the layout made perfect sense. There was a big deck off the kitchen with shade trees around it. The few things about the house that needed fixing would be easy. Unfortunately, the place was at the tip top of Ty’s budget and they wouldn’t be able to afford to do any fixes for a few years. Best part of the whole layout: a 2300 acre nature reserve right across the road, with miles of horse trails.
We all loved it.
Ty, who was still hung over from the night before, was ready to pack it in and make an offer, even though he wasn’t sure he could afford it.
We figured since we were already out and about and the next property was only ten minutes away, we may as well continue. I called Megan and told her about the place while we drove to the next property.
The second place was even better than the first! It was also ten acres and although it wasn’t set up for horses, all it needed was some fencing and a barn. It was 40 grand less than the place across from the park. The lot was hilly but the acreage, currently corn fields that could be turned to pasture, was nice and flat. The house was built on the highest part of the property and every single window had breathtaking, panoramic views. The house itself was gorgeous down to every detail and wouldn’t need a thing done to it. It was a two level walk out with an open concept first floor with an up to the second kitchen, a dining area, a deck and a beautiful master suite. The lower level had a huge, gorgeous family room with a stone fireplace, two bedroom and a dedicated office, a home gym and access to the back yard. The only nit any of us could pick was that the property had one slightly busy road bordering it. Again, all the place needed was fencing. And a barn.
We all loved it.
The third place we looked at was also beautiful but mom and I didn’t like the house. The property was large but not horse ready, the lawn was beautiful but was at the corner of two county roads. Compared to the two we’d already seen, it just didn’t suit our needs.
The fourth place we saw was too wooded. Perfectly gorgeous house but the property just wasn’t suited to horses.
The fifth place was a ten acre spread that was so pretty and already set up so perfectly for horses that we were dancing for joy before we even went into the house. With several pastures already fenced, a huge gorgeous lawn for the kids, a pole barn and a three stall stable, Tyler said he didn’t even care what the house looked like.
We went in anyway. It’s a log cabin style front with a porch that spans the structure. Inside, an open first floor with gorgeous kitchen, a living room with a fireplace, a dining area and a second sitting room, it would be great for hosting large families at the Holidays. A powder room, mud room and laundry were on the hall leading to the massive garage. Down a hall on the other side of the living room were two bedrooms and a bath for the kids as well as an enormous master suite with access to the front porch. The walk out basement was mostly unfinished but with nine foot ceilings and tons of space the potential to double the living space of the house was there. At the far end of the basement (under the existing bedrooms) was a fully finished mother in law apartment. Ty could use this as his office; it’s far enough from the current living space to be completely quiet and private. It has a private entrance from the back yard. There was nothing that needed to be done to this house. It was perfect as is, yet the potential to double the living space should they ever feel the need, was there.
We all loved it.
We looked at the sixth property because it was only two minutes away and 70 grand less expensive than anything we’d looked at yet. It was a lovely bit of land but completely wooded. It would cost more than the difference in price to try to clear enough of it for horses.
But what a day! In four hours, we saw six beautiful properties, four of which would absolutely work, three of which we could easily see Ty and Megan living in, two of which were perfectly ready for horses, one of which they could afford right now.
Ty invited my brother Andy, who is also his mortgage broker, for dinner so they could start talking numbers.
Then Josie showed up at home, having caught a spur of the moment ride home from school with a friend.
The dinner that was supposed to be five of us turned into nine.
I had been missing my kids on Friday morning and three of the four of them were here for dinner Saturday evening.
Ty found a gorgeous place to live only 30 minutes away.
Despite March Madness/Sadness, it was a great weekend.