The Rest of the Story

I had two questions from commenters regarding this new house scenario (did you see I had five? Five comments! Which thrills my not-blogging-lately-equals-zero-comments soul- thank you Mighty Commenters!) and answering these questions seemed smart if I wanted to maintain anyone out there asking questions.

One from Brooke (who's back! It's so exciting! Check out her blog for all her latest happenings- there's a lot) who wanted to know "did you tell me you were moving?" The answer to that would be No. We didn't tell anyone we were moving at first, because of lots of reasons, the top one being: we weren't exactly sure it was going to happen and didn't want to get everyone worked up until we were sure- I was sure around Morning Two of waking up in said new house. The Hubba and I have had three different homes in less than four years and "You guys sure move a lot" doesn't sound any sweeter the fourth time around. So we agreed to hold our tongues and let things go and see how it went and cross our fingers and blahblahblah and it went great.

Which was the great, weird thing: it was so easy. In previous moves, it's been a bit of a mess, usually with The Hubba getting transferred away within a few weeks (a plane ride away) and me staying behind to move house and dogs (with the help of the packing and moving company his job provides, I must admit). I've had one trip (paid for by said company) to fly to new town, and find a house. And with four dogs, it's always a house- you're not cramming the six of us into an apartment or condo and even if you could, there MUST be a yard. So our typical house-hunting occurs over a three to five day period and in that time we see between thirty to forty-five homes (seriously) and then we pick. Honestly. The Hubba can't stay in a hotel on his own indefinitely and even if he could, our home sells and then the dogs stay in a kennel indefinitely while we house-hunt, and his company puts a time limit on how long they're willing to provide goodies like movers, storage, realtors to sell your home, etc., so finding a home in about weekend is how it worked out. It's a bit like having a Drill Sergeant from an Oliver Stone film standing over your shoulder screaming "Find a home! Find a home! FIND A HOME!" And so we have.

Rumblings of The Hubba's job moving to Greensboro happened in May and by mid-June we were linked up with a realtor and went on our first house-hunting excursion. This time, we had all summer. That was our timeline- we wanted to be settled in Greensboro by September. Differences I noticed immediately: 1) The Hubba and I were already together (he wasn't bundling me into a car after I staggered off a plane, half-asleep, having been up since five that morning in order to get ready, rush dogs to the kennel and then get myself to the airport, and then both of us rushing to meet a realtor so we could use the precious hours between four and eight to see fourteen homes) and 2) we were only seeing five houses. I actually laughed when our realtor only handed us five MLS sheets.

And, as you would expect with all the time in the world and only five houses to see on this, our first house-hunting expedition, we both fell in love with the Second House We Saw. But wouldn't admit it. We had so much time! The second house- that was crazy talk. So we looked at the last three homes and went home and didn't talk about it again until Sunday, when we discovered the Second House We Saw was having an Open House. And so we went. We were coy, mind you. We went to two other Open Houses first. The Second House We Saw, though, this was where we spent from three to four of our Open House window of time. We were both quiet on the drive back to Burlington and ended up stopping at Best Buy on the way home so The Hubba could clear his head.

It took several more days for us to make an offer, and at that point, The Hubba was out of town for the weekend for a bachelor party. Negotiations fell to me entirely. And, shockingly, after a little back and forth, the owners accepted.

And it stayed easy. We even closed on the date that we had initially set to close one. This has NEVER EVER happened for us before.

I think, now we've moved for the third time in four years, we'll be here for a while. The Hubba doesn't plan to change positions with his company again unless a) it's within ten to fifteen miles of the house and worth it or b) they make him President (hint: and this is nothing about The Hubba who is fantastic at his job, it's a huge, international company and this will never happen). Of course there isn't any reason to take my word for it, because, well, We, the People, site Moves 1 and 2 as evidence to the contrary. Except, and hear me out, both those times we had feelings of "this could be temporary," for lots of reasons not worth going into. This house doesn't feel temporary. And I really hope I'm not eating my words on this in eighteen months.

And that's the whole, crazy story on the house move. Far more detail than Brooke could have ever expected, but I think this is to explain the lack of blogging and overall lack of communication on my part for the last month. We were so busy with move stuff, but I wasn't telling anyone about move stuff, but I wasn't doing much else, besides working (not interesting) and so how could I write, without something to talk about, on and on. You see what happens when you don't go ahead and spill it all on your blog. Super long, super wordy, without any knitting or dog pictures, posts, that's what.

Anna- actually let me introduce Anna first. This is my Secret 10 Pal! The pal who I was gifting to, the one I sent these socks to, who was so patient and fun to chat with and is (how cool is this?) Australian! Cool, eh?

Anna asked "What's it like inside?" And this answer is so much simple. At the moment, it's big and pretty much empty and fantastic and the parts that aren't empty look like war-torn Russia, if war-torn Russia had a big-screen TV and lots of dog fur and half-unpacked liquor boxes (actually, I'm betting war-torn Russia did have a lot of half-unpacked liquor boxes, except ours, sadly, don't have liqour) all over the place.

And a parting thought- the last post I labeled under "House" thinking, cool, I already have a House file! This is how long it's been since I've seen Hugh Laurie's scowling face and crusty demeanor. Anyone else ready for the fall line-up? Or, at the very least, Season Six of 24 on DVD? Hmm?

Finally- The Big Reveal

No, not Deathly Hallows though, may I say, wow- WOW- it took three days to finish the book and I don't think I was a very nice person in the time when I wasn't reading. Which was too bad for The Hubba, as- here's the announcement- we were moving the whole time The Book was in my possession.

Tah-Dah!

Not too far this time, "too far" being between 500 to 800 miles, as in our last two moves. Nope, we are a mere thirty-ish miles away in the lovely land of Greensboro, friendly neighbor to the west of Burlington.

Say hello to our new home!



OK, maybe that's really George Clooney's place at Lake Como (hence him being in the picture- or, he's really good friends with the Knitter family... I can't even try and make that one make sense).

No, here's our real, non-George-Clooney-involved new home



Tah-Dah!

Good news, even as we switch physical locations, Neighbor Knitter stays the same (was that weird? just then? to link my own blog? blatant self-promotion anyone?) and I'll be back to regular blogging any day now (I know, promises, promises). For now, in case you missed it, I'll remind everyone the last Harry Potter book IS available and if you've not already bought it, rush straight to your local bookstore (or supermarket- long story, maybe I'll tell it during one of my regular blogs) and buy it! Immediately! Its AWESOME. And I use that word in its truest sense, as in "inspiring awe". Get it. Read it. Live it.

And stop by, say hello, check out all our empty rooms! We've got boxes for sitting and the finest sweet tea Bojangles has to offer!

Oh!- The Shame

As told by Georgie Knitter

Locked in a room with nowhere to run... What is this white box of doom?



Over the wall looks too risky... But don't panic! A dog could lose her mind in a place like this...


Time for a little offense- maybe a full-body shake can save me...



What is that? Noooo! Not the Helen of Troy blow-dryer!



Finally- FREEEEEEEDOM!

Chicago, Harry, and Movies- Oh My!

I have lots of pictures from our trip to Chicago. I have plenty of shots from our midnight trip to see Order of the Phoenix last week. I have all these things to show you- but no way to do it. The Hubba, without realizing it, downloaded all these pictures onto the desktop computer, erasing them forever from the camera's memory. I realize, I could walk upstairs and post from that computer, and, maybe, when the hurt stops, I will. For now, I'll say it was so much fun! The weekend in Chicago was a blast. The Dave concert was great (not one of his all time Best Ever, but that's a good thing- if they were all Best Ever, you'd never actually know a best ever. You see my point here?) and we saw a baseball game (White Sox won!) and we spent time with the Hajeks and their family. It was grand.

The movie went beyond my expectations. I don't know if they could make a Harry Potter film that would really blow my mind, unless they made each film anywhere from four to six hours long, depending on the book length. For what they had to convey in less than two and a half hours, I say "bravo!" to the filmmakers.

That's really it, I guess. That and the small announcement I think I'll make tomorrow. That and the fact Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows COMES OUT IN THREE DAYS. At least it comes out in three days if you plan to be at a bookstore, Friday, at midnight. Which I do.

And I'm knitting! Calorimetry from this Winter's Knitty. I've had to frog and start and over three times now- this is what happens to skill and learning when you go almost a month with no real knitting. Let that be a lesson to you.

BHC-Chicago

Anyone got any plans this weekend? Anything good going on? Movie maybe? Anything... anything fun?

What about us? You're so nice to ask! Well, you know, it should be a pretty low-key weekend. Just The Hubba and I, the Hajeks, and, oh, I dunno, Dave Matthews Band.

Probably figured that out on your own, didn't you? Who else would I be up for at this unseemly hour on a Saturday (that time is correct, folks)? Not anyone besides the the band.

And we're seeing them again with some of our favorite people, the Hajeks. Taking our (slightly blurry) Las Vegas connection to the Windy City (I will never get tired of those pictures by the way- NEVER).

We'll be seeing a White Sox game and, well, whatever else we get up to.

I think my new knitting project shows the level of my excitement. Did I choose a pair of knit 2-purl 2 socks for this plane project? No, I did not. Knitters, if you will turn to page 101 of your Interweave Knits Winter '04 you will find the Flower Hat and Lace Knee Highs. Yep. Those socks.

I'll report back with pictures. Hardly shocking, right?

I hope, however you're spending this fine July weekend, you have a marvelous time, and please, make the Best of What's Around.

Yes, we are back into Dave songs standing in for any real creative writing of my own.

But at least it's not Rocky Top, right?

I Know this Site...

I happened to be checking my "Favorites" online and noticed this site... it seemed familiar... and after further investigation I realized- this is my blog! I remember now.

It's been almost a month since I last posted (oops!) so instead of trying to catch up on everything, I thought I'd mention two exciting events in the last week.

One:
My last package from my Secret Pal arrived!



It had such nice treats, like a case for long knitting needles, a photo album, AND a bag of dog treats.


Barkley thanks you.

Best of all, however, was the hank of- wait for it- White Willow sock yarn! It's her Tiffany Blue Box colorway and I cannot describe how GORGEOUS this yarn is.



That picture is a sad testament to this yarn's beauty. I don't know if I'll be able to knit with it. It might be kept strictly for admiring/rubbing against my cheek purposes.

Thank you,Pal! Or, as I now know, thank you, Catherine! You can find her blog here.

She was a lovely, thoughtful secret pal and this has definitely been my best swap experience. Catherine, it was a treat!

I finished the socks for my Pal and her gift is- thankfully- now winging it's way across the ocean to Australia.



I've not been quite so much a lovely, thoughtful pal, but luckily my Giftee is a lovely, understanding person.

Two:
We saw Transformers this week. Twice. The Hubba's life is officially complete.

That's not an exaggeration. I don't think I can capture the amount of build-up around this movie in our household, except to say I've heard about it everyday, several times a day, for about a year now.

Luckily, it lived up to and went beyond all expectation. It actually is a fun film and the Transformers are surprisingly life-like and believable. And funny. Funny robots, who knew?

The only touch-and-go moment happened at the first showing we saw- Monday night, premiere night, of course. There were some rowdy pre-teens in the crowd, who were not enthralled and who chose to chatter through the previews and the first few minutes of the film. No amount of unpleasant looks from those around us or the guy cracking his knuckles a few seats away seemed to help. The Hubba, five minutes in, with his eyes cast straight at the screen, announced in an everyday, conversational tone, "I will kill people." The theater was nicely quiet after that. I started to get the devotion of the crowd when none of them moved seats, but instead gave The Hubba grateful looks and some softly spoken "thanks." I realized, they might not give a damn about Star Wars, but, people, don't mess with their Autobots.

This is not my last post for the year. Honest. This weekend is the kick-off of Dave '07, so I'm thinking I might have a word or two to say about that. Also, we've had some exciting upheaval behind-the-scenes in the Knitter Household that I plan to post about in the next day or two. I'm betting that's almost enough to lure my five readers back...

Lovely Thursday to you all!