Accepted Offer

I’m almost afraid to post this…but we have accepted an offer on our house! We got our full asking price (we had just reduced the price) but the buyer asked for closing costs, so after we figured that in we sold for a little less than asking. I think the ladies that came to my GTG must have been a good luck charm! We had 4 showings back to back on Sunday and our realtor managed to schedule the eventual buyers last so that they would see all the other realtor cards on the table (they were coming back for a 3rd viewing, so we felt it a good bet they were a little interested).

We have not been through the inspection process yet, but I understand that should happen rather quickly – like within the next week. I won’t really breathe easy that the sale is “for sure” until that process is over. Blame it on watching too much HGTV or whatever. We aren’t expecting anything to come up, but I guess you just never know. I know our retaining walls in the back are old and such, but they don’t pose a safety hazard or a drainage problem, so we are hoping that won’t be an issue. So we are cautiously optimistic, yet afraid to trust this is it, given how the earlier offer fell through.

I’ve already had a question or two on facebook about what houses we have in mind for moving to… we have about 4 on our short list. Provided the inspection goes well and we can actually start thinking about buying one of them, I’ll post links so you can all play along like on House Hunters! Ha.

It's a Tree!

At least I've made enough progress that now you can tell what it is! I can actually begin using a different color any time I'm ready now too because I can do the letters "Mother's Tree". :) Looking forward to when I can start on the names!

I've decided I'm going to work on my Alhambra Garden during the GTG tomorrow! :)

Not much to show

Not so much to show for a week's worth of work, but that seems to be par for the course these days. I completed the top band in the section where the names will go and I extended the outermost border down on each side. Didn't do any over-one this time, but will get back to that the next time I pick it up.

I'm stitching on my Mother's Tree next. I wanted to work on my Angel of Summer since she is the closest thing in my WIP to a finish, but I cannot find her pattern. I've searched high and low and cannot find the @#$! thing. I know it is here somewhere and someday I'll run across it somewhere really odd and wonder why I ever stuck it there. *sigh* For now I'll just work on something else - it isn't like I don't have enough things to stitch!

I never used to be like this!

I've always had some sort of rotation or plan for how I was stitching - never was I really a screaming rotation kind of girl. Lately, not so. I just stich whatever, whenever. I guess with the economy being bad and the house not selling and such I just feel like it is one of the few things I *can make* go just my way.

Anyway here's my progress on Stone Roses. I'm gonna go back to my Heritage Sampler now even though many of my projects haven't been touched since the last time I worked on it. *oh the horrors*

Birthday Stash

This is just part of what Sean got me for my birthday. He actually went to froggystitcher.com , looked up my wishlist and ordered a bunch of stuff off of it. Pretty cool huh? Remind me not to complain about anything he does for the next while. :)

Pictured is A Fair Maiden's Etui by With my Needle, Cirque des Carreaux by Ink Circles, 32ct Waterlily Joblean (my fav fabric ever!) a dragonfly needleminder from Kelmscott Designs, and Enchanted Dreamer by Mirabilia. DH also ordered JBW's Advent Calendar, the letter "J" Angel fairy needleminder from Kelmscott Designs, and the AppleSeed Needle Book pattern from Jeanette Douglas. Karen from Froggystitcher is sending the rest when it comes in but didn't want me to have to wait to fondle all my birthday stash. :)

This might be one of my biggest stash hauls ever and to think DH ordered it all! Knock me over with a feather. :) :)

Hen Party finished. :)

I came across this JP Threads tin in my stash/linen closet today and decided it would make the perfect finish for Hen Party. :) I'm going to use it to store part of my threads stash.

I think it came out rather well. I stitched this on Norfolk Blend 32ct linen from R&R Reproductions and I changed the DMC 676 in the trim on the house and sun to an orange shade of DMC so that it would stand out against the fabric. I'm forgettting just what color I used now, but it was something in the 900 range of the oranges.

Thank you Kelly for gifting me with such a fun chart - I'll think of you every time I dig into my threads. :)

Hen Party

Just a few photos to brighten things up after the last post.

I decided to go ahead and post a progress pic for Hen Party. Susan and Holly are also doing this one. :)

And this doesn't look like much, but Katie got up on the bar at gymnastics last week. She has been so afraid of doing anything that required any kind of height, so this was a big deal for her. Of course it would be a better photo if she were looking at the camera, but the picture is taken from behind the glass from the viewing room that overlooks the gym, so I had to snap while I could and hope it turned out halfway decent.

Much Stress = Little Stitching

Just a general update from me:

There was massive blood letting at work on Friday. About 50% of the contractors in the area I sit were cut from the company I'm placed at. It was a really tough week. I was told on Tues. that the contractor that reports to me and one other from my writing group were going to get the ax. I wasn't allowed to say anything though - they only told me so that I could make sure all the work was backed up somewhere and such. I was pretty troubled by that alone, but when Friday came and lots and lots of contractors across the company all found out it was their last day that was really hard. Also on Tuesday I found out from my contracting agency that someone who was "benched" (we are all on salary so we get paid when we don't have a placement, otherwise known as being "benched") had to be let go because there were no forseeable placements for him. He was a friend with two young kids at home and his wife is a SAHM, so I felt really bad for him.

Of course much of this news came on Tues - right when we were trying to negotiate the offer on the house. It definitely influenced us not to be as flexible with our price. No use buying a bigger house if I'm getting layed off and cannot make the payments. There is rumor at work that they are going to be getting rid of all the "local" (non-offshore) contractors over the next several months. It is just rumor, but it makes sense that is where they would cut if more cuts are needed so I'm not feeling very secure. Then again, I know my department has more work than it can handle and technical writing does not lend itself well to offshore contracting (not that they won't try to do it anyway though).

So DH and I are weighing the options with the house. Right now we still have it on the market. I'm not afraid to sell - we can rent for about what our mortgage is now. I am worried about buying bigger and having a larger payment though. We might go ahead and sell, and then wait to see what happens (if we are even lucky enough to sell that is). We'll save whatever we make on the sale and buy when and if we feel my job is secure enough. I hate to think this way, and I know some who read my blog are Obama fans, but some of the economic decisions being made right now have me thinking home prices are only going to plummet for the next while. Might be smart to sell at a reasonable price now (again if possible) and buy even lower in a year or so. We know the house we are in now is not our "forever" house, so there is no fear of "losing it" to a buyer.

So stressing over all of the above means that I've gotten almost no stitching done recently. I do have some progress on "Hen Party" for the SAL I've been doing with Holly and Susan, but it seems silly to show a WIP pic for such a small design. I will post a pic when I finish it, which should be soon.

The bright spot? I'm still going to Celebration - no matter what - and I've picked out my classes. I'm taking:

Bumbling Bullions (always wanted to learn bullions properly)
Make it/Take It
Both RRs
Mary Queen of Scots sampler
Hardanger Intermediate Techniques

A lot of classes for 3 days I know, but I don't know when I'll get another opportunity to go to one of these, so I want to take what interests me.