Another "Challenge"

OK, so if you've learned anything at all about me, you've learned that I take on a lot, usually in huge chunks.

After all, I learned to knit and then taught all those kids.

I walked all night (for cancer) as penance for not walking a 5K (for CHEO - the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario).

I bought a house on 1 day's notice. Ok, the paperwork's going to last a year, but it was less than 24 hours between "Look at this ad online, love" and "I think we're going to be very happy there, I'm glad we signed."

If you've learned two things about me, the second may be that I spontaneously buy hobbies. Witness the fact that my budget now has a "yarn" category. Moreover, my darling wife has the same boredom/indulgence/overdoing it pattern that I have.

SHE is the one who figured out that yarn is pretty, and colourful, and can be hung in hanging baskets instead of flowers. Thus yarn is decorative. Thus DECORATIVE yarn (as opposed to black/white/grey/neutral-y colours) is NOT in the yarn budget. It is a part of the "house maintenance" budget, by dint of being a decoration on the same level as extra chairs, paint, wallpaper, or a garden.

So knowing these things about me/us, you'll surely not be terribly surprised when I tell you the following two things:

1) I bought my wife a violin
2) I bought one for myself too. Mine's purple.

Do I know how to play? Nope. Can my wife? Double nope. Can I even read music? Nopers, but she can. Of course, we've proven conclusively that we shoudl never attempt to teach each other any skill. The look of sheer frustration on her face as she attempted to explain tatting to me was enough there.

Most importantly :Can I fiddle and knit? Well.....possibly. But I find it unlikely.

So I'm sitting here, waiting for the ebay shipment of two violins to arrive, wondering how I'll fit knitting and learning to play violin AND fiddle (same intrument, different technique..Google's my friend) into the last 2 weeks of summer vacation, while hosting a housewarming party, prepping for my new courses, unpacking my house (AFTER the party...housework is eternal, but friends get cranky if there's no party within a month of moving), and all that other neat stuff.

Anyone know how to fiddle? And how to teach by email?

D

New Home

Sorry about that, folks.

I hadn’t realized it’d been this long since I posted. There’s simply been so much happening. Let’s start with the biggest and best thing of all:

WE HAVE A HOUSE!

About late June, we went into negotiations with a lady who owns a nice townhouse in a MUCH better area of town. The deal is that we pay her rent for a year. At the end of the year, 40% of what we paid is accepted by her as a legal 5% down payment on the purchase price of the house. The rent was set by her so that our mortage payments, as calculated by the bank, would be exactly equal to the rent we pay the first year. Thus, if we can afford the rent, we can afford the mortgage.

So we’ve moved from a one bedroom apartment in the nasty area of town to a three bedroom, one and a half bathroom townhouse in one of the nicer areas of town.

Happy happy joy joy!

Fill you in on more tomorrow.