My week

Things have been pretty hectic around here after spending two weekends in a row up in Maine, getting ready for Christmas, and living a week without hot water. This week the chaos continues. Tomorrow I leave work early to come home to be here so the water heater can be installed (YAY!) and then I'll be going out to lunch with Paul-John's dad, when Paul-John gets out of work he will finally be getting our tree which we will need to decorate, and then its game night at our place. Wednesday is Paul-John's work party and then karaoke. On Thursday I get out of work at noon, we head up to Glastonbury for three, head to Meriden around six, and then go to midnight mass. Friday we're having breakfast here with Paul-John's dad, brother, possibly his aunt, and my brother, and then around 1 going back to Meriden. Around all of that we have to make crab dip and bake a ham for Christmas Eve in Glastonbury, straighten up the craft room for Dan to sleep in, buy soda and make cookies for Christmas Day. All of my gifts are bought and I just need to wrap Paul-John's, but I was waiting for the tree. Paul-John still has one last gift to buy before he's finished.

Around all of that, ideally, I would like to finish a mitten but at this point it is looking somewhat futile. I finished mitten #1, minus the thumb, and it is way too long, so I spent almost a week ruminating about what to do. I finally decided to use size 1 needles instead of size 2 and to move the thumb up by five rows. It was a slow start because I am used to using wood DPNs and my size 1s are metal. There are a couple spots in the cuff where it is a bit loose between stitches that were on different needles, but I've managed to tighten it up, and now I am really loving the denseness of the fabric. These mittens are going to be really warm and cozy. And gorgeous.

No updating in over a week! Now that my unemployment has ended I am much busier and it is a really good feeling. Last weekend we went up to Maine to help out and hang out with Paul-John's mom who just had surgery, and we're going up again this weekend. Still juggling a few projects but I think I have in under control for now. Since my last update, I have completed 17 more hexagons. I got my mitten yarn in yesterday, so I had to start those, and I am almost halfway done with the first mitten already. But this weekend I will be back to the hexagons, since most of the weekend will probably be spent watching movies, and I have made so many freaking hexagons (138!) I could do it blindfolded. I also finally figured out how big I want the blanket, and it's going to be 214 hexagons, plus half hexes on the side, plus a border; so I am not nearly as close to finished as I thought I was. Tomorrow I am hoping to finish writing our Christmas cards to have them out in the mail by Friday. I also have one more batch of cookie dough to make and freeze this week. By Christmas I want to bake a bunch of different cookies so I have been making dough and freezing it and even though I am not the first person to do this, it makes me feel like a genius. When we get back from Maine we will finally be ready to decorate the house for Christmas and get a tree. We initially wanted to do it earlier, but we didn't think it would be a good idea with the cats being home alone for two weekends in a row. With all of this going on, I decided to just wait until after Christmas to even think about any sewing projects. Then I'll be able to set aside one day a week just for sewing, so I'll actually be able to make some progress on that front. And I guess that's just about everything going on right now!

Startitis has struck again

So I haven't posted about anything crafty for a while. I think I need to start updating my WIPs more often solely for accountability's sake. I try really hard not to have too many things going on at once because then nothing gets finished, but somehow I have like 12 projects going on right now. Here's the rundown:

Hexagon Blanket. I've been mainly trying to focus on this. I like working on it in spurts and then making smaller projects inbetween, which had been working. Now it seems like every time I pull it out one of the cats thinks its cuddle time, and I can't say no to them. Ever. So progress is slow. I only have 6 blue/purple hexagons left for this round, and then I start the purple/purple ones and start making it rectangular.

A Hat for Paul-John. I started this right after Stitches. After spending all of last winter trying to make one for him and running into lots of problems (fit, color choice, writing my own color chart) I decided this year it was going to be easy. That meant size 10.5 needles and ribbing so it would have to fit. It's one of those hats with ribbing all the way up and you fold the brim up. Paul-John said he wanted a tiny brim, so I made a tiny brim. After he tried it on he decided he wanted a bigger brim, so I had to frog and now it only needs, seriously, an hour or two to finish.

Curtains. Before I started working I decided to start on the curtains for the kitchen because I've had the fabric since June. Things were humming along quite nicely but then I decided to put it aside to work on my next project...

Sewing Skirts. My job requires that I wear either a skirt or dress everyday that comes below my knee. I decided that since I was so into learning how to sew, and shopping wasn't really working for me, I would make a bunch of skirts. I got a fantastic book about designing patterns and have one skirt that is almost finished, but I need to buy a zipper foot for my machine to be able to sew the zipper in.

Mittens. Technically I haven't started these yet, but now that Thanksgiving has passed all I can think about is how much I want some super cute stranded mittens this year and have been pouring over patterns on Ravelry trying to decide which ones I like best, so its already been a time waster for me.

Swann's Way. I know this isn't crafty, but it is something I initially wanted to devote an hour a day to. I haven't picked it up in maybe two weeks, all because my bookmark fell out and I'm not sure where I was. I'm just over 100 pages in, and I really need to get back into reading this at least 3 or 4 times a week.

#18

I am officially no longer unemployed! It is a really great feeling to finally be working again. For two weeks, I have been working as a part-time secretary at the Chabad House in West Hartford. It's a small office, with three rabbis, one full-time secretary, and a guy who does payables. The first week was really awkward, but on Monday one of the rabbis told me I was fitting in really well which gave me a much needed confidence boost.

All in all, the job seems to be exactly what I need right now. It is easy, but I am also learning a lot about Orthodox Jewish culture. It also gives me enough free time that I will either be able to go back to school next semester (yikes!) or be able to really start volunteering somewhere. This job isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it is going to give me the time I need in order to take the next step.

#6

This weekend Paul-John and I quite unexpectedly were able to cross something else off the list: #6, buy a piece of art. The two major things our house is lacking to make it feel really homey are curtains, which I am slowly plugging away at, and stuff hanging on the walls. While we do have some photos and mirrors and clocks we want to hang, currently we have nothing hanging on any wall in any room of the house.

We spent the weekend in Newport and Saturday afternoon we walked around downtown with the intention of only buying Christmas presents, which were able to buy a couple. One art store that we went into was having such a big clearance we knew we had to buy a couple things for ourselves. Here is the larger one that Paul-John picked out for the living room:

The second painting we put in our downstairs bathroom.

The frame we picked out really goes great with the tile.

Wordy Post, but with a rewarding finish

Today is my last day of unemployment, and I am very excited. I had a great last week. It included a celebratory dinner at El Sombrero with Paul-John and then meeting up with Mike and Tim at the Dugout for more celebration; going to New Haven to watch Laura in the New Haven Symphony which was fantastic; eating at O'Roarke's and going to a dive in Middletown with Mike and Paul-John; and lastly, going to Rookie's to watch Drop Dead Sexy with a bunch of people for Josh's birthday, followed by six of us heading to Gotham in New Haven for an hour of dancing.

As awesome as that whole week sounds, it unfortunately ended with a small incident that immediately brought to mind this piece. Driving home, I found out Kim had a similar experience. I am really not a club person. I am much more of a dive bar, cheap beer and playing pool than going out dancing person. I wanted to go to Gotham because I do enjoy dancing occasionally, even if the music isn't quite my taste, and figured there would be no random getting groped by guys you don't know. Wrong! The six of us get there, two gay couples and two straight girls. When two guys starting dancing with Kim and me, I figured it was just for fun, after all, we were in a gay club. When it got a little uncomfortable for me, I excused myself to get some water. The guy followed me, and luckily bought water first and let me drink it first when he opened it, because later I found out it was 5dollars a bottle! I digress.

So I start talking with guy. He asks if I'm straight. I say yes, and he says me too! I was stunned, and felt really creeped out. First, I was just slightly uncomfortable with touchy dancing, but assumed that it was in a very non-sexual context. I was so stunned, that all I can muster was, "I'm married." Guess what! He is too!

So the rest of the night meant trying to dance with Kim and avoid the bizzarro straight guys, which never lasted long, and then either breaking up Josh and Paul to dance with them, or going off to sit on the couch and smoke a cigarette. The worst thing about it was that there were about 4 straight guys and they just wouldn't get the hint. If they tried to dance with us once, no big deal, but I was surprised at how persistent they were. Kim said she enjoyed dancing with her straight guy, but got frustrated after he made multiple attempts to make out after she made it clear that she was just there for dancing. We were both shocked at the persistence of these guys. From the linked-to post: "So if you speak to a woman who is otherwise occupied, you’re sending a subtle message. It is that your desire to interact trumps her right to be left alone. If you pursue a conversation when she’s tried to cut it off, you send a message. It is that your desire to speak trumps her right to be left alone. And each of those messages indicates that you believe your desires are a legitimate reason to override her rights."

Nothing like this has happened to me in a very long time and it really pissed me off.

To make all of us feel better about this sorry event, and because I realized that I have not shared any cat photos in quite some time, I think we need some cute cuddling cats. These are all from my phone, so the quality is not the highest.

On a Roll

I was on quite a blogging roll there for a bit, and now I feel like I haven't posted in forever when it's only been about a week. Good for you guys right? I think maybe I've finally got this whole regularly updating thing down!

So remember that guy we found in our backyard? When I was raking the leaves, I found him a new best friend!

I wish his eye was actually glowing, but its just the reflection of the flash in the window.... I think I even like this guy better! I should really name them both.

in other great and exciting news, I got a job! I start next week, doing office work at a synagogue in West Hartford. Yay! I just now need to buy lots of skirts/dresses.

#58

This weekend Paul-John and I tackled #58: Paint and furnish the mudroom. This was a fairly easy project: painting a 5'x5' room doesn't take any time, and we had bought the coat hooks and chalkboard back when we had a zillion home depot and lowe's gift cards. The only thing that's missing is a place to put shoes, but since that really only requires cash and all the hard work is done, I'm marking this off as complete.

We based our color choice on the stone floor. (Also, please note, it is very hard to photograph such a small room well.)

"Clearly, the truth I am seeking is not in the drink, but in me. The drink has awoken it in me, but does not know this truth, and can do no more than repeat indefinitely, with less and less force, this same testimony which I do not know how to interpret and which I want at least to be able to ask of it again and find again, intact, available to me, soon, for a decisive clarification. I put down the cup and turn to my mind. It is up to my mind to find the truth. But how? Such grave uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself; when it, the seeker, is also the obscure country where it must seek and where all its baggage will be nothing to it. Seek? Not only that: create. It is face-to-face with something that does not yet exist and that only it can accomplish, then bring into its light."

The passage above is from the middle of the madeleine scene in Swann's Way by Marcel Proust. I started to read this almost two years ago and at best only got 100 pages in. I decided that the way in which I had to read this book was going to have to be intense. The only way I would be able to keep track of the story and long descriptions* would be to read it for long periods of time every day. Since I feel my unemployment will be soon coming to a close, I felt I couldn't waste this opportunity and had to start reading it again.

*In the introduction, I learned that "less than one-quarter [of the sentences in Swann's Way] are very long - ten lines or more."

Thanks, Josh!

I wish I knew how to embed video

FO: Calorimetry!

It always seems to be the case that my latest completed pattern is my new favorite that I swear I am going to make again. This has happened once again with my newest finished knit. Today, and today only, I knit the great bandwagon knit, Calorimetry. I have been thinking about this knit for a while, because hats do tend to get in the way of ponytails. Now that it is starting to get colder, I decided that I just had to have one.

#99

I have officially completed task #99 on my list! Many of the tasks on my list are long term projects but I really wanted to complete at least one the first week. Somehow Friday afternoon I convinced Paul-John that we should leave our house at 2am that night and drive to Vermont. We took naps in the evening, woke up at 1, and were on the road by 2. I drove up and Paul-John napped for the entire ride. I have never driven through the night like that before so it felt very adventurous. I thought that I would be nervous about falling asleep, but it was the multiple "moose crossing" signs that really freaked me out.

My initial plan was to drive up Smuggler's Notch and watch the sunrise from there. We got there and discovered that the road going up the mountain was closed, so we found a polo field in Stowe. We parked right around 6:15, an hour before sunrise and the sky had just turned from black to deep blue.

We stayed in the field for just over an hour and then got breakfast - I had an omelette with a side of the best bacon I have ever had. We both love little northern New England towns. Vermont and New Hampshire are both places I could see ourselves living in the (distant) future. We stopped by the Ben & Jerry's factory on the way home, and were back in New Britain by early afternoon.

Late afternoon mid autumn picnic in the park

I'm not sure why I forgot to share these, but last weekend Paul-John and I walked to Stanley Park for a picnic lunch. It wasn't until I was uploading some photos of the hexagon afghan that I realized I had these photos on the camera. Enjoy!

Today's the Day!

Today I start my 101 things in 1,001 days challenge. Thats 143 weeks, or 2.75 years. On my list, Bold items will be tasks I have not yet done, italicized items will be tasks in progress, and regular type will be completed. I am really excited about starting this!

The toughest part about making the list was really thinking about what I want to do in three years. I wanted to keep the list to a certain criteria: either tasks that would stretch me in some way, or things that are fun that can be hard to make time for. As I said to my sister (who is trying to come up with her own list!) it was hard to stay away from chores and errands. So, wish me luck!

As far as our cold homestead is concerned, we will have heat soon! The wheels are in motion! Monday our decrepit, ancient boiler will be taken out and the crew (or person, I'm not sure) will do as much set up as possible. Tuesday the new one will be installed! While initially we wanted a boiler that would be efficient enough to earn us the federal tax credit, it turned out that those were considerably more expensive than we were expecting. So much so, that we are not sure if we would earn back the cost difference with the heat savings. So we are going with a boiler that is 85% efficient with a modulator. Our plumber told us that even though this boiler won't be as efficient as the 94% one, we will still be very happy with it and that it is still a huge upgrade from what we have now. Until then, it is electric blanket and down comforter.

Boiler Woes

Sometime last week, I can't remember exactly when, our boiler broke. (I have been saying "furnace" for four months. It turns out we don't have a furnace.) It must have been Wednesday night. By the time we got in contact with our home warranty provider (from here out reffered to as HWP) and they got in contact with the HVAC company who got in contact with us, the earliest they could see it was Tuesday. So the guy comes, he contacts HWP, they contact us. Turns out that there is a monetary limit on how much HWP will spend on repairs per item, and this repair went over that amount, which means HWP is just going to send us a check for the amount remaining available for our burner. It is not a lot of money.

Because we are not getting the service directly through HWP, we can choose to either just replace what broke or get an entirely new boiler. We also can shop around for quotes since we do not need to use whomever HWP sends over. The bad news to all of this is it's the middle of October and we have no heat. Not to mention that the quotes we have gotten are significantly more expensive than we were expecting. And tomorrow we have to shop around for a loan in order to actually have heat sometime this week. And yes, in a couple of nights it is supposed to be below 40 degrees. Awesome!

101 things

Between my recent and sudden windfall of lots of free time and other happenings in my life, I want to make my own 101 things in 1001 days list. Right now I've only got about 25. If you have any good ideas, let me know!

CHanged my mind already

I think I like this closing method better... this is how I wear pretty every other cardigan I own, so why change it up?

FLS success!!

My February Lady Sweater is finished! Well, almost finished. I am very excited and pleased with it so far, so although I have plans to make a few minor changes, I am not sure when I will get around to them because this is so comfy and I want to wear it every day. I want to reblock the sleeves to make them just an inch longer... probably. I think they look a little silly but the length is really comfortable, so maybe not. I also sewed on snaps instead of buttons, and at least one snap needs to be repositioned so the front is a little wonky. But all the major work is done!

My backyard

When Paul-John and I were looking at houses, I had one major requirement: character. We love everything about our house - the fireplace, built-ins, the porch, huge closets, and our unique backyard. That backyard became a little more unique on Saturday when I found something half-buried in the ground where Paul-John and recently trimmed down a bunch of overgrown brush.

How sweet is this guy? Perhaps you want a closer look.

Yesterday I also finally decided to pick some of the mint that has taken over the little garden area on the side of our house before it all goes bad. So far I used a handful when making some black iced tea and it smells delicious (but so does our entire kitchen). I haven't decided what to do with the rest of it yet.

Almost Finished...

So it's been almost a month (again) since my last post and this is really just a non-post. I seem to be in the middle of a lot of stuff and I don't feel comfortable posting about it until everything is finalized. This goes for knitting as well as some more personal stuff. However, I will say that I have been knitting furiously and hope to have my FLS done by this weekend. Its weird - I could almost take a photo after each hexagon is attached on the blanket, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to take a photo of the in-progress state of this sweater. I think it is because at this point, with the lace being all scrunched up on the needles, I think it looks pretty unimpressive, and I think it will look way more amazing once it is off the needles and blocked.

February Lady Sweater

I finally got bitten by the February Lady Sweater bug. I had been trying really hard not to start a new project until the blanket is finished, but this past week it has just been too hot to work on it. I have wanted to make one of these sweaters for a very long time. And after looking through the 6,000+ projects on Ravelry and reading everyone's notes about how much they LOVE this sweater and realizing I already had enough yarn to make it, I just couldn't stop myself from casting on. This does make me really nervous because the last time I felt this way about a pattern were those damn snowbird mittens and that didn't end well.

I am using Cascade 220 in black. It really wasn't my first choice for a color, but I just bought 8 skeins for $30 on Craigslist which is a great deal. I am also doing a round yoke instead of the raglan shaping, so we'll see how that goes.

Rocky Neck

Thursday Paul-John and I went camping at Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme, CT. We arrived at about 3:30, set up camp, and then walked around for about two hours. From our campsite, we first had to walk through a marshy area to get to the beach.

Once we got to the beach we walked all the way to the end of this:

Then we walked around the park some more.

On the way back to the campsite we stopped for firewood.

When we got back to the campsite, we ate dinner and Paul-John got the fire going. We made s'mores and then went to bed by 10:30.

Friday, after we checked out of our campsite we went back to the beach, but this time to actually do beach stuff. It worked out well, because even though we checked out of the campsite we didn't have to pay for beach parking which made the $15 go pretty far. We only stayed at the beach for two hours, because the water was freezing. Much colder than Misquamicut was on Tuesday.

On our way back home, we stopped for lunch at a local seafood restaurant. I had my first lobster roll. It was pretty tasty, but I found the fact that it was served on a hamburger roll a little weird, since lobster is pricey and hamburger rolls are kinda cheap. I felt like for $12 they could have used real bread, but whatever.

I now have only 2 days left of vacation! I am hoping to get some house pics up either today or tomorrow.

On vacation!

Apparently my triumphant return I heralded in my last post wasn't all that triumphant since almost a month has past without another post. However, it is now August, we are officially out of the apartment, and I am on vacation. July was a pretty crazy month. After we finished the painting, wallpapering and floors at the house we moved the minimum amount of stuff we needed into the house and really started to feel settled. I genuinely forgot how much stuff we had left in the apartment. After a couple weeks of taking it easy at the house, we finally got back to work at the apartment. The past week was really intense, with both Paul-John and I working full time and then spending a solid four or five hours packing, moving, or painting at the apartment. It was exhausting, but it feels so good to be finally done.

My vacation starting at 8:30pm EST on Saturday when I left work. Koncewicz is in town for the week, so we met up with him, Mike and Tim at the Dugout. Yesterday, my first full day of vacation, got off to a slow start. Paul-John and I slept in pretty late after hanging with the guys until 3am and spent most of the day running errands. I finally bought a good pair of shoes for our camping trip later this week, did some grocery shopping, and went to Sears Outlet to look for a microwave but didn't buy anything. We had a great lunch in downtown Newington at Goldburger - I had a burger with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, cheddar cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing for under $5.

At night, Tess and Koncewicz came over. Paul-John had bought some Powers Gold Label as a housewarming gift to ourselves and since we are now 100% here, we cracked it open. Not being much of a whiskey gal myself, I made sour mix for the first time which was super delicious and easy, which are the two main qualifications for anything I do in the kitchen. With a little convincing, we were able to get Paul-John to join us for some Scattegories.

My project for the rest of the week?

My triumphant return

I once again return from another absence from my wily blogging ways.  This occasion was much happier - busy due to painting, cleaning, packing, and having our first official party at the homestead.  In addition to being busy with house-stuffs, I don't really enjoy posts without photos, and the thing we used to load photos onto our computer got stolen along with all that other stuff that got stolen.  We just brought the computer over the house last night, and here is a photo of our dining room wallpaper (and me!):

OK, you can't see the pattern as much as I hoped, but it is great.  

Anyways, back to the first official party.  Although it was not the first time we had guests, it was our first real event and it was amazing.  As we suspected, our house is perfect for entertaining.  The menu was pretty simple - a couple grill choices, fruit salad, and beer from us; chips and brownies from some guests.  We just sat around the back patio until the fireworks started and then we sat at the edge of our driveway where we had a terrific view.  Here is a crappy photo from my cell phone:  

Not bad, eh?  I have already declared ownership of this holiday for the rest of the years we live in this house.

Lazy Post

Since I have been so busy as of late with house stuffs, I thought I would post a fun, crafty music video for everyone to enjoy in my absence.  This was posted on the crafster homepage a few weeks ago and I love it.  You can pretend this is what I have spent the last few days doing.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSaPbVjcrp4

In the weeks leading up to the closing, I kept telling Paul-John that I wanted to get to work right away and do as much as possible as quickly as possible, because we have a lot to do before we can move in.  

It sounded like a great plan, but all day yesterday and all this morning all I wanted to do was to sit outside, smile and wave at anyone walking by, hoping they would ask if we were moving in so we could tell them we bought our first home.

Its Official!!

Paul-John and I are now officially homeowners!  Everything still feels very unreal for both of us still - but also very, very awesome.

Yesterday we did a final walk-through of the house, just to make sure nothing crazy had happened, at 9:30am and then made our way to the lawyer's for the actual closing.  While we were in the lobby we met the seller's agent and he was so unbelievable that I may dedicate a whole post to him later.  

We were done signing all the paperwork  by about 11am.  Paul-John was able to remain calm while I kept giving everybody high fives and dancing around.  Of course, we drove to the house and opened a bottle of champagne.  Later we went to our new local deli and ate lunch on our porch.  Paul-John did have to go back to work and I went to Sherwin-Williams and bought primer, paint and supplies, and ordered wallpaper.  Initially I want to get a lot done the first day, but it turns out I was way too excited to get any work done, but thats what Sunday-Wednesday will be, since I have time off from work.  

Finally!!

Today at 3:15 Paul-John called to tell me that we will be closing at 10am on Friday! Yay!!!

House not-buying

The closing date we set back in early April when we first applied for the mortgage was last Friday.  Our mortgage broker initially said that since we were approved for a mortgage and the house was unoccupied there was no reason why we wouldn't be able to close by the end of April (ha!)  Last Tuesday we found out that the seller's deceased husband's name was on the title and that she would have to go through probate to get that straightened out.  Friday came, our lawyer called at 8am to say that it wouldn't be happening that day, so we said either Wednesday or Friday this week would work.  Wednesday came and went, no closing.  Today our lawyer said we won't be closing tomorrow either.  

The awesome rate we have for the mortgage expires next Friday.  Our lawyer has no idea what the hold up is - she has been calling the seller's lawyer and has not gotten any returned calls.  Today she said that if she needs to call them every half hour in order to get someone to talk to her, she is going to call them every half hour.  She also said that if they are purposefully trying to delay this, she is getting ready to sue.  

We really just want to buy this house.  

HELP ME I AM BEING SUCKED INTO A BLACK HOLE!

Great Fabric Store Find

I decided that I want to sew all the curtains for our new home.  I need easy projects to build up my skills, and I have way too many tote bags.  I thought it would be a good idea to pick out fabrics I liked before we picked exact shades for the walls, because it is much easier to bring fabric to a paint store than to bring walls to a fabric store.  

Memorial Day seemed like a great day to go fabric shopping since I had the day off.  After a slightly disappointing visit to JoAnns, I called my mom to see if she knew of any places I could go (this was one of those days I really missed having the internet...)  After driving to Manchester only to find out the store went out of business, I got smart and asked her to send me phone numbers along with addresses.

One of the places I called just rang with no answering machine.  If the store still existed, it definitely wasn't open.  So once we got our computer hooked up, I looked it up online.  The website didn't work.  Again, not too promising.  But I figured, what the heck, I'll try calling them again.  I was so surprised when someone answered that I just hung up (oops).  

Yesterday I went to check it out and was totally stunned when I walked in - every single fabric is only 1.99 a yard - every fabric!  The place is called Affordable Fabrics and is located at 2119 Silas Deane Highway in Rocky Hill.  I have already decided that this will be the only place I will go to from now on!

I'm Back!

For probably the first time ever, I can finally think of an appropriate tile for my post.  After nearly a month hiatus, I am finally back online.  I am absolutely positive that both of my loyal readers will rejoice when they see I am back to my wily blogging ways. 

To recap what has happened for my pretend anonymous audience, our apartment was burglarized, and we lost our sole laptop (along with a few other items...)  Yesterday our new computer arrived, and this is how excited I am:

Yes, that is my super pumped face.  

Super pumped not just about the ability to once again waste hours of time online, but because our new computer is so sweet.  We got an all-in-one Mac initially because you get so much more bang for your buck in a desktop than laptop.  But HOLY COW I was not expecting to be so excited about the computer itself when it came in - Paul-John, being Paul-John, could not stop talking about the aluminum it was made of, whilst I don't really find that interesting.  And maybe it seems so awesome because we replaced the laptop (because we had no computer) before we replaced the television (because we have a very old tiny one) and the screen on this computer is considerably larger than our current TV.  

In crafting news, I am slowly plugging away on the one year anniversary afghan.  It won't be finished by June 7th, but I am making progress:

Lastly, house news:  we were supposed to close tomorrow, but that no longer looks likely, so hopefully we will close next week.  But we have picked out wallpaper for the dining room and a general color scheme for kitchen and living room.  Our game plan is to first paint and wallpaper those three rooms, refinish the floors and then move in.  I am even more excited about being a homeowner than having a sweet new computer, so you can imagine what my pumped house face looks like!

Food and Hexagons

Tonight I made pesto for the first time.  It was something I had been meaning to try for some time but was always slightly intimidated.  I had a recipe, but didn't end up measuring anything.  

It turned out super delicious.  We had just enough for our pasta.  I wanted to make more, but I ran out of pine nuts and I didn't really have anything to store it in.  All throughout dinner Paul-John and I were coming up with different meals to have it with - this will definitely be a new staple. 

I tend to be a sucker for stupid gadgets.  However, today at the grocery store I spent the best $2.50 on something that's totally not necessary - a banana cutter!  LOVE IT!  We had fruit salad for dessert and this thing is fantastic.  

Hexagon afghan!  It's been 8 days since I started and so far it is coming along great!  It is using more yarn than I was hoping, but I don't really care too much.  This is my first large blanket, made for our first anniversary and first house (hopefully!) and I want it to be something special that we will have forever.  

I defy time

Created by Train Horns

Lots to write about today!  As far as the house is concerned, we had the inspection and it went alright.  There are a few major things that need to be replaced: water heater, furnace and refrigerator along with a couple more minor things.  We submitted a re-offer to the seller this week and should hear back next week.  Initially I wanted the seller to do the major replacing for us, because it would be less expensive, and Paul-John just wanted money off the price of the house and to do the work ourselves which is what we decided to go with.  Although that doesn't really put cash in our pockets (about $200 off the down payment...) we will be getting the first time home buyer tax credit, and we want to be in control of what gets picked.  We have a tiny water heater now, and it stinks.  I am really not sure what to expect from the seller - whether or not she'll go for our re-offer.  She seems really unwilling to negotiate and was considering renting the house instead of selling it.  But, these are all things she would need to replace if she rents it, so hopefully we will continue to move forward with this.  

I started the hexagon afghan on Tuesday.  If (and this is a big if) I can do between 3 and 4 motifs a day, the afghan will be finished by our 1st anniversary.  I am using this pattern.  I thought about using all the colors I had in a similarly random fashion because it would be the most economical, but I really wanted a pattern that would pop.  So I am doing a sort of sunburst-y type pattern using at least 7 of the colors I have.  

Wednesday Paul-John and I went to the PLanet Earth movie with a colleague and his wife.  It was alright.  About 99% of the movie were scenes from the series.  It was narrated by James Earl Jones and was definitely aimed at kids - the animals were more anthropomorphized, some of the background music was hipper, and bizarrely as Paul-John noted, it rarely stated where exactly the current scene had been filmed.  All that aside, it was pretty great getting to see it in the theater.  

Stash

Here is my stash of Cascade 220 - a total of 16 colors.  I have decided to embark on a hexagonal motif afghan.  I found a great pattern/tutorial to join-as-you-go which eliminates any need for seaming. (Yay!)  But, that also means I need to have a plan before I start and I can't decide whether or not I want to just make it up as I go or have some sort of pattern... or if I need more colors (this is the real problem).  

Yes, please

When thinking about all the major and expensive things we will have to do when we buy a house I really enjoy looking up decorating ideas online and I now really want a hidden door.  

Pretty cool, huh?  

Yin Yang

The house business is finally starting to move along at a pretty good pace.  About three weeks ago we made an offer.  The next day, the seller counter-offered and we accepted and then... nothing.  We did not hear from the seller at all for just over a week.  Our agent talked to the selling agent, who hadn't heard from the seller - wasn't returning phone calls, had cancelled showings and was apparently suddenly having second thoughts about selling.  Finally we heard back and things are now moving forward.

Tonight we did all the mortgage paperwork which was really exciting.  In two days, we have the inspection.   We are trying to get the closing date for May 16th!  

Today...

I am feeling pretty good because I have Saturday and Sunday off.  

I was pleasantly surprised that I received my bonus check today!

I found my wallet, which has been missing for two days, because a police officer at the bar recognized me!  Apparently I left it at the convenience store at the end of my street, and the girls who work there turned it in.  

Last night my sister helped me find buttons for my cardigan for under ten dollars, including shipping, on etsy!  Yay!

Aside from that I have been experiencing a string of bad luck.  First there was the no cell phone.  Then my debit card got cancelled because of some security breach but it took me two days to find out why.  And my ravelry swap partner still hasn't received my package.  

Today we signed the papers officially ending our contract on the condo.  We found out that contrary to what our mortgage broker told us, the property would be FHA approved even with all the roofing issues.  Also, the sellers did offer to put some money in an escrow account for us, but only a third of what the estimated assessment would be.  

We've seen all three of the houses we were interested in.  The latest one was quite interesting: everything in the house was bought between 1960 and 1975.  The living room and dining room had olive green shag carpeting, three dimensional wallpaper, a mural, and ashtray stands.  In the attic there was an original easy bake oven.  In one closet there was a program from a NBHS football game from the 70s.  It was almost more fun looking at all the stuff than the house.  It was my first time inside a bungalow - over 1,600 square feet on one floor.  

We saw the second house we had looked at a second time and we've decided to move forward. 

Slightly related:  because of all this house business, we have been trying to be a little more careful with our money.  So when the screen on my phone broke, I didn't mind because the phone still worked.  A few months later when the all the keys stopped working it still wasn't a big deal because Paul-John had an old phone that I started using.  But this morning, when I dropped that phone into the toilet and it also stopped working, I realized that I might actually have to buy a new phone.  

FO real

A few months ago I whipped up a cozy for my French press but never got around to sewing on the buttons until this morning.  So, here it is: