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Tender and Secret Pal

3 Jul

So last night the real estate agent came over to discuss the whole tender thing. Steve and I had a figure in mind, after talking with the valuer, and I was ready to just sign the papers and be done with it, but there was so much else to talk about: what percentage do we offer as a deposit, do we let them pick a settlement date earlier than the standard month, do we offer to take the rest of the stuff from the house (save them from cleaning up), etc. etc. etc.? It was surprisingly more difficult than I’d imagined – Steve’s conflicted about really wanting the place but not wanting to spend a ridiculous amount just to get it. I figure if it’s in our budget, and somewhere in the vicinity of what the valuer suggested, then we should go for it. In any case, of course the real estate agent had to talk up the price, and then left us with the papers to “think about it overnight”. A cunning ploy, if ever there was one.

I hate this closed tender crap.

What else…. oh yeah. I finally signed up for Secret Pal 11. I’ve been wanting to do it for ages but always heard about it when it was too late. Thanks to the very cool Google Reader, I subscribed to SP10, and caught the recent announcement about the next one. It’s not starting for a good while yet, but hey, I wasn’t going to miss out again! I hope I get a good pal.

I finished Nicola’s “fetching“s (pictures to come) and have finally got back to working on Rowan’s “Hike” (see here) that I started back in 2005. Once that’s done I need to finish my “Rosa” by Louisa Harding (here) that I also started a while back (in green, not pink).

Then there’s more spinning to do, the new Harry Potter game to review, a research essay to write……

Big time catch-up

26 Jun

Jeez, it’s been a little while. Things have been so busy, it’s not funny!

Steve & I have found a place that we’re going to make an offer on. It’s up for tender and we’ve no idea what anyone else is going to be bidding, but we’re going to go for it. So we’ve been going back and forth to the property (with the real estate guy, Noel) to go through it with a builder, Steve’s mate Scott (the plumber), the valuer (tomorrow) and a trip to the open home with Daph & Graeme. We’ve also been back and forth to the bank a couple times but have got our pre-approval sorted out now. The tender’s next week, so we’re gonna be crossing our fingers till then!

I’ve been trying to find a new job for ages, and finally got one! It’s with a software company in town (Intergen), doing software testing. They’re a really cool, young, growing, go-places sort of place. It has a really good vibe and some of my friends (Brent, Simon & Nathan) already work there and say it’s a great place to work. My last day here is the 20th of July, which is weird, but also feels really really good.

I’ve been doing a little bit of crafty stuff lately, including spinning, knitting, and making lip balms! The spinning and knitting are my own hand-dyed (and hand-spun) stuff, which always feels wonderful, while the lip balm making is pretty new. I read up about it on Majestic Mountain Sage but then found out they don’t ship liquids overseas. So then I went back and ordered some basics off TradeMe, and got the rest (flavour oils, cute little containers) from Escentials of Australia. They were really good to deal with – they rang me from Aussie when I had typed in my credit card details incorrectly, and the goodies arrived in only a couple of days.

I’ve also got my research essay I have to complete as soon as I can (especially if the house goes through, cause we’d be doing a fair bit of renovating before we moved in) – 10,000 words by October. Ideally I’d like to get it done before then, so naturally I’ve been spending all my time reading the Robin Hobb Assassin books (nearly through book number three!) which are totally compulsive reads.

I really do need to get through my huge stash of fleece and wool that’s threatening to take over one corner of my little study. I’ve got one big bag in particular, that I was hoping to spin in the grease. I haven’t been able to find a lot of information on the net about it, cause most people tend to like spinning white fluffy fleece. I just want to try it out and see what it’s like (though I hear it clogs up your spinning wheel’s orifice just a tad)! Plus I see the listings in my Etsy shop have expired. Whoops. Better get spinning again.

Lopi, lopi, lopi!

22 Sep

This is a slightly obsessive sort of entry, but I’ve really been obsessing about these Lopi patterns, at the Camilla Valley Farm website. They’re just so pretty!

So pretty

so sweet!

looks so cozy!

They just look so cozy… nevermind the fact that we’re racing into Spring already!

Heading up north

24 Aug

Yep, heading up north in an hour and twenty minutes. We’re leaving work an hour early and driving up to Taupo for a nice long weekend – the world mountainbike champs are on in Rotorua (Steve‘s got the link on his blog), and we’ve got tickets! Forecast is for rain though, and the Desert Road’s been closed for the past few days due to snow and ice. It’s only just re-opened today, so here’s hoping we can get through without too much trouble.

I’m taking books, some pretty wool and alpaca I’ve just spun recently (just to show off) and some socks that I’ve started knitting from this wool I dyed and then spun myself. It’s really an incredible feeling to make something from scratch, no matter what it is. I love it. Taking polyprops and my raincoat too.

Feeling sleepy. Had a nice kebab from this great place on the Terrace called Daniel’s. I don’t know a lot more about it, aside from the fact that their felafels have mint and other fresh herbs in them, and the food tastes a lot more…real than other places. Poor Steve and Brent got suckered in with an email Simon sent out this morning about how Chow Main Cube was having their first birthday, and were celebrating with $5 lunches. They both queued up and got their cheap lunches…an hour later! I got a kebab instead, and Simon, coming down the road from Unisys, saw the queue and made the quick decision that maybe Chow Main Cube would be better for dinner after all, hehe.

Last night we went back to Flying Burrito Brothers for dinner (and frozen margheritas). We had the pork crackling and salsa verde again (heart attack food! but so good!) and some pretty little tortilla and mole chicken starters. Steve had the enchilladas and I had more Mole Chicken that in the end I couldn’t finish. It was beautiful though.

Oh my god, I forgot to mention this earlier. Colette and David are going to be taking part in this year’s supercar rally. Even though they’re the official photographers, they are still getting a Maserati to drive! Lucky bums!

cable TV, maybe.

21 Feb

Steve and I are thinking signing up for Telstra’s “threefold” package: phone, cable TV and broadband. The price isn’t too bad, not when we split it between the two of us. In some ways though, I’m a bit scared as I’ve never paid for anything like Sky or cable before. Yes, I know, most people do it, and only receiving one channel (Channel One) is a bit lame, especially when the reception is still pretty bad. If we had cable we could watch sports without feeling like we had to go to the pub. And we could watch all the other crap that everyone talks about at work (and I have no idea what the hell they are on about). And maybe I could splash out and get the Rialto channel. It’s actually affordable, now that I will be living with someone else – and good reception would be a bizarre experience.

Simon’s away sick again today, so I’ve cancelled all the meetings we had lined up. Nice one. Things have been so quiet this week I’ve really been doing little but messing around with the blog, surfing, and doing soduku. Erk.

Oh, and yesterday my wool arrived from Jimmy Bean’s. Unfortunately they’d only sent ten balls instead of the eleven I’d ordered. Hm. I’ve emailed them to ask if they can send the other ball, but haven’t heard anything back yet. I’m afraid to start on my sweater until I’ve got all the wool I need.

Pain. In. Arse.
::::

what I’m reading:

Pitchfork’s looking at the relationship between the persona and the person.

The latest release of interviews at the Paris Review (now up to the 1970s).

Readymade.

OMG, what’s going on with this guy.

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