On Thursday Dave took a half day from work and we went and looked at a bunch of houses. We picked out about nine listings from the bunch that the realtor had sent to us, he made appointments, picked us up and drove us all around the Midlothian area which is south of Dallas.

We were looking for something that wasn't too small, had enough land that we could have a horse, and that both of us would agree on. After looking at the first few houses, I decided that doublewides were out. The listings that we saw didn't specify whether the houses were trailers or not. Somehow two or more acres of land looks much smaller when the next door neighbor has naked toddlers playing in the driveway, rotting cars parked in the front yard, and mangy pit bulls chained to the porch.

Then we saw the house. It was perfect, it was incredible, I fell in love with it almost immediately. It was fenced for horses, it had a two stall barn, it had a koi pond, it had a hot tub. It had stuff I didn't even know I wanted until I saw it.

We looked at a couple more houses, that I don't even remember. I wanted that house so bad I could taste it.

We put in an offer. Unless something terrible happens, we close on Feb 21st, and move in Feb 26th.

I'm almost a homeowner. Wow! I can hardly believe it. Everyone said I'd know the house when I saw it. I remember looking out the patio doors at the koi pond and saying, "Dave, look, the fish want to live here"

Front:


Kitchen:


Sunroom (the hot tub is out of the photo to the right):


Tropical plants:


Koi pond:


Back:


Pasture and Barn:

Made a list of houses to go look at, Dave is going to have to be the scout and weed out the ones that just won't work for us. Our schedules are not compatible, so unless the agent works after 7 on weekdays, or after 5 on weekends, one of us has to take a day off from work to view stuff together.

Went to the doctor today. When did a routine physical get so complicated? Bloodtests, chest x-rays and an EKG. Waaahhh, I'm getting old. I had to make another appointment for next week, so I could discuss any results with the doctor. An improvement over the old way, which was me having to call, and call, and call to find a time that was convenient for the doctor to take two minutes out of her schedule to tell me everything was fine.

No progress updates on crafty stuff, mainly because there has been very little progress. A few rows and a couple of stitches and thats it.

Made it past the armhole shaping on Simply Sweet, so close to completing the back. Think I'll take a break and make some socks before casting on for the front. I really need the close to instant gratification of finishing something.

Am almost done with part 3 out of 4 of the Vineyard Purse. I had to do some charting to change a little bit of it. It was originally a class piece in the Finger Lakes in 2002, and I didn't think the "stitching by the lake" was appropriate. So, I'm changing that to read Tudor Rose Sampler Guild.

We talked to a mortgage company on Thursday. The broker asked if we had looked at anything yet, and I said no we wanted to be pre-approved first so that we knew our price range, and could actually make an offer. He said, "oh, you're approved, no problem". Whew! I'm glad that's over with. Now we can actually start looking. No rush, we both want to get the right house that's perfect for us and the animals. It's nice to have some good news for a change.


Read in Jan:

A few more rows and Simply Sweet will be up to the back armholes. Why so slow? I'm only working on it at work and when I'm out of the house.

In the house, I've thrown my rotation aside, so that I can concentrate on CA Well's Vineyard Slide Purse. My local sampler guild is doing it as a class on February 12th, and for some reason I decided that I needed to join in. Well, I've never stitched a CA Well's piece before, and her directions leave something to be desired. The class is a finishing class, and the design should be pre-stitched ahead of time. I've got two and a half out of four parts completed, so I should be ok with the stitching.

I can't believe it's already the 11th. I felt crappy for just about a week, I was able to go to work, and knit a little bit on the new sweater I started, and sit on the couch and play video games but not much else.


Maddy Laine's Simply Sweet in Schachenmayer Micro Color, that I picked up on Elann last summer.

A yahoo book group (The Book Barn) that I belong to collects top ten lists so here's mine:

Top Ten Reads of 2004

The Sacrifice, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller
If Chins Could Kill, Bruce Campbell
Harlot's Ghost, Norman Mailer
The Good House, Tannarive Due
Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, Susanna Clarke
Grunts, Mary Gentle
Midnight Harvest, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Honorable Mentions (up to 10)

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Bimbos and Zombies, Sharyn McCrumb
The Scrolls of the Ancients, Robert Newcomb
Dead Witch Walking, Kim Harrison
Sins of the Blood, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Grant Naylor

Books You Dustbunnied
Mortal Sins, Tanith Lee
I didn't write down any of the others.

Books You Didn't Dustbunny But Wish You Had
Cover Her Face, P.D. James

The One Book You'd Most Recommend (only one please!)

Perdido Street Station, China Mieville

The Absolute Worst Book You Read (only one please!)

The Shop on Blossom Street, Debbie Macomber

The Last Book(s) You Bought

Shadow Knitting, Vivian Hoxbro

The Number of Books Currently on Your Wish List (or To
Be Bought list) (if you keep one)

I don't keep one, I've tried but it just gets too long and changes constantly so I've given up on a wish list.

The Total Number of Books You Read in 2004

167

Read so far this year:

Felt well enough today to take some pictures.

New project:

Ouroborus by Dracolair Designs

Progress to date on:
Chatelaine Mystery 6


Marquoir Story


and one of the cats, sitting together on the dog's blanket: