I’m back among the blogging.

Some people don’t write well when they’re stressed. Some don’t write well when they’re busy. Some can’t write and craft at the same time.

Put me down as all of the above.

Stress:
The principle stress is a new house. Yes, we really have been working on this new house SINCE MARCH! I wanted to talk about this house, to write about this house, to blog about this house. Yet, I didn’t want to blog about the house until I knew it would happen – and I wasn’t really confident everything would fall into place until I actually walked into the office for the signing. This house almost didn’t happen in so many different ways. This is easily the longest, most difficult, and most stressful home-buying process I have ever been through.

I couldn’t really allow myself to get excited about the house – I was very excited yet I couldn’t allow myself to be excited. I’d show my excitement and then remind myself I didn’t dare get excited. Planning for a new home is hard enough when you have excitement to carry you. Planning when you don’t dare get excited is ten times harder and a hundred times more stressful. I found it incredibly hard to plan for an event I really didn’t think would happen. At the same time, if I didn’t plan, that would guarantee it didn’t happen.

Simply putting everything together to make the house happen was hard. It seems like nothing was easy and nothing went smoothly. Finding the house was difficult. Negotiating the price was hard – we almost walked away – twice. Getting the required repairs agreed to and completed was hard – although I probably stressed more than necessary in this regard. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through so much paperwork for a mortgage … Really, I didn’t believe it would happen and I couldn’t get excited until we walked into that office for the signing.

I don’t think I realized just how much stress the house was putting on me until I spent the first night under my new roof.

Busy:
Let’s see. Why have I been busy? Shall I start with the day job where the new project is way behind and in the busy part of the cycle? What about all the pieces that have to be put together to make a home purchase work? What about moving? I could continue …

I don’t know how many times I interrupted my day job for an hour to talk to a mortgage broker or real estate agent or sign some papers – and somehow the hour took two or three or more – and I ended up working late into the evening to make up the hours. It’s the boon – and bane – of telecommuting.

Crafting:
Through all this, I have been crafting. I’ve been working on spinning Anna’s fleece. I have made many crocheted flowers – to the delight of stampers and scrappers trading raks with my wife – and I sat down with Pam to make 200 cards for heroes on Memorial Day weekend. I don’t think she’ll ever make a stamper out of me, but I will sit down and enjoy making cards with her from time to time.

While I’ve been busy, stressed, and crafting, life has gone on:
Georgia has a new cria, but she’s sadly blogless.
June has a human cria new baby.
Anna hasn’t had a cria, but she has a new cria in her pasture.
I’ve lost track of the Yarn Harlot, but I think she’s written three whole books since my last post …
Rise has a new (four-legged) cria
And the Knotty Girls have had all sorts of adventures – some of them involving lambs and llamas in the middle of the night.