Rachael

We have keys.

Know what that means? We have a HOUSE. A real, house-house. Seriously, words can’t even start to say how we feel. And Lala liked it! Loved it! She hadn’t seen the inside until this morning, trusting that I’d made a good choice (oh, the pressure). We actually don’t take possession until tomorrow at noon, and the ex-owners (that means we’re the new ones!) were there, the house full of boxes and furniture. But even picking around all that, Lala loved it. Hooooray! Can you IMAGINE if she hadn’t? She would have, even if it were a dump, but it’s not, and she’s thrilled, and I’m over the moon. (She actually said the other day that she couldn’t be happier if she won the lottery. I said that was silly, because then she could buy a house. She said, yes, after she bought a house with the lottery, THEN she’d be the same level of happy as she was with buying our house. I love that.)

Now I must pack. I am SO behind, and I have about half of a day to get the rest of the condo packed. Movers don’t come until a week from today, but I’m working, and I want us to paint a bit before the move, and the ‘rents are coming tomorrow to see the empty house, and and and and. All good stress! Day-um.

We have a HOUSE! Oy. Joy. I am overklempt.

Also, we have a dog the size of a coffee-cup:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!
Thank you, for all your crossed fingers and dpns. Thanks, with all our hearts. More pics to come, as the movin’-in continues…..

I’ve had the fuckin’ hiccups for the last hour. I hate the hiccups. I hiccup big, and I can’t talk while I’m hiccupping because I make the BIG noises when I do. Luckily, I don’t have to talk right now. But they last a day or two, off and on, when I get them, about twice a year.

OHMIGOD. They just stopped.

This is after:

*drinking water upside down over the sink

*a spoonful of sugar

*two matches dropped in water, water sipped
(I made big waitress tips off that one, back in the day)

The winning method:

*Mom’s tried and true fingertips-to-fingertips over the head, breath-held trick. Trust the little mama.

What’s your trick?

I keep wanting to post, but it’s been so crazy and busy and all o’that good stuff. I’m feeling a little off today — not sure if it’s a cold or allergies, but feeling funny. So I’m going to bed early and I’m going to sleep.

But first I have to send you over to take a listen to the Shut-Ins. They’re the band we’re having for the wedding, because Lala said she wanted them and that’s good enough for me. I know one of the lead singers, Mike Roper, and I adore him, but I’d never heard them until the other night, when I realized we’re going to have a PARTY with them there. They freakin’ rocked. I loved them. Hulabilly, baby. Whoreshoe-Joni actually called Lala that afternoon and said she had tickets to the Violent Femmes, did Lala want to go? Lala said that we were going to hear the Shut-Ins, and Joni said, "The SHUT-INS?! Oh, that’s where *I’M* going." And she did. They’re that great. Go listen. Enjoy.

Dude, dude, dude.
DUDE!

We signed the loan docs. The next thing on the list to do with the realtor is meet her there next Friday (or Saturday, depending on the sellers) and get the keys. Things could still go wrong (why do I find the need to remind myself of that?), but the chances of them going wrong are very slim now. It would basically be the sellers backing out that could kill escrow, and since they’re all packed up (we’ve been peeking), I doubt that will happen. Oh, please, let us have the house that we’re in love with……

Ohmigod ohmigod, I think we’re really gonna move. I would be out-of-this-world excited to be moving in with Lala, period. But to be moving into Our House, it’s like nothing I can describe. A good way to start a life together, eh?

But that means I have to pack. I started that last night. I started, as you would, with the yarn because 1) it takes up the most room and is therefore the most visually significant and 2) it’s the most fun to pack. Of course, when that fun is over, as it is, then you have to get down to the crap packing, which I do. Sigh.

Also, I thought I had less yarn. Quit laughing. I haven’t bought yarn (in excess) in a long time. Really. And I’ve been using stash! Why do I still have so much?

    Stash-face

Stash:

    Cat in foreground for scale

    Guitar for scale. That’s a BIG bin.

Also yesterday, after we signed and then went and took that official photo seen above, we got sushi to celebrate. AND we went to the Big Longs at 51st and Broadway and found the food of the gods (Cheryl pointed me there, and god, do I love her for it).

Oh, yes. They’re here. It was SUCH A GOOD DAY.

Hi. My name is Rachael. And I’m a plain ole sock-knitter.

I do mean plain ole. For the life of me, I can’t knit a fancy sock. I can knit a fancy sweater, sure. Bring it on. But socks? It’s like time stops and I all I feel is annoyance.

I bought Nancy Bush’s gorgeous Knitting Vintage Socks. Started one of them, got from the top to the heel and just wanted to spit. Put it away.

But I love the IDEA. I don’t think I’d ever understood it before, but then I got the BEST pair of socks in a swap from Siow Chin and I got it.

(Sorry for the crap photo — this is the best I could do in the bathroom light — they only looked good against the laundry, and I’m tired of waiting until they’re clean and dry to photograph, since I always seem to wearing, washing, or drying them.)

Lacy socks are the best. They make your feet feel sexy, even without a pedicure. I love love love them. (Pattern is from the same book, btw.)

So I knew I needed to make some, even after I’d gotten mightily tired of knitting the vintage pattern. Too wide. Too long. Too much lace already! I decided to switch it up. I took some koigu, cast on with my regular toe, added a stitch pattern from Barbara Walker, just across the top, made my reg’lar short-row heel, and continued up with the lace, now going all the way around. Couldn’t be easier!

Or more irritating. Gah.

I think I’m just a knitter that likes having to look down as little as possible, since I’m always doing something WHILE I’m knitting, and lace socks are fiddly. Fiddlesticks. At least with cables you have great long rows of NOTHING going on, and only have to glance occasionally. I was ready to throw these socks away (really) until a friend mentioned that I should make ankle-socks. Oh, bless her.

Cute! And done! One more sock to make, but it’s already half-way to the heel, just this afternoon. Oh, yeah. This is more like it. Fickle me. (And I’ve finished making the yarn for the rest of the handspun sweater, but it just won’t dry in this damp air. Almost there.)

There. Aren’t you proud of me? A whole post about KNITTING? Can I be excused for the rest of the month?

Now. How beautiful is my future sister-in-law Won-Ju? (Go see her new art (including cards!) — it’ll knock you out.)

(Yes, I know the shawl is lace. It’s bigger. Different. Right?)

    PS – Hello, New Zealand reader! Isn’t that counter on the right cool? Somehow now I feel like people are popping by to say hello….. Would you like some coffee? Tea? A cocktail?

So because Rabbitch will die if I don’t say anything about the house and SOON, I will just say that my realtor is optomistic. He was, in fact, VERY optomistic, saying the loan docs are done and there’s no problem. Isn’t that what they say right before a problem?

Lala and I are slowly realizing that there’s a better chance than not that we’ll get to buy this house. (!!! — that’s the sound of the top of my head coming off in sheer amazement and outright disbelief.)
If we DO get it (how many more days? 12 or 13?), then things happen like paint! And boxes! And movers, because god bless it, no matter how poor we are, I hate moving and movers are angelic sweaty beings whom I worship blasphemously. And being together at the end of the day. One tube of toothpaste. That kind of thing.

I’ve never lived with anyone else besides family. Did you know that?
…..

…..
            
           those dots up there show where my brain just shut down. Done. I’m taking a bath and getting up in six hours, so that’s all she wrote for tonight.
But oh! I’ve been writing a bit! Gold stars for everyone.

https://rachaelherron.com/so_because_rabb/