My Little Guy.

I am not the most social person in the morning. It takes me a while to wake up and want to interact with people. I tend to sit at the dining room table and read a book while eating breakfast. (Right now my breakfast reading is How to Eat by Nigella Lawson.)

Someone has been paying attention:

Finished object

Pattern: Moguls scarf from knitpicks

Yarn: Patons Astra in Charcoal mix and Grey Mix

I thought this scarf would never end! I started it in December, hoping it could be a Christmas gift. It is now a Chinese New Year's gift, I guess. I absolutely love the i-cord edging. So neat and tidy and it behaves so well. As much as I began to dislike the project by the end, the finished scarf looks great on and is a super length--I am guessing it is well over six feet long. I am really tempted to make one for myself--in much brighter colours. The scarf needs very little attention paid to it so you can even knit it while watching Battlestar Galactica or Heroes.

for larger, bandwith hogging views, click on the pictures--as usual.

Time for an update.

It has been a while since I have posted, hasn't it? Life has been a whirlwind of cleaning and showings lately. No offers yet, but we have two weeks left before we lose the house we made an offer on. I won't be too sad if we lose it. I really like our house and am getting all sorts of mushy sentimental feelings about leaving it now.

Some good news: I now get several hours of respite care a week for the kids. We have waited for the proper bureaucratic channels to open, and now that they have, I have time every week for myself, and soon will have time for a weekly date night. I am so very happy about this. It has lifted a giant weight from my shoulders. I no longer have to worry about scheduling appointments and scrambling for child care.

One more thing...

Surprise! We found out over Christmas that Emmett and Charlotte will have a new companion at the end of the summer. This is what I look like today, at nine weeks and two days. Things are going really well so far--this baby seems to know that I don't have time to be sick. Except for bone crushing fatigue and the growth in front, I hardly feel pregnant at all.

My Little Mountain Climber

Yesterday Char called me after her nap. Her cry was a little more insistant than usual. When I went up to get her she was sitting on the change table that is beside her crib. I swear I put her in the crib at the beginning of her nap! The change table has now been pushed across the room as I am not prepared to have Char out of the crib just yet.

De-cluttering and cleaning has been switched into high gear. After a round of negotiations an offer has been made and accepted on the house we want. Since it is an offer condtional on the sale of the house we are living in, the homeowners can contiunue to look for another buyer. This is putting a feeling of urgency on preparing this house for sale. The sooner we find a buyer the sooner I can stop scrubbing things with a toothbrush! The realtor is coming on Monday morning to take pictures to post at the mls website. I will be cramming a lot of random things in closets and such--I need our rooms to look as clean and spare as the rooms in home decorating magazines. I will be spending my Sunday afternoon stripping the wallpaper in Char's room. She has already started the job so I know I must finish it. I have been dreading this job more than I dreaded cleaning the oven. Emm's room needs to be stripped too, but the tears in his wallpaper are not as obvious, so it can wait until after the pictures are taken.

Well, I am off to buy some fabric softener--my mom's secret weapon for wallpaper removal.

Performances Nightly.

Clique!

You know it's cold when...

...I ignore the dishwasher to wash dishes by hand just so I can warm up a little bit. The windchill factor is -49 C today (-56 F). I can feel the wind blowing through my house. I am wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt with a thick knitted turtleneck on top and woolen socks. My hands are blocks of ice. The new bungalow with properly sealed windows and insulated doors is looking really tempting right now!!

Bungalow People?

Since we have been together Richard and I have always lived in old homes. The one we live in now is over 90 years old. I can feel the wind blow through it today--there is a -45C windchill outside. The reason I made wrist warmers was the organic ventiation system.

House hunting is teaching me a lot about myself and my husband. You may or may not have noticed there is a post missing from yesterday. I felt I had to delete it after talking with Richard last night. We have moved on from those issues. No need to keep being reminded of them now.

We looked at a bungalow a couple of days ago. I was so enamoured with another house I largely ignored it. Things are creeping back in. Yes, the kitchen is tiny and there is no dishwasher, but there is a walk in closet and ensuite bathroom in the giant master bedroom. There is another full-size bathroom on the main floor and in the finished basement too. There is central air. The yard is in desperate need of some trees, but it is fully fenced and huge--we could have a big swing set and possibly a garden. There is a deck off the dining area. I may have to go back and really look at it (maybe there is room for a dishwasher somewhere??)

Maybe I have to open my mind to the possibility that a newer home is better for us than an old drafty one after all.

Thinking out loud.

We looked at two houses today and Richard is ready to make an offer on one. 5 bedrooms, almost 2000 square feet of space, big yard with a deck and big garage, central air. He doesn't think we need to look anymore.
It has been on the market a really long time and 10k has been knocked off once . Our realtor is so sure our house will sell quickly he isn't even going to list it until we find a house we want to make an offer on.
I am feeling anxious. How can we make up our minds after only seeing two houses??
I got a "creepy" feeling walking through it. Maybe burning sage would help that--as well as throwing out all of the stinky plugin air fresheners that were everywhere (what are they hiding??)
Pros:
big yard with deck and garage
mud room with shelves and cupboards
new cherry cabinets in sunny kitchen (and lots of them)
huge living room with adjacent den and seperate sitting room off main entranceway
formal dining room (add dining room table and china cabinet to shopping list)
room to grow

Cons:
second floor splits off into two wings with two bedrooms one one side and three on the other--I feel like I would be too far away from whoever is sleeping in the opposite wing from me
wiring looks wonky--will have someone look at it
two bedrooms are without closets
no bathroom on the main floor
roof looks sort of saggy from a certain angle

Things that must be changed:
most of the main floor is this colour--walls and carpet. There are two layers of carpet and pad in the living room/den
the kitchen is covered in dark green and burgandy plaid wallpaper with a Kountry Kitten border
One of the upstairs bathrooms is sponge painted pink and green with stencilled roses
One of the upstairs bedrooms is stencilled with palm leaves and kokopelli The previous owner really loved sponge painting and stencilling.
I want to know what the hardwood looks like under all the carpeting

Big Changes Ahead

Well, the mob has spoken. Mirabella lace it is. That one was my favourite anyway. I have had a bad case of startitis. I am getting bored of my works in progress, but I don't know what to start. I started a little had for the Dulaan project but ended up scrapping it. My shawl is not tempting me right now and The Scarf needs bribery of the chocolate kind to be appealing at all. I am knitting the heel gussets on my Jaywalker sock right now and strongly resisting the urge to cast on another sock (maybe the Mirabella, maybe something plain in some of the pretty striped yarn I have) I have also been hearing my lace scarf call to me. Maybe it is time to give that another go.

Ok, I mentioned changes. Well, we are going house hunting today. We have three prospects in mind--one that is two blocks away from where we are living now. I walked past it yesterday to scope out the exterior and yard. It looks very promising. It is an old brick house with a big fenced yard and by the looks of the chimney there is a fireplace inside. One of the other houses is on a cul-de-sac in a suburb. Hubby and I never thought of ourselves as suburbanites. Still don't. We may have to adapt though. As our kids grow we are realizing the necessity of having a bigger yard. Hopefully we won't have trouble selling the house we are in. There are lots of good things about it.

This is giving me the push I need to really purge our belongings and organize our stuff. I am back on the Flylady bandwagon and so far so good. My sink isn't always shiny, but the mouldings in my dining room are clean and my entranceway is actually welcoming right now. I also know for a fact that every single plastic container in my pantry has a matching lid.

I know that my kitchen is what is going to make or break a sale, so I have to clear out the pantry and most of the shelves. I will probably be asking my Grandma and Mother in Law if I can store extra bakeware in their basements until we move now. I have watched the shows on The Learning Channel and Home and Garden--I know what I need to do to stage my house for sale.

Oh, I have to run--I have gotten lazy over Christmas Break. I have to go conjure up some Sunday School lessons now. Anyone know any fun stuff about John The Baptist?

Indecisive

Make up my mind for me! Santa Sarah gave me some lovely dark purple sock yarn because she is a wonderful friend. I want to make something special with them. Cast your vote for your favourite at the bottom of the page, or give me a new idea in the comments. Here are the top contenders:

Milanese Lace

Cablenet

Kew

Mirabella

Happy New Year

Here it is, the first day of 2007. 2006 was a whirlwind of change for us. So much growing and changing happened. There is still so much more to do. I am sitting here watching the sun rise trying to think about what I want 2007 to be for me. I don't make resolutions but this year I am thinking hard about the path my life is taking.

In other news....
I want new socks. I want hand knit socks. I want new, hand knit socks.
I have one Jaywalker finished and am currently in a black hole with the second one. I am two centimetres away from turning the heel, but I knit and knit and knit and still am two centimetres away. I will persevere! My feet are cold!