Meet Daisy

As you know, yesterday was Roxy's birthday. Quincy and I went to the (pet) store to get her a gift. We decided that the best idea for a gift would be Daisy.

Daisy is a female Betta fish. I'd never seen a female Betta fish before. So Quincy and I thought it best to buy her for Roxy's gift. Daisy's bowl has a lid so that the girls can't pester her.
I was afraid that Andrew was going to be mad when he got home. I felt like I got myself into some Lucille Ball type of situation, but to my surprise, he was mostly ok with it. I think he was just shocked that I bought a fish for a cat's birthday.
Welcome Daisy. Now I'm off to finish knitting the baby blanket for my friend.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Roxy's 2nd birthday! I feel like she's been part of our family for much longer. She's a good cat. Or she has become a good cat. We had to get her claws taken out. It was a matter of life and death. She would attack me for my food! And she left scars! Now she's just a love bug. And she is totally a daddy's girl. She will follow Andrew around and wait for him to sit down so that she can jump into his lap. Here's to you, Roxy. Have a happy birthday!
(Imagine an instrumental version of a sappy pop song while you look at the photos...)

Quality time at home

We had a busy weekend in NY. I had a job interview. They told me that I have a job, they just don't know which floor or which shift. I would prefer days, but she told me that most people start on nights, then once they show that they do not call in sick and they are good at their jobs, then they can put in to switch to days. Then, they have to wait until a position opens up. I'll make about the same, the biggest drawback is that the nurses work every other weekend, and I'm used to working every third. :-(
We did also have the home inspection done on our house. It was nice to be able to spend so much time at the house. Anything that I forgot I was able to check out again. The inspection looked ok. There are a few things that we will need to plan on fixing, but nothing major. We met the neighbors- they seem nice.
We got a big package of mortgage paperwork from the bank which we completed and sent back.
We're on our way, but right now, I kind of feel like we're just killing time.

Adventures in knitting

Long time no knitting post. I have been distracted lately what with the house and the cold from hell, but I've still been knitting a bit. Remember how a while ago I said that I was going to start on a blanket? I have completed 2 stripes.

Pretty impressive, huh? They are long enough that the blanket will cover both Andrew and I.
My sister was pretty impressed with the purple scarf I made this winter, so I offered to make her a scarf. She likes red, so this is what I started...

Look closely- see the checkerboard pattern? It's simple to make, you just need to remember where you are and what you're doing. It's not mindless knitting, but I think it looks pretty cool.

And for my newest project...my friend, Allison is having a baby (she's due in June) and I'm making a baby blanket for her. She doesn't know what she's having (Which, by the way, is how I want it to be when I have a baby- after all that work, you deserve a nice surprise!), so here are the colors that I picked.

I wish that you could feel this yarn. It's soooo soft. In fact, the yarnis called "Simply Soft." Here's my start.

Her shower is at the end of the month. Think I'll have it finished in time? If not, I should have it done by June when she has the baby.
Just as a side note- Congratulations to the Yankees who won their Home Opener last night! Yay! Here's to a great season, boys!!

Stress has gotten the better of me

All this house buying business has been very exciting, but also very stressful. The stress had apparently knocked out my immune system, so now I am dealing with the repercussions. I have had a low grade fever the past 2 days, I have been sneezing nonstop (I literally sneezed for a minute straight...ACHOO...ACHOO...ACHOO...ACHOO for a full minute- and believe me, that's physically exhausting!), and my sinuses are berzerk! It's like my nose is a faucet, my head only feels good when I press my hands on it, and I can't hear out of my right ear. But when I blow my nose, my right ear makes a really loud squeak that only I can hear. How come this was not mentioned with all the other joys of home ownership?
But we are moving forward in the moving/house buying process. We are hoping to have a home inspection this weekend, and I have a job interview at a local hospital. I hope I'm over this cold by then. Could you imagine... "I would (sniff) really love (ACHOO) to work (Cough, cough, cough) here."
I'm going to get back to my plan of relaxing, knitting, watching tv and reading so that I can feel better sooner. Hey, maybe I'll make some chicken soup...

We got it!!

We heard from our realtor this morning and WE GOT IT!! She said that there were 2 offers very close, but the old man selling the house liked Andrew and I so much that he wanted us to have it! I always knew I was so charming!! I'd love to tell you more, but we just busted open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate! YAY!! Thanks for all your good thoughts!

The suspense builds

We heard back from our realtor yesterday. Wednesday night, there was another offer put in on the house. So the current owners are calling for best and highest offer. Whoever has the best and highest offer by 5pm tonight gets it. Our realtor said that at this point, we should offer whatever was going to be our final offer. We thought and talked and talked and thought. We can afford the payments if we got the house for asking price of $175,000. Our payments would be $200 more than our rent, but we've also been saving about 1/3 of our overall income for a down payment, so paying an additional $200 per month isn't going to break the bank.
So that's what we've decided to do. Offer the asking price of $175,000. The suspense is driving me crazy. I was supposed to work today, but it was overtime and the census is low at the hospital, so they told me not to come in. I may need to bring one of the kids on an appointment. At this point, work would be a welcome distraction.
Today is going to be a real nail biter!