This morning I recieved the COLOR, FINISHED copy of Twist & Loop! I’m SO excited – it’s absolutely lovely – and I cannot WAIT until this is actually on the market (10/24!!) I’m hoping that the beauty of the photos and simplicity of the instructions will make even those who can’t see themselves as wire knitters feel the need for some wire between their fingers.
Striving for Contentment
We’re winding down our week here – we’ve had SUCH a wonderful time (and, as Gerry said yesterday, he’d love to stay another week because he feels that he’s barely scratched the surface of understanding the Twin Cities!) I asked Hannah the other evening if she liked it well enough to move here and she said, exasperated,“Mawwm, I WISH you would just move us here and stop asking – of course I love it!”
She’s expressing what we all feel – we’d move here tomorrow, but we need to get the ducks in a row, having everything fall into alignment, make the pieces fit together – all of those analogies – before we can transplant our roots in MN soil.
At this point we’re down to 2 houses that we’d be happy in – but in all honesty if neither one came through, just SEEING these houses gives us a nice sense of hope that there WILL be more (perhaps even better for us?) on the market. We also saw a lovely house yesterday which is a little pricey for us, but when we arrived the mom and her two little kids were still there (hadn’t driven off yet) and, of course, we bonded and my Max became buds with her son, Max. We probably won’t take the house (sadly – it’s a lovely home!) but I felt like I’d made a new friend – we both were on the point of weeping to leave our respective neighborhoods – and she assured me that we’d “fit in beautifully” in the area.
Those of you who are familiar with the Twin Cities, I’d love your feedback on these two properties:
PORTLAND AVE – Minneapolis
Pluses
Nice sized living room
Nice sized dining room
Nice bedroom layout
Lots of closets
Breakfast nook
Nice backyard (simple, but not tiny)
Nice wood floors
Not remodeled or updated (this is a plus if it brings the price down as we can redo and decorate as we want.)
Right near Minnehaha Pkwy, very close to bike and walking paths and very close to 7th Level Park (lots of kids activities)
Kitchen will have to be redone (see “not remodeled”)
2 car easy-access garageMinuses
House on a Busy Street
Airplane noise (worst between 5-6, according to neighbor who’s lived there for a year and says she still can’t quite get used to it – but she also says that it’s not so bad at other times, and that other neighbors say they don’t notice it anymore…)
Kitchen will have to be redone (new floor, new appliances and cabinets)
Basement oddly configured (but clean and not bad)
Garage foundation has major upheaval (big crack – what’s going on down there?)
Yard has soft spots (Danger, Will Robinson?)
SARATOGA (St. Paul)
Pluses
Quiet Street
Move In Condition
Office Space on Ground Floor
Nice landscaping at back and side of house (= nice space on either side of house, unusual in the houses we’ve seen)
Nice Mud Room
Nice Basement (clean and finished, but not “redone” – simple!)
Nice layout of houseMinuses
Odd shaped living room (hard-to-use porch space included in Living Room)
Remodeled kitchen not really to our taste
Not loving the re-do of the breakfast nook
Carpeting throughout upstairs (we’re a no-carpet family due to allergies, we’d have to remove it)
4 smallish bedrooms instead of 3 larger ones.
Single car Garage
6 blocks from “just okay” park
As I said, if either of these don’t work out, we won’t be heartbroken. But so far they fit the bill better than any other houses we’ve seen – and both of us feel that we could be very happy in either home. I’m interested in comments from those who may know these areas…
Tappa Tappa Tappa
As I was writing this entry I looked out the window and what did I see but a woodpecker taking a nibble from the deck. Heck, it’s not my deck – I’m here for the wildlife (so I snapped a few shots, THEN shooed it away…)