Ants! and one kittycat

Now that we've vanquished the sugar ants (the teeny kind about the size of chocolate sprinkles only skinnier) after three weeks' battle, we have the BIG ANTS. Some of them are the size of tractor-trailers! Well, SUVs. (Would you believe, Matchbox cars?)

Two applications of Orange Guard didn't work, so I think I'll try a repeat of what finally worked for the sugar ants:
1. serious cleaning of kitchen countertop
2. wiping down countertop with bleach
3. letting bleach stay on a while.
4. washing off bleach and applying Orange Guard.

Oh, and speaking of chocolate sprinkles, for the libray's Summer Reading Club kickoff (theme this year: bugs) one "Bug Olympics" event will be "eating bugs"--that is, eating chocolate sprinkles off a plate without using your hands. I hope I get stationed in that room for part of the time, though I did volunteer my face-painting skills to paint butterflies and such on kids.

Speaking of the library, we are in Major Budget Turmoil. I won't trouble you with the detail. No one will lose their jobs but we could get some deeeeep materials budget cuts (which I suspect will just about kill any chance of picking up new manga series) and close on Sundays.


Ivan has a new meow--specially for letting us know he wants to play with the Feline Flyer, The Greatest Toy Ever! Speaking of Ivan, he was just making mysterious noises in the bathroom. He'd opened the vanity drawers and was looking for toy mousies to play with. (Of course Ivan can open drawers! What do you think, we have a stupid uncoordinated cat?) Sooo, I got a mousie out of the High Hide-Things-From-Ivan drawer and let him go at it. Poor mousie's nearly lost half his tail already.

Life...lemons and lemonade

I didn't get that promotion I applied for. All I have to say about that is, [commentary in video below; rated PG]



Our loan and mortgage were approved, and things look good so far for our application to get into the co-op, so we'll be moving next month anyway (Yaaay!!) That will keep me plenty busy!

NerdPic of the day (specially for physics and cat lovers)

When you're bored at work and type "lolcat" into Clusty's Image Search you find something cool likethis.

We're still wading through financial paperwork on the townhome, and the co-op has received our application.

It's raining. A lot.

Our new home!!

We met with our mortgage loan officer yesterday--delightful woman, very helpful and explained everything cheerfully--and took another look at the co-op townhouse, partly to decide whether we want to keep the mattress the sellers left. For details on the mattress, and numerous pictures by Ken the excellent picture-taker, see the web album on my Picasa site!

Gotta download some financial data for our loan officer now before I go to work...

Now that the homestudy is just about done...

We're buying a townhome!! Ken just heard from the realtor that the buyer has decided to go with our bid (for a 2 BR one bath townhome in, yes, Greenbelt Co-op (see previous blog entry for details.) Ken fell in love with this one Saturday; I went to see it Sunday and fell in love too. The yard is fantastic--large (the townhome is an end unit) and beautifully landscaped, with azaleas and a fishpond (!) The best is, though, on one side it links to a common lawn and on another it backs onto a forest preserve (part of a national agricultural station). The other two sides are the side yard and a side street and of course the townhome. Which is in move-in condition with a nice galley kitchen (a bit larger than ours), a dining/living room, and then two bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and an attic above that.

Pictures to come!!

Since we will be moving very soon (mid-June!), we may hold off on submitting our homestudy till we can get anything necessary (sanitary inspection, etc.) done on the new place till we submit the final homestudy. Our social worker is checking on that.

Oh, and tomorrow I have an interview for a promotion at work...

And now for something completely different...

Well, now that the homestudy paperwork has been submitted, we've started looking for a home to buy. We are both very impressed with Greenbelt Homes, a co-op community started as a New Deal initiative in the 1930s. Most of the buildings were built in the 1930s and early 40s so they are very sturdy! We went to an information night, because a co-op is not quite like a condo--see the website's section "what is a cooperative?" for details. (No, it's not like a commune...much)

We saw our first townhouse (most of the community is made up of townhouses in blocks of 4 or so) Monday night. It's a 2-bedroom, small but nicely built and impeccably maintained (though we weren't crazy about the paint colors in a couple of the rooms.) The coop rarely allows rentals or sublets so just about everyone has "buy-in" to the welfare of the place, and they're big on preventive maintenance.

We're looking at the frame-construction 2-bedrooms. As I said, small but there's storage space (an attic crawlspace where you can stand up in the middle--I said I'd send Ken up there with his laptop though with a baby he may want to go there for peace and quiet!) There are also family events both in the coop community and in the town. And, as the name implies, trees and a woodland trail (and playgrounds!)

Lastly, Ken's commute would be about 1/2 hour each way; mine would be about 45 min.

On the adoption front, we meet one more time with our social worker next Wednesday, and the paperwork is in process. We should get the "green light" from the agency in a month or two. In the meantime we've been encouraged to select pictures for a family photo album and to start writing a "dear birthparent" letter for people considering placing a baby for adoption, so they can see what wonderful parents we would make!