Contract

We have a contract on the house! The Idiot finally made an offer that we'd accept and signed the contract a week ago. Earnest money was deposited. He has to close by the 26th but is aiming for the 14th.

And.......I have a cyber-stalker. If I ever get the energy I'll write about her. It's truly a bizarre story.

UPDATE: 11-11-10--Tom just asked me who my cyber-stalker was. I cannot remember!!! It's driving me crazy!

Still crossed and getting crosser

It's been a long few days here in Idiot Wants to Buy a House for Far Less Than Owner Is Willing to Take land.

The guy has to be out of his house by June 14, so he wants to start moving things into our house. By the 12th. Without even signing a contract or closing or anything.

Every time that Tom talks to him, he changes the price he's willing to pay. Up, down, up down updown. He knows what we'll take. Tom is tired of dealing with him, so it's back to the real estate agent who doesn't know what she's doing. He's complained to her boss; we'll see how that plays out. That woman does not deserve $50 for selling that house.

We figure that it costs about $14,000 a year to just let the house sit: mortgage, insurance, taxes, electricity, gas for heating. We're willing to take much less than we originally priced the house 9 months ago, but we're not willing to lose money on the deal.

That's where that stands.



In other news, I finished my Petrie on Saturday. No photos yet; the creeping crud I caught a week ago has turned into bronchitis and I wasn't exactly a ball of fire this weekend. Petrie ended up being a little snug, which I kind of expected, because I wasn't sure how the measurements worked; measured under the bust or over? That makes a big difference. I went with under, didn't work. IF I lose those 25 pounds, it might work out. Anyway, the yarn knit up wonky again, it twists the entire thing at an angle, even before it was sewn together. I had that problem when I used the yarn for the Tropical Tee. Blocking doesn't help.

So I started another one, this time using Feza Cayenne, I think. I bought 19 balls in assorted colors back in the winter at $1 a ball, and it should take about 4.5 balls.

I love the way Petrie knit up. It's easy and quick in spite of having to sew the side seams. The first one is a little too big in the armholes, so I'm taking them down an inch. I'd added 1" to the length, so now I'll add 2" to make up for that loss in the arms. This yarn is worsted weight instead of DK, so I'm using a slightly larger needle but knitting the same size as before, hoping it'll end up a little bigger. We'll see.

Nothing going on in the job-hunt front. If the house sells it won't be quite as crucial to have a job waiting for me, but I'll still need one.

It's wait and see, all around.



*UPDATE* The Idiot called twice this morning, first to make an offer of the amount we'll actually take, then almost immediately after to retract that offer. Huh.

My rounds

Friday started The Week of Doctor Visits for me. I put off making doctor appointments as long as I possible can, because I hate making phone calls. The appointments themselves don't bother me that much. But the phone calls.....

So a couple of weeks ago I made a bunch of calls one right after another and set up a mammogram (I swear I had one a few years ago, but their records go back 10 years....), a physical (so I can get my drugs), an appointment with my retinologist, and one with a head surgeon to remove a cyst on my head. Right on the very top of my head. I bet it'll leave a bald spot.

The new digital mammogram is so much more comfortable than the old film one, even though it squeezes every bit as hard. So that's one down.

Tuesday I saw the head doctor about the cyst. Seems they run in families, and we're one of the lucky ones. That'll be removed on Tuesday morning. Yesterday was Retinologist Day, and, as it turned out, Long Needle Stuck in My Eye Day. That pesky ol' Wet Macular Degeneration is acting up again so I got another Lucentis injection. See, the good thing about that blind spot in the center of my left eye is that I can't see the needle coming at it.....

Joan met me at the office and drove us to lunch at Olive Garden afterward. We had a nice, leisurely lunch, until I could see again, then we went our separate ways home. How about that; a needle in the eye at 1:45, drive home at 4:45. Without an accident, at that.

Already my vision is better than it was yesterday. When I made the appointment my vision felt the same as it has since the last checkup 15 months ago (because I'm so bad at making appointments after I cancel one), but Friday I felt like something wasn't quite right, and it's a good thing the appointment was so soon afterward. I'll have another injection on June 17, then on the 18th Betty, Joan, and I will leave for Florida, where we'll spend a few days at the beach before Betty and Joan fly home and I spend a few days with Jennifer and kids in Orlando, then on to my new life in the Keys.

This afternoon my eye is achy, but the scratchiness that is usually pretty painful after an injection just lasted a couple of hours, not until I went to sleep last night, as it usually does. Maybe my eyeball is getting tougher. I didn't take as much percocet as I usually do, either, and no xanax before the procedure. Most of the time I spend the night with Mom and Dad after the injection so I don't have to drive home that evening, or Tom drives me, but they're all in Florida now so Joan and I just hung around for a while. And it was nice.

In an hour I have to be at the doctor's office to wait for my physical. There must be 50 doctors in that practice and they're all running late all the time. The waiting room is always filled with sick people spewing germs all over everyone else. I've had to wait as long as 3 hours for my doctor (ONLY because I was out of cough syrup and I have to appear in person to beg for another month's supply); the shortest time was maybe half an hour. Once. I hate that place. I'm hoping that this will be my last visit there ever. Maybe this time I can share my allergies/cold/bronchitis/whatever the hell I've had this week with my peers in that waiting room.

I think that's my first illness this year. I had some bug a while back, but since Christmas I've avoided colds. I hate colds. I get very angry when I have one. I don't know why. The flu doesn't make me angry, maybe because it's acceptable to stay home when you have it. But a damn cold can hang on forever and I just don't have that much sick leave.

Because I'm saving it to take off early for the beach. And my new life. In the Keys.



P.S. Cross your fingers, legs, and eyes; we're negotiating with a man who really, really wants to buy our WV property; he just doesn't want to pay enough for it. We might just persuade him to see things our way, then we'll be FREEEEEEEE! of a mortgage. Not much left over to work on our place in the Keys, but enough to save each month to get things done.

Quick update

Two weeks in Florida, lovely (if somewhat cooler than usual) weather, work around The Cat House, lots of FaceBook time on the Crack (and utter irritation for several days when the Crackberry network was down and no one had told me about it) (by no one I mean RIM, of course, the people who own the company), walks around our new neighborhood, observing the wildlife, playing with grandkids, floating in a warm pool on Christmas night, three days of driving seven hours a day each way (my butt cheek gets numb, okay?), living in our place in the Keys, having to leave and come home, then the little surprise of finding 6" of ice and snow on our driveway in WV, two weeks after it snowed and over a week since a minor ice storm, not being able to drive up the driveway, cracking the front bumper of our less than 2-months-old Prius, getting stuck and having to walk uphill to the house in the dark in the snow and ice and 10 degree temperature with 40 mph winds while wearing clogs because one doesn't need real shoes in Florida even in the winter with no depth perception in the dark and faulty balance on a smooth surface on a sunny day while trying to balance several large tote bags on my shoulders and falling down and losing a clog while screaming "WHY ME?" (or something like that only a lot more profane) at the cold stars as I sat on the ice without one shoe not being able to balance enough to stand up to look for the damn shoe and Zippy had run ahead up to the house and was patiently barking at the front door for someone to let him into the nice warm house while I was crying and snotting without any tissues halfway up the driveway thinking that I was going to die within sight of my own house and no one would ever find me and a bear might eat my barely-frozen carcass and it's all because I can't move to Florida until we sell our house in WV or I get a good-paying job in Florida which isn't likely this time of year (either one) then the next morning I called the guy with the tow truck who came after daylight to pull the car out of the ditch (where I almost took out the side of the new car by getting this---------->close to a huge bolt on a fence post) then dragged my crap back down to the car after deciding that I was not going back to that house until the spring thaw or June, whichever comes first then still being stuck in the damn driveway about 6' from the actual road and spending half an hour trying to get the car that six feet while getting this------->close to the For Sale sign in the ditch by the road until a nice man took pity on me and pulled me out of the driveway and I will not go back to WV until I'm sure that I can make it up that damned driveway and last night my shoulder muscle spasmed and Betty had to help me to bed because it was agonizing to move and it hurt so bad I didn't sleep well even after taking some percocet or something like that so today I went to the doctor who prescribed a muscle relaxant that shouldn't make me dopey but sort of has so I'm going to go to Betty's house and take another one and see if I can sleep.

*deep breath*

Zippy and I are living with Betty for a while.

Stolen sign?

Notsomuch.

Turns out it was removed by a WV state road crew because it was in their easement.

They couldn't simply toss it closer to the fence, or leave a note explaining.

They just took it.

Another one is now in place away from their easement.

Getting ready

Less that two weeks. That's how much time until we know if we'll own The Cat House.

I just bought Tom's airfare. This is the first time that Orbitz has had the best deal, what with that price guarantee thingy where they'll refund the extra if anyone else books the same flight through them for less. Yeah, it's a crapshoot, but since Travelocity and others offered the same fare without the guarantee, I went with Orbitz.

Because I did the booking and because I could.

Strangely enough, it is less expensive to fly out of Charlottesville than either Roanoke or Richmond, on these particular dates. Ch'ville is only an hour from work, while Richmond is 2.5 hours and Roanoke is around 1.75 hours. It's a smaller airport and easy to get to. I've only flown into/out of there once, and while I'm not nuts about flying on a puddlejumper, I'll do it.

It would have cost over $550 to fly from the airport closest to us. So, no.

So things are falling into place. We spent the long weekend working on our deck (which is SO nice to have!) and packing/getting rid of things. It's finally starting to show; rooms are looking bigger and moderately less junky. I've gotten rid of tons of clothes that don't fit or that I'll never wear ever again. All kinds of kitchen stuff is going. Got an extra? Mercy House or Goodwill. Ugly clothes? Same. Nana's table/chairs and china cabinet? Give to Liz. Midge? Joan'll take her in and care for her. (I honestly thought that I'd given her to Joan oh these many moons ago.) Christmas ornaments? Grandkids, whether they want 'em or not.

It's a royal pain, but it's gonna be worth it.

Some maroon stole our for-sale sign that was next to our driveway. WTF? I mean, I know it's West Virginia and people may have a different definition of "fun" than normal people do, but unless it's needed for patching that hole in the outhouse roof, not cool.

Knitting: Ten pattern repeats without too many screwups. They're there, but I'm pretending that no one will notice them. Still going with Spring Tulips (sorry, Elaine!) with markers every freaking 8 stitches. It's the only way I can make it come out even near right. At the end of this week, I'll pick a winner for the pattern contest since I'm using one I'd already come up with.

Huntin' season again

Here it is again, already. This time of year, the boy deer leave the herds and band together to hunt for girl deer, with the bigger, stronger boy deer getting the prettiest girls. Molly disappeared about a month ago; he was bigger than Shorty and either left to join the boys or otherwise left us. I hope he joined the big boys.

Last night the big girls and the babies came for dinner without Shorty, who's usually the first one in line, along with little Kelly. I happened to glance out the side window and saw this:

He doesn't look real, does he? I swear he looks like one of those fake deer that hunters put in their yards for target practice. He's been glimpsed by us before, but we never got a good look at him. I doubted that I'd actually seen him at all, just dreamed him.

But there he was, watching the girls eat. He walked carefully around the front yard, which made the girls very nervous. He didn't seem uncomfortable at all, but he wouldn't come up to eat with the rest of the group.

He stood behind the tree and sniffed the air.

Then the smallest of the babies followed him away from the herd. This baby is very skittish all the time, so I couldn't believe that she'd leave her mommy to follow this big unknown daddy deer. Her mommy was perturbed, but not perturbed enough to stop eating, just stamped and snorted a bit.



A bit later, Shorty and another male (one we haven't seen before) showed up.


I hope they all stay close by.

Driving along the backroads of West Virginia

We came upon this domicile.

(Enlarge for full effect.)

The dog couldn't be bothered to drop his chew toy (at least, I hope that's what it was), but he was very vocal. He's got some very valuable turf to protect.

And I bet that car ain't used on no farm, neither.

I'm jealous. We ain't got no camper trailer.

Fat and sassy

No cracks about dinner, please. I get touchy about that.

And it's the middle of October!

Not that I'm complaining.

My weekend

Gorgeous weather, nice and sunny and warm. Kind of end-of-summer warm, with the trees turning color and the threat of frost soon. I think that this is the latest we've gone without frost for a long while. I hope it continues. I'm enjoying my geraniums.

I gave the SAT on Saturday morning, which is good for about $100. It takes about 6 hours, but it's worth it. Then we went home after eating in a pizza place that we've always liked but seems to have lost its charm (what little it had). If you like observing the people who come out of the boonies on a Saturday afternoon, it's a good place.

I'm on Cipro for 10 days for yet another UTI, and it's doing a number on me. At least, I hope that's what it is. I've felt like someone pulled the plug on me, just totally drained. The first thing I did was check my lips and gums; they're not white, so I guess it's not stomach bleeding again.

So basically I slept all day Saturday after we got home. I had a low-grade fever, so I couldn't get comfortable; either too hot or two cold. I didn't even go outside in the sun, although it would have done my vitamin D levels some good. I got up and ate a little supper then went back to bed. Tom was up and down as well. I slept until 12:30 on Sunday, then ate breakfast and went outside for a while. The sun felt so good; the sky was an incredible cloudless blue.

After that, I forced myself to mop the hardwood floor, then plopped on the couch and knit for the next few hours.

I restarted my wrap during the SAT (on size 10 needles this time) and got about 11 inches done, at which time I remembered that I was supposed to make a buttonhole at 10". Oh well, I'm tall. By the time I went to bed last night (around 7) I'd knit one ball of yarn and Tom had helped me wind the second. All was well as I wound it (I'd draped the hank over my knees, as usual, because 1) it's too much trouble to get up and get the swift and winder; and 2) neither fit on any surface in the house) until it caught on something and started tangling. Zippy sat in front of me and woofed every few seconds; I kept telling him to lie down since he'd just been outside. He continued woofing, I looked down, and there was Chester the Cat entangled in the yarn.

I should always listen to Zippy.

So that was my thrilling weekend. This morning I once again feel brochitis coming on. I'm so happy about it.

And someone (and I know who) came into my office on Saturday and rearranged the copying jobs that I'd prioritized before I left Friday and left her stack (and I mean enough pages to kill a forest) on top with ASAP written on each job. Saturday morning, during the SAT, I came into my office to run a job, found her pages, and rearranged them in my order. A couple of hours later, her things were back on top. I am so irritated.

To top it all off, several pages that have to be copied by tomorrow, 1400 pages each for the school's newsletter, had disappeared. They were on top of the stack on the printer that had also been rearranged. I've ransacked my office and they're nowhere to be found. Probably they're stuck to something she sat down and picked up. This caused a ripple of panic and a frantic attempt to get copies of the last four pages, which hadn't been saved on the secretary's computer because they were sent by someone else.

But we managed to get the copies, all is well, and she hasn't shown her face to pick up her ASAP copies (enough for the entire six weeks, come to think of it; there's no way her classes could go through all that stuff in one morning). And if she does, they won't be ready. Because I'm passive-aggressive like that.

In case you're wondering

I forgot to upload photos of our new floor. It was conveniently installed while we were in California. We still have only gotten the tv, sofa, and loveseat back into the living room. Everything else (except most of my yarn, which I need to go through to find contest prizes) is in our guest room; there's no room in there for any guest! We've got to take care of that so that Tom's daughter can stay there when she comes up.

It's hickory. Natural light:

Hall light:

I really like it. And Zippy does some really funny turns on it.

Hanna

When Hanna pushed through our skies last night, she didn't leave much rain, but she gave us some beautiful colors. Even a rainbow. Everything was infused with a soft, golden light.

Turkey crossing

Newest member of the herd

Kelly.

A decided that unisex names are a better bet, since we tend to give them names of the wrong sex.

There are two more babies around, but we've only seen them twice. Kelly hangs around with Molly and Shorty, the two yearling males that stayed here. It amazes me how early the moms send the babies off on their own. Kelly's about 2.5 months old.

And here's Kelly (in the trees to the left of our WV bathroom) and Zippy the Wonder Dog.

Last, Kelly and buddies.

About Verizon

We live in the sticks, so our internet options are limited. 1) dialup 2) satellite 3) dsl. Number 1 is completely unacceptable now that I've had high-speed access at work and at home. We tried satellite; it's very expensive, not that fast, and every time a cloud went by the signal was dropped. So, when Verizon offered dsl in our area in January (everywhere else in the world had dsl two years ago; like I said, we live in the sticks), Tom ordered a modem and we switched over.

We've been pleased with the speed; it's better than the satellite connection was, and it hasn't gone out once. Until this weekend.

We left home Friday morning and didn't get home till 7 Sunday evening. I noticed that the lights weren't glowing on the modem. I immediately checked the computer (which had been left on all weekend); it was fine. Printer fine. Answering machine fine. Phones fine.

Back up. The phone worked. This is dsl, which comes in over the phone line. The phone line works. No dsl. The answering machine is plugged into the same outlet as the modem. Tried plugging modem into another outlet and resetting it. No lights.

Damn. That means a call to customer "service". It took me hours on hold and then talking to an actual human back in January when we installed this thing and then hooked it to the wireless router. I just didn't think I could go through that frustration again.

But. I'm working at home off and on during the summer. Without internet access, I'm screwed. I can't even check my email to see if my boss has any updates for me. So I called customer "service".

I didn't have to wait too long for a real human voice, but the stinking menu requires oral communication, not button pushing. I don't like that. I don't like phones. Talking to a computer without cursing is not easy for me. "I'm sorry, I don't understand that response" just brings forth more cursing and more "not understand"ing.

So the human was nice and very helpful; he informed me that my modem was dead (Einstein that he was) and since it was out of warranty, I'd have to WAIT A FREAKING MINUTE HERE. It's out of warranty? We've had it for 5 freaking months. We're under obligation for 12 months, and their modem craps out after 5?

So he kindly transferred me to billing where I could hash it out with a woman who spoke heavily accented English through a tin can and unwaxed string from another country. It made communication difficult, although she "feels the same as you do, ma'am" that I have to buy another freaking modem and don't think I should have to pay for it since it was ONLY FIVE MONTHS OLD and we have to keep paying for dsl through them for another 7 months. (If I want to be totally accurate, I have to say that we're going to have to keep Verizon dsl forever or until another option comes along in the next century or so.)

So the Lady of Spain checks with her manager, but even though her empathy was oozing through the tin can and string, she couldn't do anything about it. She could have a new modem to us in "only 3-5 business days". I asked if I could go to a local Verizon store and pick one up. "Oh yes, you'll have it in 3-5 business days." If I actually went in and asked for one? "Yes, in 3-5 business days. May I order one for you?" No, I'll go to Circuit City and see what they have. "Oh, but I must inform you that you'd have to have the same modem." The same modem that crapped out after only 5 months? I think not. I'll buy another brand. "Then I must inform you that Verizon cannot guarantee that this modem will work." They can't guarantee that the piece of crap they sold us earlier would work longer than three months, either. Our old wireless router that we bought when we had the satellite access installed is still working, even with Verizon's choice of modems, so I really don't see a problem using a different brand of modem.

The best thing about the call was hearing over and over, "If you don't want to wait for a human representative (my paraphrasing), you can solve all your problems by going to www.verizon.com. No amount of shouting that I couldn't go to their freaking website without freaking internet access seemed to faze the disembodied voice, either.

P. S. I'm at work now, but it's my last day until August, so the freaking internet access must be fixed. Today. I didn't realize just how freaking dependent I am on it.

Mountain road

I don't understand how trees and bushes hang on to the little bit of soil mixed in with the rocks where the road crews have blasted their way through rock. Yesterday we got caught behind a big truck going up the mountain, so I took the opportunity to take some (bad) photos of some of my favorite spots on the Virginia side.

One of these days we'll take the time to (carefully; the road is full of blind curves and idiots drive too fast) document my favorite spots on the way up the mountain on this side. It's really got some great rock formations.

Sunday afternoon

My view of the sky through one of the skylights in our living room.

Our slice of the mountain

Looking toward Virginia.

Zippy frolics on the "lawn".

Our stream.

Another view.

Whatever this is, it's really cool. I guess it's moss or (my mind has gone blank) "flowers"?

Chester covers his business. He looks a little too sublimely happy.

Mushroom forest.

The King is pleased with his kingdom.

Almost heaven

Yes, I know that the song was written about western Virginia, but I live in West Virginia and they long ago adopted the song as their own. *insert your own West Virginia joke here*

This is the road we drive twice a day. (Technically, Tom drives most of the time, but I'm in the car. Usually.) This is on the West Virginia side. The Virginia side is beautiful too, but the road's too narrow and even curvier, so it just isn't safe to stop for casual photos.

There's one spot, the last sharp curve, on the way down the mountain (where our XM radio always cuts out) that has the most beautiful rock formations that are going to come crashing down at any second, so I wanted to get some photos before they did.

I can't remember what kind of rocks these are; shale, maybe? I'm too lazy, as usual, to look them up.

If you look closely, you can see where the WV Dept. of Transportation or roads or whatever goes to great pains to cover graffiti. Out here in the sticks we've got a lot of wanna-be artists, or at least idiots who want to deface natural beauty. As soon as graffiti appears, WV sends out people to spray-paint the rocks closer to their natural color than the white or day-glo pink that Homer used to declare his love of Juniebug 4ever.

From a car, it's a lot less noticeable, but any way I look at it, it's a lot nicer to see than the obscene graffiti on the Virginia side of the mountain.

I'd show you some pics, but I'm not willing to stand in the middle of a blind curve and take them.