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.

Goodness, it has been a long time. I blame Plurk (join if you know what's good for ya, it's better than Twitter) a busy weekend, an injured thumb, lack of knitting/crocheting/baking/cooking and a lack of sleep.

So, what have I been doing? Well, last week on Thursday, I think, while I was at work I caught my thumbnail on some of the shelving in the "janitor's" closet. It hurt but I didn't think much of it. I went home, showered, and fell asleep. When I woke up a few hours later, it was throbbing and swollen. Work wasn't fun since gripping things was a bit awkward, but I managed. The throbbing continued through the weekend which was rather inconvenient because we were helping my grandma move and it kept waking me up during the night. I iced it, took some drugs, but nothing helped. I assumed I had broken it or something along those lines. Finally, on Sunday I noticed there was an infection under my thumbnail. I was quite relieved because I knew what was wrong and knew how to take care of it. Working was a bit interesting, since I am constantly dunking my hands in the batter and icing, but it all worked out. Once the infection was gone, the improvement was drastic and fast. I can almost and type normally and may be able to do some knitting soon!

Along with my sore thumb was a definite lack of sleep. I was awake for over 24 hours between Sunday and Monday since a few hours after I got home from Iowa I had to go to work. I spent the whole week trying to get enough sleep to function and am now finally feeling almost normal.

Another reason I haven't done much on the knitting or crocheting front is this:



Definitely not a motivator. I plan to salvage the yarn but haven't decided what to do with it after that.

Also, on Wednesday we met with a mortgage consultant and our new real estate agent. We have been approved for more than I could have hope and it looks like we can afford it! We are going to check out some houses next weekend. I am a little worried that we are starting a bit early since our lease isn't up until January, but with how fast the last few weeks have gone, it may not be as bad as I thought. I just don't want to be stuck with two payments for more than a month. We are looking at houses in the area we are currently living in, which is where we were looking to start with. It will be exciting to finally live in a place where I can paint the walls! I am so sick of white walls and beige carpet. Also, having my own washer and dryer will be so nice. We haven't really unpacked our stuff or put it away in our current place because we know we will be moving soon which makes it hard to get motivated.

The is currently holding my last paycheck until next week because they regard it as unusual account activity. Grrrr.... Since when is depositing a paycheck unusual?

So I am starting to settle into my new routine and the job is going well. She gave me a raise on my first paycheck, which was a total surprise. I must be doing something right. So far there are only two things I don't like about the job, and the hours aren't one of them. Red velvet cake is a total pain because it gets everywhere, there are a lot of dishes to wash.

My car is back! It's so shiny and they even vacuumed the inside and cleaned it up a bit. It smells like paint, but that will go away along with the cleanness. I am so glad to be rid of that stupid PT Cruiser. It's ugly, the gas mileage was kinda crappy, and it can't accelerate. I missed my car.

So after getting the car repaired for free we are getting a free TV! The TV we purchase in Iowa when we moved into our last place has had a flaw in it since we bought it. It's nothing major, just a little bump to the left of center on the bottom of the screen that is only noticeable if you look for it and apparently the repairman we had in here to fix an issue that arose after we moved it (the image was tilted) noticed it. We purchased a 5 year protection plan with the TV because we knew we would be moving out of the state at some point and it paid off. Our TV isn't made anymore so they are giving us $750 to get a new TV!!! We paid about $450 including the protection plan, so it was well worth it. We are waiting for them to deliver our new flat screen 37" LCD TV sometime during the next two weeks. I am just glad they are taking the old one with them because that thing weighs about 200lbs.

I have been knitting and crocheting, well mostly crocheting, but it hasn't made it into Ravelry or the blog yet. My camera batteries are dead so I will post pics when it's done along with the planned tiny baby socks.

Ok, I need to finish getting ready because I need some food!