Waiting

Wednesday's photo was courtesy of my brother R. He used a scope and his cellphone to capture the photo of the hummingbird. I've never had any luck attracting them to this yard, while he has several that visit the feeder he has set up on the verandah.

Things slowed down some after the excitement of Wednesday. However, the refridgerater decided to add to it, developing a leak that was pooling in the bottom freezer. I called an appliance repair company, and they won't be able to come out until Monday (originally Tuesday but I got a call moving up the appointment. I really don't want to have to replace the fridge, but if it cannot be repaired I will have too. As I said to my realtor, mo' money, mo' money.  

I ran out to pick up a few groceries on Thursday, mostly the basics, eggs, bread, and some veg. But, I also needed Drano, because the damned kitchen sink started draining slowly. That fixed it, so no need for a repairman for that issue. 

The afternoon was spend outdoors or in the garage. I deadheaded flowers, watered containers and picked tomatoes. It sounds goofy, but I was happy to empty a couple of bags of yard waste into my new green bin. The pick-up won't happen until the week of Sept. 4, but I still have lots of room in the bin. The dirtiest job was washing down the garage floor - I'd swept it out, but oh my, the dirt that clings to it. I used the push broom to move most of the dirty water out of the garage and onto the driveway. Since the garage door was open, I took the opportunity to sit in the shade off the patio and read for awhile. I needed the break!

On Friday morning, I texted the realtor to ask about the house inspection. He tried to contact the other realtor, but heard nothing back from him. We also discovered that the couple had yet to list their property on MLS. 

I only spent a short time outside, watering the back lawn. Housework took precedence until mid-morning, when I was cleaning out the fridge and realized I had a container of blueberries that needed to be used up. I didn't have enough for a pie, and didn't to make muffins, so I looked up a recipe for a galette. It isn't the prettiest piece of pastry but oh my, does it taste good!

Saturday, we met the realtor at one of three properties we/I chose to view. The first one was the one C liked the best from the photos on the realtor website. It's a smaller house, but as he says he doesn't need anything very big. The main floor measures about 900 square feet and has two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen/dining area, and living room. Off the front door is a lovely deck that has room for a couple of chairs and a table. The basement has been developed with a rec room, two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, and also contains large utility room with the laundry set, furnace, a/c and water heater. The back yard has been xeriscaped and contains a decent sized cement patio, as well as a single car garage. What impressed me, C less so, was the amount of storage in the house. It seemed that there closets and cupboards in nearly every room. Again, something he doesn't need, but this was clearly a family of five living in the home so it is currently being well used. There is some work that can be done, mostly cosmetic, though the windows will need replacing in a few years. We did learn that the shingles are being replaced next week and that would have been an issue that we would have raised in any event.

The second property looked good in the photos, but was a huge disappointment. It was clear that the renovations on the interior had been done by a do-it-yourself-er and not a handy one at that. As the realtor said, "just because you can drive to Rona, doesn't mean you should." The basement looked dangerous with cut-outs in the joists to hold pipes and other boards. A two story, we didn't even make it upstairs to see the bedroom spaces.

The final house was just listed this week. Photos looked pretty good, and the first impression on entering was decent. Though an older house, built in 1945, it had 9 foot ceilings on the main floor. The kitchen had been updated at some point with orange oak cabinets, and the main bathroom had also been updated. But the basement again, was less appealing. There was an unregulated one bedroom suite in the basement, a diy'er bathroom, and a laundry/furnace room that obviously had water issues. Both a fan and a de-humidifier were running while we were there. Again, we didn't bother to look at the garage and back yard. 

The realtor still hasn't heard back from the other realtor, but we know that conditions must be lifted by Wednesday. He assumes they are holding off as they are waiting for confirmation on the financing as they want to port their mortgage to this property. He thinks they'll have an answer by Monday. I can understand that, why pay several hundred dollars for a house inspection if the financing doesn't come through. 

So for the meantime, C won't be making an offer on the first house we viewed, at least until Thursday. While he can afford to go ahead, I want to be in a position to move as well. The dominoes just need to fall in order. Though it's a bit worrying, not knowing what is going on, I'm not in panic mode at this point. Ask me again on Wednesday. :p

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Things happen

Wednesday's photo was sent to me by my daughter. I should note, the house she lives in is over 110 years old. We were chatting on the phone one day, in the late afternoon, and suddenly a piece of plaster fell from the kitchen ceiling. There has been a lot of freeze/thaw in her area (and mine) over the last few days. The roof above her kitchen has a steep pitch with a eaves trough on the peak. That's seems like an odd place for eaves trough to me. In any event the trough isn't draining off the side of the house and large icicles have formed. There is also a very old antenna on that part of the roof, and I suspect that in the winds, it may have lifted some of the shingles allowing the melt to make its way into the house. We won't know for certain for awhile yet, as the roofers in town are busy and she's not been able to get anyone out to look at it just yet. Fingers crossed, next week. In the meantime, there hasn't been much more leaking.

It's been a full week here, I was in a cleaning frenzy for a couple of days. It isn't as though I don't regularly clean and tidy, but on these days I completed what would normally take me the full week. It was almost like those weekend cleaning sprees when I was working because I was too tired during the week to do much in the evenings. 

On Tuesday, I picked up my friend C to do a bit of thrift shopping. We went to Value Village and Salvation Army before enjoying a coffee and sandwich at Tim Hortons. She scored a lovely purse for $3.66 at V.V. I found divider plates for Eli, two Easter egg kits to paint for Eli, a glass cake pan for me, and of course, more yarn for less than $20. After our lunch, we headed to her mom's house as she wanted me to look through a box of knitting patterns - I found two that I thought I might be able to use. She and her brother have been busy packing things up, and preparing to move, sell, donate or toss their mother's furniture and furnishing. They've cleared out a lot, and everything that is left has been moved to the living room, kitchen and garage. There are a lot of memories in those rooms. C showed me some of her baby clothing, sweet hand knitted or sewn items that her mother or grandmother had made for her. They've set a deadline of March 15 to have the house cleared so they can have it cleaned, and put up for sale. 

I've also spent some time working on Ancestry. I don't know if I've mentioned that I received my results from the DNA test. There were no surprises from the breakdown of countries of origin - primarily Ireland, Scotland, England, a wee bit of Wales and Germany. I had hoped that the test might crack open the mystery of my materna great-great grandfather who emigrated from Scotland. Sadly, that hasn't happened (yet - hope springs eternal, right?), instead I've had several messages from distant relatives on my father's side of the tree. One of those messages added a whole lot of information to my tree, so I've been working through these new additions. I try not to spend more than a couple of hours a day at it, because I start getting confused by all the detail. I still need to go through the DNA connections but there are over 400 of them, so I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and not certain where exactly I'll start. I do know many of them, have no or private family trees, so I probably won't get any more information from them.

My other project this week is continuing to work on the counted cross stitch. I work on it in the afternoon while the light is good. At stitch and chat on Wednesday I got a good 90 minutes in. There were three of us there, me, I, and R. Apparently R has been there previously about 4 years ago, so prior to my attendance and the two women had also attended the same church. R's husband passed away, she moved from their home into a condo, and as she said, "life got in the way". She told us at the end of the afternoon, that she'd be back next week with her friend W. I do enjoy my chats with I, but having a few more ladies there will be nice too.

Friday, I needed to run out to pick up some cat litter and bird seed, and decided to stop by the salon to see if I could get a walk-in appointment. I walked out a half-hour later, feeling human again, after she cut off about 5-6 inches of hair. It is now just below my shoulders so I can still pull it back as need be. Oh, and I remembered the bird seed but not the cat litter, so I'll add it to the list for my grocery day next week. 

Of course, I've been watching curling too. The men's provincial events for both Manitoba and Alberta have been streaming on You-tube. I haven't watched all the games, as I don't know several of the teams. I've managed to catch two or three draws a day, with the most interesting game last night. I went to bed at what I thought was the end of the game, assuming a certain team had lost. When I checked the scores this morning I discovered they had not, and had won in the extra end. Huh...I saw the last shot of the 10th? So I pulled up the video and discovered that a measure had determined they had the shot rock after all, and tied the game, which meant an extra end. They stole a point and won and are off to the play-offs against another popular team. That game will be played this evening, and you can bet I won't go to bed until the winner is declared. :)

Today will be much the same, some curling - Manitoba games are starting up in a few minutes, some stitching, some housework between draws, and maybe a bit of knitting. I'm sure I'll have the sun room open for the cat later today, as our temperature is expected to reach the freezing point. With the sun streaming in, the room warms up nicely. I may even take my laptop (the WiFi works there) and my stitching and join him.

Have a great weekend everyone!