Eeeeps!

Guess that's it.

Escrow just closed on the live/work loft down in Dogpatch where we'll be stashing all the freight we can't give up and we don't want to squeeze into Hill -- books, carpets, books, books, pinball machines, books, family photos, books, art, books. There will also be plenty of space for overflow guests, offspring or relatives as well as space for me to setup worktables, files, shelves and crates of materials to do what I do. The space really is live/work ... imagine that.

SB says she'll get the keys from the seller's agent ("Don't forget we also need the keys and the combos for the locks on the storage spaces," said his nibs) and tuck them through the mail slot at Hill. Here's hoping it's easier to get the keys from the seller than it was to get information he was required to give us before sale.

COE is always an eeeeps! sort of occasion but the extra eeeeps! about this COE is the realization that, yes, indeed, it's finally time to cleanup and sell Dale. No more excuses. No more, "but where will we put Grandma's Bible?" Pack up those memories. Roll up those carpets. Give away three picnic tables -- with benches! Alas, none of the tables or benches are in terribly good shape. Maybe ... firewood? Haul in that Dumpster. Load it up.

Find someone who wants a sofa or two, we can't take them all with us. Ditto for beds, we'll only be moving the waterbed in. Drop the cans of paint at the toxic waste drop-off. Sort through the trunks of cloth. Take the excess magazines to the library.

Recycle. Recycle. Pack. Recycle. Trash. Pack. Pack.

The Dale sale will make the fourth escrow we'll have gone through (purchase-sale-purchase-sale) since August 2003 (with one other -- a sale -- closing in December 2001). I hope we won't need to go through another one for another decade or two. This one's King Kong and I've been stressing for weeks now just thinking about it.

Time for stressing is through, though. Time now to just get a move on and pack it up and move it out.

Yee haw!