The Money Pit

I've been a bit preoccupied lately. We sold our house, from now on only to be known as The Money Pit.

Our buyers are paying more than $100 grand less than we paid for it. $104 grand, to be precise. Hence, TMP. Oh well, it's only worth what someone will pay for it and they were our first offer in over 6 months on the market.

Now we are in the unenviable position of coming up with a big wad of cash to settle our mortgage AND pay closing costs. Ouch. Then we have to save up (again!) for a deposit on our next house.

Thank goodness for Bezzie and her Random Meanderings. Reading her blog has been really good preparation for the cheapassedness which has now become part of daily life at Chez Disco.

Out are our regular dinners and lunches out. In are brown bag lunches and coupon cutting.

Out is our cable, internet and home phone. In is using our iphones to their fullest extent, mooching the in-laws wi-fi and watching DVDs (which we already own, or can borrow from the library).

Out is taking 'stuff' to Goodwill. In is some major activity on Craigslist.

Out is our two car family. In is our one car family.

Out is accepting the first quote for the Radon remediation work we must have done before our closing. In is shopping around and getting a cheaper quote by $250.

And on it goes.......

We close on May 8th. Then we'll spend a month living with my parents-in-law (they live only a 10 minute drive from us), while Teddy finishes up at school. Then we're all (including the in-laws) moving 'up north'.

Charlotte here we come.

That's about all I can stomach writing about the situation for now. I'm sure there'll be a little more economy-ranting to come at a future date.....

But for now, I'll leave you with a couple cute pics of my Teddy. He had surgery on Monday (goodbye $500 deductible!) to remove 4 large moles from his scalp.

Before the op, flying high with his bear, Bob.

Afterwards. My little sick siekh.

It's quite amazing how quickly children recover from things like this. We dropped $8 on a prescription of tylenol and codeine for him, in case he was in pain afterwards. Only 1 teaspoon of that has been taken and I'm left wondering what to do with the rest!!!

;0)

OK Amigos, that's all for now. I'm off to pack up some more boxes. Happy Wednesday :0)

A Coat for a Boat

I was surfing the web tonight and came across this story on the bbc news website.

As well as being a totally cool and fun art project, the Customs House where it's all being put together is just round the corner from where I grew up.

Not 'round the corner' as in the same region. Not even 'round the corner' as in the same town. I mean quite literally round the corner, as in 30 seconds walk round the corner. Too funny!!!

I emailed to ask if I can knit something for the project. Watch this space.........

Rockin' Chevron Scarf

Last in my big batch of FOs. The Chevron Scarf, made with Socks That Rock mediumweight in Rainforest Jasper, and a mill end which I think is Peaceblossom. Everyone should have one of these scarves. So pretty and the pattern is so simple.

I love the combination of pink and green, and pink and brown.

Californian Puddles

I love cables. And I love scarves. When Irishgirlie made this pattern, I was head-over-heels. The cables aren't too close together, so the fabric is fairly flat, and they look like little rivers, or waves on a (calm) beach. This scarf is made with Aslan Trends Artesanal. It's a tweedy, soft yarn, containing cotton and alpaca. It was quite a joy to work with.

This scarf is for display in Gabriella's yarn shop.

My plan is to knit up the Woobu (Obsidian) I bought at Stitches into this pattern, for Tommy, for next fall. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a good hat pattern to match.

Crochet, baby!

My first real crochet project.

Back in January, I took a class at Gabriella's (where I'm no longer working, btw) with knit and crochet designer Kristin Omdahl. As well as signing her new book, Wrapped in Crochet, she taught us how to crochet the Blaze scarf, featured in said book.

More crappy pictures from the video camera, sorry. I love my new glass head from Pier One. A bargain at only $15. And green too - made from recycled glass.

Lovely curly corkscrews.

And a closeup of the very simple stitch pattern.

I used Trendsetter yarns "Tonalita" - there's some acrylic content, but it was so soft to work with, and the colours are beautiful too. I really enjoyed it and am using it for another project I'm now working on.

Tomorrow, another FO - I know, I can't believe it either!!!!!

Happy Monday :0)

Cervical Cancer

Really sad news today from the UK.

Jade Goody was a contestant on the Big Brother show in the UK. Tommy and I watched that season when we were first together. It was his first experience of the show. The UK show is completely different from the US version. It's waaaaaaaay more fun and the whole country (almost) watches and loves it. Trainwreck TV at it's best :0) And Jade was the best of the best reality show 'stars'.

Jade passed today (Mothers Day in the UK) at age 27 of cervical cancer. She leaves behind two sons aged 4 and 5.

I'm really grateful to Bezzie for her couple of years of hosting her KAYE program. And tomorrow I'll be booking an appointment for myself again.

btw: is anyone else missing Bezzie's blog?

Yabadabadooooooooooooo.....

I'm so excited to have these socks completed. They were my first toe up and also first short row heel (don't look too closely). Part of the Leyburn KnitALong in the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry, I chose Fred Flintstone as my colourway. It's not a colourway I'd usually choose - way bright. But I'm so glad I branched out.

Orange, red and yellow.

I love blue, although it doesn't appear too often in my life (wardrobe or home). I love green - that features heavily in my home decor (sofas, accents) and a little more in my wardrobe. Although, if you looked at my wardrobe, you'd insist my favourite colour is black - maybe it should be, it's very slimming ;0)

When my boys ask me what my favourite colours are, I always say blue and orange. Orange is just so lively and cheerful, I love it.

Having said all that, I've chosen Stormy Weather as my colour for the next KAL - Shur'tagal.

Anyway, back to the Leyburns. They fit like a dream. So snug. The only change I made to the pattern was to change down a needle size for the leg. They sure do look baggy, but they fit so nicely. I wore them the very next day after finishing them.

Happy weekend :0)