Friday, December 26, 2008

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankfull for all of my family and friends. We're lucky to have it as well as we do, even when it seems we don't. On this day be grateful for all you have!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Ooooh!

Modish Blog has posted about their November Give Away. The prize is $778 worth of homemade goodies! You should go and check it out.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Finished Central Park Hoodie

Made w/ Cascade 220 Heathers in Shire (I believe), which I purchased through Webs. I absolutely love it! It took under a month and a half, which may seem long to others, but for me, that's quite speedy! The cables helped to keep it an interesting knit, while the threat of cold weather helped to motivate me even more.




But wait, there's more! Here is my, almost finished, clue 1 for Mystic Earth. This project has been put on the wayside due to my CPH. I also just signed up for Mystic Ice and happened to buy the yarn for that as well. Since winter is coming, I have a feeling, I'll be putting Earth away again so I can work on Ice to have this season.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Whoa! It's been forever!


Almost 2 months since my last post~ EEKS! I'm such a slacker.

This is going to be a quick update.

Work~ Tara and I are LOVING the new school! Our teammates are great, the administration is over the top organized, and the parents are helpful! The students are fun, full of personality.

Home~ We are mostly, but not entirely, settled in the house. I still can't figure out what all the crap on the tile floors is, or how to scrub it off. The best I can manage is using a scrub brush and acetone. But it's a lot of work and it takes forever! I bought a Shark Steam Mop thinking that would help, but it really didn't. I'll have to check Home Depot's rental rates because they have those heavy duty floor scrubbers.

Family~ All's well. Nothing new to report. Ant's birthday is in two weeks. He's going to be 8! I can't believe it. Not sure what we're doing for him because he's got a football game in his hometown (2hrs away) that Saturday morning.

Knitting~ I've started a Central Park Hoodie with Cascade 220 Heathers in a gorgeous green. I've finished the back, the left side, and am almost done with the right side. I've also cast on the Mystic Earth stole. That one's slow progress though. Trying to get CPH done before FL's version of cold weather comes and goes in the blink of an eye.

Dogs~ Roxy is still as goofy as ever. Janie, the pitbull, is simply wonderful and well behaved. They get along like sisters. Very well for the most part, but occasionally Roxy can be a bit of an instigator.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Loooong Day!


It has been quite a day! Today we had the school's Meet n' Greet. I was at work for 12+ hours and I'm pooped. I've gotta say, the parents I met seemed really, really nice! Now, it could just be that they were on their best behavior. We'll have to see how their attitudes change once we get into the school year.

So I come home to find my house a DISASTER! We decided since we had 30 days from closing on our house to actually move in that we would take our time. A little bit here, a little bit there. Well, now we have to be out in a week and both of us work regular jobs which leaves very little time to do the actual moving. Randy took a bunch of stuff over during the week and today he took over the dining table among other things. Unfortunately, our dining table has been the dumping grounds for things lately and without the table, those things are now dumped all over the place! What a cluttered mess!

It looks like we're going to be moving all the major pieces this weekend. The floor guys come tomorrow to lay down our laminate, then we'll be pretty much ready to go.

I was quite excited today when I opened the mail and found a $285 restitution check from the Jailbird! Whoo hoo! I do think this money will be used to adopt a doggy!! Randy told Ant I'd take him to the Humane Society tomorrow. And he did tell me that we could get another doggy when we moved. Sounds to me like this is just perfect timing. He knows better than to send me alone to any place where I could get a dog! I think that's just silently giving me permission to adopt :o)

Alright! I'm off to finish that glass of wine now!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

New School Year!!

Woo Hoo! I went back to work, grudgingly, on Friday. With everything going on at the house, it's hard to pull myself away (even tho' you'd think I'd want to by now!). It's okay though, because after 8 years of being at the same school, I've finally decided to move on!

I was very nervous about starting over again. Luckily, my BFF/partner in crime, T, was coming with me. This whole thing was her idea, she twisted my arm. Another friend of ours had started at this school last year, so she kept putting the bug in our ears. T and I took her advice, interviewed together, and were hired on the spot. So, at least I know two other people in the building!

The school is only two years old so everything is brand new. It is absolutely huge compared to my last school. The resources that they have are to die for and everything is SO organized! I wont even get started about everything their PTA does (or the fact that their PTA even has their own room to work out of)! We came from a Title I school which means that the majority of our students were on free/reduced lunch, very low socio-economically. We got extra funding for more support personell and also resources. But still, this new school has just as much, if not more. Our old school had a handfull of parents that were involved. PTA was litterally like 6 parents (that might be pushing it!). So this is a huge change for us. A welcoming change, as you can imagine.

T and I eased right in with our teammates. They are all about our age and they're funny! Our team was giggling and making jokes throughout our 3 1/2 hour meeting Friday. I loved it. We didn't feel uncomfortable. We didn't feel like we don't belong. It was simply wonderful.

I did feel behind tho' because most teachers had been in during the summer to work on their rooms. This was my very first day back and I was feeling the pressure. I still had to unpack all of my boxes that I brought from the last school. So, I spent my few meetingless hours unpacking and organizing. Then I ran into a problem. I realized all my boxes were empty and I was still missing many things~ crayons, markers, hole punchers, drawer tray organizer, a large 3 drawer roller cart! Uh-Oh! Panic mode. We looked everywhere and just couldn't find it. Luckily this school is so stocked w/ supplies that all I have to do is ask. But still, I'd like to find my things. I sent out an email to see if something ended up in someone else's room (it had happened to a few teahcers already). This morning I saw that one of the other 5th grade teachers has a roller cart in her room that she knows isn't hers; I'm thinking it's most likely mine.

This weekend, I picked up some jungle print fabric to put on our ginormous wall-o-bulletin board. Seriously, this thing is floor-to-ceiling, the length of an entire wall! Our theme this year is Wild About Learning. We had done this theme at my old school, so I really thought I had more stuff to use. Sadly, all I can find is a border. I'll have to go shopping again.

Anyway, it looks like we're off to a great start to the new year! I'm actually excited! It's been a long time since I could say that!

house is getting there

I'm super tired, so this won't be much but a list of things again.
Added to our finished list:

* all of the painting is done! and that includes EVERYTHING!
* carpets installed in Ant's room & craft studio
* fish fabric for curtains in Ant's room
* blinds for the 5 windows in the "party room"
* back door in "party room" is replaced
* dining floor mopped (still trying to get a layer of what we think is sealer off of it)
* new fridge
* new washer/dryer
* new lawn mower

It seems like a short list, and I'm really racking my brain here. But, believe me, it's been soooo much work!! We started moving things over yesterday. Slowly, we'll get there. We have just under two weeks to get it all done before we get kicked out of our townhouse.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

well.....

I was planning a photo update of knitting (or lack there of), but realized that my camera is sitting in the new house waiting for charged batteries. So, no knitting today.

We've been working our asses of in the new house. Things we've done:
* Ripped up all flooring except the tiled kitchen/dining/addition
* Primed the addition and hall bath
* Painted the addition/dining ~ Coconut Creme yellow
* Painted Ant's room~ Waterfountain (pale blue) top/ Ultra Marine (bright blue) bottom
* Painted living space/halls ~ Caribbean Walk
* Attacked wallpaper we didn't know existed in the kitchen (still need to finish)
* Spent 3 days attacking the wallpaper border covered in layers of paint in my craft studio
* Replaced locks/knobs
* Cleaned toilets
* Purchased laminate floors (need to be picked up)
* Ordered eco-friendly carpet (made from corn) for the other two bedrooms

Our carpets were supposed to be paid for by the bank due to the flooding we found at our final walk through. Well, the stupid listing agent who was in charge of that did NOT have her act together. The money had to be paid to Home Depot, not us. She claimed the bank needed to see photos of the carpet work done before they would pay. Home depot can't even order the carpet until they are paid! Catch 22, people! We went back and forth with her. She was talking in circles. She'd act all sweet and kind and then turn all bitchy in a flash. I got our realtor involved and she really put the pressure on the other agent. Then the crazy woman would call Randy and give him a completely different story than she told me or our realtor. Ooooooh. She was too much. Even sent me a super long email about how there are no bad guys, we need to act professional, blah blah blah, she's on our side (even tho' she told randy 5 other people were interested in our house), all woe is my, i'm working so hard, blah blah blah. WHAT-EV-ER!

Yesterday she called and we finally got our check, paid to Home Depot. And, rather than being for the original $885, the check was for the ENTIRE amount of our carpet bill. Woo Hoo! That does not change my attitude toward her. When I met her at HD, she was all bubbly and sweet, giving me hugs. She acted like everything was a big joke and even played down the coversation she had w/ our realtor like they were best pals. I forced the kindness and rejoiced when I got my receipt and she was long gone! Happy to not have to deal with her EVER again!

So, there's the update. I go back to work next Friday. I'd like to be excited about that, but we're so busy at the house that the thought is only causing me more stress.

Monday, July 21, 2008

We Did It!

We're finally homeowners! I was beginning to lose hope. I was in DC all week. Every time Randy called me it was a different issue.

It started w/ a voice mail from the insurance agent saying that our policy was denied because of the age of our hot water heater. We got that all fixed and ended up w/ a better policy for less money. Hurdle one cleared!

Friday, our realtor calls Randy and explains that we're missing the HUD-1 closing statement. She emails me an addendum w/ a closing date extension "just in case". Phone calls back and forth, the statement was coming from Miami, not here in Tampa and supposedly their system had gone down around 3pm. We did finally get our closing statement mid Saturday afternoon.

Sunday evening, we have our final walk through. OMG! HELL! Randy was checking the back yard while Ant and I went w/ our realtor inside. Our first though was that it was awfully cool and something sounded as though it were running when our electricity should haved been shut off the last day of June! Ant takes one step in the hall and we found a 1/4" of water all througout the hall and in the bedrooms, the bathroom was even worse! The hot water heater busted! Since it's on well water and the electric was on, the water kept pumping! We were aghast! We didn't even have 24hrs to close and here we are w/ a flood!

Many, many phone calls today. We were supposed to close at 11:30 am. That was NOT going to happen. The seller (Countrywide bank) came back w/ an offer~ replace the hot water tank, have everything cleaned and dried up, pull up all the floors, and throw in a home warranty covering all appliances/pipes/ac. Our agent explained that they really wanted to close today so we tried to push our luck. We retorted by asking that they also add the $2k that they overestimated for closing costs so that we could replace the floors. Got a call a few hours later and they agreed.

Oh, but that was not the end of course... We then get a phone call saying the lender is not going to approve of us getting not only our $2k deposit, but an additional $2k for the floors. Option #2, lower the cost of the house by that amount. Okay, fine. Minutes later, another phone call. Nope that's not going to work. Since it's an FHA loan, all the paper work would have to be redone and ran through FHA. That would take at least a week. Option #3~ be given a credit for said amount to use through a contractor to replace floors. FINE, ets just get this done!

We get to closing and had to wait for all the extra addendums and a new closing statement. We were surprised to see that our realtor and the title co. rep were the only other people there. The seller's agent was not there, nor was our lending agent. Then we run into another problem. They overestimated the damage of the floors, they'll only reimburse us $885. Sheesh. One thing after another.

We get everything signed, leave, end up at the house which is a good 3o min from the title company, to check up on the cleaning/water heater process, and then the phone rings again!! We had to turn around and go back, they had just gotten the updated HUD statement and had to sign all the new ones. Grrrrr....

But, it's over. We're all signed. The flooded mess is being taken care of and we're moving on! We're happy that they're replacing the water heater and giving us money for the floor, even if it's not the amount we'd asked for. We were already going to replace both of these things immediately anyway, now we don't have to spend the money on it. Always a good thing!!

Tomorrow And and I will go measure and start primering the rooms that weren't affected by the flooding. We went to Home Depot (where are floor credit is) and looked at carpet for two of the rooms. I found an eco-friendly yarn that wasn't overpriced and I think we'll go with that~ GO GREEN! Our room and the living/dining area will be wood laminate. We brought home bamboo samples only to find that the ones we liked and could afford were too easily scratched. Also, it needed the glue which in and of itself is quite $$$. The wood laminate just seems more realistic, even though it's not as eco friendly. I tried.

There will be before and after shots at some point, so keep your eyes out.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Los Pantalones de Muertos

Oh sheesh! I thought I could pretend to be a sewer (as I unknowingly plurked yesterday). Seamstress would be the correct word, but based on my sewing skills, I really am more of a sewer than a seamstress. This 1hr pattern took me, oh, 6 hours. A good chunk of that was spent ripping out seams! I was moving along so smoothly and only had hems to finish, when I help them up to find that somehow, my patners were completely ass backwards! I have no idea what I did wrong. It was a horrible debacle! After ripping out all seems but the crotch, I managed to turn myself rightside up again. The pants are huge on the account of my not preshrinking and the suggestion of my mom to go up a size to allow shrinkage. I'm pretty sure I could fit an elephant calf in here. Anyway, here they are in all their glory. I'm going to try again in the next size under.

Monday, July 7, 2008

She's Crafty!

Here's just a quick update on some of my projects.

First up, two FO's:
A pair of Monkeys using YP Patina and a pair of Anastasia socks using YP Icicle. The Anastasia's were my first pair of toe-ups! I loved it!!

Next, my fabric haul from Jo-Ann's. I decided that I wanted to try to sew something w/ the sewing machine other than last Christmas's Dammit Dolls. I picked up these three fabrics:

The two on the left will be pj pants and the far right will be the apron, also on the right.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

My Wordle


Our Weekend, in a Quicky

Randy dropped Ant off with his mother on Thursday, so we had the rest of the weekend to ourselves. And boy, did we stay busy!

We didn't have any big 4th of July plans. We could have seen my brother perform at Tampa Improv, but didn't want to fight with the crazy crowds and drunken tomfoolery. Instead, we took Roxy to the dog beach at Davis Island. She had an absolute blast! Two hours of running, swimming, romping with the big dawgs and playing fetch. She's a natural in the water.

Later we decided to head out to Honeymoon Island, catch a good tide, and try for some late afternoon fishing. This proved to be a terrible idea. I guess we didn't take into account the holiday weekend and the fact that the beaches are insane this time of year! We left empty handed. And after being at the beach twice in one day, we were cooked.

Saturday~ I was excited because we were taking the kayaks out for the first time this year. I have no idea what we were waiting for! We went to Weedon Island and checked out their 4 mile canoe trail. It was absolutely beautiful! We brought our fishing poles and saw the fish, but just couldn't seem to catch any of them. Much of the trail is down tunnels formed where the cypress trees formed canopies. Many of the tunnels are so narrow, we had to take apart our paddles and use only half. When we had gotten to the 1 mile marker, the skies grew dark and there was quite a bit of booming thunder. I'll admit, I was a bit scared being in the water with the paddle and our fishing poles~ seems like a good lightning target to me. I felt safer when we were inside the mangrove tunnels, but there was still quite a bit of open water. Luckily, the clouds and thunder blew by without so much as a drop of rain. Then the sun came out full force. Being the smart Floridians we are, we had no sunscreen, add to that the burn we had from Friday, and you have two extra crispy beet red morons!








That brings us to today. We had asked my brother and his wife, my bf Tara and her husband to come to the dog beach. My brother had "too much to do", I think he was just blowing us off. But
Tara and Danny were game. Tara's got a Boston terrier, Booker. Booker is older than Roxy and she (or Ant) usually tires him out easily. It was also Booker's first beach trip! They brought my goddaughter Elena for her first beach trip too. Tara and Danny did not listen to me and weren't dressed for the beach! Tara had told me that Booker is afraid of the water and they have to force him in the pool. Well, all it took was one toss of the tennis ball and Booker was off! We couldn't believe it! Roxy came and went since she likes to see what the other dogs are up to. Booker was nonstop fetchmaster! He has a tiny little mouth and it took some work to grab the ball. At one point he was hitting it and hitting it but just couldn't grab it. What he did get was too many gulps of water. Danny and I watched him go down and then he didn't come up! His whole body was limp and his head was not coming up this time. Danny had to grab him and pull him out. Booker had a time out, he was a little dazed and confused, but ten minutes later he was back in the water looking for more tennis balls. What a trooper! Book really impressed us today! Then, typical Florida weather, the skies grew black, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed. We had to call it a day.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

My Inner Farmgirl....

Since it's summer vacation, I seem to have quite a bit of time on my hands. How to fill that time? Of course knitting and spinning... but then there's Plurk~ a microblog/social networking website. Through Plurk, Miss Violet started a group called The Plurkette Hencircle a chapter of the Farmgirl Sisterhood. People who know me personally may be reading this and thinking, "what the heck is she doing now?"

I have been in Tampa for a very long time, 26 years long. And while there are some small farms in the area, and even larger farms in other parts of the state, I have never been much of a farm girl. Not necessarily a city girl, either... more like a product of suburbia. I was a brownie as a child, but only for a year.My mom has always been uber-crafty and she's alway had a green thumb. Dad, well, he can cook like nobody's business and he's pretty handy with power tools. Me?? well...

I'm quasi-crafty like mom. I can't cook, but I can bake a helluva dessert. My thumb is some shade between green and brown. Since I've been living in various apartments for the past decade, there really hasn't been much room for me to grow anything other than your herbs and small flowers. BUT... we're getting a house which sits on over 1/3 acre, which is quite a chunk of land around here! My goal is to plant a vegetable & herb garden and make dishes from the plants I grow. I also have a sewing machine which only saw the light of day at Christmas time, and I'd like to put that to work. I'm always interested in making things for myself, but don't often put my interest into action. I'm hoping through the sisterhood, this will all change!

Monday, June 30, 2008

House Update

We met with the mortgage guy last Monday. Thursday, we found out he's no longer working for the company~ WTF?!?!?! Okay, so that just totally threw me! Just when I was starting to feel comfortable and more at ease with everything~ boom!

Prior to this, we had all of our inspections done. These all turned out great. We have no major issues at all and several of the people who came out told us that we got a helluva deal on our house considering the amount of land and the neighborhood it's in.

Thankfully, people at the mortgage company were on top of things. Turns out the girl in charge is actually an old friend from high school (i hadn't seen her since then). Today we met with the new guy assigned to our file. I immediately told him, "You're job today is to make sure I'm feeling comfortable about all of this by the time I leave." And sure enough, he did.

If everything goes according to plan, we'll be closing 3 weeks from today! **crosses fingers**

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

COMPLETE!



BYOB from knitty.com
Made w/ Sugar n' Cream
The seed stitch was rather monotonous and boring for me, but I love the finished product.

Happy Birthday, Roxy!!



Today our baby is 1 year old!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Grown Up Day

Today we have to run around and get things done. There's a bed we want to look at at Pier 1: http://ping.fm/vcrui

I also need to call a new woman about home owners insurance to see if she can beat my previous quote. Then this afternoon we're meeting w/ the mortgage broker to sign paperwork.

Friday, June 20, 2008

A Yarny Update

Here's what I've been working on....

Funky Carolina roving from The Sweet Sheep



On the bobbin now, Crown Mountain Farms sock hop roving in It Takes Two



BYOB from knitty.com



And one monkey sock using Yarn Pirate Booty Club~ Patina

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

We Got It!!

The bank signed our contract!! Finally!! Now it's time to schedule inspections!!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Come Join Me

over on plurk. it's a fabulous way to stay in touch with your friends in a twitter like fashion, only better!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Hint of Possibility

This could be it. We found yet another house. Happens to be on the same street as the very first contract we offered. It's an older house, but it's super cute, has a lot of potential and sits on 1/3 of an acre. We put in an offer Wednesday, got a counter yesterday. Signed the counter contract and received a 16pg blah-blah-blah addendum today. It took awhile to go through all that paper work, but we initialed, signed and faxed back. Our realtor says that the majority of the time the bank sends these addendums that they will sign it and it's a done deal. Unfortunately it was late on a Friday afternoon that we signed, so we won't hear anything until Monday now. ***Crosses Fingers*** our search may finally be over. The good thing~ the bank is contributing $14k in closing and escrow. And the house is $20k less that what we've been looking at. Mind you, there is a lot of elbow grease to put into it. But that's what will make it "ours", right??

on the knitting front... still working on Monkey sock #2, and also Bee Fields. BUT, i cast on for Knitty's BYOB last night. Its strange working with a larger yarn. It's been awhile

Sunday, June 8, 2008

well....

house hunting was only semi-productive.

A New Waste of Time

.... Guitar Hero! We bought it last night and haven't stopped playing. It is now after 1pm and we're still in our pj's from this morning, rocking out. I guess I know how we'll be spending our summer ;o)


more house shopping today, 3pm

Thursday, June 5, 2008

UGH!

Third time is NOT a charm. Bank rejected our offer~ TWICE! Their counter was $10k more than the asking price! What the flippin' hell is going on????

Sunday, June 1, 2008

No Details.....

don't want to jinx it, but hopefully third time really is a charm.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Pardon My French

House hunting fucking sucks!!!
The house that both our realtor and the seller's realtor were sure we had is now out the freakin' window!! This is the 4th house that has been swiped away! We got a call today that apparently there's a new law that prevents an FHA house from being listed for 90 days and then it has to be owned by a national bank. The house has to go off market for 90 days. They aren't even allowed to hold our offer for that time! In the meantime, they're going to repaint and recarpet.. so you know when the 90 days is up that the price will also go up. We can afford it now, but not if it goes any higher. Our realtor looked up the title and apparently there are 3 different names on it, which in itself is sketchy. We were soooo in love with this house! Even my parents drove out to see it and were excited for us. I simply can't believe this is happening! For it to be a "buyer's market" we sure aren't experiencing any luck.

Simply stated...
It FUCKING SUCKS!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Almost Home

We put an offer on a house we found on Friday. 4br/2ba/2car garage just shy of 1700 sqft. Randy loved it so much, he told the realtor we wanted to put an offer right there, without even talking to me first. He said he knew he was home as soon as we turned down the street, and even more so when we pulled into the driveway. Anthony also loves it. I asked him if he had his room picked out and he told me yeah... as he started walking to the master bedroom! HA think again!

We drove back to the realtor's office that afternoon and made up our contract for the offer. We had to wait because of the holiday weekend, but heard back before 10am this morning. They pretty much accepted our offer, but in order for them to pay for the down payment, they upped the price. In the end, with all they're contributing, it still brings it back down to the asking price. We revamped the contract and mailed it back this afternoon. The realtor said they'll probably come back with another offer on the mortgage, trying to beat Regions deal. We'd love for them to at least come at us with a lower interest rate. Whatever saves us money~ we don't care!

So, tomorrow we should get our final word! Keep your fingers crossed. We'd be closing at the end of June :o) I'm soooo excited!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

A lil' update

Still no house yet. We removed our offer on the one house. Our realtor is convinced that the seller won't be approved for his short sale because you have to prove that you have absolutely no assets whatsoever, but he owns 3 other houses! Plus, someone else had put in an offer higher than ours. We don't think anyone will end up with the house since it most likely won't be approved.

Then, we found another house that we loved! It was farther away, but it was almost 1900 sqft. in a great neighborhood! It was on a cul-de-sac surrounded by larger houses all that were very nicely landscaped. It needed some work (floors, paints, kitchen counters), but would totally be worth it in the end! We were all set to make an offer on Monday when we found out from our realtor that someone had put one in on Friday and was approved.

So, that makes 3 houses that were swiped from us. Who says the market sucks?? Apparently some people out there have money they want to spend!


On the knitting front, I finished my toe-up Anastasia socks with Yarn Pirate's Ice Princess. I just got my last shipment of yarn pirate booty. I was feeling guilty spending the money when we're trying to get a house. So, I'm taking a break. But, this last shipment, Patina, is GORGEOUS!!! I've already cast-on a pair of Monkey socks with it! And I'm still slaving away on the Bee Fields shawl. That one is a slow work in progress.

So, that's the update! Hope everyone has a fabulous Memorial weekend!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Ta-da!

Here it is~ Mystic Lights! Knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Flames. It's still blocking in the photo, but at least you get the big picture :o)
Now, I've resurrected the Bee Fields shawl that I started e-o-n-s ago!

Picking UP

I finally finished my Mystic Lights shawl. It's upstairs blocking as I type. Unfortunately, I think my yarn, while it does very much resemble fire, is too busy for the pattern. I kept on trucking anyway. I'll try to get photos up soon. Now that that's off the needles, I can finish my second Anastasia sock (my first pair of toe-ups!) and also the topsecretproject of which I cannot disclose until mid-May.

We put in an offer on a house that we LOVE! The sucky part is that it's a short sale, which happens prior to the house going into foreclosure. The seller has a lawyer to help expedite the process, which could normally take more than a month!! Apparently this guy got greedy and bought up a bunch of properties. He has two mortgages on this house and obviously got in over his head. So ultimately it's not up to him to take the offer, but those banks he owes. Our realtor put in the contract that we'd like to hear back by May 2, TODAY, but that would be unlikely. So, she also put in a 20 day period. She called the other day to let us know she hadn't heard anything yet that if she didn't get any calls she would call the other realtor today to find out what's going on. Keep Your Fingers Crossed!!!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Off the Radar

I haven't been blogging much lately.
That's because house hunting has made me obsessive.
In fact, I haven't found a geocache in WEEKS!
I was doing great on my knitting but even that has s-l-o-w-e-d to a turtle-like pace.

Ugh! I'm ready to find a house and call it quits! This is way stressful!

The good thing is that we found 4 houses that we're interested in while we were out with the realtor yesterday!! One of which Randy and I are discussing putting in an offer. **crosses fingers** He has to call our mortgage man and have him crunch numbers for us.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Freakin' A

House Hunting Sucks.

That's all I'm saying.

Oh, and it's SCARY!

That's it.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Let Me Clarify

My last post was a bit cryptic, but I have to say that it has nothing to do with pregnancy~ I'm still not pregnant. I wish, but no.

I will add though that I was putting off said change because I was trying to get pregnant. I have a funny feeling that when said change takes place this fall (which is a big hint!), I will end up pregnant within the next year.

On top of the big change, we've also decided to start house hunting since our lease is up in June. This will add more to the already interesting mix. Maybe once these things happen, the baby will happen too :o)

i've been secretive because i'm not sure who reads my blog. it's quite possible that students of mine, who happen to know that my geocaching and yarn business are both under FiredUpFairy, could stumble upon this.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Oh Yeah!

A change is comin', baby!
whoo hoo!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

It's been awhile.....

nothing really new to report.

my belly issues~ gone! of course, the day after the dr's visit, i felt perfectly fine. all my tests also came back normal~ as i figured they would.

you may be asking, "where's the knitting?" "has she lost her mojo?"
well, no. after frogging the Mystic Waters Shawl, i decided to save up my knitting for Mystic Light. i thought that maybe if i resisted the urge to pick up my needles, i could attack M.L. with a vengeance and perhaps actually keep up with the clues.

i did finish the swatch. it's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Flames. the left two pattern repeats are on size 5 needles, the two right side are size 6.




i've been all about trying to shed my somewhat negative, perhaps sarcastic and bitter ,attitude toward life. when Oprah first announced Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth, i quickly ran out to buy it. what an awakening indeed! reading it has really opened my eyes to the fact that my attitude is having detrimental effects on many aspects of my life. i won't get all deep and philosophical, but i strongly URGE you to pick up the book and give it a read. the webinars that Oprah and Tolle every monday night are phenomenal!

my brother and his wife were raving about the movie The Secret. they were so amped by it, i had to get it for myself. it's all about using the Law of Attraction to get what you want out of life. we haven't watched it yet, but i have been listening to a podcast called Law of Attraction Tips, and it's really quite interesting.

anywhoo.... i'm hungry for some mango ice cream. off i go!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

belly update

I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor. Unfortunately, she couldn't give me any answers because the pain wasn't in one specific place. So now I have to have a whole gamut of tests: gall bladder ultrasound, abdominal xrays, bloodwork. And since my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer a couple years ago, I have to do some gross stuff I won't discuss here.

Of course, now I feel fine! But everyone keeps telling me I still need to go for the tests. Argh!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Belly Achin'

no, not complaining, actual belly aching!

My stomach has been bothering me for about a week now. I can't quite nail down the pain. It's a dull ache in my upper and lower abdomen and seems to move around. It hurts more when I walk or move. I feel like I need to poo or pass gas, but it's neither and I'm not constipated. I went on WebMD, I know I shoudn't,but I did, and now I'm wondering if it's appendicitis.

I'm guessing I should call the doctor tomorrow. I was planning on finding a new doctor, but perhaps I should wait until I get this checked out. Just in case.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

It's Finished!!

Randy's Santa Fe Hoodie from Knit 2 Together.
It needs to stretch out a bit, but it works.
Nevermind his UniBomber appearance in the photo. He's a dork!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Infertility Update

The woman from the dr's office finally called me back yesterday. She said she called Humana twice to get information, because according to her, you could get one answer from one person and a completely different answer from someone else. Unfortunately, the information she received was the same as what I was told on Friday~ NO infertility coverage.

So today's sonogram cost me $150. If it comes to spending about that much each month, I can probably handle it. It just sucked this month because of the new tires on the jeep.

What did the sonogram have to say? Well, according to the dr. my ovaries are very close together as opposed to being on opposite sides. He says in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't of importance. Okay, if you say so. He says I have two good size eggs one on the left and one on the right. Possibly a third smaller egg. He explained that ideally he'd like to see 3-5 good size eggs. But then we ran into a problem. Something was showing up on the sonogram that he couldn't make out.

He couldn't tell if it was a cyst at the end of my tube or something wrong with the tube. If you read my previous post, you probably saw that according to the pathology from the surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, a piece of my fallopian tube as also removed. This was news to me and didn't quite make sense since an HSG showed both my tubes open and functioning.

The dr. wrote a prescription for blood work that I have to have done next week. This will determine if indeed I ovulated. Then I have to wait and see what happens. If I get a period, I have to call and he may prescribe 150mg of Clomid (up from the current 100). If I don't get a period, I need to come in for a prego test.

We're all keeping our fingers crossed. We'll see what happens. Dr did say we need to get busy the rest of this week and this weekend. Perfect timing for Valentine's day :o)

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Fire Update

About an hour and a half ago Randy walked me outside to show me the ominous orange glow above a portion of the woods. You could also see very small fires at the bottoms of the trees right in front of the lake. Our house smells like smoke, which I'm sure will give me a headache by the time I get up tomorrow. And I'll probably go into work reeking of smoke. I just went out to my car and it's incredibly smoky and stinky out. I'm pretty sure I heard the distinct rumble of a helicopter in the distance. I wanted to go toward the lake for a better view, but it's way too dark out and who knows what critters are out in the woods this late.

Insurance Sucks!

When I first started going to this new dr.'s office for my infertility woes, the office manager said she would call Humana to see what would be covered, before I made an appointment with the specialist. Surprisingly, I was told that everything. I should have known it couldn't be that easy. Friday, after the $530 tire spree, I come home to find a bill from Humana for $116 for my last dr's visit. I called to find out they don't cover ANY infertility visits/treatments. I was advised to write a repeal since I was misinformed. I called the dr's office but couldn't get much info (especially at 4:30 on a Friday). The woman told me she'd get in touch with some other woman and call me back on Monday. I have an appointment on Wednesday for a sonogram to see if I have any follicles. It'd be nice to know that I'm covered. But, I guess this is a reality I'm going to have to deal with. Most insurance don't cover infertility. It's a matter of, "How much do you want this?" Am I willing to spend money to go in and out of the dr's office? I guess I'll have to see how involve this ends up being.

I hate insurance! I have the worst luck ever!

On the knittin front.....

I finished the body of Randy's Santa Fe hoodie. It's all pieced together and I only have the hood left to complete, well, and ends to weave.

Oh, but there was tragedy today! Late last night I attempted to work on my Mystic Waters. Don't know what happened, but I was off with the first row of Chart D. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, but still ended up with the correct amount of stitches. I left it over night and started again today. This time row two was also off. I tried to frog it back a few rows, but the yarn was getting stuck on my needles and wouldn't move very easily. I fought with it for a couple hours and got so frustrated I just frogged the hole damn thing. Oh yes, there were tears! Lots of tears! I told myself I'd just work on Randy's sweater and pick that back up after Mystic Lights. Maybe I need a fresh start anyway.

Holy Smokes!

I love living on a nature preserve~ it's serene, there's lots of wildlife, beautiful trees and lakes. However, tonight I realize it has one major drawback.

We were driving home from dinner when a fire truck drove around us. We watched it drive down the street toward our complex and we were confused because there's a fire station literally right next to us. The only reason for another truck to come is if it's something major. Then we became extra concerned as we realized that truck, as well as another, were pulling into our complex! There was smoke blowing around and it smelled pretty bad.

The trucks all drove to the left, we live to the right. However, the closer we got to our house, the darker the smoke seemed. We pulled in and decided to walk to the lake across the street. This is what we saw~



As we stood watching, the smoke got heavier. The fire is about 2-300 yards away from our house. The scary thing is that there's no direct path for the trucks to take back there. There are foot trails, but that's about it. We've seen some trucks with plows coming down our street, but haven't seen any action. Those woods are dense, and with the exception of the trees close to the lake, very dry! We'll be keeping our eyes out to see what happens. Randy's actually fishing now, so I'm hoping he'll be nosy while he's out there.

Friday, February 8, 2008

UGH!!!!

I had just pulled into a parking spot to start the hunt for the first cache of the day when Randy called to see if I had taken my car for an oil change. I had forgotten that I said I'd do that with my free day off~ DAMN! So, feeling guilty, I left the cache spot, with no search, and left for the auto shop. I walked in asking for an oil change and rotate/balance my tires. $40. Of course, things can't be that easy! The guy comes out telling me I need to replace my tires, and my wipers. The price of tires started at $465 and went up from there! Being cheap, I said I'd take those tires and said don't even bother with the wipers. I can get those at Walmart. Then he said, "oh, let me check your brakes". I said "oh, no you don't! I'm not getting any brake work done. Not today!" I understand it's not his fault. But when you walk in thinking you'd be in and out and spend $40 and find it's really going to be an all day affair and costing 10x that~ it makes you ANGRY!

so I walked to my parents' house where I am no waiting for the car to finish.

oh yes, nothing like spending bookoo bucks!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Hoodie Update

I just finished the pocket of Randy's Santa Fe hoodie from Knit 2 Together. Now I have to block and finish it so I can start on the actual hood. It might actually be possible for me to finish this by V-day!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Been Awhile

since I've posted. so here we go.

what's new? a whole lot... of N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

work has really been getting to me lately and i feel the need for change coming on. i can't exactly get into details for the various reasons of suckiness (wouldn't want a student to stumble upon my blog) or a co-worker (no, tara, not you~ you know the volumes of suckiness first hand!). so, i'll just leave it at that.

medically~ i'm still dealing with my w/ crap. when i last saw the doctor, and he FINALLY had my previous medical records, he told me that according to the pathology report, while they were working on my ovarian cyst, they removed a piece of my fallopian tube!. um, WHAT?!? this is news to me! i asked if it was intentional or accidental. he couldn't figure it out by the report. YIKES! however, a month prior, i had an HSG done, which showed that the dye moved freely through both tubes, so they're open and normal. Sheesh! can't i catch a break? so now, i'm on double my previous dose of clomid (now 100mg) which is making me CRABBY! i go back next week for a sonogram to see if i have any follicles.

on the knitting front... well, more of nothing. i did finish and block Secret of the Stole. Mystic Waters is still on the needles, still on clue 2~ S.A.D.
Randy's sweater is moving along. i'm on the raglan shaping of the second sleeve, which means i only have the pocket and hoodie left, and then the joy of sewing it together. Yippie!

i'm sensing quite a bit of sarcasm on my side. probably the extra hormones from my meds. oh-di-well

we have been getting a lot of geocaches done. that's been fun. this weekend we hiked probably close to 5 miles (i forgot to reset the trip computer). last week we hiked a total of 8, yup 8!, miles!!! with ant in tow! he was quite the trooper. and to top it off, it rained on us and there were lost areas under soggy muddy flooding. FUN! and this time, i'm not being sarcastic!

well, that about sums it up folks.
g'night :o)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

What's With The Bugs?!?!?

So, first it was the fat, hairy spider that landed on my face on our first letterboxing trek.

Then it was the popping tick that I pulled off Roxy~ Eeew!

Today, I'm pulling out a left over bagged ball of Zephyr from my knitting bag and find something slimey land into my hand. I'm looking at it closely, thinking it kinda looks like a large, sliced kalamata olive and what the hell would it be doing in my knitting?!? It still skeeves me out since I really have no idea. I'm just about to drop it into Randy's palm while exclaiming "Ew, its slimey!" when Randy pulls away from me. I fling it into the kitchen sink where he informs me its a SLUG!! what the freak?!?! what in the world is a slug hanging around my knitting bag for?!?!? Oh my god, it was so gross! I'm really not afraid of bugs, but it's entirely different when you come in contact at the most unlikeliest of places!

Of course, Randy took the opportunity to share with Ant what happens when you dump salt on a slug. Oh, family times!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

CFLLB Winter Gathering '08

We drove out to Moss Park in Orlando yesterday for the gathering. We had an absolute blast! It was so great hanging out with other people and families that also letterbox. We learned a lot of the ropes that are involved with these gatherings and will be better prepared next time.

I got several personal travelers,but didn't realize I should have printed out the clues and brought them with me. People that carry PT's don't exactly tell you what you're supposed to do~ you just need to figure it out. Sometimes it's as easy as asking a question. Other times you have to perform a feat or answer a riddle. I had answers to many clues that I had previously researched, but could have done much better. oh well, now we know for next time.

There were also Hide n' Seek boxes which were hidden right under our noses. Like literally hidden amongst the food! Some were passed to me without my even knowing it! Absolutely crazy! You just never know where you'll find a box!

The people there were very friendly and outgoing. We felt like a welcomed part of the group. Even Anthony had a great time since there were tons of kids there. There were a few other newbies there as well as people who have been letterboxing for many, many years! We'll definitely be going to the gathering in April as well.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Back to the Grind!

After being off for two weeks, sadly I have to return to work tomorrow! I'm not too happy about it! I got used to having all day to trek around town searching for letterboxes and caches. Now what?!? ARgh! I'm sure I'll have a rough night trying to sleep~ it always happens when I have to return to work from a break. I worry about missing the alarm clock or it simply not going off at all.

Oh well, what can you do?!?

Thursday, January 3, 2008

CFLB

stands for Central Florida Letter Boxers!
We've joined the group and are going to attend their Winter Gathering which is at Moss Park in Orlando next Saturday. We can't wait! Tons of personal travelers, boxes, and cooties to catch! Should be lots of fun~ the boys are excited!

My New Crack!

Geocaching is quickly becoming a second addiction with letterboxing. What's nice is that there are a bagillion more caches than there are letterboxes. Although, I have to admit it's much trickier than letterboxing, and you don't get any cool stamps to log. The first day we went out was pretty difficult. Many caches are micros. Could be anything from small metal bison tubes to 35mm film canister. Of course all the ones that are super close to our house are of the micro type. We found the first one right away which gave us a false sense of "WeCanDoThis!" We couldn't find any of the rest after that! We had to go home and download new coordinates for slightly larger caches located in Lake Park. Of the 4 sets of coords, we found 3. Not bad. This was Monday.

Yesterday, Ant and I went out. He was quite a trooper considering the cold weather. We hiked down the Upper Tampa Bay Trail to our first locale which was a bust. Moved to the second one which we must have been on top of but still couldn't find. Backtracked for a 3rd which was really off the trail. We got to a point in the woods where we'd have to cross a wooden plank over the creek. Ant didn't like this too much, so we decided to nix it. We went box to spot #1 where a little more thinking put us in the tree we started but in the right place and VOILA! we got one. We found one more on the trail that day. Then we headed behind a local gas station. We were trying to be stealth and inconspicuous as a pizza delivery boy was getting in his car. He has obviously seen other cachers because he told us we were warm and needed to look down! Great hint! We found another. We went to 4 more locations~ only finding 2 caches. But we did pick up another geo-coing along the way.

Surprisingly, Ant asked me if it was too cold to go geocaching today! I asked if he really wanted to and he said yeah! So, off we went. We found 3 (all of which were really easy!) but we had been out searching for 5 others as well :o( At one spot, I think we were on the wrong side of the fence (i'm gonna try again tomorrow). Another one was in the woods behind a strip plaza. It was laden with trash and I had busted my ass back there at one point. I felt nervous having Ant back there so we left. One was at a Walgreens and I'm sure we were in the right spot, but couldn't find it. Didn't help that someone parked and sat in their car right next to us. We headed for a cache next to Sonny's, where unfortunately, 2 police cars were parked nearby~ not getting in trouble with the law while hanging out with my 7yo!

When Randy got home, we headed out and found 5 more (not the 5 we were looking for earlier). 8 for the day! not bad!

Tomorrow I'm going out to hit the trail again. There are 9 at various points on the trail. I figure it'll be a good way to get some fresh air and exercise. If I get an early enough start, I can also try some of the places we missed in the past couple days. Some of which we were so close to it pisses me off!

Addicting! Very addicting!