Hedgehog

Knitting project of the moment, felted toy hedgehog for soon-to-be baby girl Shahin.The felting doesn't work as well in my frontloader washer, I'll have to figure out a better process in the future. I love these, I've made a couple of them now and poor FFM doesn't have one of his own yet. He got really attached to this particular one. Next one is his, I promise. Each one is totally baby safe and gets a little shaker inside so they rattle when you give them a jiggle.

The grumps

Right on cue, it's a week before we depart and -
1) FFM has a raging cold.
2) FFM screams, whines, whinges, and throws temper tantrums unless he is doing one of his regularly scheduled activities like swim lessons, daycare, etc.
3) 3.5 out of 4 bags are packed and I'm stressed about how to fit the last few items I think we might need over the next 6 months in. I'm glad I don't have to worry about what I'm forgetting, Travis can bring things when he comes in 3 months. It's really too expensive to mail stuff and I'm so tired of buying duplicates.
4) No new houses seem to be coming on the market in the part of town we really would like to live so I'm not really excited or inspired to house shop at the moment and sincerely hope that changes when I get to Denver.
5) I'm exhausted, not sleeping, and getting headaches all the time.

Tomorrow I get my hair done AND it's daycare day and I'm sure that will help improve my outlook , but it's too grumpy around here at the moment. This part of moving/traveling I won't miss, the week/days before a big trip when FFM gets unsettled and ticked off and intractable, I guess I'm spoiled the rest of the time.

Didgeridoo duet part 2

About a year ago I posted a video of FFM and Travis playing 'didgeridoos.'

While in Brisbane Travis got to know an Aboriginal man who makes didgeridoos and bought one for himself. When I went back to Brissy in May he sent me with instructions to try to buy another one for FFM.

Now, to pick a good didgeridoo you have to play it, and I'm terrible at playing it. I can't make my lips flappy enough so it just buzzes. I was really hoping someone there would be able to test them out for me so I could complete the rare task that Travis has asked me to do. We got lucky, Travis' friend wasn't there that day but one of his helpers was able to perform enough that I was able to pick a really nice didg for FFM.

Since then the two have occasionally gotten out their didgeridoos to 'play' them. FFM's previous playing always consisted of just singing into this giant, hollowed out tree limb. Last time, however, he got it. And I'm not kidding when I tell you I was floored that our 2 year old had the lung power and flappy lips (OK, I'm not surprised about the lips) to get some decent notes out.

He looks like he's anxious to get out of the shot, it's simply because this is about the third video I took and he really wanted to watch it on the camera screen. He doesn't get that when he gets up he's not in the picture anymore...

Seen on MSN's home page today

My homepage is set to msn.com and when I flipped open the laptop during naps this afternoon, lo and behold is a headline screaming "America's 10 Strongest Housing Markets" with a photo I recognize. Hey, I say, it's Boulder! There it is, front and center on msn.com. I clicked on the article, below is the first paragraph from BusinessWeek. Click on the title to read the rest.

The 10 strongest U.S. housing markets
By Prashant Gopal of BusinessWeek
Wait a second. At a time when real-estate prices have been in almost perpetual free fall for more than a year, are there really places around the U.S. where home values are going up? Unbelievable as it may sound, yes. According to real-estate site Zillow.com's second-quarter home value index, there are more than 30 metro areas across the country where values have risen from the first quarter of the year to the second quarter. The winner? Boulder, Colo., the affluent Denver suburb where the share of homes with increasing values rose nearly 60%.
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There was an article in Denver's 5280 magazine back in May (my mom saved it for us to read while we were there) detailing several Denver area neighborhood that have all had increasing values. Thus the good news around Denver, anyway, that the housing market is stabilizing.

We're not moving to Boulder, but Denver area real-estate's been in the national news a lot lately. Now, if only some of those home owners (other than all the willing ones in Castle Rock and Aurora) would just get off their duff and put their houses on the market so we could buy one. Our realtor emailed me some listings this morning and I'm sure hoping things pick up in the next couple of weeks as the pickings are a bit slim!

No Limes Today

I went to the store today and did not get limes.

OK, so I think someone made a mistake and they're supposed to be $24.98/kg instead of $24.98 each, but that's still a bit pricey for me.

That works out to about USD $9.65/lb (2.2lbs/kg). Hmmm. I think I remember limes being about 3 for a buck, maybe all the way up to 50c each when they were really out of season and being imported from far away. Don't get me started on the $5 I pay for a dozen eggs.

Just checking

Recently FFM has taken to calling out to make sure we parental units are paying attention. At random times he'll just holler our name to see if we're listening. We might be in the same room, different rooms, different floors, or even inside/outside. I've seen several toddlers with new language skills do this, must be one of those, you know, 'developmental steps' we read so much about.

When FFM calls Travis, it's "Da" or "Daddy." When he calls for me, it's "Mom-Mom." Occasionally it's just "Mom", but the majority of the time I'm "Mom-Mom." Not Mommy, Momma, Ma, but definitely Mom x 2. (maybe deep down he knows I'm a 'Moore Moore?') I feel like answering back in duplicate, but realize this could cause confusion down the road. Lets lets go go to to the the park park!

Grls grls grls

We are extraordinarily lucky in that we have great next door neighbors who also happen to have two girls, one a little older than FFM and one a little younger. Many months ago, after the heat of (Aussie) summer made playing outside in the afternoons bearable, we met out on our front porches and discovered that our kids had this fantastic play chemistry. Those three kids play together for HOURS and never fight, disagree, or otherwise make trouble. What a glorious thing!

It's become habit for us to meet up with Ava and Lexie pretty much every afternoon after naps, and FFM's gotten into the habit of waking up and saying "Grls, grls, grls?" Since we've returned from Colorado he's progressed to "Ava Lexie Ava Lexie Ava Lexie" (his Ava sounds a lot like Wall-E saying Eve - "EEEEEvAAAA). While his interest in playing with 'the girls' has gotten stronger, sadly FFM's sharing skills vanished about the time he turned 2 so the previously tranquil afternoons are a little more boisterous now.

Today the kids eschewed our normal routine of riding bikes and scooters and came inside to play while Ava and Lexie's mom packed for their 5 week long trip to India. We're very sad to be leaving Perth before they get back :( as we don't feel like we get to say a proper goodbye.

They're fast moving blurs...can't even get camera settings changed fast enough!

They're laughing hysterically at each other...

EEEEEEEEEEvvAAAAAAAAA!

And then the hats came out.

Lexie and Ava

Parting is such sorrow

No, it's just not sweet at all.

After some soul searching and long discussions, Travis and I made the decision to leave Perth. Just not at the same time. FFM and I are going ahead of our scheduled November departure to attempt to secure some form of permanent housing for our little family. Where? Denver. Does Travis have a job there yet, you ask? Nope. But we're fairly certain he'll end up there, and if all else fails we'll rent the house in Denver and move on to our next assignment.

The market in Denver is picking up, after several national news stories and a general slow but steady upswing in real estate. Add that to the first time buyer tax credit we qualify for since we have not owned a home in over three years (see, there are benefits to being homeless!) and we feel the push to get a house purchased before Dec 31 when the deadline for the credit expires.

Due to Thanksgiving and Christmas, Nov and Dec aren't the best time to buy a house in the US, people generally don't put their houses on the market during the holidays. So, doing some math, we decided someone better get back to look at some houses before our scheduled departure at the end of November.

As of Sept 1, FFM and I will depart Australia for Colorado and won't return. Travis will follow late Nov. It'll be a LONG LONG time to be apart. Our household goods will ship when Travis leaves, and will take 8-12 weeks to get to Colorado. So, we'll leave our stuff and will see it again probably in about February 2010. I sure hope this plan all works, or FFM and I will be living out of suitcases for a really really long time.

Sickos

We're a house full of sickos this week. Travis is the worst, with an actual documented case of the flu. It's unknown if it is swine flu, Western Australia's official policy is only to test for swine flu if you are admitted to the hospital. However, since he had been overseas and he had a high fever, he went to the doctor right away who advised him to stay home and away from people for a week.

FFM and I have coughs, and are both generally tired which may be from the coughs and disrupted sleep or just from having our routines shuffled about for so long. Either way we've all been a bunch of cranky pants for a week now. Boy, I can't remember the last time I've looked forward to Monday and the start of a new week so much. Travis and I are hoping it's better than last week!

Travis' fever lasted 5 whole days, which in retrospect is a long time for an adult to have a fever. He's still coughing and sick sounding but generally so much better that he's definitely going back to work. The doc's diagnosis included a note that it would probably take Travis a full 3-4 weeks to fully recover. FFM and I seem to be lingering in the middle ground of not-really-quite-sick-or-well which I fear could go on for a while in our winter season here. We've been very good about taking our vitamins and I'm bulking up on echinacea which may be keeping it from getting worse. Thank goodness we didn't all get the flu, it was awful!

So, that's it. We're putting the time limit on feeling sorry for our sick selves as bedtime tonight and will wake up tomorrow feeling, if not better, than at least not pitiful about it :)