oh no, Cleck, really sorry to hear your news, that sucks. any idea when you'll hear definitively so you can make plans? I really hope it works out well for you all and that you'll be able to live together again permanently. what would the job in Illinois be? and how far is that from home?
this economy is just awful. how many of us just here have had our husbands lose work? seems like most of us. you may remember Chris lost his job last summer when the company he'd worked at for 5 years went under, it was a scary time for us because we had hoped to TTC and move house, and we'd had to have put them on hold, but he was really lucky and found a new job after being unemployed for only 3 weeks. and this job is probably going to be a lot more stable as he works, doing graphic design, for a national medical professional body (I'd put the whole name only I wouldn't want it popping up in a google search), but it's for a profession that I doubt is going to be under pressure from the recession! (anaesthetists) really hope all the changes our guys are facing turn out for the best, even though it's beyond stressful while we're in the middle of it. for a variety of reasons last summer was pretty horrendous for me and C, but now I hope things are on the up. touch wood.
Spidey, please post a pic of your fridge! and the contents
I LOVE nosing at other people's houses.
we will definitely be taking before and after pics of our new place!
jelr, heh, don't worry about not knowing about freehold and leasehold, be glad you've never had to know! I wish to god I never knew about leasehold, it's not been something I've enjoyed or would want to do again.
Shiv, thanks
it's definitely a bargain for London, for an actual house, even though it's only got 2 bedrooms. it's only barely in London, though, we're in zone 5, so it's going to be more expensive for Chris to get to work (he works in zone 1 and goes in on the train and tube). I think if the house was in real good condition it would sell for more like £225k. it was originally on for £210-£230k, and we presume that the seller had a higher offer but that all fell through when the survey and damp report came back, so it came back on the market. C had a call from the agent, this was the day after we'd decided to pull out of the other flat, and the agent assured us the buyer would accept £210k for a quick sale. obviously we'd been messed about a lot and were really far on with the sale of my flat, so a quick sale was exactly what we hoped for so as not to lose our buyer, so we offered £210k and it was accepted. other houses in the street are on at £230k. because our seller lost a buyer, all his papers, etc, were already with his solicitor, damp report had been done, so things are moving pretty fast. I'm hoping this is one of those times when things work out the way they're meant to, and all the stress around the other flat will have been worth it if it meant we then found a better place.
as for good friday traditions, I don't know of any really, apart from eating hot cross buns, which I haven't done this year. the weather is really throwing me off from even remembering it's Easter, I don't remember it being as hot as this ever in April. I know Easter is late this year but even so. pubs are definitely open as normal, and I have never knowingly not eaten meat on a good friday, but I'm suspecting that might be a catholic thing anyway. Chris is off work as it's a bank holiday (as is Easter Monday - and also this coming Friday for the royal wedding, and the Monday after that for May day), so his work is closed. however if I regularly worked Fridays I'd be working as usual, as my place operates as normal throughout the year, including Christmas if it falls on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
I've actually eaten quite a lot of meat today, a double cheeseburger for lunch (working on my food baby) and sliced beef and chicken (with salad) for dinner. we went out to look at wood flooring, and have chosen an engineered wood rather than a laminate, in oak. then I persuaded C to take me to Ikea
- he initially refused point blank, but we were only 3 mins drive away at the flooring shop, so I got my way. I didn't mention it before we went out because I knew he'd be bolshie and moody and refuse, and maybe even refuse to go to the flooring shop as well. I can see where he was coming from because Ikea on a bank holiday sounds like hell, and I agree, if it had been mid-afternoon probably it would have been, but we went out early and were there at 11am, and it wasn't at all busy, we even parked the car right near the entrance. we weren't there to buy but just look at some stuff, bedroom furniture for Adam, a bed, and wardrobes for us. didn't look for wardrobes in the end as we're not sure of how much space there'll be for them, and we didn't like the single beds (want to get Adam a proper 3ft full length single so it can be used as a spare adult bed if necessary), but we found some nice bedroom furniture for him this Stuva range, which I think we'd get in white or beech. think we're going to get this Mothercare bed, it's on special offer right now so I might ring up and find out when the offer ends, we don't want it right now but we'd deal with another box hanging around it it meant we got over £50 off.
I'm another who's nervous about ditching the sleeping bag, think I can safely say we won't be doing so for a while yet as I only just spent £38 on a 1 tog 18-36 month one
jelr, Adam has had a pillow for a couple of months and he loves it, he was clearly enjoying sleeping on our pillow when he came into our bed, and he started pulling a soft toy under his head, so I figured it was time. I think he started sleeping a lot more peacefully and soundly when we did. also not looking forward to the looming dummy battle, he also likes one in his mouth and one in his hand, though he's usuall ok if he loses one as long as he can still get the other. I really wanted not to have to buy any more, I have bought so many over the last 20 months, but I don't see an end in sight any time soon, and I've had to throw a few out because I found teeth holes in them, so I think I will need to be buying more, grrrrr.
speaking of sleeping peacefully, I am pleased to report that last night went well, not that we did anything to engineer this, it just so happened this way, and Adam stayed IN THE COT till 7.17am, when he decided to leap over onto me. such a relief to get an unbroken night. I just wish I'd gone to bed earlier myself and had a better sleep but I was silly and stayed up past 1am.
not presuming it'll happen again tonight, it's really really warm, warmer than last night I think. part of the problem is we're loath to open the window too much because that renders the blackout blind useless, and will result in him waking at stupid o'clock on account of the early daylight; also we have no fan because it's gone, along with a load of other stuff, including all my maternity clothes, to my friend's basement. we put it there months ago when we started decluttering big time for selling the flat, presuming we'd have moved by the time we needed these things again. well, I've never needed the fan in April before, so I don't feel terrible about it, but we do need to get it back!
Spidey, I have no idea what we're doing for Easter, an egg hunt sounds like a lot of fun though
hope Kira enjoys it. I don't think Adam would understand it this year. maybe I underestimate him, though! maybe if it's still warm I'll get him an icecream. I got him one today, a Fab bar, and offered it after dinner, and he ate most of it, along with quite a fair bit of Chris's white Magnum. he's never really had ice cream before but it's safe to say he loves it. oops. BAD MUMMY.