Happy Easter!

He did it all for us and sits on the throne...

Got questions?

It's Official

We have the house...and pasture, and barn, etc. I'm so tired I haven't had the energy to do the mass emailing to notify friends & family, but we are still very excited! Now we just have to work out the little detail of when we can actually move in. The "take possession" date went from "three days after closing" to "fourteen days after closing" at some mysterious point during the contract signing process. Two weeks? Um, do we just drive around in a holding pattern?! Our agent has spoken to the current owners and it turns out it will be much less time than that, and in the meanwhile we'll be able to turn the horses out there and have the moving company deposit our worldly goods in the giant garage. It still means we'll be camped out at my folks' place with five cats and three chickens...but we'll see what really happens. We're going to try to get an extension on our occupancy down here (it's not like somebody's waiting to move in, this place is going to be radically remodeled...if you know what I mean). The man just went out for more boxes. It's really finally happening and I'm actually starting to allow myself to feel the excitement.

On another note, our lunchtime and evening entertainment lately has been to work our way through the BBC mini I, Claudius. It's really well done and hardly dated at all. Patrick Stewart with hair! A young John Rhys-Davies! John Hurt...with the same gravelly, husky voice he has now (I think he's a cyborg, he never seems to change...)! If you have a really crazy or dysfunctional family (or step family or in-laws or whatever), this is a good mini to watch. It will make you feel just peachy about your own situation. If it's just the same old same old, seek police protection immediately! Grandma Livia is the original Battle Axe Potempkin Uber Dragonlady...and it just gets worse from there. Any doubt that inbreeding and lead pipes (& cooking pots) are a bad idea will be erased permanently. Any doubt as to why classical fashions for women have re-surfaced over the centuries will also be erased: they make a girl look goooooood! (I'll take Connie Neilson's entire wardrobe from "Gladiator", thank you.)

Dining Out (about 500 years out, actually)

Last Saturday, after shopping and bopping until dropping at the Rakkasah Belly Dance Festival, we attended the annual "Emperor's Birthday" of the Renaissance Military Society. I was tired but it was nice to sit down with some friends to a yummy 16th century meal and chat about the upcoming soldier school, among other things.

Two Gordon's (there's one behind the mug) and a Neb.

Happy Snapshot Memory

We're doing the big muck out/pack-up in preparation for our move north, and today I found this photograph in a box I was sorting. It's just such a cute snapshot I though I'd share it. It was taken at the Halloween party thrown by production during the location work on "The Patriot" back in '99. The pretty blonde girl worked for the Art Department head (she painted the tin soldiers and made a lot of other nice props for the film), the "rodeo cowboys" are two of Gordon's Green Dragoons, Gordo is the Delaware Indian, and I'm the squinting Afghani girl. I can't remember who snapped the pic (I think another one of the Cavalry guys...). This was the last really big show we worked on (I worked for the Armorer and never want to clean another flintlock musket again...); so many "horse opera" type films are being shot outside of the US now for financial and other reasons, it's really a shame.

Roller Coaster

We still haven't heard whether our offer has been accepted. I can't remember the last time I wanted something this badly. This means I'll really appreciate it if it comes through. Things are accelerating pretty quickly despite this ticking clock in my head over the pending acceptance. Having to be out of here in 44 days is kind of crazy-making, but, as Zaphod Beeblebrox once said, "I find it contracts the mind wonderfully."

Unfortunately it also means we'll be moved up north before Lizzie's wedding instead of afterward, which was not the initial plan (life got in the way), but it's no big deal to fly down instead of drive over (and means more Alaska Airlines miles!). What with this plus all of the other goofiness (good, bad & indifferent) going on in our lives, we certainly don't miss having cable TV. Life is dramatic all by itself.

Time Dilation

It's a deal. Less than 24 hours after listing the property we've accepted the offer, which is a good solid one. The money is in escrow (a few weeks ago I didn't even know what that even meant), and we're ready to make a formal offer on the place in WA. I think I know what alien abductees must feel like after a close encounter: where did that time go? We were NOT expecting things to move quite this quickly...

Update (22:54): Our offer is presented in the morning. We'll know sometime tomorrow whether we get the place. Yes, we are on tenterhooks.