Finally, A Bit Of Sleep

Usually the third night is the charm and I sleep better out of sheer exhaustion!

The last few substituting days have been on the stressful side so I'm looking forward to, if not days off, at least proctoring days where I get to sit around most of the day & knit or crochet while getting paid for it! LOL

Cross your fingers, though - I don't have a job for today and I'm thinking I won't since it's the first day of testing.

In other news:

And a butterfly hot pad has been started:

This is the first side - you crochet two & then put them together. But I'm thinking I'll make 3 - 2 for a hot pad & one for a matching dishcloth. What the heck - I live to be reckless. ::wink:::

When we got home from school yesterday, the painters were sitting in their truck taking a break and the outside of the house was done! I'm glad now that I took pictures of the rental to post here. I'll take more pics today & show you what a difference brown paint made! The new houses we're competing against to sell this one are all being done in medium to dark shades of brown stucco. This new paint job makes our 30 yr. old. house fit right in. I can't tell you how updated it feels!

And the inside is gorgeous. Bright and above all: Clean! We've ordered the new countertop in a laminate that looks like gray marble. Our painter will be back to do the kitchen cabinets in gray & white to match.

In case you're wondering, the gray is my idea - gray & white is my fav color combo for a kitchen. :) With really bright, preferably red accents of course! ::wink::

Evidently our realtor stopped by yesterday and was amazed at the house's transformation. He's really taken an interest in this house, checking in with us frequently, and the only reason I can think of is that he has a buyer or two in mind.

The kids & I will be planting flowers out front this weekend and we'll be having gravel delivered too to spruce up the front.

We're still shooting for a March 15th listing date.

Then we need to get serious with our own house-hunt. We've been cruising neighborhoods and have called on a few. Of course, the ones we REALLY like are WAY out of our price range. $379,000 for a house pretty much boggles my mind, unless I've won the lottery. LOL

But dang - they sure are pretty houses. Sigh.

::grin:::

Comments

[Lisa in Oregon]

Yeah...it startled the heck out of me to see that houses with the same floor plan as my rental in our neighborhood are getting close to 200,000. Puh-Leeze! Must be joking, but they're not....

Love your dishcloth spree.... keep 'em coming!

[jillian]

I'm so glad at least part of your house woes are working out in your favor. And what's scary about the LA area - 379K won't get you a condo anymore :( It's obscene.

[Wendy]

The butterfly one is cute! I was once going to design a butterfly dishcloth and hey...now I don't have to.

We have been house hunting for the past few years and we should have bought 4 years ago. Prices were more affordable then. Now, they are ridiculous, though have dropped a small bit. Still, an average (3 bed, 2 bath) mediocre, nothing fancy house in a decent neighborhood is $325,000. In a run down neighborhood, a 2 bedroom runs around $250-270K. It is very frustrating for me and Tony and is one of the reasons why I am going back to work.

[tifffany]

I love all the dishcloths you've been making! I wish I had lots of random colors of cotton to make some! But I can't really justify buying more... esp since I have no use for them :(

Good luck on the home purchasing!

[Bron]

Thanks, Tifff. :) For me, it's a really inexpensive way to enjoy myself. For $10 I can get 7 or 8 different colors of cotton & really go to town. I never thought I'd use them either, but they kinda grow on you. After all, everyone has to clean! ::Grin::

Wendy & Jillian - I really like California, but I'd never live there just because of what you're talking about. Housing is really out of control out there & not getting any better!

Come out here, Wendy! A 3 bedroom/2 bath, very good ranch style goes for around $175,00, depending on the neighborhood. Our problem is that we're looking for 4 bedrooms, 2 living areas, at least 2 1/2 baths, etc. That hikes our price at least $50,000. Sigh.

Thanks, Lisa - I'll be dishragging 'til I drop! LOL

I'm really hoping we can get top dollar for our rental so we don't have to finance too much & still be able to afford a much bigger house. In this case, I'm hoping high home prices work in our favor!

[Nancy]

It's so funny, that is exactly what I paid for my house and it's dirt cheap here in NYC, it was frankly all we could afford.

It's not like academic retail is huge moneymaking career!