I need a crystal ball.

We looked at a house tonight that had some real potential. It needed a lot of work, but most of the work was cosmetic, and the cost was significantly lower than the houses we had previously seen, so were we to purchase the home we might actually be able to afford some significant updates. The problem? The street was very run down. In fact, the house directly across the street was a dump. There was trash on the porch, the lawn - everywhere. It was bad. The houses were also very close together - and the street narrow. There were two very nice homes on the street (one brand new and super expensive/fancy), a couple of trailers and run down houses, and the house that we looked at - which looked rather nice from the outside. All the houses were pretty close together, but the house we looked at did have a medium-sized yard in the back (which I think looked smaller than it actually was because it was almost all garden).

To the best of my knowledge the area is safe. The school district is decent. The town has its pros and cons. Overall it's a town that used to be very dumpy but is now starting to improve. Will it continue to improve? I don't know.

Would you consider this house, based only one what I have said above?

Part of me thinks it's a bad idea. Another part of me thinks I should be humble and, aside from the consideration of re-sale value in such a neighborhood (a dead end street, by the way), just ignore the surrounding houses and go for it.

Ultimately, I am a terrible decision maker and just don't know about this place.

Help!

WIP

I still have a long way to go. I wanted something simple but would have preferred to use some different/more types/patterns of fabric. It looks very cold and checker-board like to me now, so I hope, with what I have in mind for the border and for some quilting details, that I can fix that. That's what happens when I don't plan ahead and just use what I have on hand. I'm still new at this sewing stuff, so I don't have much at home. I have also never tried the actual quilting part of making a quilt, so while I had some better ideas for the use of these colors, they involved some intricate work that I was not prepared to attempt. I'll post a completed photo when the time comes.

Have a great night.

Nope.

Still no house. The inspection did not go well, but we're going to keep looking for another month or two, and if we still don't find anything we'll just wait and try again next spring/summer. Oh well.

Today I'm taking my mind off the house hunting a bit since I worked on Saturday and have today off. I feel like making a quilt, but I don't want to be stuck inside all day, so we'll see. I would love to make some doll quilts for my nieces and find this one particularly inspiring. I will have to sift through my stash and see what I have. Certainly I don't have that many different fabrics, but I might be able to work out a compromise.

Maybe I'll have a photo to post by nightfall. Have a lovely day!

News

I have been running out of words lately and taking the lazy route by just posting photos, which really is a bit of a shame because there has been so much to tell. I guess I'm just beat with all that's going on. After all, we put an offer on a house yesterday, and we found out today that we got it! Oddly enough I'm still as nervous as I was when I was waiting to hear. I hope we made the right choice! Hopefully I will have much more to say on Sunday, when I have a little time to reflect. Until then, wish us luck for our upcoming home inspection and big move, should it go well!

Pointless fun

I don't often find time for all those little fun quizzes anymore; you know, the really long ones with about fifty questions each, that take you about an hour to get through (especially if you're me and you want to make sure all your answers are at least mildly entertaining). I do, however, log into myspace every day or two, and I am always amazed at how many my friends fill out. Occasionally I read through them.

Today I read two amusing bulletins. The first asked a series of questions, and depending on how many of your answers were "yes," you could find out just what your percentage of redneck was. (I was 40% and Brian 38%. I blame the fact that I was a girl scout, lived on a lake, and worked on my cousin's farm. It's okay though. According to this highly technical quiz, you can only officially call yourself a redneck if your score is over 50%. ) My questions are, though, what is frog gigging? Who asks if you've ever been sprayed with deer pee? And do I even want to know?

The second bulletin I liked was, of course, about Red Sox fans and what they will know. Those I found most amusing were that the green monstah seats are HIGHLY valuable and if you have a seat there you are wicked lucky, and that Red Sox fans know that every ball hit ovah the green monstah lands on Lansdowne Street. Yeah, I just think the Boston accent is funny. Plus everything was "wicked" when I was a kid. I didn't realize how much I said it until I met a girl from Louisiana or somewhere. I resolved then to stop saying it unless I was describing a witch.

Ah, the little things.

Spring is here, and that means...

This will be my third time participating in the annual March of Dimes walk, WalkAmerica. Please visit my personal page if you would like to contribute. It's a good cause and one amongst many that has captured my heart, but I mean no pressure. If you are unable or have another cause to which you contribute, I completely understand. (I'm not much of a salesperson, am I?) If you would like to learn more, again, please visit my site. Every little bit helps.

Happy Tuesday.

Happy Easter!

Preparing for Easter

...and just laying a round a bit...
(watching a movie)

Why upside down? Beats me.

A Few Thoughts

We haven't looked at houses in a couple of weeks, though we're still working on it.

I stopped knitting until I could buy some size zero double points. I figured since I had already pulled out the entire first endpaper mitt I might as well wait to start again until I had the right size needles. (I had used size one dpn's for the cuff before.)

I've been reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, and while I have always tended to be very critical of others' writing, I like it very much so far. I'll give another update once I've finished. (I liked many parts of The Time Traveler's Wife too, but the ending ruined it for me.)

I have been thinking a lot about Easter. I haven't finished those eggs I started, but in time I will. -I am really looking forward to church on Sunday.

I have also been thinking about work. I have strange feelings about my work. Career is important to me. It doesn't hold a candle to family, but it's still very important. At times I want nothing but to work my way toward a higher and better position - in part for the role, duty, and responsibility - and in part to support my family better than I do now, but at times I feel as though my job is just that. A job. Of course, there's a weird thing with me because I didn't finish my bachelor's degree, though I came so very close. Some times I am still certain I will complete it. Some times I think it just doesn't matter enough to me. I mean it does, but it doesn't too. I know who I am and what I've done and who I have become... and it doesn't change me. It does hold me back occasionally, from that promotion I want on on occasion, for that office job in a cold, square building full of gray walls and florescent lights. (I say that, but honestly I love the idea of creating a workplace full of energy and teamwork... I do like to make the best of my situation.) My sister Becky once told me that she could never see me working at a desk all day, and I was in college at the time, thinking that I was changing and that, in my time until then, when I had spent all my efforts on the arts - visual arts, dancing, drama, music, I had so let myself settle into that world that I hadn't accommodated myself in such a way to give my more practical mind its full satisfaction. Maybe I was joking myself all that time. Maybe I really was fit for a much more serious role. Ah well. Truth be told I know now I'm an artist at heart, no matter how terrible I may be. It's just what I like. What I do. An important part of who I am, even though it's only a part. Will I let myself settle into the same position where I am now, long term? I just don't know. I don't think so, but at the same time, I just don't know.

Time will tell.

I'm beat.

The birdhouses have been painted and one of them gifted.

The pirate balloons were hung and the cake both decorated and eaten.

I was about five or six rows further than shown into my first endpaper mitt, casting off, when I accidentally pulled one of the needles out and got so frustrated trying to fix it that I pulled it out entirely.

I think it's time for bed.