| Update |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|07:56 am] |
I feel vaguely competent for yesterday. ^^ Got a dryer delivered, finished putting my TV stand together and got the (old heavy monster CRT) set onto it and the DVD player & GameCube hooked up. Also picked up a couple of new brassieres, and almost finished off the first skein of yarn on my current scarf-in-progress.
Apparently, if I make a more modest to-do list to start with, I can actually work my through it! Who would'a thunk it.
Things I should have blogged about earlier but haven't:
( Long Ramble Goes Here. )
Household things accomplished since last post:
- Kitchen partially shelf-papered
- DSL and wireless network up and running, so I now have Intarwebs at home.
- Area rugs for living room and dining room
- Assembled the TV stand, moved the heavy monster CRT set onto it, hooked up the DVD player and GameCube
- Acquired a dryer (yet another awesome Craigslist find!), which just needs a new exhaust pipe/tube/whatchmo attached
- Paid for a washing machine which will be delivered Sunday... yay for in-house laundry capability! |
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| Progress |
[Oct. 13th, 2009|09:28 am] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| |  okay | ] |
Survived a second evening with no Internet connection, and while I haven't gone into full-out withdrawal symptoms yet (probably because I have daytime access at work), it's quite inconvenient. :( Hurry up, Thursday!
Even without shiny Internet distractions, I once again did not come anywhere near completing the to-do list I made up during the day. (Granted, it was somewhat ambitious.)
I have, however, remade the bed in a way that guarantees I will sleep warmer tonight than last night - yay for heated mattress pads and floofy comforters. I also relocated the upstairs litterbox and closed off the empty bedroom across the hall, which makes one less echoing "concert space" for my would-be opera singer feline. She's still got the dining room and powder room, but the one close by is smaller - less echo - and the larger one farther away.
...I also have earplugs tonight, just in case. Wish me luck.
--------------------------------------
A.M. RESULTS: Much better night's sleep! Between the earplugs and closing off the opposing (empty) room, I had no feline-induced wake-ups. And my fuzzy love was curled up on the bed with me when I woke up. ♥ |
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| ...blurgh. |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|12:50 pm] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| |  tired | ] |
Still not completely moved in at my house, but both my stove and the new mattress set got delivered Saturday. I'm now sleeping over there... sort of. As much as my very vocal kitty allows me, anyway.
See, Ms Caitlin has re-discovered the "joy" of mostly-empty rooms: they echo when she meows loudly. Last night she ran no fewer than three "sound checks" between midnight and 5:30 am, when my alarm finally went off.
Between that and the fact that it was colder than expected, I think I got maybe three hours of sleep last night. _-_ *ded*
I had planned to work on putting together my TV stand tonight, and finishing cleanup on the head-and-foot-boards for the bed. That may have to wait until after a nap - and after I've brought more boxes upstairs to try to kill the echo effect.
In other news, due to unexpected (and not all happy) circumstances*, I got to see Cirque du Soleil's "Allegria" last Friday night (and took ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mewsrissicat as my guest because hey, after helping move my refrigerator she had more than earned it!). Sweet jeebus on a pogo stick trapeze, the degree of control those people have of their bodies is purely astonishing! I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open at several points (and may have drooled a couple of times, too. Yum!). It was a gorgeous show, and I was saved from spending too much money during the intermission by two simple facts: they were sold out of the soundtrack CD, and the one T-shirt design I really liked only came in "baby-doll" cut - which meant that even the XL was too small for me. *pout*
...I may still order the CD from their website after my next paycheck. >,> And when I was out picking up a few more house necessities yesterday, I found a VERY inexpensive DVD of their "Quidam" show, so I bought that to watch.
* - My teammate and her husband had tickets for the performance, but her mother passed away in the wee small hours of that morning, and she was too exhausted to attend. She offered me the tickets instead. |
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| So! |
[Oct. 1st, 2009|12:32 pm] |
Since it was demanded requested in the previous post, I bring you house photos!
...do I really need to include a warning here that the page has lots of images...? ^^;; |
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| House! |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|09:36 pm] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| |  bouncy | ] |
It's official!
I signed and initialed a gazillion things, turned over a cashier's check for over half my savings, and walked out with an entire fistful of keys (most if not all of which will be irrelevant wthin 24 hours anyway).
I'm a homeowner.
Official start of moving stuff to new residence will be tomorrow after work; between working today and the signing (and eating WAY too much dinner after), wasn't feeling up to it tonight. But soon there will be pictures of the interior! And despite not feeling all that great, I can't sit still in my chair. Hee. |
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| TOMORROW. |
[Sep. 21st, 2009|09:07 pm] |
Holy Carp. Signing is tomorrow afternoon. It's all real. I will be a homeowner.
Got the last of the utilities switched over to my name today, so those are taken care of. Picked up the cashier's check for closing. Met my agent tonight for the final walk-through of the place; the things I'd asked to have repaired were - and I proved I was better at figuring out the breaker box than my agent. XD (Do not underestimate zee woman!)
Still have to decide on Internet access & get that set up, and see what I can find in way of appliances. May end up buying some of those new, depending on how the financial situation settles out after closing; it'll save hauling out used ones next spring and replacing them.
And yeah, stopping now before this gets any more rambly due to nerves. Eh heh. |
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| Meep! |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|08:59 pm] |
If all goes well and the mortgage company doesn't have a hissyfit between now and then, it looks like I'll be closing on my house September 22! @,@
This still leaves me a whole long list of Stuff To Do (including making sure the utilities are switched over to my name, and buying new lock-sets because I am paranoid security-minded!).
And packing. A LOT of packing. *flail*
(...oh yeah, and figure out getting Intarwebs for the place. Important stuff, d00d.) |
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| Okay, so! |
[Sep. 5th, 2009|01:06 pm] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| |  excited | ] |
Just after I'd geared myself up into the mindset of "You're not going to hear anything more about the house stuff until after the holiday weekend, so just relax and enjoy it," late yesterday afternoon I got an email from my mortgage rep.
It opened with: "Congratulations! Attached is your mortgage Commitment Letter."
The mortgage is approved, I may even be able to move my closing date up before September 30 (depending on the repairs the seller is making).
ZOMG, I'm almost a homeowner. O,o |
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| An Appeal to the Friends List |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|01:44 pm] |
A few months ago, via Twitter, I found a wonderful organization called Spirit Jump, which was founded by two cancer survivors and relies on volunteers to send out cards and small gifts to lift the spirits of people battling cancer and other serious diseases.
The organizers send out emails twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays), with a handful of people who could use a boost. If you can send a card or small gift to let one or more of the people know that someone is thinking about them, that someone cares, you email the moderators and they'll send you the specified person's address. You can answer as many - or as few - of the requests as you choose.
Spirit Jump has been growing rapidly, and how receives on average 6 - 10 people per week asking to be included in the group requests. They need more Spirit Jumpers to send out cards to requesters, in order to lift as many spirits as possible. (They do also accept tax-deductible donations.)
I got a thank-you card from my first "jumpee" that brought tears to my eyes. Apparently my card and the little kimono-silk pouch I sent reached her on a day when she felt very, very down - and it's just amazing how much of a difference what seemed to me like a very small gesture made to her mood.
Please check out their website to learn more about this organization. Feel free to re-post any of the information here! There are so many people out there whose lives can be brightened by just reaching out with something as simple as a card to let them know, "Hi, I'm thinking about you. I care." |
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| Getting All Domestic |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|04:46 pm] |
Did an IKEA run today to pick up a few more things for the house. I now own pots and pans (well, one pan from that set and one I picked up earlier from Freecycle), a set of 17 different Tupperware-style food containers, a few other miscellaneous items, and one thing I had totally not expected to find there...
...a spaetzle press!
Okay, okay, so they're calling it a "potato press" but I think I can totally make spaetzle with this thing. (FYI, the down-low on spaetzle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaetzle It's a.k.a. knoepfle: - I think some of my family's ancestry must have been from southern Germany, 'cause that's the term I'm actually used to.)
One of my all-time favorite recipes features the longer noodle-form of this food, and now I'll be able to make it myself! ...theoretically. >,> |
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| Victoly! |
[Aug. 29th, 2009|02:03 pm] |
The seller signed off on the form requesting repairs! One more hurdle cleared.
Now if I can just get the insurance stuff nailed down on Monday things will be - momentarily, at least - under control.
I think. |
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| House Stuff Update |
[Aug. 28th, 2009|12:19 pm] |
Overall the home inspection went well, I think! My inspector found a lot of things that should be taken care of eventually (for many of them "eventually" translates to "within the next 3 - 4 years"), and only a few that are safety issues for right away. Some of them are even things I could probably fix myself - like the two minor plumbing leaks that may well be solved by replacing a couple of inexpensive gaskets and/or one short length of trap pipe.
But yeah, no foundation problems, no signs of water damage in the basement, nothing that's going to run into the thousands of dollars to fix right away. There was one cracked window - and I'm pretty sure the seller was aware of it, since somebody had slapped clear packing tape over the cracks and there was semi-opaque plastic sheeting hung over the window. What, him? Trying to hide something? No no, that's only to keep nosy neighbors from peeking in, honest! *sigh* There's also some question as to whether the electrical service is quite enough for the house since it has A/C, and is currently set up for electric stove & dryer.
The pest inspector was there at the same time. He found no evidence of insects, and very minimal mouse signs (he said it looked like just one, actually).
Also had an appraiser swing through, mid-inspection. He expressed surprise that someone was already in the house, but didn't give me any clue what his verdict was; guess I'll find that out when he forwards it through the mortgage company. ^^;;
And I have a quote from the insurance company I preferred, which turns out to be only about $5 more per month than the "cheapest" one the independent agent was trying to sell me (from a small subsidiary of the company ranked 13th by Consumer Reports, rather than the #1 company). Uh-huh. Worth it, I think! I'm waiting for a callback from their agent right now.
Since so much of the process was hitting the fan today, I took PTO to get as much of it as possible ironed out. Can't really call this a "mental health day" as there's still so much to do, but I really would have gone nuts if I'd been trying to work today, too. |
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| *facepalm* |
[Aug. 23rd, 2009|03:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | knitting | ] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| | ...d'oht! | ] |
Okay, certain activities should maybe not be mixed.
Such as, for example, reading Trek!Reboot fic online, and knitting. As I discovered when I looked down and realized that I had switched over to knitting when I should have been purling, and vice versa, on the stockinette stitch scarf I've been working on.
Me: *looks down* Fuck, I reversed the polarity!!!!! |
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| Serendipitous Timing |
[Aug. 22nd, 2009|02:13 pm] |
Just when I was wondering "Now what the heck will I do today?" the phone rang - and bethb proposed a Local Yarn Shop run! Oh hurt me, beat me, make me go look at pretty yarns. ♥ |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 16th, 2009|02:53 pm] |
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Wish I had remembered that yesterday was the PARSEC picnic before 6 p.m. when the date finally registered. *sigh* |
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| Progress! |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|06:06 pm] |
Okay, the insurance company isn't making me jump through any more hoops to cash in that old policy. When I called this morning, they had cut the check last Friday and it should be to me by the end of this week. Closing costs money will be in hand (as well as wherewithal for a couple of necessary appliances, thank goodness). This? Is a BIG. Relief. I had nightmares of calling in only to hear them say they "never got the form" - I didn't think until well afterwards that if they're going to be that nit-picky about it I probably should have sent the thing certified mail so I'd have proof it got to them. >,0
Made one last counter-counter-offer to see if I could whittle a wee bit more off the price... and the seller's willing to do it.
**Squeak**
[INSERT MAD FLAILING HERE!!!]
Right, now it's on to appraisals, home inspection and mass insanity. |
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| *Sticks toe back in* |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|12:42 pm] |
| [ | Mood Swing! |
| |  stressed | ] |
Okay, Insanejournal is still going to be my primary account; I'll post there first (and probably more often). But I am going to start mirroring some posts on LJ again - fair warning, a lot of it is probably going to relate to two topics: knitting, and trying to buy a house.
If neither of those topics interests you, I won't blame you a bit for unfriending me. ^^;; |
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| Hmmm... |
[Aug. 5th, 2009|09:19 pm] |
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Hey, elionwyr - I know they're a size or two too small, but have you seen this? =D |
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