Here I Go Again

Okay, it wasn't so bad...the pre move out inspection, that is. As I had hoped nothing looks bad enough to warrant taking funds out of our deposit save for a couple of window screen ripped up by neighborhood cats, trying to get in the house. I do, however, have to clean, well, everything. We've decided at this point to try and wait until we're actually moving and/or moved to do the rest of the cleaning though. At this point the house is so full of boxes that we'd probably have to do it all again anyway. We are still waiting for the new paperwork too...you know the ones that require a seven day waiting period before the loan can close. Our lender says he's trying to get an addendum from the sellers bank so he can proceed and it has not been forthcoming. I swear, someone is losing an eye if we can't get this all wrapped up before we need to be out of this house. I know, we can ask for an extension here if we need one, but I don't want to have to do that.

Alright, enough house stuff. Yesterday the task was completed. All the pieces listed in my etsy store are now made and ready to ship. No waiting period on anything. I feel very accomplished. Of course I also sat for a bit wondering what to do next. I decided to go ahead and get on another mask. This time, I'm remaking the Valentine Evening mask, which is just my avatar mask, but in burgundy with garnet colored crystals. That ought to keep me busy for a bit.

Oh, and one small rant this morning. Someone is trying to sell a piece made with the necklace pattern I shared on Instructables. Again, I am annoyed. This time on Artfire, where I have no presence and they have renamed it, but it is clearly my necklace. I know, the minute I started to share my patterns I opened myself up for this, but it still ticks me off. No mention of me as the designer at all and again it is someone I am acquainted with. The whole reason I began using only vintage patterns and designing my own pieces was to never infringe on another persons work. Anyway, rant over. I haven't even complained to them yet & honestly...I hope that they read this and are guilted into fixing it themselves. I know that's very passive aggressive of me, but I'm not in the mood for direct confrontation, so there. Feel free to tell me I'm being petty, it's cool.

So more tatting and a little cleaning today. We also get to do a walk through and sign some more paperwork with the sellers. So we might have more information to share come Monday. Hopefully, everything gets sorted for the Wunderkammer over the weekend as well so the giveaway will proceed over there. All in all, gonna be a crazy weekend.

Oye

I was going to start out with the phrase, 'you won't believe what happened', but it occurs to me that at this point in the house buying experience that everything that can go wrong will. Without going into particulars, the sellers bank has chosen at this point in the game to change the deal a bit, costing us more money. Now that's not the biggest deal as we went into this assuming that we needed a certain amount of money as a worst case scenario, so we're fine there. The problem is that this amendment requires our lender to do more work and there has to be a 7 day waiting period and this pushes back our close date. Lucky for us they were apparently on track to close at the beginning of next week, so with the added time, we should hopefully still make it before the 14th and at least before our 19th move out date.

I got stressed out for a bit over the extra money needed and the time issues, but honestly I calmed down pretty fast. I suppose I could have put up a big stink about it, but that likely would have only put me under more stress and aggravated the situation. I know that there are a lot of people working in the background on this that would suffer more if we got all crazy like over it, so I'll just play the duck and let the water roll off my back.

I got right back to tatting and finished up the mask I was working on. Now I've just the second in a pair of ankle corsets to finish and everything in the shop is ready to ship. No custom pieces means I should have to keep the store closed for long at all during the move, just as long as I'm knocked out of Internet access. Since every dollar into the household counts extra now, this is a very good thing.

We also have our move out inspection this morning. Hopefully, she doesn't see too much that needs to be done to the house before we leave. Seriously all this deep cleaning crap is really beginning to take its toll on my hands. The greater lesson I'm taking away from this is to clean more frequently in the new digs. Less more often does really sound like a really good idea after all this scrubbing. Though just having a new house with unmarred surfaces to begin with sounds like a dream. All the aged nicks in the linoleum floor here make cleaning them an exercise in futility. I'm sure I'll have a bunch to complain about tomorrow as well. I know you just can't wait huh?

Look What I Discovered

So just recently I've been noticing a new surge in Instructable visits to my etsy store as well as new subscribers to my page there. Needless to say, I had no idea why. I haven't made a new on in a while, though I have one on deck for after I move. So this morning I went be there and started to look around a bit. Wasn't featured on the craft page and I couldn't find my face anywhere, until maybe the third time I landed on the front page. There in the top right corner is a large rotating block which was now full of my masked face...ahhh, that would explain it. So, thank you folks at Instructables for once again giving me a bit more exposure. I continue to be awed and humbled by the attention that mask has gotten. And to think, I only entered the Halloween contest that started on on a whim since I had coincidentally created the mask that season.I have to say this discovery was a lovely way to wake up and here's hoping that it carries on throughout the day. I didn't get all that much done yesterday as I was not only called upon to puppy sit, but I also had a visit from my Grandfather and my brother at the same time. This ate up most of the morning and since I spent the kids nap time scrubbing the bathroom floor, I didn't finish the ankle corsets as I had hoped I would. I did get two bracelets made in the morning though. I am started to yearn for creation again, but I shall try to stave off the desire for a bit. I've packed away all my photo stuff, so anything I make would lie undiscovered for weeks anyway and you know me, I like attention. Hard to create something and not immediately play show and tell with it.

I am starting to reach an impasse with the cleaning now as well. Until I am told by the property management what must be done, I think I'll sit on my hands a bit, 'cause there's no way I'm touching that garage. It is absolutely the last frontier in cleaning. Spider webs, mystery boxes and, well so much crap I wouldn't even know where to begin, so I won't. I'll try for more tatting today, maybe a bit of packing and that, my friends, is about it.

A New Day

First, I want to say thanks for the 'there, there's' and reminding me that I was lucky just to have my pieces chosen to be in a magazine. I know that really, but I think I blew it out of proportion in my head which is of course a sure sign that one will be disappointed in the end.

So that disappointed started a chain reaction of annoyances probably fueled by house buying stress, that made my morning miserable. No matter how much I got done, I didn't feel accomplished at all. I managed to finish two mask, do laundry, dishes and scrub the kitchen floor, yet I was looking for the next thing that needed to be done. I got happier when the mailman arrived. I got my crystal order which I didn't expect yet and a pair of free Coraline t-shirts from a twitter friend. So' yay!' for the mailman.

We also got a call from out real estate agent in the afternoon. We had been hoping the current home owners would sell us their refrigerator because it matched the steel appliances unlike out blindingly white one, but no...they decided against it, though they did try to sell us a pair of beds for $2200. Yeah, we're cool without those. Anyway, the second bank did finally produce a written approval and now everyone is working to get this thing closed as quickly as possible. I don't mind telling you that I'm weirded out by all the things happening without us. Banks talking to agents talking to other banks and the loan guys and we're just sitting here waiting for someone to actually ask us for money and our signatures. Meanwhile, I'm cleaning in anticipation of our move out inspection and worrying about who needs an address change and when do I actually get to do that.

Now that I have my crystals, I can start working on the embellished masks. Though I've got a pair of ankle corsets on the needle right now and a couple of quadra bracelets to remake as well. I do find it odd that I seem to have more work now than I did when I had more orders. Well, back to it then.

Magazine

I got all excited when I got an email this morning telling me that the magazine for which I sent my jewelry for was up online...then I saw the photo shoot. Now, I'm a little sad. Really I should be grateful that I have another piece in print, but I had sent three necklaces including one made specifically for them and all they used was one, barely seen in the picture. I understand that they had things from many designers and perhaps mine didn't match the hats they wanted to use or maybe they did take pictures of the other pieces, but they didn't make the cut in the end. Either way my excitement at being in an alternative fashion magazine has waned considerably. Just in case you *do* want to see it, a digital copy is free to download here: Auxiliary Magazine and print copies will be available in a week I'm told.

Let's see, the rest of the weekend was spent getting this house back into shape in an effort to ensure that we get our deposit back when we move. When we left the apartment we lived in for 7 years, the property management not only kept our deposit, but sent us a bill for additional repairs over six months later. The carpet needed replacing and even though it was not new when we moved and was past its lifespan, we were forced to pay for it. You have no idea how pissed I was...livid really, but you can't go back, you must move forward. So, we did the yard, I pulled up misbehaving grass and weeds until my hands hurt and my back ached. You might imagine that this meant the rest of the weekend was unproductive and it was.

There has been a slight lull in sales again and this has afforded me the opportunity to get more pieces off the custom list. I worked on a couple of masks and I ordered up some crystals to get a few more knocked out before we move...theoretically, on the weekend of the 14th. I say theoretically because I am no longer assuming anything when it comes to this house purchase. I also started getting the wunderkammer giveaway set up and once I hear back from everyone I contacted, I'll get the post set and ready to run for the 10th. I really hope this is the jump start the blog needs to really move beyond its loyal, but small audience and get some real exposure for the artisans and their work.