Wining

Jane Owes Me 

"You are going dressed like that?" Jane asked, one eyebrow slightly extended. I looked down, it was my normal Thursday uniform: jeans, sneakers and my favorite sweater over a t-shirt. I mean, Buckaroo, who is the one who sees me most often on Thursday afternoons didn't care, why should Jane? And I conveyed that sentiment to her.

"Well, it is a $1.5 million dollar house..." was her response. Yes, it is true, we were going to an open house. I have been to several in my life. I wasn't buying the house. I didn't have any clients who would be seeing me, and to my knowledge we were going to zip in and out of her fellow agent's open house grand debut, so what's the big deal? But then I looked at Jane, who was uncharacteristically out of her Thursday uniform and was even wearing make-up and decided I could slap on some deodorant, change my top and add lip gloss on one end an my ankle-books on the other if that would make her happy.

It wasn't an actual open house, by the way. It was a Tupperware-type party wine-tasting event thrown by some agent at Mrs. Hufflepuff's (Jane's) brokerage who was using her million and a half dollar listing as the backdrop. Invited were fellow agents and friends of Mrs. H. and Jane who all knew each other. I knew several of them from absorption into their world, so I was able to hold my own. It was exceptionally nice because I was next to one of Mrs. H's fellow owners who claimed (when asked) her favorite wine is Budweiser. So, me saying my favorite is Blue Moon was in line with the humor. I also mentioned I had a delightfully fruity Merlot recently (which I shared with Bliz's mom, while watching the World Series in Wilcox AZ). Everyone oohhed and ahhhed over my comment in a cringy, pretentious way. I highly doubt they could tell the difference between a fruity Merlot and a box of Costco red.

As with any event where Mrs. Hufflepuff attends, I was slightly concerned. You see Mrs. Hufflepuff draws her self-worth from talking about others. I purposely don't share my life with her because I don't need perfect strangers finding out my business. Unfortunately, Jane discovered Mrs. H's gossip habit the hard way. So, I was careful how many sips I took because I may have been in friendly company, but I wasn't in a room of friends.

Anyway back to the Tupperware-type party wine tasting hell (which Jane had totally neglected to mention was the reason she wanted me to go), there was the wine hostess who had us taste six wines, all paired with certain cheeses and chocolates. Each wine came with a pedigree and a long story about the farmers who toiled endlessly in the fields abut to the Andes, or Pyrenees, or next to the Rhine. We were educated on all sorts of wine  facts, which were interesting. We were to swish, smell, sip and savor each wine and rate them. At the end, there was an order form where we could order a case of our favorite bottles for the low, low price of something worthy of holding this Tupperware-type wine-tasting party in a million and a half dollar abode. Allegedly, a portion of the sales would be given to a charity of some sort. However, I didn't buy any cases.

I had the most corks (right answers)
which gives me bragging rights. 

There was also a trivia contest, and I won because I am a good guesser and I know world history. Pro-tip: wine has been around before grapes were commercially planted in France. I won a wine stopper. I will use that next time I open a bottle of Blue Moon.

The house, by the way, was nice for a Scottsdale property. The yard was lovely. The flooring pretty. I haven't run comparables, but given the zip code, it is probably in line with what it is being offered for. If the same home was in my neighborhood, it would go for significantly less. And I only mention it, because it had the same number of rooms and size as my home.

The open house made the agent look good in the eyes of the owner (who may or may not have known about the Tupperware-type party wine tasting). She was able to tell the owner she had fifteen people come through--which isn't a lie. And though I was totally annoyed with Jane--and make no mistake, revenge will be mine--I know the reason she misled me. There is no way I would have considered going in the first place if I knew I had to spend an afternoon at this hen party. And no doubt she didn't want to go by herself.