Making Progress

Last time I posted, I told you of the mountains of paperwork that are required to buy a house. Didn't believe me?

Each item that you see is actually many, many sheets of paper stapled togther. BUT, we are almost done. All of the paperwork in the picture has been completed and mailed to the appropriate parties. Now all that is left is acquiring homeowner's insurance and signing the mountain of paperwork at closing! (Oh, and packing boxes and moving furniture ... whew)

It is so exciting to think we will be homeowners! I feel like a real grown up. I am so thankful for the blessings that we have.

As far as sock knitting goes, it is still fun. If you ever want to knit socks, I HIGHLY reccommend this book.

The fact that you can do two socks at once makes them so easy and portable. I totally am a person who, if I knitted the socks separtely, would finish one and never start the second ... so I would never have a pair!

I made my kid-sized sample pair a few weeks ago, and have started my adult pair, but haven't gotten as far as I would have hoped. The very thin yarn and the tiny needles mean that each stitch I make only adds about a milimeter to the socks. Right now, the socks seem a little larger than what will fit my foot, but maybe I can shrink them a little in the knitting process.

Here's what they looked like when I first started:


And here's what they look like now:

I'm almost done with the legs and ready to turn the heel. I'll keep you posted.

And finally, I'll leave you with this annoying pet owner photo. I find Grover lying like this in the middle of the hardwood floor on a regular basis. Why? I assure you that my home has plenty of rugs, soft beds, couches and laps to be sat upon. And aren't cats supposed to curl up in balls, not lay belly-up, showing the entire world their "tighty whitey" fur pattern?

Excuses for why I haven't posted lately

Sooooooo ... I have been slacking on the blog posts. Now I am going to make excuses as to why I have been so delinquent, thereby updating my myriad of readers on the recent happenings of life.

1. We bought a house.
Well, technically, we have a contract on a house that we are going to buy. If you had told me one year ago that I would be a homeowner in 2010, I would have been totally shocked. In fact, I am shocked still, even though this is really happening.
Steve and I had consulted a financial counselor, who told us that with our current savings and with the $8,000 first-time home buyer credit, as well as low housing prices and extremely low interest rates, now would be a great time to buy. We considered it for while, then decided we would start looking at houses, to get an idea of what was out there. The first day we looked, we found this:










We couldn’t pass it up. It isn’t our perfect dream house, but it is close – way better than I ever imagined we could own as first-time home buyers.

Some of the things I love about this house is that it is new-ish (5 years old) so it has energy-efficient windows, heater/AC, and water heater. And the thing that really, really sold me on this house is that it has trees and a creek along the left side/back of the house. All of the houses in our price range were in those new subdivisions where, unfortunately, the developers mowed down all the trees and crammed houses together about 5 feet apart. I think living in a house without trees, packed in like sardines, is depressing. Well, this house is in one of those neighborhoods, but the creek along the side of the house prevented the developer from building another home on the left of the house. So, the trees stayed, and we don’t have neighbor on the left side of the house! It is glorious.

2. We have filled out a lot of paperwork.
A LOT. And there is more to come. Who knew that buying a house required so much stinkin’ paperwork. Seriously, if you ever buy a house, get a realtor. There is no way you can do it alone.

3. I have knitted two scarves, one pair of socks, and I am starting my second pair of socks!
The first pair of socks turned out way better than I could have imagined. Yes, there were some of mistakes, but I learned from them and they are easily fixable on the next pair. I will post photos sometime soon. And I will try to photo-document the construction of the latest pair of socks, to give you a step-by-step photo diary of knitting socks. (I know you can’t wait for that … what an exciting blog!)

Hobbies

Most of the time I feel pretty ordinary. I feel like if one of my friends were to describe me to someone who didn't know me, she wouldn't be able to say, "Hannah is so interesting. She has some really unique interests and skills." I just don't see myself as someone who is particularly fascinating.

Maybe I am wrong in feeling that way, maybe I am not. But I think the root of that feeling about myself is in the fact that I have never really had a hobby that I have developed, that I have gotten really good at. I've dabbled with a few things, sewing, sports, playing the violin, scrapbooking ... but I never really got good at anything. I lacked the follow-through. So, one of my goals for this year is to develop some hobbies and interests, to get good at some things ... and to enjoy it.

I am under no delusions that my interests are in any way "cool," but that doesn't matter to me so much. I mean, I am curious about some trendy pastimes, such as yoga. And I might take a yoga class to see what it's all about about. (Although I think I might prefer a yoga/pilates combo, "pi-yo" as all the cool kids call it.) But currently, I have been developing two of my interests: knitting and tea drinking. (You may now burst into laughter at my dorkiness.)

I have knitted for years, but never anything fancy, just the average scarf and occasional hat. That was the extent of my skill level. But in the last few weeks I have been trying to take it up a notch. I bought a few really neat knitting books that are opening up a whole new world of knitting to me. I have learned how to do a cable stitch (that twisting rope pattern found on lots of sweaters) and I was surprised to find how incredibly easy it is!!! Now I am taking on the scariest project of all, the project that takes an amateur knitter to a whole new level: I am making my first pair of socks. I haven't gotten to the hard part yet (turning the heel) but so far, I am having a blast. I am pretty excited, I'm not going to lie.

As far as the tea drinking hobby, well, I have been drinking a lot of wonderful loose leaf teas, and I am reading a book that has more information than I ever knew existed about the difference between an Oolong and a Rooibos, health benefits of each tea, the history of tea, and the methods of curing tea. Did you know that green, black and white teas are all from the same plant? What makes them different are the different methods by which they are processed.

So, friends, now that I confessed my dorkiness to you, you can tell someone who doesn't know me, "Hannah is so interesting. She has some very different, unique and ... nerdy hobbies."

P.S. Next things on my list to accomplish: reading more good books (Please leave me a comment if you have any suggestions; I am looking for a new read.) and learning about/listening to more classical music.

Smells like Skinny

Around 4:30 a.m., I awoke to the warm, homey scent of cinnamon. My lovely husband, (whose sleep schedule is all whacked out right now, due a change in his work schedule) had decided to bake cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Yum!


When I got up, around 5:15 a.m., the dear man informed me that, out of the benevolence of his heart, he had consumed all five of the Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls (with real Cinnabon cinnamon and cream cheese icing).

“I really only wanted to eat four of them,” he said seriously, “but I knew you were on this diet, so I didn’t want to leave one of them and tempt you.”

Gee, thanks, dear.

Those of you who know my husband are aware of the ungodly amount of food he can consume. I have been married to him for almost three years; certainly by now I should not be surprised by this behavior. But this morning I found myself a little bit shocked: he ate 1650 calories for breakfast alone! And he won’t gain an ounce.

I, on the other hand, must consume fewer calories in a day than what my husband ate for breakfast if I am to have any chance of losing a few pounds per week.

No wonder you gain weight after you get married!

I all seriousness, I do appreciate my husband’s thoughtfulness and help to keep my on track for my weight loss goals, even if it was – albeit unintentional – kind of insensitive.

I am excited about seeing the results of healthy eating and working out. I can’t wait until I fit into clothing that I wore in high school. Mostly, I am envisioning being tan (via spray-on) and thin, wearing a bikini on the beach.

So this morning, as I measured exactly one cup of Multi-Grain Cheerios for breakfast, I tried to focus on that vision rather than the scent of warm, gooey cinnamon rolls that still lingered in the air.

The Perfect Number

I always thought that 25 was the perfect number: 5x5=25 is the easiest multiplication table to memorize, not to mention that it is five squared; among pocket change the quarter -- worth 25 cents -- is the most coveted coin.

So as my 25th birthday approached, the pressure mounted to make it the most perfect year of my life. I had it in my head that a woman of 25 should be at the peak of her beauty and lead a life of sophistication and glamour. After all, aren't all the fabulous women in movies 25 years of age?

But the more I held up that quarter of a century standard, the more I realized I could never achieve it. I will never have a perfect figure, an impeccable sense of style or a witty quip at the ready. And those facts depressed me -- until I realized that just because I could never achieve perfection didn't mean I couldn't try to improve myself in meaningful ways.

Yesterday, I turned 25 years old. And I wasn't depressing at all. I have accepted the fact that despite my best efforts this year, my hair will be frizzy more often than not, sometimes (or many times) my house will be messy, and I may have just as many ditzy moments as sophisticated ones. But I can learn to be more disciplined and healthy in my eating and exercise habits, I can be more wise with my finances, I can strive to put others before myself, and I can develop my God-given strengths and improve upon my weaknesses. This could very well be the best year of my life!

By the way, I did a little research and found out that -- scientifically speaking, at least -- 25 is NOT a perfect number, but 28 is. I better get started if I am to attain perfection in three years!