Unaccompanied Personal Effects

3 different views of our pallet while in Madison

Our pallet of boxes arrived at the port in Sydney. What to take and what to leave behind was my job.

First I got estimates from moving companies about shipping all our furniture, and other goods. We did not have enough to fill a container. The cost to move everything was over $5k US dollars - an amount that didn't make sense to me. Much better to buy new then ship the old. We decided to send the things that would make our place in Australia feel more like "home".

In the end, I packed 24 boxes including 2 bikes, 3 boxes of books, pictures, a box of important papers, comforters, 3 boxes of toys, and special Christmas ornaments. It total, it weighed over 500 pounds (238 kilograms) and cost $1700 to ship from our house in Madison to the port in Sydney.

3 different views of our pallet while in Madison

Once the shipment had arrived in Sydney, I had 3 days to collect our stuff - any delay would result in a daily storage fee. We removed the rear seat from the "big" car. I planned my trip. Then I loaded Tristan and Neo into the car, and we drove to Sydney.

The shipment receiving company charged us $500 in fees. We found the company near the Sydney airport. We collected the documents drove to (30 minutes) to Customs.

Customs asked for the documents and a packing list, which I provided them. I was then sent to Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. AQIS wanted to inspect specifically the bikes and the pallet - to be sure it had been properly fumigated. If the pallet did not meet the requirements, the entire shipment would be quarantined. There are specific things AQIS is looking for - and they will quarantine and/or fumigate items and in some cases confiscate things. High on the list of prohibited items: Meat, animal goods, wood, plants and plant material. I knew the list and did not pack anything that would cause a problem.

We paid the fee for the inspection and drove the 40 minutes to another warehouse. Once there, we were told AQIS had not begun their inspection, but that a fee had to be paid to the warehouse for the inspection to proceed in their facilities. I had to go to the ATM (another 10 minute drive each way) to collect cash to pay this fee. When we returned with the cash, we had to wait another 10 minutes for the inspection to be completed. Everything passed - which I knew it would.

A fork lift brought our pallet to the car. Two workers and I moved the boxes into the car - and it all fit! Just barely room for everything. With the car fully loaded, and difficult to see (couldn't use the review mirror - but used the side mirrors a lot), I drove home.

Everyone was so excited to see their possessions again. "It's like Christmas,"Tristan said. Indeed it was.

Poorly Neo

Neo on a well day making his sand castle

We've been in Australia for 6 weeks now and we've been fighting illness for a lot of days. First Clara was sick - lost her voice and sore throat, that was our first week. Then Zoe and Tristan had 2 days of school followed by 4 days of stomach flu. That was our 2nd week here. Shortly after we moved inout our rental house. Tristan was annoyed that he missed his class excursion.

During the 3rd week, Neo was ill with a stomach flu - he was even more severely ill then the other 2 kids. Finally I was sick with the stomach flu - in bed for 3 days. On Friday of that week, Zoe went on her class excursion to the Power House Museum in Sydney and caught some sort of cold. She was poorly over the weekend.

Zoe and her partner stage left

During the week Zoe had her Musical performance at school, everyone was healthy. Zoe's musical was based on a book called "The Other Ark". Her teacher has dance training. She chose the music and put together the dances. The performers were Kindergarten, First and Second graders. During the last week of school for 3rd term, they performed a matinée for the 3-6 graders on Tuesday. Then an evening performance on Tuesday night and Wednesday night with tickets sold in advance. Clara and Dave went to see her perform on Tuesday and Neo and I went on Wednesday night. Zoe did a great job! She seemed to be a lead dancer - counting out and directing for others on the stage. Also during her performance, she was brought to the forefront with her partner. Unfortunately, I was too far back to get good pictures. The ast day of term was Friday 24 September.

Zoe and Neo jumping the waves

In this last bout of illness, Neo became feverish and complained of pain in the overnight Friday 1 October. It was the Friday night of a "long weekend". Monday 3 October everything was closed. I took Neo into the doctor on Saturday. He was complaining of a sore throat and ears. Doctor said he had mild tonsillitis. He was given a prescription for an antibiotic. He seemed better by Monday evening. During the night, we gave him medicine for pain. However about 2am, he had a fever and complained of more pain. This morning (Tuesday 4 October), we found fluid coming from his ear. We took him back to the same doctor who confirmed that his ear drum had ruptured and gave him a different antibiotic. He explained that he thought Neo had the flu along with the ears and throat. His throat was healed.

Poor Neo. We feel really bad that his ear drum ruptured. What a lot of pain. Poor guy.

Clara's High School - Kincumber High School, NSW

Clara wearing her Kincumber High School Uniform

Clara is in year 7, which is the first year of high school in Australia. She attends school at Kincumber High School in Kincumber. Every morning, she walks the steep hill, (for those in Madison area, Topping Road has a similar slope), to The Scenic Road where she waits for the bus. Two other girls from our block meet her at the stop - one in year 7, the other in year 8.

Kincumber High School is a large, multi-building facility with a mixture of covered walk ways, open commons areas, and enclosed hallways connecting the buildings. The buildings are set out in "blocks" where an field of study is housed in each block. The area of the school takes up more then an entire city block - with sport fields surrounding the buildings. There are even farm animals on campus.

School terms are divided into fornights - with the first week labeled Week A and the 2nd Week B. Clara's schedule is never the same day twice in the 2 week rotation. Classes like English and Maths receive 9 hours of instruction per 10 day fortnight. Elective type classes will have 3 hours of instruction in the fortnight. Clara takes woodworking and she also has sewing. Other classes include: PE, Health, Literacy, Science, and Geography.

All the girls wear blue plaid skirts and light blue shirts with the school crest as part of the uniform. There is a red jumper with blue piping on the sleeves for cooler days. Leather shoes and white socks round out the uniform.

Australian schools meet 40 weeks in the year (compared to 180 days in Madison). There are 4, 8-10 week terms with 2-3 week breaks between terms. The school year begins in late January and runs until mid-December. Children can begin Kindy at age 4.5.

Somersby Falls

Dave and Neo at the foot of the Upper Falls

Zoe at the foot of the upper falls....

There are upper falls and lower falls.

Last weekend we went to Somersby Falls.

We love Aussie signs.....

The top of the upper falls are even with the parking lot. You can climb down a steep, narrow path to the bottom of the upper falls.

The path to the lower falls is steep and narrow with scary wooden stairs, but the destination was worth it.

Lower Falls

We enjoy going to these falls. The kids found tadpoles.

More lower falls....

There's also another, smaller, lesser known waterfall near Pearl Beach which I discuss on this older post.

Rego

Rego - pronounced rej-O - is the Aussie way of saying registration.

One of the first things we needed to get done on our arrival to Australia was to rego the cars. Both cars rego had expired. This is not an easy process - and our experience with rego in the past is that we needed a lease for a permanent rental, our passports and US drivers license, and proof of ownership for the car.

To rego a car, it takes multiple steps. 1) Car insurance. This is called the "Green Slip". Many times the green slip can be electronically submitted to Roads and Transit Authority (RTA), but because our cars were expired, we had to pick up the proof of insurance from the insurer. We had to buy 12 months of insurance, cash, on the spot for each vehicle.

2) Blue Slip - or certificate of road worthiness. Cars 5 years old or newer do not usually require a blue slip - but this was necessary for Dave's car since the registration was expired. For my car, we had to replace the taillight we had each bumped and the lens was broken. While the mechanic was replacing this taillight, I saw a house spider bite him! He noticed too because he rubbed his finger for a while after being bitten.

3) Trip to RTA to register the car, turn in the old license plates, and get new plates.

Dave's car had been previously registered in his name, and only one name can be on the rego. When I went to the RTA to register the car, they wanted me to pay stamp duty (for a car sale) or bring in our marriage certificate and a note from Dave stating it was OK to rego the car. I sent Dave in instead.

While Dave went to rego his car, I returned the rental car and stood waiting for him to pick Neo and me up. He called to say the computer system had gone down and they had taken his old plates. He couldn't go anywhere. After about 20 minutes it was up and running.

Never once did they ask for his permanent address. The looked at his old, expired, NSW drivers license and issued the new plates.

When I went to register the Trajet, I had the same experience. No questions about permanent residence or request to see US drivers license. Once the car was regoed, I asked if I could renew my driver's license. Yes, no problem.

We think the difference this time is because we had Australian licenses. The thought of registration for the 2 cars was scary....and the process was daunting. So glad the cars are regoed and legal :)

Our House for 12 months

Our view from 2nd floor windows.

Here it is, our house for the next 12 months. These pictures are from the Realtor's website.

The house in in MacMasters Beach - the same community we lived in previously. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. There is a lot of living space over 2 floors. The lower level has the entrance and the rumpus room. It also has north facing windows overlooking the backyard. North facing is important to collect the sun's heat in winter. The 2nd floor is the main living area....see photo.

Pool, flat yard, and cabana

The back yard is flat - even though the property is on a hill. That was a feature we really wanted so the kids can play in the backyard. There's a cabana (gazebo) with table and chairs. There is also a pool. The Ocean view is wonderful. It's an easy walk down to the beach, but the walk back is 15 minutes uphill - a definite burn on the leg muscles.

Kitchen, living and dining area

Some of the furniture was left for our use - like one of the living room chairs, some TV tables, and 2 beds.

We bought an HD TV for there - the rest of the furniture was included.

We moved in on Monday, 30 August. Our first night we slept in the 2 beds and on cushions from the couch. The 2nd night was more comfortable as the mattresses I had purchased had been delivered. By Wednesday, we had two tables (one upstairs and one in the rumpus room downstairs) I bought 2 TVs - the HD for living area, the tube TV for lower level for video and game play.

2nd floor bathroom.

Winter on Lake Cochrane

Clara sitting on the rail of the Mac Masters Beach Rock Pool.

The kids and I arrived at Sydney airport on Saturday 21 August at 6am. We had no waiting in the immigration lines. We gathered our luggage but could not find 1 bag. As we were looking, the crowds grew. The bag was recovered and we made our way to the long line to exit. Fortunately, a customs agent took pity on me and reviewed our declaration documents, and sent us through the exit from the back of the line!

Dave met us with a rented mini-van. We were very glad to see him! All the luggage and passengers fit and Dave drove us to MacMasters Beach and our holiday rental just up the street from where we lived previously.

Our Holiday House as seen from the walking path near the Lake. This is how we saw it whenever we would walk by. The house is on small stilts, in the event of flooding.

Lake Cochrane is literally outside the sliding door. Within 4 hours of arriving, I saw our neighbor from last time! It was great to see her and be welcomed back.

This holiday house is great for the kids. They love feeding the birds and ducks. A pair of kookaburra have the tree out back here. It's in close proximity to the beach, and we have been at the beach everyday - several times a day, even though it's winter. The nights have been cold, but the days warm up beautifully. Since we've arrived, there was one wet and rainy day.

Interior of the Holiday House. As you can see, the Lake is right out the door. The full wall of windows is amazing to view wildlife.

Our days have been spent getting the cars registered (rego). The registration process has 3 parts: insurance (called a Green Slip), Proof of Road Worthiness (Blue Slip), and a trip to the Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) for fee payment and licensing.

Livingroom of Holiday House.

Yesterday I went to rego Dave's car, but they would not allow me to do it since his car is registered in his name. Shortly after he arrived, the computer system went down, so he had to wait until that recovered so he could get his car's license plates.

The Trajet is looking worse for the year in the sun. We are going forward to repair it, only because it will hold the entire family. We'll consider looking at a replacement family vehicle in 6 months or so.

We needed to get some electrical work done on the Trajet and the tail light replaced. The rats had chewed the wiring. The rego on that vehicle went smoothly at the RTA.

Kookaburra eating bread. Another kooka stole Clara's sausage roll out of her hand as she was about to take a bite. He just flew past her and grabbed it away from her.

We signed a 12 month lease on our permanent rental. We will take possession and collect the keys on Monday 30 August. Dave is the only one that has seen the inside of the house. Having said that, I have seen the house from the front and the back. I've also walked around the backyard and looked at the pictures from the estate agent.

The red arrow marks our Holiday House location. Our permanent rental is on the left above the trees - which is part of the Bouddi National Forest.

The house is within walking distance of the beach - but it's a steep climb through part of Bouddi National forest. We'll be on the other side of MacMaster's Beach - not close to Copa as we've been in the past. We are excited about moving in on Monday.

A Day in Disneyland

Neo loves Mickey Mouse!

We spent our last night in Madison at the Country Inns and Suites. Our friends the Rosebooms brought dinner to our room and we played in the pool. We were given a shuttle ride to the airport on Wednesday morning, the 5 of us and our 12 pieces of luggage!

Our flights to LAX were good. Everyone traveled well - what a relief. We collected our luggage and took our reserved shuttle to the Ramada Plaza hotel in Anaheim. The hotel room was large and the staff accommodating and very helpful.

We ate supper at the Cheesecake Factory in the Anaheim Garden Walk mall. Huge portions. Then we tried to catch the Anaheim Resort Transport to Disneyland. After 30 minutes, we were finally picked up because we waved down a shuttle. The driver said that our route wasn't being covered and he took pity on us after driving by the first time.

Clara's meal at the Cheesecake Factory.

Finally at Disneyland, we walked right on to Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion. Then we had a 20 minute wait for Splash Mountain. From there we watched Fantasmic! and a fireworks show immediately following. Then took ART back to our hotel. Neo fell asleep in my arms on the way out of the park.

Thursday morning, we woke up at 7am, had a full breakfast and took the ART to Disneyland. We entered the park a little after the 8am opening time. Clara went to get fastpass for Space Mountain while the kids and I went to Finding Nemo ride. Finding Nemo has been changed/improved. Space mountain was down for repairs and did not open the rest of the day. We rode the bobsleds, Neo loved it! Then Big Thunder Mountain. By this time, it was nearly 10am, so we stopped for fruit and drinks.

Petrified tree at Disneyland.

We rented a stroller for Neo, then went to California Adventure. Clara, Neo, Zoe, and I went on Tower of Terror - again the ride has been changed for the better - great ride! I laughed the whole way! We walked over to Grizzly River run, but the line was 40 minutes. We had our picture taken with Pluto - a perk of Disney Rewards. Then went back to our hotel to get the luggage in storage, rest, then check out. Again the hotel staff was very helpful!

We returned to Disneyland about 2pm. Neo insisted on a visit with Mickey Mouse. The pictures were very cute and he was so happy. Then we stood in line 20 minutes for Buzz Light Year ride. Had lunch at the Ranch near Big Thunder Mountain about 2:30pm. Our final ride was Roger Rabbits Cartoon spin - after a 40 minute wait!

The kids by the water feature outside our hotel.

Neo fell asleep on the way out of Disneyland. He slept all the way back to the hotel on the ART and in the lobby on a couch for 30 minutes waiting for the shuttle. Then he slept the 45 minutes to LAX. Finally woke up to help us get checked in at V-Australia.

Luggage checked, we took the elevator to the 2nd floor for security - and it was like we were in the fastpass line! The que for security snaked around the first floor then up the escalator to another twisting line. We were in the "family" line, which was shorter.

We had a bite to eat from Burger King and waited for our flight to board. Once we were through the gate check, I sent the kids up the ramp, each with their boarding pass. Neo went with them and I was following along, having stowed the passports into my pack. A V-Australia employee asked if she could check the wait of my carryon bag. I agreed, thinking it would be but a moment. Unfortunately, she could not get the scale to work. After trying a couple of minutes, I explained that my 3 year old was unaccompanied on the ramp. She still did not release me. I then recalled I had my purse stuffed into the luggage. I pulled that out, the employee lifted the bag, decided it was OK and sent me on my way. The line was huge. When I finally got to the plane, Neo was with the stewards and crying. I hear another employee remark that he figured that the minor was "left" by his parents.

I was not happy with that situation!

Murphy's Law in Full Force

If anything can go wrong, it will. That's what it's been like the last few days.

First, Tristan received his retainer on Friday the 13th. On Sunday, I closed the kitchen and packed up the dishes. We went to lunch at a restaurant where he left his retainer wrapped in a napkin and it was promptly swept out with the trash. On Monday, we were fortunate enough to get an emergency retainer made, the replacement charge was $200!

Just before Dave left, water began dripping in through an electrical outlet in the loft. It had never occurred before, and the wind was unusual. We thought the wind may have pushed the rain into nearby roof vents and it found it's way down the wiring. With 4 days to go, another storm caused water to come through the same outlet. I called a roofer, who arrived on moving day. He'll replace the roof vents later this week.

The movers arrived 1 hour early. Not a bad thing - but it meant we weren't as prepared as we might have been. I directed which items were being donated and which to be brought to the storage unit. When we arrived at the storage unit, they informed me that not everything will fit. After stuffing it full, we brought back a dresser, the tall cabinet, Clara's locker, and a few smaller items for donation.

The rental car wasn't very "full size". The interior not very roomy, and the trunk space somewhat small. We had asked several times for a replacement and were even came at an appointed time to swap it out, but the replacement vehicle didn't appear. As a result, it took 2 trips to get all the luggage and people to the hotel.

As I was locking the door to the house for the final time, I pulled it shut, but something seemed not right. The lock seemed too rigid. As soon as the door was pulled closed, I tried opening it again with the key. It would not open. I unlocked the back door and tried opening from the inside - it would not open or unlock. Finally, the handle would turn, but it still would not unbolt. So there will be another charge to get a replacement lock/door knob.

Having said and done all that, we are finally on our way! It's great to be free of the packing and moving bit!

We've had some great times with friends and family these last few weeks. We'll miss everyone. Thanks so much - keep in touch. Goodbye Madison!

Getting Down to the Wire

2004 VW Jetta, purchased Sept 2009 Dave only put on 6,000 miles in 10 months

Wow, Dave will be leaving for Australia in just 8 days! Dave's car, the 2004 VW Jetta, just left yesterday.

My van, 2001 Sienna XLE, will be leaving on Monday night. I have loved owning/driving that van.

We rented a car - with keyless start - that we'll use until the kids and I depart on the 18th of August.

2001 Toyota Sienna XLE with leather seats, dual power doors, sun roof

Great van! Loved driving it.

I took my first load of boxes to the storage unit yesterday so I feel good about the progress of packing. I have plans for how the last few days go, and the reservations are all made. Now to just finish packing.

Looking forward to friend visits before we leave. One more meet up with my mom. Dentist appointments for the boys. Neo has 1 more filling. Tristan need to get his braces removed. A few more phone chats with long distance friends and family, before the time change adds a layer of complexity. Last few days to swim at the Shorewood pool. A friend of Clara's, who has been out of the country since January, will be returning on August 11, so they will have one more visit before we head out....

Getting down to the wire....

Fiona

Our wonderful cat, Fiona

Our cat, Fiona, just left with Dave on their way to Kent, Ohio where she will be loved and cared for by Dave's sister, Jennifer and her husband Bob. There's something nice about having her go to family. We'll be able to get updates on her well being from time to time.

Fiona was supposed to be a dog. After our dog Harley died in December 2004, we wanted a new dog after some months. We went to the Dane County Humane Society but they didn't have any dogs that were good with children under 8 - and I had 3 under 8. Of course we couldn't go home empty handed, so the kids begged for a kitten. The staff set us up in the visitation room and proceeded to bring in kittens to interact with our family. Most of the kittens introduced to a walking toddler, a preschooler, and a kindergartener ran for cover. When Fiona a.k.a. Funny came into the room, she didn't flee. She played with the kids! We knew she was different from the start.

Fiona with Neo

Fiona does well with children and with other cats as well. When she arrived to a house filled with cats: Sweet Pea, Muser, and Joey. She didn't mind being hissed at, she even playfully jumped on the other cats. Which they hated - especially Sweet Pea. The other 3 cats died in 2008.

Dave and Fiona resting together

Fiona is a beautiful cat. She is mostly grey with brown and white mixed in. She has some strange habits, like lying down when she eats her food. She's a great companion. She loves to come and lay down next to you when reclining on the couch. She lays at your feet during the night. She has her claws, but rarely scratched - even when being handled roughly by the children. Neo was especially rough on her.

Fiona eating a blueberry

She loves to eat and will walk on you while you're sleeping to let you know that her bowl is empty. She also loves to eat blueberries, raspberries, and pumpkin.

We love Fiona very much and will miss her greatly. But the drive to Ohio is less stressful for her then a flight to Australia and a prolonged quarantine.

Costly Tuesday!

Tuesday, July 5, Dave took his car into the body shop. Over the winter, he slid off the road on his way to work and hit a guard rail. The front end of his car was damaged - mostly the bumper. He had received an estimate from the body shop of $1700 - so we decided to turn it into the insurance as we have a $500 deductible. We were told a check would be issued to us, and we could schedule the repair.

On Monday night, I went to the laundry room and was surprised to find water standing in the basement near the floor drain. Dave said he smelled sewer. We decided to wait until Tuesday morning to call the plumber.

Pipe as it appeared near the internal clean out.

When the plumber arrived, they ran the roto-rooter to the street, but didn't find anything. When one of the kids flushed the toilet, the plumber noticed water come up out of the floor drain. They ran the rooter machine from the inner cleanout across the house toward the street - but the machine got stuck. When the couldn't free it, they started breaking up the concrete floor.

New pipe near the internal cleanout. The tape measures 4 ft

When the pipe was uncovered, it became obvious that the lead pipe had rotted out. The rooter had gone through the hole in the pipe but could not be pulled back out. Because the pipe had deteriorated, the sewage water was no longer contained in the pipe but was probably draining into the ground under the basement (nice thought).

Old broken pipe near the internal clean out.

Three plumbers spent most of the day in the basement. Breaking up concrete, pulling the rubble out of the house in buckets, removing the old pipe, and replacing it with plastic pipe.

By the time I picked Dave up from work, the house smelled badly of sewer plus we had no ability to dispose of used water. We went out to eat at Pasqual's - a tex/mex family restaurant down the street.

When we returned home, it smelled worse from the glue used to connect the plastic pipe. The note from the plumber read that more floor needed to be dug up and pipe replaced tomorrow, but that we were connected for sewer for the night. That's a relief.

New pipe going toward the front of the house.

We are glad that this plumbing project is happening now rather then in a few months when we are out of the country....at least we can see the situation and understand the problem.

A Newly Minted Teenager

Clara turned 13 on June 30, 2010.

Grandma Sorenson came to celebrate with her by taking us all ten pin bowling (Clara's choice). Before Grandma arrived on Wednesday, we took Clara to see "Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief". At the bowling alley, they were playing a "Red Pin" game. One way to win was to leave only the red pin standing for the spare - I picked it up - and we won $5 food coupon. We enjoyed a light lunch at the bowling alley. Then picked up some ice cream treats.


Neo fell asleep in his car seat on the way home from bowling - we tried to get a picture with him included, but you can only see the tuft of his hair over Grandma's shoulder.

We were delighted to learn that Grandma Stallman would be visiting over the weekend. She arrived late afternoon on Friday, July 2 and departed early Sunday morning, July 4. We spent time talking, cooking, a walk on Picnic Point, and enjoying each other's company. It was a very enjoyable visit.



Clara and Rachael clowning together


Neo was thrilled to catch a frog on Picnic Point

On July 4, our friends the Rosebooms, came over for the afternoon. We enjoyed a bbq. Their children: Rachael 13, Ryan 10, and Erin 7 match ours quiet well. In fact, Erin and Zoe are only 10 days apart.

Sunday night, July 4, the children and I went to see the fireworks at Shorewood Hills golf course - our chosen spot for several years now. (Much lower key then "Rhythm and Booms" which was on July 3) The sky threatened rain most of the afternoon. Just as the Grand Finale began, the sprinkles started. We were one of the first back to our van - just in time for the downpour.

Dave had Monday, July 5 off from work for the holiday weekend. So we enjoyed some quiet family time.

The Odyssey Begins Again

We have purchased our plane tickets for Australia! Dave leaves on 8 August, 2010. He arrives in Sydney on 10 August. He'll be staying at a holiday house in Mac Master's Beach. The house is right on the lagoon. We used to walk past this house regularly. He's really excited about this location. This link is the holiday rental.

http://holidays.georgebrand.com.au/holiday_display.php?id=803&stype=hols&suburb=9&ptype=0&prate=0

The children and I will be flying out on 18 August, 2010. We will stay overnight in Anaheim, CA. On 19 August, we'll spend the day in Disneyland. About 6:30pm, we'll collect our luggage and head to LAX. We're flying out on V Australia. We flew Qantas last time, this will be different. We arrive in Sydney on 21 August.

Much to do when we get back: get the cars up and running, find a permanent rental, buy furniture, get the kids back into school.

We did not sell our house (see my previous post). Our tenants are a married couple, both work as coaches on the UW Crew Teams. They are excited about living in our house - and we believe this will work well. We acquired the lease forms from our attorney. This couple have lived and worked in Madison for 2 years. They come highly recommended from their current landlord.

Dave's sister, Jennifer, will be taking our cat, Fiona. Dave has to take her to Ohio some weekend in July.

After that we have to pack up the house. Some of our stuff will be donated, some stored, some sent to Australia. We'll send some of our personal effects. We are not taking any furniture. We are taking Clara and Tristan's new Trek bikes and the scooters.

We hope to be gone 1 -2 years. Our flights are all One-Way tickets!

Selling Roberts Court

Our house on Roberts Court - Spring 2010

We first started marketing our house on Roberts Court for sale by owner on the FSBO Madison site in March 2010. On April 18, I signed a listing contract to put the house for sale on the MLS. The listing agent, Bill Lorge of Badger MLS, set the price. We thought the price was high and dropped it within the first week. The US First Home Buyer's credit was set to expire 30 April. We had showings all through April. We heard that Buyer's are expecting new cabinets in the bathroom. We also heard that we were "overpriced". We agreed with both comments, so we dropped the price again, however this time we felt we were really close to being priced "correctly". Then came up with a plan to have the bathroom remodeled.

We took the house off the market at the end of May so we could get the bathroom remodeled. We also determined to get the house appraised so we would know it's value. Besides, we did not receive any showing requests after April 30, after the credit expired.

The refinished stairs.

When I questioned Real Estate Agents what price they thought the house should be, I kept hearing a number that sounded a lot like the Assessed Value of our house. Suddenly I realized, the market in Madison believes the assessed value (or below) is what the market value of the house should be! No wonder we weren't getting any serious interest! Our asking price is $40K above the City's assessed value! My thesis was confirmed by a Realtor who ran the numbers based on sales data for Madison.

I called the City Assessor's office to determine what could be done to get the house reassessed. It turns out I missed the "deadline" - a deadline I was not notified of as my assessment was left unchanged - to have the house reassessed in 2010.

With this new understanding, we decided not to continue to market the house for sale until the assessment more closely reflects the appraised value.

We received the bank's appraisal yesterday. Our asking price was $4000 over the appraised value. We were right on!

Maybe we'll sell the house on Roberts Court next year......

Home Improvements - March, April, and June 2010

Kitchen "before" - this is our rollaway dishwasher (where the cabinet was installed later)

With Spring quickly approaching, we had to get the house ready to be shown and hopefully sold.

I scraped all the paint off the woodwork in the kids room. Then stained and varnished it. When the floors and stairs were refinished on the 2nd floor, they also stained the new oak railing to match.

Kitchen with new built in dishwasher, new range fan, and counter tops.

We hired an excellent carpenter, Bob Reger, to complete all home improvements. We bought an under counter dishwasher, which Bob installed. This was the first built in dishwasher in this house. We moved the cabinet that was taken out to the other side of the kitchen. Then we bought new granite laminate counter tops to extend over the new area. Finally we bought a new stainless steel hood fan for over the stove. Now our kitchen is all stainless steel.

Living room color before repainted.

Bob also repaired the fence next to the house that had begun to sag and dug a couple of fence posts to complete the installation of the fence in the backyard.

I painted the living room off white after being a brilliant green for several years. I bought some oak trim and stained it. Bob took down the plastic trim and put up the new oak. The living room looks great.

Living room color and trim after repainted.

I painted the master bedroom, Clara's bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and two walls of the kids bedroom.

I created an ad to sell the house on FSBO Madison dot com in mid-March 2010. By April 18, I held my first open house. The next day, I listed the house on the Multiple Listing Service. After every showing, I called the Realtor and asked for feedback. I heard that the bathroom cabinets needed an update.

Once the April 30 deadline for the Home Buyer's Tax credit passed, the Realtors stopped calling. On May 20, we decided to pull the house from the MLS and get the bathroom remodeled. We hired Cyndi from the Cabinet Shop to design the layout for the new cabinets.

Bathroom before remodel - these cabinets were made from "scrap wood". I found an old schoolroom wood desk for the floor.

Bob Reger took out the old cabinets and tore down 2 walls on Tuesday June 1. I moved rubble to the neighbors trash cans. Larger cabinet pieces I dropped off at the City of Madison Recycling center. The ordered cabinets arrived June 2. The new walls were built. The new electrical outlets installed. Over the weekend, I stuffed the blown insulation I saved from the two walls we removed into the new wall. I primed. The cabinets went in on June 11, the last day of school. I painted on June 12. Bob Reger was diagnosed with lung cancer on June 10 but he came back to finish our job.

Bathroom Remodel completed June 12, 2010