Mame Wanko!

I could tell you the latest update from the real estate agent and how we suspect they might be trying to play us, but instead I will show you what I made last night:

A weeny little stuffed dog! I went a little cross-eyed sewing him but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. He needs some beads for his eyes as they are just pins at the moment and next time I won’t use polar fleece as it was really hard to work with at this size. Here’s another pic:

He is based on a pattern I found in DollyBird Magazine no.3 but I think (as i can’t read Japanese) that similar ones are to be found in a japanese craft book called (amusingly enough) Mame Wanko sometimes available on ebay.

Too bad

Sadly, it seems we have missed out on the house. The real estate agent called this morning to say that the owners wanted to wait and see if they could get a better offer in the next little while as the Spring buying frenzy kicks off. Never mind! It was going to be an awful lot of work. I actually don’t feel as sad as I thought I might. It’s feels a bit like now I can just let that one go and start thinking about finding the real one.

Kanae Asai’s site makes me happy. Images like this and this make a sad day glad.

Wiggle out of it

We are still negotiating to buy the house. Unfortunately it seems a frivolous exercise because what we can pay is awfully low as compared to what they originally asked. So perhaps this one will be one that got away but at least we gave it a good shot and are having a quick lesson in real estate negotiation strategies in the meantime. We should know in the next day or two and then we have a few conditions we need to clear up such as surveying etc.

My very wise and amazing sister-in-law called last night (who also has a toddler) and said that she had suddenly had a thought a couple of nights ago that perhaps Amelia’s waking in the night due to her picking up on the stresses in the house. It is true that Amelia would definitely know that something is going on due to all these intense discussions we keep having about houses and kitchens and bedrooms using words she understands but in strange contexts. My sister-in-law suggested that Amelia might even understand that there is a move imminent but not be sure what that means and if she’s coming with us or not or how her beloved Nanan and Pappous fit into it all. She might be waking up and needing just a little bit of extra comfort. I know it’s hard to tell but it really does seem to me a possibility. The waking at night for comfort definitely started when we started looking for houses a couple of months back. It stuck me in the heart to realise that this might be what’s going on. Poor little girl! When I am feeling calm I am going to have a little chat to her about what it all means. I am looking forward to actually having a house in mind so I can talk to her about the exciting possibilities of what we might plant in vegetable patches and how we might paint her bedroom, how far away from Pappous and Nanan we will actually be and what kind of life we might have.

And in other news, thanks to the Wiggles CD we have on high rotation, Amelia has decided that her name is now Jeff. Quite often she will refuse to answer to anything but Jeff. I am yet to have to say “Come on Jeff! It’s time to go home!” in front of other mums at the park or in a crowded supermarket but it’s only a matter of time. It’s interesting to note that Jeff is the Wiggle who likes to sleep! Perhaps she is playing some cruel joke on us.

Where my head has been

My days are filled with phone calls to banks and lawyers and surveyors and real estate agents. Trying to buy a house gets more complicated with every turn. It seems to be hassle after hassle. It’s strange – the house itself no longer even seems real – it’s all about negotiations and trying not to get too emotionally attached as there is a high chance that we will miss out on this one. I am longing to get back to all the things that make me tick and not make my stomach churn or make me break out in stress rashes.

Site news

The sleep thing is getting a bit better. Amelia only wakes a couple of times a night now and usually one of these is in the early evening before the rest of us go to bed. Now if I could just stop worrying about house buying activities which keeps me awake at night all would be well.

I am working on a few updates for this site. It’s quite tempting to ditch the whole thing and start again as it’s a little like a huge out of control garden which keeps growing in strange directions according to sunlight or attention. The archives are pretty hard to get through prior to 2002 and the links page dates from 1999 with little or no attention to broken links and new finds. So I am slowly working on a new bumper links page which I promise to weed and replant every week and I have also working on the nuts and bolts of the sidebar (well, Big-P has been for me!). You can now check out the category archives (which are pretty empty at the moment) so not only can you see what I am currently making (or making a mess of) but also what craft projects I have been working on or reading or whatever in the past. And I have also finally updated the “things I am into this month” down the bottom of the sidebar. Finally!