We have a house!!

It's exciting and a bit overwhelming. The place is bigger than we intended to buy, but it has everything we want in a home and more. We already have a few power tools for the garage including a rather large air compressor and a new washer and dryer. We got a great interest rate and our insurance is about a $100 lower than I thought it would be. This all went better than I could have hoped.

It is once again snowing here (as of last night we were already 5" above December's average snowfall), but it is finally supposed to be not bitterly cold today, which will be nice since I plan to do a bit of shoveling at the house today.

Well, I gave my two weeks notice yesterday and was told to drop off my key and pick up my last check, which is pretty much what I expected. I am not too upset as I now have a chance to get some more Christmas gifts made and get my hair cut, which desperately needs to be done. The extra money would have been nice, but it wouldn't have been much anyway with the holidays.

I can also get all the utilities set up for the house and take care of all the little odds and ends we have been letting slip. We are closing on the house on Monday and I will now have a couple days to get some stuff done there like cleaning and determining which paint colors will go in which rooms. We don't have to be out of our current place until the end of January, so this will probably be the most relaxing move I have ever experienced. We have already purchased our new washer and dryer and have been accumulating the power tools and other odds and ends we will need in a house.

I promise some pics of the house and the knitting after Christmas if not before. I don't want to spoil the surprises!

My job has been completely frustrating me lately. There is a lack of communication that makes it difficult for me to complete tasks and people get frustrated with me since I didn't know. Then there is the lack of hours. I used to regularly work between 7 and 9 hours a night, but now I am lucky if I can squeak out 5. Also, they gave me a few days off this week which I didn't ask for. I also thought she said I had just Monday and Tuesday off, so I went in as I had planned on Sunday. My boss showed up as I was finishing and asked if I had misunderstood her. I assumed from the question that I had. Apparently I wasn't supposed to work Sunday either. Going from 5 days a week down to two is not what I expected from this job nor was cutting my hours by almost a third.

Since we are in the process of buying a house (less than 2 weeks!) I need a job with regular hours, and since this one is not proving to be that job, I am on the hunt for another. I have an interview for a full-time baker at a local co-op scheduled for tomorrow, which should work for when I start school and should allow for a part-time job if needed. Also, I wouldn't be working nights, which would make me extraordinarily happy.

As I am typing this I am realizing how long my fingernails are. Now where did those nail clippers go?

Also, am slightly addicted to Molehill Empire right now. And with all this free time I have gotten some knitting done.

The house inspection has been done and the house looks good. A few things need to be taken care of, but nothing serious or that needs to be done right away. It looks like we are getting a house for Christmas!

Now I need to find some good now and low VOC paints in colors I like. Any suggestions?

I miss my dancing plurk nanners.

No more white walls!!!!!!!

At least that is my intention once we get this house. Our offer has been accepted, but they didn't accept all of our conditions. They want to move the closing date up a few days, which shouldn't be a problem. The house is almost ours! Now we just have to hope the inspection goes well. I am not too worried about it as the house seems to be in great condition.

Still no news on the house. All we know is that the people who make the decision on whether or not to accept the offer have all they need and just need to make the decision. Grrrr....Arrrrgggh. I will post about it as soon as I do know.

In other news, I got another raise (a rather large one) and while I am still not making anywhere near what I was, I am doing quite well. That extra money is going to make a difference for us, especially since my hours will be a bit less during the holidays as there aren't as many weddings. Actually, if the deli that intends to sell our baked goods under our name decides to go with some items, my hours may not decrease quite as much. Our monthly income would have covered everything, even with a house, but now we have a little wiggle room, which is great. Now if we only knew about the house...


Giving this recipe a try for dinner. I will let you know how it goes.

I am still trying to not get my hopes up about the house but our agent isn't helping. She recently told us that things are moving forward and an appraisal will happen soon. The bank is looking at both offers right now and from what she has heard, our offer looks stronger. Ack! Not that those are bad things, but they are encouraging my brain to think about moving in to that house.

I should easily be done with the second clue and possibly even the third of the TTL Mystery sock, but I frogged at least 1/3 of the clue twice already! Doh! As of now I have 15 rows or so to go before starting the heel which came out yesterday. My progress so far:



I think the pattern would be easier to see on a sock blocker but I could only find one and didn't like the idea of having only on sock on a blocker. Don't ask me why, because I don't really know.

Still waiting to hear about the house, as expected, but the time is just dragging by. We can't seem to help brainstorming about what we would do in there if/when we get it. We need to stop! I don't want to do much more house hunting after finding this place, and it will be that much harder if we don't get it after all the thought we have been putting into it. Grrr...aaarrgh.

In other news, well, there actually is no other news. I have frogged about 10 rows of the TTL Mystery socks due to my inability to follow directions because I assume I know what I am doing, and the same thing happened with Foliage, so there is nothing to show.

I essentially did a double shift at the shop yesterday, but I got home around 3:30am so was able to go to sleep when it was still dark, which is what I look forward to. I plan to sleep some more later, but for now am awake. I was so tired yesterday that I am surprised I am as awake as I am.

Happy Columbus Day! Does anyone get the day off?

Waiting is so hard. I am usually fairly patient as long as I have something to occupy me. I know we won't hear the bank's decision on the offers for the house for at least a couple weeks, but every once in a while, I start thinking of moving into that house. I try not to, but it is such a good fit for us that it is hard not to. HGTV has even more appeal than it used to.

Currently I am fighting a cold and the urge to cast-on for a sweater or vest (I don't own a vest other than my black puffy one which I should find since). I frogged the mystery socks so I could start a smaller version and also hat to get me through the time between clues, but the sweater urge is still there. Maybe some Sudafed, the stuff behind the counter, will alleviate both problems?

Ok, off to do some sock knitting an nose blowing. May need some more tea. I also need to fit a few more hours of sleep and get a MN driver's license today as well as register to vote. I also think some spicy Thai food may be in order.

Well, we put an offer on a house! It has to go through the bank as it is a short sale, so we are going to have to wait at least a couple weeks. We love the house and there is very little that needs to be done on it, which is perfect for us. It could use a new washer and dryer, but everything else is pretty new and well maintained. I will be rather disappointed if we don't get it.

In anticipation of mortgage payments and higher bills, I have volunteered to work a few weekend hours if they need me at the shop. It's easier than finding a part-time job and my boss seems quite willing to have me work more hours.

I started the Through The Loops Mystery sock for Socktober, but will need to frog so i can knit a size smaller. I should have went with my normal numbers and not worried about the warning to increase the number of stitches since the pattern fits rather tight. Oh well. The first clue was quick and easy.



I also started a hat to get me through the lull b/t finishing the first clue and the release of the second.



Ok, I need to get to bed and figure out a way to top sneezing. I think I have a cold.

Again with the somewhat long absence. My sleep schedule has been so wacky lately (I really should go to bed instead of blogging, Plurking, and TV watching right now) that updating this has just not happened. At least work is going really well, except for the long hours this week. Apparently everything I make is turning out well, and I totally conquered red velvet cupcakes which I formerly called (affectionately of course) little cake volcanoes.

Well, we have been doing some exciting things. Last weekend we started looking at houses. In our price range there are a lot of forclosures and short sales, but we are hopeful. We are going to go up about $10K to see if we can find something that needs less work and won't increase our monthly payments too much. We haven't quite found what we are looking for yet, but are hopeful that something will click tomorrow when we go look at 8 more.

Once we get a new-to-us-house, we can move our new TV into it. Speaking of the new TV, it was free! Today, after waiting for Sears to contact us for about a month, we went to the store again and came home with our TV, which was unexpected. What we thought was going to happen was they were going to come get our old TV which they junked and bring our new one. Instead, they are letting us keep the old one and giving us a new one. After the luck we had with the protection plan we purchased on the last TV we got another one and since we didn't pay for the TV it is totally worth it. It's so shiny and wide and the colors are pretty. It's 37 inches of flat TV and I loves it. Now for the house...

I finished one sock...and started another pair which doesn't include the finished sock's mate. Doh!

Pretend there is a picture here. All my available batteries are dead. Will remedy that shortly.

I will keep you updated on the house hunting and sock progress.

I am eagerly anticipating my federal refund to magically appear in my bank account. Ok, so it's not all that magical, but it certainly feels that way when that number is suddenly bigger. Anyway, I am eagerly anticipating it not because I have a fun purchase planned, but because I want to save it. I just love watching my savings account grow. Actually it is being saved for a house and with my refund, the possibility of a federal rebate check, and my health care spending account claims I will have a decent chunk of money to put in my savings account during the next month, which makes me so happy and excited.

Since I am not making any big purchases I went for a small one. I bought a bit of yarn to try out from Knit Picks. I got some Comfy, Shine Sport, Cotlin and a couple Felici colorways for some ankle socks to change things up.

I picked up my Jaywalkers (Ravelry) again. With one sock done I decided it was time to finish the other. I have no idea what drew me to them yesterday, but I almost finished the leg between 4pm and 9pm last night with dinner in there somewhere. Actually let me check, I might be done with it...Ok, so I just did a quick comparison and I need about 5 more rows before starting the heel. Go me! I love quick knits.

This sock makes me want to knit some more Monkeys(maybe no purls?) and River Rapids(pdf) as they were also extremely fast socks to knit. I have switched back to carrying the yarn in my right hand for these as that is how I knit the first and also my left wrist is sore again so this gives it a bit of rest. I think my crochet habit may have caused the tendinitis to plague my poor wrist again. It's either that or how tense I tend to be when I knit the Jacobean socks, which I have no explanation for. I don't enjoy them; I guess that could be the problem.

Someone remind me to schedule a hair cut. It has been almost a year, which is rather pathetic.

Small changes

I have been trying to make small changes that not only save money but are lest wasteful and less horrible for the environment. So far I have become a little fanatical about what gets recycled at our place, replaced our laundry detergent with some homemade phosphate-free detergent, replaced the kitchen cleaner with some homemade (and cheap!) cleaner, take public transportation to and from work, bring reusable bags to the grocery store and mall(when I remember) and now I am working on replacing paper towels with microfiber towels and other reusable towels after reading this article. Not only will it save money but it's less wasteful.

When Josh and I get our house we are going to try to make it as energy efficient as we can afford. Since Josh works at Lowe's (is there an apostrophe in Lowe's? I should know this), he is fairly informed about appliances and can get good deals sometimes. I am also going to look into fume-free paints. Can you tell I am a little excited about owning a home? We have been spending way more time talking about buying a house than planning a wedding.

I really wanted to finish the Zombies yesterday, well actually Monday, but realized quickly that was not going to happen. I have a couple more rows before the gusset is done, which will be a relief. I can get rid of the dpns I am using to hold the extra stitches!

Any ideas what I should have for dinner tonight? We kind of indulged during our long weekend so I am thinking something healthy, but I have some fingerling potatoes I really want to slice, roast and cover in parmesan. Mmmm.... I made beef stew and soda bread this weekend as well as pancakes and oatmeal scones, so we have had our share of hearty food. Salads would probably be a good choice. I guess the parmesan covered potatoes can wait.

Josh and I took both today and yesterday off so we could enjoy a long weekend together. It has been so nice. We haven't done a lot, but I feel we have been productive anyway. Well, sorta...We didn't get the laundry done.

On Saturday Josh and his dad fixed my car! I spent about $100 on parts and a meal. I still need to send a card with some cookies. My brake pads were worn down to almost nothing and the right rotor was really rough. I helped a little. I removed the lug nuts from the left front wheel. Josh failed to tell me the impact wrench was as heavy as it was so when he handed it to me I almost dropped it. It isn't really that heavy, I just wasn't expecting how heavy it was.

I also finally started the Zombie socks for SM2. I am knitting the socks two-at-a-time. I started using magic-loop but have switched to two circs to make the gusset a bit easier.

Today we talked to a mortgage lender and got pre-approved for a loan. It looks like the price range we were aiming for was what they are willing to loan us so we are good to go! Yay house!

The time change is still kicking my butt. I am just waiting for the weekend so I can sleep in.

I finished one of the blah socks. I even wove in the ends! I will try to start the next one tonight. I promised them to a co-worker so now I have to finish them. If I don't like the next pattern chosen for SKP2008 I may give up. I don't see a point to knitting more things I won't enjoy.

Oh, for those of your curious about my bird army. I don't want any matching birds, but I have run out of different colors of worsted weight wool, so they are on hold. I can justifying the purchase of more wool for birds because the Happy Little Bird Army can provide security at my new house when I get one; therefor the money I spend on said wool is beneficial to the house I am saving money for. Right? Currently the birds are the overlords of the TV. Actually they are just sitting on it looking kinda innocent or malevolent; depends on the lighting.

New coat, new info and a new sock

Love the new coat! It's a little big in the waist but fits my shoulders perfectly which is always a problem for me since my shoulders are wider than my hips. It kept me much warmer than my other coat and my legs weren't numb when I got on the bus. Of course the bus driver had to pull up to the curb instead of stopping at the driveway 10 feet further forward, which mean we had to navigate an icy pile of snow then figure out how to get from there through the door of the bus. I made it without too much trouble, but I am more graceful than most.

The home buyers seminar was shorter than I expected but helpful nonetheless. I understand the terminology a bit better and had some of my guesses about things confirmed. Thank you for all your helpful comments. I appreciate them.

I started a new sock in TOFUtsies last night because I thought I may need some simply knitting for the seminar and the bus ride as my firs of the Pomotomus' is at the heel and won't be good for public transit knitting until I get passed it and memorize the foot chart.

The iPod shuffle is now $49 instead of $79! I have contemplated purchasing one for awhile now. It would be perfect for working out. The one I currently own pulls down my shorts when I clip it to them, and I am not a fan of wearing it on my arm.

We would like to purchase a house when we move.Josh and I are going to a home buyers' seminar tonight organize by a local realtor. I am looking forward to understanding the whole process a little better. We know that may not be possible initially, but we would prefer it. We want a house that needs a bit of work but is move-in ready. I am really excited about the whole process of buying a home, but I am also nervous due to the amount of money involved and my lack of knowledge.

We have been saving for a down payment on a house for awhile now and have a decent amount. We have been staring at listings to determine what we are looking for in a house (basement, garage, big kitchen!) and what we can live with for awhile (ugly counter tops, fake wood paneling, pink bathrooms). Josh plans to work at Lowe's part-time so we can take advantage of his discount and the knowledge of the people there.

Do you, my faithful readers, have any knowledge you would be willing to pass on to me?