city daily photo

i love these daily photo blogs, and i would love to do one, but i think it might be kind of odd and difficult. novato daily photo? elk grove daily photo? is elk grove really that exciting and interesting? would anyone even care that much? my guess is likely not. and could i even find enough interesting things in elk grove to photograph every single day? also, i don't think i am that disciplined to post every single night. i mean, man. that's like a full time job.

so in the meantime, i will just enjoy the ones (eric's paris daily photo is my favorite) that other people maintain.

waiting

man, this sucks. we have encountered an fha glitch with our loan and hud will not give us a special waiver. so we cannot close for 6 more weeks. which means we get to continue living in this disaster i call our apartment.

on the plus side, we still get our house, eventually.

and all my sewing stuff and books are already packed.

commit me to a mental institution, please

this is what my dining room currently looks like:

and the rest of my house is not much better. please Lord, let it be over soon. (only 9 more days!)

quitters prosper

saturday the 19th marked eleven tobacco-free months for my husband!! i am so insanely proud of him, i cannot even tell you. he is such an amazing man. way to go, baby!

my protestant work ethic is failing me

wow, buying a house is hard work. especially one's first house.

we had our inspection yesterday, which went well. the inspector said he had not seen a house so perfect, with so few issues, in over a year. the worst problems are a burned-out light bulb in the attic and the screen door for the kitchen slider is missing. and a trickle in the upstairs bathroom toilet that brian can easily fix.

we also went and purchased our appliances yesterday and i am so unsure. (i feel rather unsure about most things these days.) i feel good about our fridge... it is an lg french-door fridge that is well-rated by consumer reports. but the washer and dryer i am not sure about and i think we will return them and get the whirlpool duet front-loader that i was originally considering. the county and the utility companies are giving a combined $375 in rebates which makes them less than the ge ones we bought yesterday.

and damn was that ever a lot of money. i mean, i know in the long run it will be cheaper - the washer and dryer will be paid for inside of two years with the money we will save in laundry quarters. (i spend about $10+ a week on laundry quarters! good Lord.) and those rebate checks will be nice. but still, it is a lot to shell out all at once.

and i still have to figure out movers, packing, getting gas/electricity/phones/water turned on, trash collection, cleaning our old apartment, packing... man this is exhausting. it almost makes me want to just stay in our apartment for the rest of our lives. almost.

nothing. absolutely nothing.

i realized this weekend that i will have no time for sewing for approximately the next 8 weeks. i figure that is how long it will take us to get packed, moved, to clean the apartment, start my new job, and get unpacked and settled at the new house. ugh. so my pretty linens and brocade and lino and the other wonderful projects i have planned in my head will have to sit until then. i long to sew.

i hate packing.

will sew for food

my current project is simplicity 4045, a simple bias sheath with a scooped yoke, gathers at the center front, and small (almost capped) sleeves - with a simple thigh-to-knee length collarless, lapel-less jacket/coat. my mother sent me a couple yards of a lovely red/gold brocade that i think would be a beautiful coat, and i got a light, pretty brown linen for the dress. i lovelovelove linen and i think this will end up to be quite a nice three-season ensemble. however i have no idea when i am going to get time to sew as we are scheduled to close on the new house in four weeks, with all the insanity that goes with that.

the upshot is that i will have my very own sewing/crafty room in the new house. i cannot wait. i will finally have a decent-sized table to sew at instead of moving the laptop off the computer desk to clear space for my machine. it is quite possible that i could even have my sewing machine and serger out on my sewing table at the same time. (that is, if i can figure out how to thread the serger.)

i'm thinking i want to get started supplementing my income with sewing projects, so i'm putting myself out there: i will sew for you. i would like to stay away from alterations as they frustrate me and give me a stomachache, but i will do them depending on the alteration. i will not slip patterns (i would shop for an existing pattern to use). so if you want something custom made for you, please let me know at willsewforfood@comcast.net.

chasing the american dream

omg, we are in contract to purchase our first home. i am excited and terrified all at the same time. in approximately one month we will be the proud new owners of this:

and all the maintenance that comes along with it.