Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Status: Pending

From the Houghton Mifflin online dictionary:

pend·ing

ADJECTIVE:

  1. Not yet decided or settled; awaiting conclusion or confirmation.


  2. Impending; imminent.


And, there we are. We got an offer on our MO house on Saturday; countered on Sunday; and ironed out the (very few) issues on Monday. The reason that it took so long was that we weren't in MO, and the buyer's real estate agent was apparently on the road as well...and everything had to be done by email and fax with cellphone follow-ups. Thank heaven for technology, right?

That means that instead of being in an ACTIVE status on MLS, our house is now in a PENDING (closing) status. I happen to prefer either the definition of "awaiting conclusion" or the one of "imminent," don't you? Sounds like it's really going to happen.

The closing date is set for May 7th...good Lord willin' and the inspectors don't find much of anything wrong when they come next week. Then, we can turn our eyes toward the East...to the Piedmont of North Carolina...to High Point. Can't come soon enough...

Mr. T and I were actually in NC when all of this took place, so we were able to set up our initial meeting with our Realtor there. We told him about the houses and subdivisions we are interested in and gave him an idea of what we need...and what we'd like to have...in our next home. He seems to be a calm person...and we figure we'll need that to balance, well, one of our personalities. No names, here.

We are using an American Airline Advantage program partner called American Home Miles, to help us coordinate our realty services on both ends of this move...which means we will ultimately earn airline miles for both the sale and the purchase of our homes. Which means that I'm already planning where I'm going for vacation before I even get settled in our new abode. SOP. For me, at least.


Meanwhile, we wait. Just like Wilson (our Pot Person, pictured above, right...who will stay here in MO to guard all the flowers we planted, like the ones on the left called "Rip Van Winkle" daffodils), we wait. I hate to wait. Hate. To. Wait. But, waiting for the closing date to arrive is better than the in-limbo state of waiting for a buyer to make an offer. Infinitely better. Now, we have an end-date to the waiting. Thursday, 5/7/09.

So, to help with the tension, I've started another pair of socks (right), using a Red Heart sock yarn Missy M got me. This is a new kind of sock yarn, made with aloe vera, called "Heart and Sole," in colorway "Green Envy".

Lest you think I may have more UFO's than places to put them, please know that I finished that second Harry Potter sock...ta-da. And, I am almost half-way done with my Woven Scarf and maybe 1/4 of the way through the crocheted Prayer Shawl.

Alas, I found out the hard way that I need to have a simple knitting project on hand (say, socks) when watching the Tigers play in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Yeah! They made it to the Sweet Sixteen round and will play Missouri on Thursday. Too much excitement to pay attention to any detailed pattern changes, like the scarf has, or to doing something slowly (like I have to do with crocheting versus knitting). The scarf that I had to frog all the way back to the beginning, not once but twice, when I made a mistake due to inattention to detail. Twice. I must have something to do...and socks are the answer.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

MDBT

So, now you know. Last Tuesday, I vacuumed the house (yet again), put fresh flowers in the vases (yet again), and refreshed the cookies in the cookie canister (yet again). Yes, everything looked spic and span...all ready for that potential buyer to walk in the door and fall madly in love with the place. My work here was done.

After letting our Realtor know I'd be MIA for about a week, I packed my bag, locked all the doors, and headed off to Orlando to join Missy M for a week in the sun. It was time for our annual Mother-Daughter Bonding Trip (MDBT)!

She was attending an e-Learning conference held in Lake Buena Vista Tuesday-Friday, so I just lounged around the pool (where, even with SPF #30, my blindingly white skin turned bright pink), worked the crosswords and the sudokus, and read my latest book (a bio of Andrew Jackson by Jon Meacham called American Lion). You know, acted like I was on vacation.

Remarkably, I didn't knit a stitch (except in the airport and on the plane)...and we didn't make it to a single yarn store. Not one. Gasp!

Then, it was time to see the World...Walt Disney World, that is! We started off at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday...then to a Braves Spring Training game at Disney's Wide World of Sports and shopping in Downtown Disney on Sunday...and finished up at Disney's Hollywood Studios on Monday. Lots of changes there.

I wore my Step Counter (aka my Clicker) and registered over 25,000 steps in the 3 days we spent on the properties! [2000 steps, more or less, equal 1 mile] Wow!!

In addition to playing around with Mickey and Friends, we reacquainted ourselves with the area we left over 7 years ago (can it really be that long ago?!) by driving by the butterscotch-colored house on Jessica Lane, where there have been remarkably few (if any) changes. And, on Sunday, from a parking lot in Downtown Disney, we got to see one of the most exciting moments in the life of a central Floridian: watching the launch of the Space Shuttle (photo to right, below)!

As you can imagine, I took loads of photos on the trip. I whittled them down to a manageable amount and uploaded to my Share Page at Photoworks.com. You can see the slideshow of this album over there in the left column <<<<<<<. I also created a Photo Book...currently a work-in-progress. Feel free to enjoy at your leisure.

I have been home in MO just long enough to toss out the old flowers and replace them with fresh ones...which I've actually augmented with some from the yard. The daffodils are coming in fast & furious in this unusually warm weather we've had this week. Now, I've just got time to re-pack my bags and head back to the airport.

Where to this time, you ask? Stay tuned...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Socks, Showers, and Spring Flowers

OK...I'm definitely ready for it...Spring has arrived in MO! I got home last night, and before I even unpacked the car, I checked the front to see if any of the daffodils had opened up in the last 4 days while I was in Louisville. Hooray! As you can see from the picture (right), a few had...with more to come (see? there in the background?).


Actually...with LOTS more to come, as Mr. T and I planted 100 more daffodil bulbs late last Fall, when we divided (and expanded) all of the daylily and iris beds. Should be quite a show...for someone. I honestly hope that I am not still in MO to take photos of all the beautiful blooms in 2009. Honestly.


Oh yes, Spring is here for sure. The weather forecast is for thunderstorms, high winds, and lots of rain for this afternoon and evening. Joy. Can the sound of the tornado sirens be far behind? Oh well, hopefully the rain will bring more flowers...



On a calmer note, I wanted to post photos of my latest Finished Objects. I polished off that scarf (right) I started during the awful, terrible, horrible, very bad snow & ice storm last month. Remember? The one I was knitting by candlelight? I had enough of the Paton's SWS Soy/Wool yarn (so soft!) to do a headband to keep my ears warm...which I'm more likely to wear than a hat. Of course, I'm hoping I won't need either the scarf or the warm headband until next Winter...


And then there are the socks...






...a couple of pairs for a couple of really great friends. The ones pictured on the left are in scrumptious green yarn called "Blarney" from the Plucky Knitter...snatched, er - borrowed from Missy M's stash...just perfect for a red-haired friend with the gift of gab, wouldn't you say? Can you guess who the pair on the right went to? They are knit in the pattern "Anne's Magic Stripes" using Malabrigo yarn called "Turner," which I purchased on a recent ATL trip at The Yarn Garden in Lawrenceville, GA.


I worked up both pairs using the Two Socks on Two Circs method, meaning that I knit both socks at once with two circular needles. Yep, I'm hooked on it...I love finishing both socks at the same time. I picked up an Unfinished Object (UFO) to work on this weekend...the second sock of a pair of Opal sock yarn's colorway Harry Potter socks that I had started in January before I learned the 2 Sox on 2 Circs method...and I was bored within 15 minutes! My only motivation is that I have already finished Sock #1...and it desparately needs its mate!


So, of course, I started another project...a prayer shawl that I am crocheting. I've got both projects in my carry-on for my flight...along with another UFO (a knitted "woven-look" scarf in yummy Manos del Uruquay wool clasica "space-dyed" yarn in purples and reds) in my bag...wonder which one I'll work on?


Carry-on? Flight? Bag? Huh??? "Wonder where she's off to now?" Stay tuned...:)

Monday, March 9, 2009

There're No Friends Like _ _ _, Enduring Friends

I count myself as one of the most fortunate people in the world because I have friendships that have endured the test of time...a long time...more time than I care to admit to, actually. More than fifty years, in one case. Yowza! Isn't that just amazing?

Anne and I have known each other since my first days in Henning, where we moved to/from Memphis when I was three years old. We were in Sunday School together as tots...we attended 8 years at Henning Grammar School together...and we graduated from Ripley High School together. We went to the beach together...we were in each other's weddings...and we both have "only" daughters, born just 6 months apart. We used to talk to each other almost nightly on the phone (at least until 9:00, when it was "lights out" at her house), especially when we needed to check our Algebra homework (Mrs. Cloyes!) or our Latin homework (Mrs. Thomas!)...even though we had just spent a whole day together in classes. Of course, we've embraced email as our standard of communication these days, but the beauty of a lasting friendship like ours is that we can just pick up where we left off...even if we haven't actually talked to each other for a year or more.

I've had the opportunity to get together with Anne a couple of times in the past few weeks. Spurred on by the prospect that my impending move might mean we don't get to see each other for a while, she contacted Janie...another long-time friend, and they drove to rendevous with me at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. Now, this was the same week as that awful, horrible, terrible, very bad ice & snow storm in KY. But, as we had already postponed once, we braved the weather forecast and the roads...and had a fabulous time together! BTW, if you find yourself on I-24, going through KY, be sure to schedule some time here...it's worth it!

Anne and I also met up at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston this week...home of the throwed rolls (that's one of 'em there on the left), for anyone in the dark about this quirky southeastern Missouri destination...and talked at our table for so long after our meal was done and our gallon of tea had been consumed, that we felt obligated to double our kind waitress's tip, sort of like paying rent on the space, don't you know? Janie couldn't make it because of work, so we had to keep up the conversation without her help this time...and, of course, we didn't seem to have any problem with that assignment. That's us together in that picture (above, left)...and we were every bit as happy as to be together we appear to be.

I hope we have many more opportunities to keep our friendship fires kindled in the coming years!

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