Sunday, July 31, 2011

Decisions I Don't Regret

Yesterday was Macy's one-year anniversary with us.  She's a much more comfortable with us and can usually be found sitting in our line-of-site, watching us intently.  Macy has also learned that paper plates mean catnip (I put catnip on paper plates for both Macy and Delilah) and that good things come from the kitchen.   She's a bit more vocal but only when it comes to food, which I believe she learned from Delilah.

Macy's favorite perch
No eyes!  A rarity not to see those owl eyes.

I started a new ripple stitch afghan for Mr. Grumpbump.  He picked out the colors he wanted and I started it immediately.  I have to finish my pedicure socks, but I find it hard to work on them when I have my (current) favorite pattern on the needles.  I really put a lot of time into the afghan this weekend.

Color Palette
A nice lady at work is going to teach me to crochet.  Crochet will never replace knitting as my favorite hobby, but I have found so many cute crochet patterns that I want to try.  I'm going to have to dig through my stash of yarn and find something suitable to practice with.

I was supposed to go into work this weekend.  I didn't make it because I feel like I'm coming down with a cold.   I needed to work into order to catch up on some things that have just sat on my desk for weeks, while I put out fires and work on other high priority items.  But you know what happens when you put something on the back burner too long, it will become the next high priority.  I just hate being behind, but I hate going into work on the weekends even more.  Just thinking about me makes me sick.

Mr. Grumpbump thinks that Delilah is sick.  But I've tried to look at the situation from a realistic view.  She's still eating regularly (wet and dry food), drinking water, and going to the bathroom.  She has been listless and hanging around the apartment more than usual.   I think it can be pinpointed to the change in Mr. Grumpbump's schedule.  He and Delilah had a definite routine for more than 18 months and now, with Mr. Grumpbump getting a new job and working during the day, Delilah has had to adjust.   It is not as ominous as Mr. Grumpbump would have me believe.

Orange Cat loves to nap
We are not-so-patiently waiting for the short sale bank to decide if we can finally buy our house.  The appraisal by my lender came in $1500 under the offered purchase price and we immediately got an amendment to the contract to reduce the sales price.  My interest rate lock expires 30 day from tomorrow so the pressure is on to close this before the beginning of September.  I'm so anxious about this - sometimes I can feel my heart beating out of my chest thinking about actually purchasing this place.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Moving On To The Next Project

I finished my afghan last night.  I wanted to knit a few more rows but I was running out of the main color (orange).  I have enough of the green, pink and beige to make another cat blanket.  Or I might use it to practice my crochet skills.  The afghan ended up being 53" x 45".  I'm going to try to wash it on gentle cycle to see if I can soften it up just a bit.  The yarn I used was acrylic but it's not scratchy or rough.  I also want to make sure that my weaving in the ends will hold up to a wash.

I actually like the colors

I started working on Pedicure Socks (you have to be a member of the Paton's website to view this free pattern).  I'm just some KnitPicks sock yarn that I've had a for a while.  I couldn't put my hands on my bamboo dpns so I'm using this nickel-plated dpns.  The yarn slides easily (too easily) on the nickel-plated and I have to be very careful not to drop stitches.

I've decided to put the idea of a third cat on the (very) back burner.  I'm not sure that Delilah or Macy would be accepting of a new cat and we've only really begun our lives with these two.  I've already asked a lot of these cats to be housemates; asking them to share their house with another creature is probably asking for trouble.  The good news is that we might be moving to our new house as soon as the middle of August and that will certainly be an adjustment for both of them.

We've moved forward a tiny bit on our house purchase.  There is now a completely signed contract and the closing is "scheduled" for August 16.  We also did our home inspection and we are pleased with the results.  The roof on the house is in good condition, as is the air conditioner.  There are a few items that will need to be addressed, and the pool is just gross.  Mr. Grumpbump and I have decided that we will have a professional come out and clean the pool to get it in decent shape and then we can take it from there.  I'm hoping that we can get into the house pre-closing in order to get a fresh coat of interior paint on the walls and to clean/sweep up the kitchen and master bedroom.

My plans were to take as little as possible into the house and just start over with all new items.  However, I'm going to have to redo my budget because I have to come up with more closing costs than originally expected.  The short sale lender would not approve the contract unless we reduced the Seller-paid closing costs to 3% (from 4.5%).  Additionally, we have to buy all new appliances.   It's scary to think about spending so much money but I'm cautiously optimistic about having a house of our own in just a few weeks.


Finding My Treasure

Now that my shawl is complete (yarn purchased during the Orange Blossom Yarn Crawl in March), it is just hanging out in my foyer until I de...