No Panic

DH said that as far as he could tell, after talking with the Churchill Mortgage
guy, we are almost definitely getting the loan. So, about 90% done with house shopping then.

We took Mom by to show her the place. She had been there when it was DH's office, but only just to pop in and pick him up one time a long time ago. It looks very different now without all the computer desks, etc. I took some pictures to show interested parties over the net, like you and people I know from forums and old friends in Alabama, etc.

If all goes well we should be moving in early April.

Supper is HARD

So, well, breakfast I can handle. The hardest part is MAKING myself eat it. Lunch I can do. Supper is hard. We don't have many yummy, all-of-us recipes that are actually healthy. And if we take short cuts, I fall WAY OFF the eating plan. Restaurants need to just bee off limits for a while. Even drive through. And chili and BBQ as well. I think I will start cutting myself a slice of roast before I cut up the meat to make BBQ, IF I make BBQ again.

I have to work on getting things back on track. The easiest days seem to be the weekdays where I am alone with the girls. I would have thought those would be the hardest, not having DH here to "police" me. (as if he would) Once I get evenings down better, and the weekdays flow like automatic pilot, the weekends should come along.

I will try to do what I can before we move. During the move will be harder, but not impossible. After the move I will be cracking down hard.

Offer MADE and ACCEPTED

The appraisal came back a little over what we could pay, but the owner accepted a lower offer. We could be moving very soon. We need to get the mortgage and then we're in. I love it!

5 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, 2 story, 2 car garage, family room, living room, dining room, huge picture windows, 1 acre yard with lovely old trees and room to play, only 2 miles from DH's office

I'll keep you up to date.

(Pray that the bankers won't be buttheads.)

Weight Loss

Today I am serious.

I will make a go of getting healthy. I have eaten well. I have exercised. I have even drank healthy beverages and had healthy snacks.

I feel hungry right now. I am going to get water.

Getting Better

From reading online about the symptoms and this years hardest hit areas, I have come to the conclusion that we have had the flu this past week. I am so glad it is almost over. We still have some coughing going on, but nothing at all like it was.

I can breathe through my nose. I love breathing through my nose. I don't give it much attention until the ability is no longer mine.

House Chosen

We have picked out a great house for us. DH is dragging his feet. I think he is nervous about making such a drastic step. I am hoping we can be out of here within the month, but we'll have to wait and see. I'll post some pics of the place once it is ours (fingers crossed)

House Hunting

We found a really great house. It is big enough for us and then some and it isn't too expensive. We should find out in a few days whether we will get the financing. I really hope so. We could be moving in March. How exciting! (I hope I am not sick then.)

Sick Sick Sick

I am sick. I hate being sick. I hate running out of tissues when I am sick. I hate when the rest of the family is sick.

My head and chest and throat hurt. I hate being sick.

The House might SELL

Well, I got home from the Poetry Reading (see below) at about 4pm. There was a message on the machine form the realtor basically saying, "It is 12:30. I am coming by to show the house at 1."

At least by the time I found out there was no reason for me to panic, I had already missed it, lol.

I called her to find out if everything had gone ok and to find out if showing a house twice in a week was a good sign that it would sell quickly.

She said:
1. She has shown the house 3 times.
2. The house has been fine, I should not panic about how it looks, especially since...
3. The people who saw it today told her they were going to go to the bank to find out if they could get the money.

She said they realize we have rights and we aren't going to be kicked out too soon. Still, it is a good thing we already started preparing and planning. This could have hit hard if I had just buried my head in the sand and thought that since the market is so bad that the house would just not sell.

Good thing I made the bed this morning!

Poetry Reading II

The Poetry Reading went very well. The girls were great. They had a lot of fun. Everyone who was there went to the park after and all the kids had a blast. It was nice for me to get a chance to talk to my friends (I do like the other parents in our group.)

Poetry Reading

Our homeschool group (PEAK - OHN) is having a Poetry Reading this afternoon at the Library Auditorium. I would rather stay here and clean clothes. I am feeling hermitish and I have A LOT of laundry to do. BUT, I will suck it up and go, especially since I planned it.

House-showing yesterday

If you are wondering why I haven't posted in a while. (I don't think anyone was. No one reads this blog but me.) I had a call from the realtor Monday afternoon to let me know that someone wanted to see the house Tuesday morning at 10. So, I have been cleaning like a mad woman and trying to at least only moderate slobs live here instead of rip-roaring MEGA SLOBS. I think I managed that.

We stuffed all of the dirty laundry into garbage bags and put them in the SUV, lol. Mostly it was the girls' clothes. Today and tomorrow as I am washing them all I am going to make sure that about half (maybe more) go to charity, or friends, or family, or ANYONE who wants them that is not one of my daughters.

DD9 suggested that to make it easier next time someone wants to see the house we should try to keep is as clean as possible in between showings. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Coffee

In an attempt to staunch the flow of caffeine and sugar into my body I have decided to drink more coffee.

"But, Palai, coffee has caffeine in it (the good coffee does anyway)" you say," and the way you make it it has boatloads of sugar too! How can drinking MORE coffee help lower your sugar and coffee intake?"

Oh, Silly blog reading Person, when I drink soda it is generally at slightly less than room temperature and I can down a two litre a day, maybe more, 24 oz at a time. But with coffee I take slower sips, have to let it cool, AND only drink about 4 cups (in 2 2-cup servings) a day.

And meals? I am toying with seeing if I drink less when I drink tea, or I may go to water. I could stand to be better hydrated.

Take a Deep Breath

I just watched a lady I have never seen before pound a For Sale sign into my front yard.

Well, actually, it isn't MY front yard. The front yard actually belongs to my landlady. AND apparently, she has decided to get out of the landlady business.

We are paid up until May, so I am trying not to panic. The housing market sucks right now, so I am trying not to panic. We recently paid off DH's old debts so we MIGHT be able to get a mortgage, so I am trying not to panic.

I am trying not to panic.

I am going to start seriously pitching stuff we don't need around here. But I will hold off on taking the furniture apart. For now.

Things could be worse. I won't panic.

Taking a Break

I hate salt. In my nose, in my clothes, wherever! I don't even like to swim when I am at the beach. I forgot how much of a hassle the sea salt powder mixing is. no wonder I "often" forgot to do water changes. Blech!

I may end up regretting my decision to try to continue with a smaller salt water set-up. But, until that day, on we go!

But for now I am taking a break. I have 3 of the pieces of live rock in the 30g and it is about 1/3 full of salt water. I MAY have been careful enough to save a couple of anemonae, but I won't hold my breath.

The next step is to get some of the live sand moved without losing all of its live-sand-goodness.

Oh, and never let it be said that I cannot repeat a stupid mistake. When I first bought the live rock I rinsed it with untreated (chloriny) water instead of treated water. And just now, a year or two later, I start moving the live rock and adding untreated salt water. I mixed in the salt and measured the salinity but didn't treat for chlorine and ammonia. I am just THAT MUCH of a dim bulb.

1000 Cranes

So far on my goal to fold 1000 paper cranes I have over 300.

I had to take a bit of a hiatus over the past few months, classes, finals, holidays, etc.

The girls and I were in Square Books Jr the other day and I saw they had lots of the Melissa and Doug origami paper that I had used for our PEAK origami class. It is really good, inexpensive paper, so I bought a few boxes (may have been excessive, but I will use it, so it isn't a waste)

Of course, after buying more paper, I found some of the higher quality Japanese paper I had bought at Hobby Lobby months ago. I have been folding a lot over the last few days. Fun, but I don't expect it to keep up. I do have housework to do tomorrow.

I love my major

I get to write a research paper on the clothing of the ancient Greeks, probably with a focus on the clothing that was sacrificed to the gods. How cool is that!

I never got to write on such cool stuff the first time I was in college.

The bad part is that my back pack weighted about 50 pounds after my trip to the library this afternoon.

Souvenir

I took the girls to see a local Civil War battlefield. We came away with a souvenir.

Not a blue or gray cap. Not a Confederate or Union flag. No, we got a cat.

I think it was dropped off by someone. It wasn't at all shy about people like you would expect from a "wild" cat. It was living in an old (Civil War era) abandoned (of course) shack. We looked for Mama but there was no sign of her or any other kitties. A lot of traffic goes by there, so it would be easy for someone to leave an unwanted kitty, OR easy for Mama to not quite make it across the street.

The girls decided to name her Arwen (they just saw Fellowship of the Ring) but after our first visit to the vet this afternoon we have changed the name to Pippin. It seems more appropriate for him.

Pippin was checked put today for feline leukemia and worms (both negative) and got his first vaccination. His only trouble seems to be that he is a little on the scrawny side and has fleas. The scrawny shouldn't be too hard to fix, and I am sure we'll do ok with ditching the fleas too. (It helps that our entire floor is tile, no carpet for fleas to hide in.)

The vet says he looks to be about 5 weeks old. He is white with tabby spots. You can especially see the stripes in his head, or you could if I could get a decent picture of him. The little guy won't stay still long enough to get any kind of good shot.

Birthday Chaos

Getting ready for the party tomorrow. Too busy to blog. Pics when I get a chance, promise.

Beautiful Stash

I had the lack of good sense yesterday to visit our local (and sadly soon closing) yarn shop.

I couldn't help myself. 40% off! I bought sock yarn (I am determined to learn to knit socks.) and needles (I have many needles already.) These are NEEDLES! Wooden needles. Wooden Needles. Indian Rosewood and Vietnamese Palmwood to be specific. They are beautiful, especially the shorter set of size 10.5 rosewood needles that have thee lovely little knobs on the ends. Wow

I just feel all giggly. I have bought EXPENSIVE wooden knitting needles, and they weren't expensive, since they were on sale. now, what to knit on them? They seem to call for something important and lovely. I'll have to think.

I don't have any yarn worthy of these incredible needles. I need to go back to the shop tomorrow.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any size 2 double points, which the sock pattern I have calls for. So, the girls and I had to trip over to Hobby Lobby and buy a set of plain old aluminum size 2 doubles. And you know (or can guess) what happens when I go into a Hobby Lobby...I bought more than knitting needles.

I am just heady with the possibility of it all. Wooden needles, wow.