The world is your oyster, Portia! Make a wish!!
Enough with the birthday wishes, we want cake!!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Happy Birthday, Portia!
On this beautiful autumn day, our Portia turned nine years old--last year of the single digits, last birthday before middle school, one foot in childhood and the other striving toward adulthood.
The world is your oyster, Portia! Make a wish!!
Enough with the birthday wishes, we want cake!!
The world is your oyster, Portia! Make a wish!!
Enough with the birthday wishes, we want cake!!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Gorgeous autumn
I love autumn. And I feel so fortunate to live in a place that rewards us with brilliant colors in the fall.
In the part of Texas I grew up in, autumn was the time that leaves just went brown and fell off the trees. It didn't change the color of the landscape much, because it was already pretty brown from the scorching summers.
In school, however, we celebrated fall as if we were in the heart of New England. We drew pictures with bright red, orange, and gold leaves, and we made our own fall leaves out of colored construction paper--bright reds, oranges, and yellows. As an adult, I was known to make wreaths out of craft-store "silk" autumn leaves, just to have a hint of that eastern color.
Now that I've moved to a place where the leaves actually do change colors, it amazes me to think how eastern-centric we were in Texas. We not only mimicked the east with our fall colors, we did the same thing in winter--making snow scenes out of paper and glitter and glue. We only had snow once every few years--and never enough to warrant snow boots--and yet, all the pictures we learned to draw in wintertime had to have snow in it. Why didn't we celebrate the seasons the way they actually were?
But anyway, now I'm in the northeast and loving the colors. The trees started changing here quite early--at the very beginning of September--but we're still just approaching the peak of color. In the Boston area, the best color was always found the week of Columbus Day, but I'd always heard that this part of upstate New York was a little earlier than Boston. But here it is, just a few days from Columbus Day, and we still have a long way to go.
That's fine with me. I love the autumn and wish it could last a little longer. There are a lot of cold and grey days to follow, so I want to keep the memory of these brilliant colors as long as I can....
In the part of Texas I grew up in, autumn was the time that leaves just went brown and fell off the trees. It didn't change the color of the landscape much, because it was already pretty brown from the scorching summers.
In school, however, we celebrated fall as if we were in the heart of New England. We drew pictures with bright red, orange, and gold leaves, and we made our own fall leaves out of colored construction paper--bright reds, oranges, and yellows. As an adult, I was known to make wreaths out of craft-store "silk" autumn leaves, just to have a hint of that eastern color.
Now that I've moved to a place where the leaves actually do change colors, it amazes me to think how eastern-centric we were in Texas. We not only mimicked the east with our fall colors, we did the same thing in winter--making snow scenes out of paper and glitter and glue. We only had snow once every few years--and never enough to warrant snow boots--and yet, all the pictures we learned to draw in wintertime had to have snow in it. Why didn't we celebrate the seasons the way they actually were?
But anyway, now I'm in the northeast and loving the colors. The trees started changing here quite early--at the very beginning of September--but we're still just approaching the peak of color. In the Boston area, the best color was always found the week of Columbus Day, but I'd always heard that this part of upstate New York was a little earlier than Boston. But here it is, just a few days from Columbus Day, and we still have a long way to go.
That's fine with me. I love the autumn and wish it could last a little longer. There are a lot of cold and grey days to follow, so I want to keep the memory of these brilliant colors as long as I can....
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Little boys, getting bigger
My two little munchkins just amaze me with their resilience. In the last month, they have experienced tremendous change. They've moved away from the only home they've ever known, left all their friends, endured weeks of living with all their own toys boxed up in storage, and living in temporary digs until our new house is ready.
I expected a trying time of adjustment--tears, longing, defiance, sleeplessness, worry. And yet... they surprise me! They've had their moments, but both boys are doing so well with all the changes going on in their lives. Of course, they miss all the people they love in the Boston area, but they are embracing this new life with both hands.
Yesterday was the boys' first day at school: Aidan in kindergarten and Douglas in preschool. This picture pretty much sums up their attitudes toward it--Aidan was a little hesitant, while Douglas was unmistakably gungho.
And while yesterday was officially the first day of kindergarten for Aidan, today was his first full day--without Mom. I was a little nervous for him, since he was a little flustered yesterday by all the crowds and activity. But today, he was so eager to get to school that I couldn't keep up with him on the walk to school. Then today on my lunch hour, I drove past the kindergarten playground on my way to the grocery store, I saw him running with a big group of kids. He's making friends already!
But the work continues. We're finally in our new house, with boxes and boxes to unpack. Moving is hard work....
I expected a trying time of adjustment--tears, longing, defiance, sleeplessness, worry. And yet... they surprise me! They've had their moments, but both boys are doing so well with all the changes going on in their lives. Of course, they miss all the people they love in the Boston area, but they are embracing this new life with both hands.
Yesterday was the boys' first day at school: Aidan in kindergarten and Douglas in preschool. This picture pretty much sums up their attitudes toward it--Aidan was a little hesitant, while Douglas was unmistakably gungho.
And while yesterday was officially the first day of kindergarten for Aidan, today was his first full day--without Mom. I was a little nervous for him, since he was a little flustered yesterday by all the crowds and activity. But today, he was so eager to get to school that I couldn't keep up with him on the walk to school. Then today on my lunch hour, I drove past the kindergarten playground on my way to the grocery store, I saw him running with a big group of kids. He's making friends already!
But the work continues. We're finally in our new house, with boxes and boxes to unpack. Moving is hard work....
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Welcome to the Finger Lakes!
Whew! It's been a long slog, but we finally made it here. Multiple truckloads of household items and workshop items, getting cars from one place to another, getting kids and cats from one place to another, but we've made it!
We're in temporary digs for the next week or so--our house closing was delayed awhile for a number of reasons, but we're lucky enough to have a comfortable place to stay while we're waiting to get into the new place. We're starting to settle in--a few days ago, we took Aidan to visit his new school, and he got to meet the principal and see all the classrooms before the Big Day. Plus, he and Douglas have played at both playgrounds at the elementary school (they have one just for kindergarten and another for the older kids), so they both know there is FUN to be had at school.
And, I've already visited what will be my LYS, which is Finger Lakes Fibers. The women there are so friendly and helpful--just attentive enough to make sure you have the help you need, while allowing you space to browse and soak up the woolliness of it all. (And yes, even though they had a big sale on summer yarns in cotton and linen and bamboo and all sorts, I still was drawn to the wools, even though it was about 95 degrees on the day I visited...)
I needed a project to help me keep my sanity, but my yarn stash and needles and patterns are all in boxes...somewhere...! So, I bought everything I needed to make a lace scarf. First, the pattern: Fiber Trends double fuschia scarf (the pink one on the left).
The yarn: Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in a pale grey. It's my first lace project, and after one false start (complete with gnashing of teeth and a little sulking), I managed to learn the pattern and make quite good progress. Photos to come when I find my camera....
We're in temporary digs for the next week or so--our house closing was delayed awhile for a number of reasons, but we're lucky enough to have a comfortable place to stay while we're waiting to get into the new place. We're starting to settle in--a few days ago, we took Aidan to visit his new school, and he got to meet the principal and see all the classrooms before the Big Day. Plus, he and Douglas have played at both playgrounds at the elementary school (they have one just for kindergarten and another for the older kids), so they both know there is FUN to be had at school.
And, I've already visited what will be my LYS, which is Finger Lakes Fibers. The women there are so friendly and helpful--just attentive enough to make sure you have the help you need, while allowing you space to browse and soak up the woolliness of it all. (And yes, even though they had a big sale on summer yarns in cotton and linen and bamboo and all sorts, I still was drawn to the wools, even though it was about 95 degrees on the day I visited...)
I needed a project to help me keep my sanity, but my yarn stash and needles and patterns are all in boxes...somewhere...! So, I bought everything I needed to make a lace scarf. First, the pattern: Fiber Trends double fuschia scarf (the pink one on the left).
The yarn: Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in a pale grey. It's my first lace project, and after one false start (complete with gnashing of teeth and a little sulking), I managed to learn the pattern and make quite good progress. Photos to come when I find my camera....
Friday, August 17, 2007
The knitting world
As I sit here on my lawn chair, listening to the crickets and some unidentified summer-time noises outside, I have a rare moment to ponder things that usually escape my notice in the whirlwind of family life.
I think about the brood of Muscovy ducklings we saw on our walk yesterday. There is a pair of Muscovy ducks that live along the shores of our pond, so I took the boys through our "secret passageway" to the spot where the ducks usually hang out. They weren't along the shore or in the grasses nearby. Instead, they were across the street, with their six ducklings, hanging out underneath a parked car in our neighbors' driveway. What a funny sight--six fuzzy yellow quackers huddled together underneath the back bumper of the car, while their pudgy mom and dad (with their distinctive red masks) waddled around keeping guard.
I've also been thinking about the knitting world, though I'm miles away from it at the moment. My knitting stuff is in boxes one state over, and I won't be getting back to it for some time, I'm sure. But I keep up with the blogs I read from around the world, and I'm pleased to see that people around the world are beginning to read mine. Hello, Australia! Hello, Peru and Brazil! Hello, UK and Ireland and Japan and Thailand and Canada! Hi there, Israel and Turkey and Finland and Belgium and Austria! What a fantastic thing that through blogs, I can be in touch with people all over the world, through my own words and through theirs. Wow.
This fascination all comes back to being an exchange student at heart, I suppose. Way back when, in the year between high school and college--back when Reagan was president and massive shoulder pads were in fashion and the Cold War was still going strong, I spent a year as an exchange student in Austria. That was the single most transformative experience of my young adulthood. It was so much more than learning to speak German and living with another family for a year. It completely changed my outlook on the world and on my own life. I'm still discovering things about myself that have their origins in that year. I could write dozens of blog entries about the gifts of that year, but for now, I'll just focus on how that year made me realize how much I am a part of the world community.
That may seem like a no-brainer to those who grew up in more cosmopolitan surroundings, but for me, that was a tremendous revelation. My world, growing up in suburban north Texas, was remarkably insular. Most people I knew didn't look too far afield. Few kept up with world events. Most had never traveled out of the country. No one in my family had gone overseas specifically to learn about another country--as far as I knew, their only international experiences had been in wartime (and 1917 wasn't the best time to visit France, nor was the early 1940s the best time to visit the islands of the south Pacific). People like us weren't cosmopolitan and worldly.
But I had a fabulous French teacher in high school who recognized my budding interest in language and culture, and she encouraged me to consider becoming an exchange student. Looking back, I'm shocked I actually went through with the idea, because I was such a shy, quiet kid. But the experience was the making of me.
By the time my year in Austria was over, I realized that the only thing you need to be "one of those people who travel" is simply money, a passport, and an open mind. You don't have to be born into a certain class or to a certain family. And what a vast level of enlightenment to see myself in a world context! To learn about America through the eyes of others--to see for myself how we are perceived by the outside world. It was so humbling at first--I had been taught a strictly positive view of American history and American foreign policy, in which what we did was for the good of everyone. It was eye-opening to see it all from another perspective. It was also difficult for me, as so many people I met in Austria expected me to explain and defend Reagan's policies (which I couldn't and wouldn't do!).
To cut a long story short--and to bring it back to the topic of knitting--some of my most treasured memories of that year are about making connections with people. We speak different languages, eat different foods, live in different kinds of houses. We may have different politics and different views on the world. But somewhere, there is something we all have in common. So I love to see that people in so many nations have stopped by here--just as I stop by the blogs of many people in nations I've never visited yet. We may connect over knitting, then find we have other things in common too.
And if more people would realize how much we have in comon, the world would be a much safer place.
How long is it until January 20, 2009?
I think about the brood of Muscovy ducklings we saw on our walk yesterday. There is a pair of Muscovy ducks that live along the shores of our pond, so I took the boys through our "secret passageway" to the spot where the ducks usually hang out. They weren't along the shore or in the grasses nearby. Instead, they were across the street, with their six ducklings, hanging out underneath a parked car in our neighbors' driveway. What a funny sight--six fuzzy yellow quackers huddled together underneath the back bumper of the car, while their pudgy mom and dad (with their distinctive red masks) waddled around keeping guard.
I've also been thinking about the knitting world, though I'm miles away from it at the moment. My knitting stuff is in boxes one state over, and I won't be getting back to it for some time, I'm sure. But I keep up with the blogs I read from around the world, and I'm pleased to see that people around the world are beginning to read mine. Hello, Australia! Hello, Peru and Brazil! Hello, UK and Ireland and Japan and Thailand and Canada! Hi there, Israel and Turkey and Finland and Belgium and Austria! What a fantastic thing that through blogs, I can be in touch with people all over the world, through my own words and through theirs. Wow.
This fascination all comes back to being an exchange student at heart, I suppose. Way back when, in the year between high school and college--back when Reagan was president and massive shoulder pads were in fashion and the Cold War was still going strong, I spent a year as an exchange student in Austria. That was the single most transformative experience of my young adulthood. It was so much more than learning to speak German and living with another family for a year. It completely changed my outlook on the world and on my own life. I'm still discovering things about myself that have their origins in that year. I could write dozens of blog entries about the gifts of that year, but for now, I'll just focus on how that year made me realize how much I am a part of the world community.
That may seem like a no-brainer to those who grew up in more cosmopolitan surroundings, but for me, that was a tremendous revelation. My world, growing up in suburban north Texas, was remarkably insular. Most people I knew didn't look too far afield. Few kept up with world events. Most had never traveled out of the country. No one in my family had gone overseas specifically to learn about another country--as far as I knew, their only international experiences had been in wartime (and 1917 wasn't the best time to visit France, nor was the early 1940s the best time to visit the islands of the south Pacific). People like us weren't cosmopolitan and worldly.
But I had a fabulous French teacher in high school who recognized my budding interest in language and culture, and she encouraged me to consider becoming an exchange student. Looking back, I'm shocked I actually went through with the idea, because I was such a shy, quiet kid. But the experience was the making of me.
By the time my year in Austria was over, I realized that the only thing you need to be "one of those people who travel" is simply money, a passport, and an open mind. You don't have to be born into a certain class or to a certain family. And what a vast level of enlightenment to see myself in a world context! To learn about America through the eyes of others--to see for myself how we are perceived by the outside world. It was so humbling at first--I had been taught a strictly positive view of American history and American foreign policy, in which what we did was for the good of everyone. It was eye-opening to see it all from another perspective. It was also difficult for me, as so many people I met in Austria expected me to explain and defend Reagan's policies (which I couldn't and wouldn't do!).
To cut a long story short--and to bring it back to the topic of knitting--some of my most treasured memories of that year are about making connections with people. We speak different languages, eat different foods, live in different kinds of houses. We may have different politics and different views on the world. But somewhere, there is something we all have in common. So I love to see that people in so many nations have stopped by here--just as I stop by the blogs of many people in nations I've never visited yet. We may connect over knitting, then find we have other things in common too.
And if more people would realize how much we have in comon, the world would be a much safer place.
How long is it until January 20, 2009?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Eye of the hurricane
My aching back can attest to the fact that it is definitely moving time. We've had days and days of packing boxes, hauling out the trash and recycling, driving to the Goodwill drop-off point, and ordering more boxes...and more boxes. Yesterday was the big day--loading the truck. We hired the most excellent Zeke and Johnny of Intelligent Labor and Moving to load the truck. Those guys were amazing! They worked quickly, smartly, and kept a sense of humor the whole long, hot day. (If you are moving in the Boston area and are looking for responsible, efficient, and friendly movers on a budget, I highly recommend these guys! Give them a call!!)
It probably didn't help that we were still packing when they got there--I have to admit that I'm absolutely embarrassed about that. I've never been less than ready for moving day--I've always been so compulsive that I'm ready a day or two early. But not this time. This was the first time that I've been involved in moving a whole house, with children, and even though Tim and I shared the work, there was just...so...much...to...pack.
But in a "short" ten hours, the truck was loaded, and this morning off it went to the wilds of the Finger Lakes. Meanwhile, we're camping in our house--the closing for our new house has been delayed, so we decided to stay here in the Boston area until the closing on the house we're selling. It's a quick reminder of my college days, with lawn chairs in the living room and boxes serving as chairs, tables, and desks. But what are these children doing in my dorm room...? They're enjoying our in-home camping trip (complete with air mattresses) and love the space to run around and chase each other without fear of being impaled on the furniture.
It's going to be an interesting week. We're taking it easy, relatively speaking--we have the final cleaning of the house to do before we turn it over to the new owners, but for the most part, we're just hanging out. I'll actually be working from home next week before we leave town--good thing I don't do video conferences, because it would be hard to keep up a professional editorial presence when I'm sitting on the living room carpet in my shorts and t-shirt with my computer propped up on a box.
Ah, but then this is the eye of the hurricane. At the end of next week, we'll have the other half of the saga. Moving into the new house. Going from a cramped 4-room bungalow to a spacious two-story house with garage and workshop. I won't know where to put anything....
Now, let's just hope my back holds up!
It probably didn't help that we were still packing when they got there--I have to admit that I'm absolutely embarrassed about that. I've never been less than ready for moving day--I've always been so compulsive that I'm ready a day or two early. But not this time. This was the first time that I've been involved in moving a whole house, with children, and even though Tim and I shared the work, there was just...so...much...to...pack.
But in a "short" ten hours, the truck was loaded, and this morning off it went to the wilds of the Finger Lakes. Meanwhile, we're camping in our house--the closing for our new house has been delayed, so we decided to stay here in the Boston area until the closing on the house we're selling. It's a quick reminder of my college days, with lawn chairs in the living room and boxes serving as chairs, tables, and desks. But what are these children doing in my dorm room...? They're enjoying our in-home camping trip (complete with air mattresses) and love the space to run around and chase each other without fear of being impaled on the furniture.
It's going to be an interesting week. We're taking it easy, relatively speaking--we have the final cleaning of the house to do before we turn it over to the new owners, but for the most part, we're just hanging out. I'll actually be working from home next week before we leave town--good thing I don't do video conferences, because it would be hard to keep up a professional editorial presence when I'm sitting on the living room carpet in my shorts and t-shirt with my computer propped up on a box.
Ah, but then this is the eye of the hurricane. At the end of next week, we'll have the other half of the saga. Moving into the new house. Going from a cramped 4-room bungalow to a spacious two-story house with garage and workshop. I won't know where to put anything....
Now, let's just hope my back holds up!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
blogging break
With our upcoming move and all the chaos that comes along with it, this may be my last chance to blog for a little while.
First, some knitting news. Some actual knitting news! I'm making good progress with my new tam, using the yarn from Bear Farm in Burdett, NY. The colors are so gorgeous in their natural woolly brown and woolly tan, with a touch of red to spice it up. Pictures to come....when I find my camera again.
Other knitting news--I was in the mall the other day and wandered through the Discovery Channel Store. The store is closing soon and is selling everything at rock-bottom prices. They had a toy knitting machine similar to this one:
...for $6, so how could I resist? I took it home, wrestled with the nasty eyelash novelty yarn in the kit, gave up and started using some variegated yarn I'd bought in England years ago, and before I knew it, I had knit a 6-foot tube!
Now, I don't know what I'm going to do with tubes--they're too small for hats (despite the fact that the instructions say you can make hats--they'd be too small even for infants.) But I could make lots of skinny scarves, or perhaps braid a bunch of skinny scarves together? Wind them up as a turban? Whatever, it's fun, and boy, is it fast!
Of course, there will be no substitute for hand knitting. Never!!
First, some knitting news. Some actual knitting news! I'm making good progress with my new tam, using the yarn from Bear Farm in Burdett, NY. The colors are so gorgeous in their natural woolly brown and woolly tan, with a touch of red to spice it up. Pictures to come....when I find my camera again.
Other knitting news--I was in the mall the other day and wandered through the Discovery Channel Store. The store is closing soon and is selling everything at rock-bottom prices. They had a toy knitting machine similar to this one:
...for $6, so how could I resist? I took it home, wrestled with the nasty eyelash novelty yarn in the kit, gave up and started using some variegated yarn I'd bought in England years ago, and before I knew it, I had knit a 6-foot tube!
Now, I don't know what I'm going to do with tubes--they're too small for hats (despite the fact that the instructions say you can make hats--they'd be too small even for infants.) But I could make lots of skinny scarves, or perhaps braid a bunch of skinny scarves together? Wind them up as a turban? Whatever, it's fun, and boy, is it fast!
Of course, there will be no substitute for hand knitting. Never!!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
stress, but a good kind
There's no such thing as moving house without stress. Especially when you're selling a house in one state, buying a house in another state, and coordinating a move from one state to another, while working a corporate job and taking care of kids and cats.
Deep breaths. Take lots of deep breaths.
We're heading into the final days of the house-buying journey. All we need is for the title work to be done and the closing to be scheduled. But then I found out today about a 2-week delay in the title work that makes our schedule just a little too tight for comfort.
Need to find out more information, take more deep breaths, and remember that it will all work out.
We're also so close on selling our house here. After lengthy negotiations with the buyers, we should be signing the purchase and sale agreement today.
Knock wood, cross fingers, more of those deep breaths.
Then there is all that packing to do. We have ordered and received our packing materials--boxes of all sizes, packing paper, etc. Now, of course, those materials are in the middle of the living room, making the house feel even smaller and cramped. I've packed a whopping six boxes so far...
It'll happen. We have time. Not much, but we do have time.
And today? My going-away lunch at work, then Douglas's checkup, then dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (my kids' favorite). Somewhere in there, I need to figure out how to go sign the purchase and sale agreement, which is due today. I need a few extra hours in this day....
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in.
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in.
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in...
Deep breaths. Take lots of deep breaths.
We're heading into the final days of the house-buying journey. All we need is for the title work to be done and the closing to be scheduled. But then I found out today about a 2-week delay in the title work that makes our schedule just a little too tight for comfort.
Need to find out more information, take more deep breaths, and remember that it will all work out.
We're also so close on selling our house here. After lengthy negotiations with the buyers, we should be signing the purchase and sale agreement today.
Knock wood, cross fingers, more of those deep breaths.
Then there is all that packing to do. We have ordered and received our packing materials--boxes of all sizes, packing paper, etc. Now, of course, those materials are in the middle of the living room, making the house feel even smaller and cramped. I've packed a whopping six boxes so far...
It'll happen. We have time. Not much, but we do have time.
And today? My going-away lunch at work, then Douglas's checkup, then dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (my kids' favorite). Somewhere in there, I need to figure out how to go sign the purchase and sale agreement, which is due today. I need a few extra hours in this day....
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in.
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in.
It will be so nice once we've moved and settled in...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Cowtown on the blog
I'm just so tickled this morning--I got up to read my favorite blogs, and what did I see but that Jo of Celtic Memory Yarns went on a weekend trip to my hometown, Fort Worth! What a wild and strange paradox--in 1999, I went from blistering-hot Texas to Ireland on a pilgrimage in search of wools and sweaters, and now she just went from Ireland to Fort Worth in search of the same (well, in search of a dyeing class).
I hope Cowtown treated you well, Jo!
I hope Cowtown treated you well, Jo!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Ravelry invitation!
I'm so excited--I got my invitation to Ravelry this morning! They are really working quickly through the waiting list. Just last week, there were 400+ people ahead of me, so they're getting people signed up fast.
Now, to find time to get going!
Life here is getting busier, but it's all seeming to fall into place. We had an offer on the house yesterday! Finally, after all this waiting!! I knew it would happen, but these kind of things always seem so impossible until they happen. I love this house--I have always loved this house--so it's not a crazy idea to think that someone else would love it, too. But until that actually happened...
I've been hearing such pessimistic news about the housing market here in Boston--prices plummeting, house sales down, qualified buyers evaporating. How different it all is from the time I bought this place! Back then, in the balmy pre-9/11 days, buyers were fighting for property in Boston. Houses went on the market on a Friday and were sold--with multiple offers--by Monday. People were even skipping inspections in order to get an edge over other buyers. It was so competitive.
Fast forward seven years, and it's a very different landscape. Houses are sitting on the market for weeks and months. I've known people to give up and take their houses off the market because they aren't selling. And I've had a well-meaning co-worker asking me all too frequently if the house has sold yet, and I've had to tell her again and again and again that no it hadn't, and no we had no offers.
But that's all changed now! Hurrah!! Now, to get on with LIFE!
I'm in the middle of two projects--the first is the famous French Market bag. The knitting is complete, but I haven't felted it yet. (Does anyone but me have a problem with the usage of "felting" versus "fulling"? What everyone calls felting is actually fulling, and there seems to be no correcting it. Grrrrr....)
My next project is one I started planning back in a former life (or so it seems), long before we began considering our move to the Finger Lakes. Last summer, we'd been there on a visit, and I stopped into what was then a brand-new LYS, Finger Lake Fibers. How friendly they all were! What a great shop! I was ready to plan a new tam (I love tams!), and I bought two skeins of a lovely local yarn from Carole and Mark Harth's Bear Farm in nearby Burdett. Lovely natural shades of Oatmeal and Dark Sheep's Grey. I also picked up a skein of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in a rich brick red for an accent color. Now I've been sketching and planning a tam of my own design. More to come!
Now, to find time to get going!
Life here is getting busier, but it's all seeming to fall into place. We had an offer on the house yesterday! Finally, after all this waiting!! I knew it would happen, but these kind of things always seem so impossible until they happen. I love this house--I have always loved this house--so it's not a crazy idea to think that someone else would love it, too. But until that actually happened...
I've been hearing such pessimistic news about the housing market here in Boston--prices plummeting, house sales down, qualified buyers evaporating. How different it all is from the time I bought this place! Back then, in the balmy pre-9/11 days, buyers were fighting for property in Boston. Houses went on the market on a Friday and were sold--with multiple offers--by Monday. People were even skipping inspections in order to get an edge over other buyers. It was so competitive.
Fast forward seven years, and it's a very different landscape. Houses are sitting on the market for weeks and months. I've known people to give up and take their houses off the market because they aren't selling. And I've had a well-meaning co-worker asking me all too frequently if the house has sold yet, and I've had to tell her again and again and again that no it hadn't, and no we had no offers.
But that's all changed now! Hurrah!! Now, to get on with LIFE!
I'm in the middle of two projects--the first is the famous French Market bag. The knitting is complete, but I haven't felted it yet. (Does anyone but me have a problem with the usage of "felting" versus "fulling"? What everyone calls felting is actually fulling, and there seems to be no correcting it. Grrrrr....)
My next project is one I started planning back in a former life (or so it seems), long before we began considering our move to the Finger Lakes. Last summer, we'd been there on a visit, and I stopped into what was then a brand-new LYS, Finger Lake Fibers. How friendly they all were! What a great shop! I was ready to plan a new tam (I love tams!), and I bought two skeins of a lovely local yarn from Carole and Mark Harth's Bear Farm in nearby Burdett. Lovely natural shades of Oatmeal and Dark Sheep's Grey. I also picked up a skein of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in a rich brick red for an accent color. Now I've been sketching and planning a tam of my own design. More to come!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
a day out
One more chapter in the saga of the long, slow goodbye to Boston.
Today, it was time to have another ride on the Swan Boats. These are such a Boston tradition (going back to 1877). Fifteen minutes of peace and quiet, of watching the ducks and the geese and the swans (still no cygnets), and imagining how different and how similar the view would have been back in 1877.
When I first moved here years ago, I really wanted to take a ride on them, but I felt a little sheepish going on my own without kids. Fast forward a few years, and I have kids who are more than happy to take their mom on a Swan Boat ride.
Some beautiful iron fencing around the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common. I'd never noticed this before. How simple, and yet how lovely.
A grim reminder about the price of "progress." When Boston began building its subway in the 1890s, they ended up moving some unidentified "persons" to a mass grave in the Central Burying Ground.
Hours and hours of walking, and "seeing what we can see," and talking and laughing and pointing and listening and questions questions always more questions. Finally, keep the kids quiet and cool with an ice cream in a special spot on Beacon Hill. A buck fifty for an ice cream and a view of life on Charles Street. Life is good.
Today, it was time to have another ride on the Swan Boats. These are such a Boston tradition (going back to 1877). Fifteen minutes of peace and quiet, of watching the ducks and the geese and the swans (still no cygnets), and imagining how different and how similar the view would have been back in 1877.
When I first moved here years ago, I really wanted to take a ride on them, but I felt a little sheepish going on my own without kids. Fast forward a few years, and I have kids who are more than happy to take their mom on a Swan Boat ride.
Some beautiful iron fencing around the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common. I'd never noticed this before. How simple, and yet how lovely.
A grim reminder about the price of "progress." When Boston began building its subway in the 1890s, they ended up moving some unidentified "persons" to a mass grave in the Central Burying Ground.
Hours and hours of walking, and "seeing what we can see," and talking and laughing and pointing and listening and questions questions always more questions. Finally, keep the kids quiet and cool with an ice cream in a special spot on Beacon Hill. A buck fifty for an ice cream and a view of life on Charles Street. Life is good.
It doesn't get more local than this
One of the things I'm looking forward to about our move is having more time to cook. I do like cooking--real, authentic, good, flavorful food that isn't microwaved or warmed-up, and that isn't a 30-minutes-or-less kind of meal. But that kind of cooking doesn't work with the crazy schedule we've had. By the time we've finished our full days of work, picked the kids up from daycare, and decompressed a little around the house, there isn't much time for good old-fashioned cooking. And the weekends? That's for catching up on all the other things we couldn't get done during the week. And interesting menus seem to fall by the wayside most of the time.
I've been watching a few shows about good, real food, mostly on BBC. Jamie Oliver's shows often annoy me, but I have most of his cookbooks and I like what he does. Gordon Ramsay, as rude as he is, celebrates good food (though in places I could rarely afford to eat in). And I've found a new show called "Food Heroes" that celebrates the regional foods of Britain. It's a celebration of local food, and that has given me food for thought...
I want to learn how to cook regionally and seasonally. That doesn't mean swearing off foods that aren't in season or that don't come from a 20-mile radius, but I'd like to learn how to make the best use of the best food out there--which is food closest to the source. Ithaca has a good farmer's market, and I plan to make good use of it once we've moved.
But for now, here's our local-most produce. It doesn't get more local than this--straight out of the garden.
Even better with a big serving of organic vanilla yogurt.
Mmmm. Boy loves berries.
I've been watching a few shows about good, real food, mostly on BBC. Jamie Oliver's shows often annoy me, but I have most of his cookbooks and I like what he does. Gordon Ramsay, as rude as he is, celebrates good food (though in places I could rarely afford to eat in). And I've found a new show called "Food Heroes" that celebrates the regional foods of Britain. It's a celebration of local food, and that has given me food for thought...
I want to learn how to cook regionally and seasonally. That doesn't mean swearing off foods that aren't in season or that don't come from a 20-mile radius, but I'd like to learn how to make the best use of the best food out there--which is food closest to the source. Ithaca has a good farmer's market, and I plan to make good use of it once we've moved.
But for now, here's our local-most produce. It doesn't get more local than this--straight out of the garden.
Even better with a big serving of organic vanilla yogurt.
Mmmm. Boy loves berries.
Monday, July 02, 2007
A tavern, a monument, and lots of ducks
Some months ago, we discovered a great little place in Charlestown--the Warren Tavern. Apart from the lure of the historical (supposedly the oldest tavern in the U.S., a favorite haunt of Paul Revere, and a place where George Washington was known to quaff a pint), we like it because (and this would horrify Washington, Revere, and the rest of the Patriots), it feels so ENGLISH. I've been to so many fake-Irish pubs (pubs-in-a-box, some of them built in modular form in Ireland and shipped over), it's nice to have a meal and a pint in a place that seems a bit more authentic. (That said, this place has probably changed so much over the centuries that it most likely bears little resemblance to its 1780 self.)
So on Sunday, we headed north to Charlestown to have a leisurely lunch at the Warren Tavern and to see what we could see.
Gaslights--real, or reproductions? I think they're pretty fabulous, whether they were put up in 1880 or 1990...
Of course, no trip to Charlestown is complete without a trip to the Bunker Hill Monument. Okay, so the battle actually took place on Breed's Hill, but what's a little historic specificity among friends? I have yet to make it to the top of this thing, and I can confidently say that I never will. The last time I tried it, it was about 95 degrees and wicked humid outside, and I was (unbeknownst to me) in the earliest stages of pregnancy. I hiked like a maniac up the spiraling stairs, higher and higher, ignoring the growing feelings of claustrophobia while climbing inside an obelisk with only a few random slits in the stone to let some natural light in. About 10 steps from the top (and there are 294 steps to the top), my head started spinning, I broke out in a freakish cold sweat, and I knew that if I didn't sit down That Very Minute, I would pass out and tumble down each and every one of the 284 steps I had climbed.
Needless to say, I'm not keen to give it another go.
But being near the Bunker Hill Monument is pretty darn fun on a beautiful summer day. We had blue skies and cool breezes, and the kids enjoyed frolicking on the lawn.
Aidan has learned to do cartwheels, which he demonstrated proudly.
We puttered around the area for awhile, soaking up some atmosphere and taking pictures of architecture. The house we're buying in upstate NY was built in 1876 and is currently painted in a shade I think of as Tedious Boring White, so we're looking for interesting color schemes. Out came the camera!
I love the colors on the house on the right--they're a bit richer in real life than in the photo. They seem wonderful rich and warm, without being in your face. Something to think about...
I love the roof pattern of this house and the details around the window.
Our new old house has pairs of rather plain brackets just underneath the roof line, and while I wouldn't replace anything that's authentic to that particular house, it got me thinking about brackets.
What I have often found interesting about historic houses in the Boston area is that the exteriors may be ever-so plain, but the brackets show off the age of the house.
Well, I could only keep a soon-to-be-three-year-old and a 5-year-old interested in architecture for just so long, so we hopped on the Orange Line and headed back into familiar kid territory. Time to visit Mrs Mallard and the ducklings in the Public Garden. But on the way we saw...
...the weirdest bike thing I've ever seen. This is a Pedal Party bike, where 6 or 8 people can sit on the thing and pedal it together. It looks like a weird kind of fun, and if the kids had been just a bit older, I'd have said we should hop on and give it a whirl!
So we finally made it to the Public Garden. This is the time of year when they try to fool you into thinking that Boston is tropical. I never get used to seeing palm trees in the Public Garden!
And every year, they bring a mating pair of swans to the pond there. They fence them away from nosy visitors and cross their fingers in the hopes that the eggs will hatch and there will be little cygnets on the pond.
Mama Swan is doing her best. When she stood up to change her position, I could see a number of eggs in the nest.
But there are always duck families on the pond in the summertime. Here's a happy duck family--could it be Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack, and Mrs Mallard, too??
Toward the end of the day, a stroll down to Copley Square. The reflection of Trinity Church was tremendous. What a great place for peaceful contemplation (if only that were possible with kids in tow!)
So on Sunday, we headed north to Charlestown to have a leisurely lunch at the Warren Tavern and to see what we could see.
Gaslights--real, or reproductions? I think they're pretty fabulous, whether they were put up in 1880 or 1990...
Of course, no trip to Charlestown is complete without a trip to the Bunker Hill Monument. Okay, so the battle actually took place on Breed's Hill, but what's a little historic specificity among friends? I have yet to make it to the top of this thing, and I can confidently say that I never will. The last time I tried it, it was about 95 degrees and wicked humid outside, and I was (unbeknownst to me) in the earliest stages of pregnancy. I hiked like a maniac up the spiraling stairs, higher and higher, ignoring the growing feelings of claustrophobia while climbing inside an obelisk with only a few random slits in the stone to let some natural light in. About 10 steps from the top (and there are 294 steps to the top), my head started spinning, I broke out in a freakish cold sweat, and I knew that if I didn't sit down That Very Minute, I would pass out and tumble down each and every one of the 284 steps I had climbed.
Needless to say, I'm not keen to give it another go.
But being near the Bunker Hill Monument is pretty darn fun on a beautiful summer day. We had blue skies and cool breezes, and the kids enjoyed frolicking on the lawn.
Aidan has learned to do cartwheels, which he demonstrated proudly.
We puttered around the area for awhile, soaking up some atmosphere and taking pictures of architecture. The house we're buying in upstate NY was built in 1876 and is currently painted in a shade I think of as Tedious Boring White, so we're looking for interesting color schemes. Out came the camera!
I love the colors on the house on the right--they're a bit richer in real life than in the photo. They seem wonderful rich and warm, without being in your face. Something to think about...
I love the roof pattern of this house and the details around the window.
Our new old house has pairs of rather plain brackets just underneath the roof line, and while I wouldn't replace anything that's authentic to that particular house, it got me thinking about brackets.
What I have often found interesting about historic houses in the Boston area is that the exteriors may be ever-so plain, but the brackets show off the age of the house.
Well, I could only keep a soon-to-be-three-year-old and a 5-year-old interested in architecture for just so long, so we hopped on the Orange Line and headed back into familiar kid territory. Time to visit Mrs Mallard and the ducklings in the Public Garden. But on the way we saw...
...the weirdest bike thing I've ever seen. This is a Pedal Party bike, where 6 or 8 people can sit on the thing and pedal it together. It looks like a weird kind of fun, and if the kids had been just a bit older, I'd have said we should hop on and give it a whirl!
So we finally made it to the Public Garden. This is the time of year when they try to fool you into thinking that Boston is tropical. I never get used to seeing palm trees in the Public Garden!
And every year, they bring a mating pair of swans to the pond there. They fence them away from nosy visitors and cross their fingers in the hopes that the eggs will hatch and there will be little cygnets on the pond.
Mama Swan is doing her best. When she stood up to change her position, I could see a number of eggs in the nest.
But there are always duck families on the pond in the summertime. Here's a happy duck family--could it be Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack, and Mrs Mallard, too??
Toward the end of the day, a stroll down to Copley Square. The reflection of Trinity Church was tremendous. What a great place for peaceful contemplation (if only that were possible with kids in tow!)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Ah, knitting time.....!
I had two whole hours today to knit--in public--at work! We had a company-wide meeting, which for those of us in a satellite office means huddling together in a conference room around a computer screen and a telephone, watching Powerpoint slides on the computer and listening to one disembodied voice after another give us the latest status on the company. I knew I'd fall asleep if I had to sit still for two hours like that, so I brought in my knitting. What a wonderful thing--I was able to listen (and pay attention!) to all the details of the meeting, all while feeling utterly decadent and completely useful while knitting. Hurrah me!
My latest project is inspired by Lene, who knit the cutest French Market Bags I've ever seen (here and here). Gorgeous!
I don't have pictures of mine yet -- at this point, it's just a blob of orange stockinette. (Besides, it was gutsy enough to knit in the conference room today. If I'd been taking pictures at the same time, who knows...?). I'm using Cascade 220, which I understand felts beautifully. I'd like to embroider something on it the way that Lene has, but I haven't decided what my motif will be. Birds? Leaves? Sunflowers? Happy faces? (okay, I can safely say it WON'T be happy faces!)
It just feels so good to be knitting again--even though I have to crank the air conditioning to even consider having wool in my lap...
My latest project is inspired by Lene, who knit the cutest French Market Bags I've ever seen (here and here). Gorgeous!
I don't have pictures of mine yet -- at this point, it's just a blob of orange stockinette. (Besides, it was gutsy enough to knit in the conference room today. If I'd been taking pictures at the same time, who knows...?). I'm using Cascade 220, which I understand felts beautifully. I'd like to embroider something on it the way that Lene has, but I haven't decided what my motif will be. Birds? Leaves? Sunflowers? Happy faces? (okay, I can safely say it WON'T be happy faces!)
It just feels so good to be knitting again--even though I have to crank the air conditioning to even consider having wool in my lap...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Friday, or Fryday?
Actually, I think it's going to be a fry-weekend. Tim has had a serious hankering for serious chicken wings since moving away from upstate NY, so he's bought a Wing-It, a dedicated chicken-wing deep-fat fryer. He's just tickled pink about it (especially since he got the world's greatest deal on it--brand-new at half the price!). I am struggling a little to share his enthusiasm, though--having always been squeamish about meat on bones, the idea of chicken wings doesn't exactly make me drool. (There is no bonier meat than chicken wings, except perhaps ribs.)
Hmmm. It'll be a real joy to see his face light up when he makes his first batch of wings. I've promised I'll try them...once.
Onto a knitting topic--I am a knitter in search of a summer project. I still have Tim's sweater on the needles, but it's hard to get enthusiastic about a lapful of wool in the summer time. So I'm thinking I should do a scarf, or a bag, or something else smaller and lighter. But what?
I'm at such a loss! Usually I have a backlog of projects I want to do, but I'm directionless. I think it's perhaps there are too many choices for me out there. This world of blogging is a delight, but I see so many beautiful things that others have made, that I want to make them all! But as soon as I think I'll make this scarf or that shawl or this pair of mittens, I see yet another pattern that looks delicious too.
Or, I could just read blogs and never get started on anything....
Hmmm. It'll be a real joy to see his face light up when he makes his first batch of wings. I've promised I'll try them...once.
Onto a knitting topic--I am a knitter in search of a summer project. I still have Tim's sweater on the needles, but it's hard to get enthusiastic about a lapful of wool in the summer time. So I'm thinking I should do a scarf, or a bag, or something else smaller and lighter. But what?
I'm at such a loss! Usually I have a backlog of projects I want to do, but I'm directionless. I think it's perhaps there are too many choices for me out there. This world of blogging is a delight, but I see so many beautiful things that others have made, that I want to make them all! But as soon as I think I'll make this scarf or that shawl or this pair of mittens, I see yet another pattern that looks delicious too.
Or, I could just read blogs and never get started on anything....
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
New things to look forward to
We had a quick trip out to NY week before last to start getting things ready for our move. We took Aidan to his new school, where he passed his kindergarten screening test with flying colors (scored a 94%!) and was thrilled with the books they gave him to read over the summer. We took Douglas to his new daycare, which is a wonderful cheery place run by a warm and creative woman named Chris whom I'm looking forward to getting to know better.
We also had a major turn of events that seemed quite threatening at first, but turned out to be delightful. We were planning to live in the house Tim had had before he moved to Boston, but for it to work with all of us, we needed to add on more living space and a workshop for Tim's business. We had everything lined up, and the excavators were scheduled to come in two weeks. Then we found out that the zoning laws had changed in such a way that made our plans unworkable.
Talk about a pit-of-the-stomach feeling! The central part of our whole plan was living in that house, and it wasn't going to work.
So, on impulse Tim stopped by a realtor's office and picked up a few flyers on local houses for sale. We'd never talked about getting a different house before, but he thought it might be worth exploring.
There were just a handful of houses in our price range with enough space for all of us. There was just one that also had a workshop already built out back. What was the likelihood that it would work out? Practically none.
We saw it, we loved it, we're going to buy it!
It is simply amazing how much farther housing dollars will go outside of the Boston area. The house we're buying has literally three times the space of our suburban Boston house--at less than half the cost. Amazing!
There is a catch (there is always a catch). The house was last decorated sometime in the late 1960s. Acres of green shag carpeting. Outdated floral wallpaper in all of the bedrooms. A very piney office. There will be a lot of redecorating to be done!
But the fact that the house hasn't been renovated recently means that there are a lot of original features (and interesting vintage ones as well) in this circa 1876 house. Leaded glass windows. A quirky 1940s-era shower. A built-in china cabinet in the dining room. It even has a late 1940s-vintage stove, the same era as the one I already have. (Mine is a gas stove, which my grandmother bought new in the late 1940s and which I shipped from Los Angeles to Boston even before I'd bought my first house!). Even with its dated interior, the house is warm and welcoming, a real family home.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it will be grand!
We also had a major turn of events that seemed quite threatening at first, but turned out to be delightful. We were planning to live in the house Tim had had before he moved to Boston, but for it to work with all of us, we needed to add on more living space and a workshop for Tim's business. We had everything lined up, and the excavators were scheduled to come in two weeks. Then we found out that the zoning laws had changed in such a way that made our plans unworkable.
Talk about a pit-of-the-stomach feeling! The central part of our whole plan was living in that house, and it wasn't going to work.
So, on impulse Tim stopped by a realtor's office and picked up a few flyers on local houses for sale. We'd never talked about getting a different house before, but he thought it might be worth exploring.
There were just a handful of houses in our price range with enough space for all of us. There was just one that also had a workshop already built out back. What was the likelihood that it would work out? Practically none.
We saw it, we loved it, we're going to buy it!
It is simply amazing how much farther housing dollars will go outside of the Boston area. The house we're buying has literally three times the space of our suburban Boston house--at less than half the cost. Amazing!
There is a catch (there is always a catch). The house was last decorated sometime in the late 1960s. Acres of green shag carpeting. Outdated floral wallpaper in all of the bedrooms. A very piney office. There will be a lot of redecorating to be done!
But the fact that the house hasn't been renovated recently means that there are a lot of original features (and interesting vintage ones as well) in this circa 1876 house. Leaded glass windows. A quirky 1940s-era shower. A built-in china cabinet in the dining room. It even has a late 1940s-vintage stove, the same era as the one I already have. (Mine is a gas stove, which my grandmother bought new in the late 1940s and which I shipped from Los Angeles to Boston even before I'd bought my first house!). Even with its dated interior, the house is warm and welcoming, a real family home.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it will be grand!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Please buy my house!
I'm not the most patient of creatures. It may take me ages to make a decision, but once I do, I want everything to fall into place right away.
Okay, so our house has been on the market for all of 11 days, but why hasn't it sold yet? It's adorable! It has a great location! It has a view of a pond! It has a fabulous garden! It has a great location for commuters to Boston or to the western suburbs! It's priced right! So what's the deal???
I know, I know, I must be patient. The right buyer is out there, somewhere.
Okay, so our house has been on the market for all of 11 days, but why hasn't it sold yet? It's adorable! It has a great location! It has a view of a pond! It has a fabulous garden! It has a great location for commuters to Boston or to the western suburbs! It's priced right! So what's the deal???
I know, I know, I must be patient. The right buyer is out there, somewhere.
Friday, June 01, 2007
I need knitting time
I'm certainly not the first person to note how therapeutic knitting can be. It's a form of meditation. I'm convinced it brings down my blood pressure. I know it feeds my soul.
These are good times for my family. We're about to embark upon a new venture, picking up stakes and moving west (okay, to the Finger Lakes, but it IS west of here!). I've had official approval from the folks at work about my plans to telecommute (I knew it would be approved but official word just came down today). My days as a diaper-changer are coming to an end as Douglas is finally recognizing that the potty isn't just a substantial white chair in the bathroom. And Tim and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary this weekend. There's a lot to be happy about.
But there is so much to do! Get the house sold! Get everything packed! Make arrangements for new schools and new daycares! Figure out how we get three cars to NY with only two drivers! My head is spinning....
These are good times for my family. We're about to embark upon a new venture, picking up stakes and moving west (okay, to the Finger Lakes, but it IS west of here!). I've had official approval from the folks at work about my plans to telecommute (I knew it would be approved but official word just came down today). My days as a diaper-changer are coming to an end as Douglas is finally recognizing that the potty isn't just a substantial white chair in the bathroom. And Tim and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary this weekend. There's a lot to be happy about.
But there is so much to do! Get the house sold! Get everything packed! Make arrangements for new schools and new daycares! Figure out how we get three cars to NY with only two drivers! My head is spinning....
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Scraped knuckles, pruney fingers
This is the first time I've ever gone through a house sale as a seller. What a job! I'd had no idea--when I bought my house a long long seven years ago, I thought buying a house was an ordeal. All the open houses! All the drudgery of walking through one ugly house after another! All the nervous waiting--would I ever find the right house for me?
That's nothing compared to being the seller.
Our house officially goes on the market on Friday, but today was the "preview" day for the local real estate agents and the day that the photographer showed up to take pix for the web. So, we spent our "holiday" weekend getting the house in shape (in and among other obligations, like Aidan's music lesson and his long-delayed 5th birthday party!).
There's nothing more humbling than viewing your house through the eyes of a judgmental potential buyer. Oh, the cat hair! Oh, the grubby handprints on the wall! Oh, the paint chips and the dented moldings and the unfinished projects!
Yecch.
However, now our house is a gleaming jewel. Tim put up crown molding in the hallway that gives an elegant touch to our modest entryway. I thinned out my collections (okay, I'm a pack rat) and packed away all the extras. Tim hauled it all away to hidden corners of the basement. And then we scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed some more.
It's a good thing I've never been vain about my hands. I've always had short wrinkly fingers with a lousy manicure, and a weekend of soaking in cleaners and degreasers didn't help any.
But the house sparkles.
And somehow, magically, it got about ten times bigger! Isn't it amazing what happens when you get rid of the clutter? Note to self: remember the joy of anti-clutter. BECOME the joy of anti-clutter. I want to live like this, always!! (Of course, that means fighting with a habit that's been entrenched for 40+ years, but it's never too late to change, right?)
Next hurdle: the open house on Sunday.
Oh, but the good part about all of this is that we don't have to be a buyer at the same time as a seller. We have a second home in upstate New York--Tim's house from before we got married--and we've decided to leave the big city in favor of some semi-rural peace and quiet. It'll be a big change, but a welcome one. I'll miss Boston, but I'm ready to slow down the pace, enjoy life at a quieter pace, and have LOTS more time for knitting!!
That's nothing compared to being the seller.
Our house officially goes on the market on Friday, but today was the "preview" day for the local real estate agents and the day that the photographer showed up to take pix for the web. So, we spent our "holiday" weekend getting the house in shape (in and among other obligations, like Aidan's music lesson and his long-delayed 5th birthday party!).
There's nothing more humbling than viewing your house through the eyes of a judgmental potential buyer. Oh, the cat hair! Oh, the grubby handprints on the wall! Oh, the paint chips and the dented moldings and the unfinished projects!
Yecch.
However, now our house is a gleaming jewel. Tim put up crown molding in the hallway that gives an elegant touch to our modest entryway. I thinned out my collections (okay, I'm a pack rat) and packed away all the extras. Tim hauled it all away to hidden corners of the basement. And then we scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed some more.
It's a good thing I've never been vain about my hands. I've always had short wrinkly fingers with a lousy manicure, and a weekend of soaking in cleaners and degreasers didn't help any.
But the house sparkles.
And somehow, magically, it got about ten times bigger! Isn't it amazing what happens when you get rid of the clutter? Note to self: remember the joy of anti-clutter. BECOME the joy of anti-clutter. I want to live like this, always!! (Of course, that means fighting with a habit that's been entrenched for 40+ years, but it's never too late to change, right?)
Next hurdle: the open house on Sunday.
Oh, but the good part about all of this is that we don't have to be a buyer at the same time as a seller. We have a second home in upstate New York--Tim's house from before we got married--and we've decided to leave the big city in favor of some semi-rural peace and quiet. It'll be a big change, but a welcome one. I'll miss Boston, but I'm ready to slow down the pace, enjoy life at a quieter pace, and have LOTS more time for knitting!!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Knitting is taking a back seat
Things are really busy chez Woolies these days. The big news is that we're getting ready to put our house on the market, so there's lots of work to be done! It's a sobering thing to look at your own house like a stranger would. Suddenly, you see all the imperfections in glaring clarity. All the unfinished projects, the semi-organized piles of papers, the kids' toys everywhere--what you have lived with comfortably for ages suddenly seem vile and unacceptable.
So, we've been having a big clear-out. Bags of papers to recycle. Boxes of outgrown clothing and toys sent to Goodwill. Do we really need this? Do we have to take that?
And then there are all those little repairs that hovered on the to-do list for months (okay, years). Painting the front stoop, repairing the broken bathroom fan, putting up crown molding in the entry hallway (after replacing the ceiling drywall 6 years ago and never getting around to quite finishing the project...).
And on top of that is the "staging." I've watched too many real-estate programs on TV and I have a giant insecurity comlex that our house needs extensive prettifying in order to appeal to a buyer. So, I've been tidying the garden, planting a big container to warm up the front door, spreading bags of mulch to cover up the bare earth until the perennials come all the way up. And that's just the outside!
By the time all these big jobs are done, then we'll have the task of keeping the house eternally clean -- with two exuberant boys whose middle names are "Mess-Maker"!
UGH. So, needless to say, there hasn't been much actual knitting in the Woolies household, though there has been a lot of fantasy knitting going on. Does that count?
There is life on the other side of this, right?
So, we've been having a big clear-out. Bags of papers to recycle. Boxes of outgrown clothing and toys sent to Goodwill. Do we really need this? Do we have to take that?
And then there are all those little repairs that hovered on the to-do list for months (okay, years). Painting the front stoop, repairing the broken bathroom fan, putting up crown molding in the entry hallway (after replacing the ceiling drywall 6 years ago and never getting around to quite finishing the project...).
And on top of that is the "staging." I've watched too many real-estate programs on TV and I have a giant insecurity comlex that our house needs extensive prettifying in order to appeal to a buyer. So, I've been tidying the garden, planting a big container to warm up the front door, spreading bags of mulch to cover up the bare earth until the perennials come all the way up. And that's just the outside!
By the time all these big jobs are done, then we'll have the task of keeping the house eternally clean -- with two exuberant boys whose middle names are "Mess-Maker"!
UGH. So, needless to say, there hasn't been much actual knitting in the Woolies household, though there has been a lot of fantasy knitting going on. Does that count?
There is life on the other side of this, right?
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