Night Rounds

Another day of work is done. Time to trudge through the crusty snow/ice to check in on the critters.

Pointdexter. Under the impression he's an outdoor kitty now. Helping with the rounds (not really; just nosy).

The ladies all tucked into bed. Everyone wants the top bunk since the rats moved in.

@*$%! Need more traps, not the humaine ones either!

Okay, we're all done. Is it bed time yet??

Cop-Out

I got nothing for you tonight.


Why are you still here? Go find entertainment elsewhere. Or I'll introduce you to my killer claws. Go on...

Isn't This Good to Know

You paid attention during 86% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

We've Come a Long Way, Baby...

...and thank gawd for that!

Dog Butt

That's Sam all comfy, practically up Kora's butt. What a place to take a nap!

Heavy-weight Blanket

Oscar: super-warm, no batteries required. Too bad he's so darn heavy.

Finished

In more ways than one.

1. The woman from BC with the latest offer on the house. Pulled out. Finished. Did not close the deal. F$ck! Cr*p! D#mn! (#$&%&^@! Back to the drawing board.
2. Autumn Socks. Finished. For Colin. Thank f$ck. Nice colours, but what a pain in the ass to work with. The yarn, a 4-ply, kept splitting. At first I thought it was me, paying too much attention to each different coloured ply, being so charmed by how the variegation created a cohesive whole. Bull. It was not me. The damn yarn had a mind of it's own. Still made a nice looking pair of socks. 60 sts on 2.25mm needles fits my boy/child.


3. Green corduroy pants for Colin. Finished. Copied a pair of sweatpants I made for him last fall and added an extra half inch or so to the length. They fit him perfectly, with a wide elastic for comfort and because he's too lazy to be bothered with button and zipper. He tried them on to check for fit and didn't take them off all day. Same with the socks. Photo is evidence.


4. One glove that I started last year. Finished finally. To tell the truth, these have been procrastinated upon because I forgot when needle size I used. I had only the thumb to knit, with stitches on a holder and not a single needle in the bag with the rest of the yarn (Noro Kureyon, col. 32). I finished the cuff for the second glove tonight, but check out the difference in the colour. All from the same skein. I'm considering ripping the cuff and starting another skein to match the colour to the first glove. What say you? You must have an opinion or two out there....

Brrrr

Thanks for all your comments, everyone.

We won't know until tomorrow evening if our counter offer will be accepted or countered again. That's fine by me. I'm planning on sleeping in tomorrow.

It was -19 C tonight on the way home from work. Holy frosty toes. These temperatures have not been kind to my few remaining barnyard critters. R.I.P. Cuddles, Romeo, and Bobsey Twins. I am down to only four chickens.

Upside Down...

...and all around; this crazy roller coaster ride that we a.k.a. selling our house. The woman that wanted to see the house with next to nil notice? Put an offer in today. A decent one. Go figure. Closing date to be the end of February if all goes well. ROFLMOL!!! Okay, I may be starting to lose touch with reality. Things to start going well in this Fiasco?? Seriously??! LMOL
P.S. Thanks for the good word, Desperate Housewife from yesterday's comments.

Kitty p0rn for AliP:

Bliss

Although I'm not certain my kids are even familiar with the word "bliss", I am quite positive that they would have applied it to describe today given the chance. They had a snow day. Can you believe it? Perhaps the roads were slippery this morning in the far reaches of our school district, I won't question that, but good golly, it was a beautiful day, with temperatures above freezing and all that fresh glorious snow blanketing the outdoors. By the time I was drinking my first coffee the roads were clear in front of our place, which is saying something considering we live in a major snow belt! So I personally believe the school officials needed a day off and calling a snow day was the quickest way of achieving it.

I went to work today. Officially I was supposed to be unemployed as of last Friday because of this impending move and my having given notice already. Fortunately for me, Bill and Hays haven't found a replacement yet and so welcomed me back. That, unfortunately, may change quite quickly. Tonight a young woman stopped by to enquire about the job. She even has sewing experience. Good for Bill and Hays, not so good for me. All I can hope for is that our house sells fast. Whatever happens I probably have a job until the end of the week, at the very least. That's fine by me.

Guess what!? Victoria magazine is back! It's my all time favourite. Found a copy at Walmart of all places. I'm a magazine junkie so I always take a fast glance to see if any new ones are on the shelves. I am so happy. I love Victoria magazine. It's so lush and beautiful and opulent. Sigh.

Let There Be Clean

As of this morning our house is back on the market.

By early afternoon my real estate agent was calling to schedule a showing. For today. In an hour! OMG! I offered to show the house first thing tomorrow. Nope, no good. Out-of-towner. How about between 3 and 4 this afternoon? OMG! Couple hours? Sure. We'd do the best we could. Don't panic... Don't panic....

I tried not to. Panic that is. We made the house spotless. Good thing I am not working. The partially packed/unpacked boxes have disappeared from sight. You would not have been able to tell that the house looked like a tornado had struck only two hours prior. I'm trying to convince myself that the fact that the potential buyer was here over an hour is a good sign, that she's serious. I'm not going to hold my breath or cross my fingers.... But I am hopeful. On the other hand, you won't believe the other fly in the ointment...

After the agent and her client left, hubby called to report that all went well to our agent. Turns our that he had a call from the previous buyers, the ones that cancelled the offer and left us high and dry. Yeah, them. He says that apparently they secured other financing but are now dealing with CMHC and have to jump through their hoops. HUH?? That deal was dead, or so their lawyer informed us. Now they're going to try to still hold us to the original offer, so we can't accept any others?? WTF?? What have these people been smoking?? Is this ever going to end?

I just want my dream house.

To unwind, I knit. Colin's second pair of wicked long socks are complete.

Do Not Disturb

Kittens sleeping. Aren't they precious?

(Let me know if you get tired of the kitten photos.)

Not much to chit-chat about tonight, even though it was a full day. Hubby and I drove to the Valley to meet with the lawyer handling our purchase out there, which is completely stalled right now, thanks for asking. As per the norm, the drive over South Mountain was atrocious. The road was snow covered and driving was treacherous. Hubby drove. I knit so I wouldn't keep grabbing the "OMG Handle" or keep telling him to slow down or be careful and or other such helpful suggestions (because passengers always have a better sense of road conditions than the driver, don't you know!). I got half a sock knit for Colin, (complete with turning the heel, identical to the ones in yesterday's post,) just during the drive to Greenwood and back. (I finished the first sock tonight and cast on for its' mate. )

On the return trip, we kept right on going past home, and into Bridgewater to meet with our lawyer there, to figure out how best to stick it to the jerks that now appear to have never had the intention to carry through with the purchase of our house. A$$holes.

Once we got home, I was pleasantly surprised by a letter from a pen pal in UK (thanks Alison!).

And because our house will be officially on the market again as of tomorrow, I went into cleaning mode. Unpacking comes next.

I am grateful for my new positive attitude. Through all the negative events bombarding my life recently, I can still enjoy the beauty of winter.

Unpacking?

Not quite yet, but our buyers lost their financing, and since we have to try to sell this house again, we can't buy the dream house until we do. Therefore, no moving. Yet.

I will have to start to unpack sooner or later, because who knows how long it will be before the next buyer comes along? I am not happy about this turn of events, believe me. Especially since the whole household seems to have come down with the sickies at the same time. I spent most of the day in bed, sleeping. I feel totally done in. The stress is having it's way with all of us, beating our defences down, allowing sickness to slink in and take hold. Damn.

Knitting and Finishing

When things aren't going well, I knit.

The Lopi Monster.

Done. Finally. I did decide that I like it after all. It's a bit big around the neck, but right from the start I've been toying with the idea of adding a hood on. I think for now I'll just leave it as is. Looks like come Monday, I'll be needing all the woolies I can get my hands on.

Hubby's Cooshies.

Knit with one strand of New Zealand 100% wool and one strand of mohair, using 3.75mm dpns. He absolutely loves them. They're quite thick, very warm, and with the mohair should last a very long time.

Colin's newest socks.

This boy likes his socks long! That's why I started making them from heavier wool, so the knitting would go a bit faster. Finished the second sock this morning. It's Briggs & Little Tuffy. I knit the first sock yesterday and he started wearing it. I had to plead to get it back so both socks would match. My men like the socks I make. Good thing. It's what keeps them from questioning the size of the stash too much.

I'll leave you with two of my cuties. Too sweet for words. At least I think so!

It Lives

I am grateful for my husband, who manages to fix just about anything around the house, even if he doesn't always understand how exactly those minor miracles happen, and at his hands to boot. To wit, the washer is serviceable once again. He took a bunch of stuff apart, he gave some parts a good whack, and put everything back together again. He claims he didn't do anything. I claim he is a genius. My washing machine is alive and back on duty. I love my man.

It's All About the Right Attitude

I would like you all to meet Shannon. She came up with an idea that I wish everyone would jump on. It might make the world a nicer, kinder place to live in. Her blog is called Attitude of Gratitude. She's right. There must be at least one thing everyone has to be grateful for each and every day. I will try to remember that. It will help me to refocus on the positive. Because I need the positive in my life. How about you?

I am grateful for having an understanding boss, who let me call in and take the day off. Officially it was for dealing with the constantly ringing telephone, but also because I required some down time, and the moment the phone stopped ringing I stole the opportunity for a much needed nap to recharge my batteries. Falling onto the bed, my body and mind and emotions felt like someone gave me the once over with a baseball bat. After supper, I felt like a new woman. I felt a calm surround me. It was really strange. I mean, calm with kids in the house? No, no drugs were involved. I just started cleaning. How bizarre is that? And you want to know something else??!? The washing machine = lifeless. Kind of. It's broken. Because this surely is the best time to have a broken washing machine. But! I did not lose my cool. I had no control over it. I let it be. How is that for personal growth?

The @&*$^!! Rug

Hi Everybody.

Thanks for the kind words, Mary Anne. Unfortunately, you will have the opportunity to comment on more home news in the coming days...

You know how when everything is going so smoothly, all the ducks are lining up in a row, you're thinking all those positive thoughts and you just feel like all those good thoughts you are thinking are making everything work out for the better? That power of positive thinking thing? You know what I'm talking about? And you know that all is well, and you think to yourself: "self, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. All is well. Don't look back, don't complain that the weatherman got the forecast wrong again, the sun will come out tomorrow.... blah, blah, blah...", and you try with all your being not to question your good karma? And keep your eyes forward, don't look down?
Because you know, you KNOW, that had you looked down, you would have seen the @()$&#(% rug, and had the chance to brace yourself before it was whipped right out from under your fugging feet.

Yeah. Beware the bleeping rug. Because I tell ya, the fall hurts.

Now I want you all to know that although things have gone horribly wrong and my happy bubble has busted in a most spectacular and dramatic way, I have not lost my sanity. I gave in to a very short burst of self-pity but overall, I think I'm handling things much better than expected. (Seeing how I was trained to use high-powered weapons and all, and I am NOT roaming the streets tonight on a search and destroy mission. Yes, all things considered, I am well. Thanks for asking.)

What the h*ll am I going on about? Looks like the !*$#^#@ house sale is going to fall through. Our buyers did "something" and this sale is about to go bust, therefore the purchase of our dream home is about to go belly up, and flush that sucker down the toilet. With less than two weeks until closing. With half the @*^% house in boxes (I've been a busy little beaver, packing. Damn my efficiency!)...

Oh, woe is me.... There is that self-pity again. Okay, I'm done. Thanks for listening and stay tuned, tomorrow, same time, same station...

What A Day

Sorry Dorothy, but I woke up too late to call you before you left this morning. You're probably back by now too. I'll get that yarn to you one of these days. I promise.

So I had to take the truck to get looked at today. Can you visualise the money simply floating out of my wallet as I pulled into the dealership's lot?? No? Well, that's what it felt like. Let's try to put a positive spin on this situation. Oh, I know. While I waited, and then waited some more, for the mechanics to declare the truck woes, I knit. Of course I did. Managed most of the leg on hubby's sock. Between all the wise cracks, that is. Funny how fast those guys started listing their sock sizes. Yeah, as if.
But seriously, they were quite decent to me. And I did not walk out of there (as in not having enough money to pair for all the repairs). There are a couple more thing to get fixed, only one rather worry-some; I'm hoping to have that looked after in the next day or so.

Got home just in time for supper, which was still hot and very yummy.
Between loads of laundry, I watched some evening TV, namely NCIS and House, while sewing on buttons and finishing the ends on the Lopi sweater. And finally, I declare it to be done! Major FO for 2008! The bad news? I don't think I like it anymore. Hmm. Might do some slight felting to see if that makes it more likable. Pics tomorrow.

I am "Master of Stealth"

The Which Lolcat Are You? Test

Your Score: Ceiling Cat

48% Affectionate, 31% Excitable, 46% Hungry

You are a master of stealth.

They never see you coming. But you always see them coming. HEY-O!

Alison made me do it.

...What's Going On...

There's a burning....(why is fire so irresistible to kids??)

...and a knittin' and a packing!

And some new socks being modelled. Naturally, they are already filthy, but fit her perfectly. Apparently, I did good because they don't slouch either.

Oh my, I don't know if I can handle the praise!

Did I mention the many, many loads of laundry I've been doing? Gah.

Oh Happy Happy....

OMG, I *heart* my real estate agents, my banker, and my mortgage specialist. Who would have thunk it??
The specialist was awesome: got us our mortgage at a good rate, told us stories, gave us some high quality information, and let us pick out a free gift! We were in her office for an hour and a half, mostly just gabbing; the business end only took about 10 minutes. She's fabulous. I will provide her information another day, when my bed isn't calling to me so loudly.
The banker: she wheeled and dealed with the bosses in Toronto and secured bridge financing, thus allowing us to take possesion of our new house five days early. That information was a high stress reducer. Big time!
The real estate agents: put up with all our calls and calls from the bank, resent documents again and again, all with grace and good humour.

So. I only have three workdays left. I've been acquiring as many boxes as possible in many different places. Saves money on having to buy them.
I've been finding super awesome savings and discounts at Zellers on bedding. No holey sheets for us in the new house.
The guest room in the new house will have a queen-sized bed. Yeah, baby. And a new mattress, eventually.
Burnage of old junky furniture begins tomorrow.

Good night.

They Go Together

Knitting and...

kittins. Kittens that is. But did you happen to notice the resemblance between the two words?

Knittin' and kitten. Uncanny, I tell you.

List

It's been a full day.

• I drank coffee.



• I checked email and played games on Its Your Turn. (Free or you can buy a membership for more games.)



• I drank another coffee.



• I skimmed through some blogs. There are some seriously funny people out there. I love reading them first thing in the morning.



• I packed some glass wares.



• Hubby came home and we made lists pertaining to the move while we drank tea. (I may have started to float about that time.)



• I yakked with Alison on the phone, waking her up once again. What's up with that?? Does all this woman ever do is sleep and knit??



• Got bank appointment confirmed by my super duper real estate agent. Why is it that she managed to talk to a real person and we only got voice mail!? Huh.



• Received confirmation that Rosie, the SPCA cat I've been fostering, was getting adopted. (Fabulous timing!)



• Took Rosie to the vet for a final check up before adoption. Holy cow. She weighed in at 11.2lbs! Should have called her Chubbs!



• Went to bank appointment with mortgage specialist. Turns out the woman is a fountain of knowledge and extremely helpful and personable.



• Dropped by the library.



• Dropped into Carousel, a used book store on King St. Bought a knitting book, a cross-stitching book, and a book that promises much hilarity titled "sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures". How's that for a title?!



• Supper with the off-springs and much discussion about move and dangers of living in centre of town as opposed to the middle of nowhere. Start warning speeches about strangers and limits.



• Finished knitting my Fleece Artist wool mittens. I am dubbing them Knights of the House Hunt. Aren't they beautiful? I started knitting the first one on day one of our housing hunting venture with our new agent . (Actually, the first day of house hunting was such a resounding bust with the first agent that it shouldn't even count!) The second mitten was mostly done by the second house hunting outing this past Saturday. The thumbs I completed tonight. I may have to knit some gorgeous mittens for our fabulous agent for making it such a painless endeavour. Here's another picture. I couldn't help myself.



• See that catalogue under the mittens? Thanks Roggey, Miss Enabler. There was some talk of fountain pens on Pen Pals Group on Ravelry, and she directed people to her favourite source. OMG! I didn't even know they made pens to the tune of $21,000.00!! I mean, there are more affordable ones in there too, but woweee. Order a catalogue. It's free. Then drool. (I have a new want list.)
• Oh, yes. Almost forgot (or rather blocked) the fact that I spent over an hour sewing in ends on the Lopi sweater. No, I'm not done. Not even close!

I've also joined the Stashalong again. I haven't posted my goals yet. However, I did start my yarn inventory. This will take some time, but cut me some slack. I'm also boxing the stash up for the move. And also writing down the titles of all my knitting, and other craft-related books. There are lots. Maybe there should be a book diet in my future too. (I hope hubby doesn't read this post! He may hold me to it!!)

BLOG 365

Hello. My name is Joiner. What's your name?

Yes, I did indeed join Blog 365. It might have had something to do with a certain someone from Quebec (ahem, Ali P) telling me time and again that I don't update often enough. So how is this for pressure? At the very least I'll be writing every day; after all, that is the whole point. You'll find me here or there, and everywhere. (My apologies to Dr Seuss.)

So to update, and I know you've all been holding your breath, yes, we found a house, a perfect house. A move-right-in-condition house. A huge house. There will even be room for my stash so it doesn't have to live in the barn anymore. Now that's really saying something. Oh, did I mention the stained glass in the living rooms? No, that's not a typo. There are in fact two living rooms. Hee hee

Yes, we put in an offer, we haggled back and forth, and now we just have to let the bank handle the rest. Oh joy, oh bliss! Seriously.

...Continued....

So, like I said before, the dates on the pics are messed up and should read Jan 2/2008.
We should have known right from the start that nothing good could happen on that day, as it was the 10th anniversary of my father-in-law's passing.
But we had to go to Digby to pick up the man/child from the ferry so it's not like there was a choice about getting out on those crappy roads. The weather was hideous. A full-blown winter storm, thank you very much. What made it even worse was having to follow a snowplow/sander for a good portion of the trip which decreased visibility to practically zero. The ferry had it's own problems too. It was close to an hour and a half late leaving Saint John, New Brunswick. Something about a lobster trap getting tangled in a propeller or something.
Are those roads a sight? That's the 101 Hwy! The North Mountain in the distance. You know what the highlight of the whole trip was? Before we left Digby to get on the highway, we stopped by Superstore and I went on a little shopping excursion. Oh yes I did! For raisin bread and turkey roll slices and a jar of dill pickles and some baby carrots and some fancy shmancy apple juice (organic no less!), and a huge tray of assorted nuts for dessert. That was our picnic lunch in the truck. (Don't be silly! Of course I forgot to pack something from home. But we deserved a treat.)
Naturally, with all the delays, we were late meeting our (new) real estate agent for our first appointment in Lawrencetown. And the lateness just snowballed (excuse the pun!) onto our other appointments. I was in such a daze I don't remember how many houses we looked at. I do remember that a few weren't even shovelled out. To get to the front door of one, we walked almost knee deep in snow. Brrrrr. On a positive note, our new agent is fabulous. A vast improvement over the jerk we had before the holidays.

So. It was getting dark by the time we got on the road for home. The roads didn't improve as the day wore on. If the main highways were as bad as in the above photo, imagine what the smaller roads were like. And that brings us to our "mishap". Hubby was driving the whole day, poor guy. (Personally, I think it's the whole man=control thing. But what do I know?) We were in the home stretch, only about 20 minutes from home, if the weather was decent. And there we went, sliding through a stop sign at a T-junction with the #10 Hwy. Crossing under the highway is a river, and the only thing that stopped us from going in was hubby madly steering for the guard rail, and hoping for the best. We were lucky in so many ways: that there was no oncoming traffic, that we belong to an auto club (we only had to wait about an hour to get towed out!), that we didn't go into that river, that the truck wasn't severely damaged and we managed to not need to deal with our insurance company, and of course the most important, no one was hurt. In shock, definitely. But safe. Oh yes, we had many people stop and offer assistance. One couple with a van even offered to drive our kids home, which we took them up on. Only three vehicles never stopped to see if we were ok, much less slow down.

Last Night

(The date on the pics is wrong because I had just put in fresh batteries and forgot to adjust it.) 2-wheel @&^$%! truck useless piece of sh!t !!
Not to worry. Everyone is Okay. After we got hauled out and got a boost, we managed to drive home.