House Buying

INSANE! That's what I have to say about this subject.

We put an offer in on a house today. The sellers have until 9pm (1 hour and 10 minutes) to review and respond to our offer. Two other people put offers in also. Tom and my pessimistic attitudes both lean toward us NOT getting the house because there are people out there that we are convinced will offer more than the asking price.

We shall see! It's an adorable house with a great yard in a great location. If we don't get it, we will continue our crazy hunt for the perfect house. If we do....home sweet home will be ours in mid October unless the inspection leads us to come to the conclusion that we should get out.

And the news is in! The two other offers were for the SAME price that we put in. The agent called us all to see if we'd go up. We said NOPE. The other two people went up a little bit (we won't find out until they close) and they picked one of them. So unless it falls through during their inspection, the house will have gone for MORE than the asking price - for those of you who thought were insane with our offer. We learned a lot in the process and will keep looking like crazy people.

Saturday in Seattle

We had a great Saturday.

We had planned to do a hike about an hour and a half north of the city, but we scrapped it because it was a teeny bit drizzly and cloudy, so we would have had no views. Bob and his wife Eileen (Bob is Tom's brother Dan's good friend from home) came over for blueberry pancakes and they brought some DELICIOUS bacon (which we made in the oven...it was great that way). We ate those and Bob basically decided for us that it wasn't worth it to leave the city. I'm not sure if I actually agree...because I don't care as much about the views as just about getting out and walking around.

We ended up going to Carkeek Park. We tried walking one trail but it was very overgrown and there were spider webs everywhere!!! This place is over run with spiders and I hate them. So we went on a different trail and walked around. Harper had a ball and we ran into a very friendly golden who tried to join our pack, and a puppy that was adorable. We took a picture in a giant hollowed out tree....I'll post it when I upload it.

On our way back from the hike/walk we saw a place on the side of the road: http://www.jensenssmokehouse.com/

We did a U-turn and went inside. They were super super super friendly and let us try all the different smoked salmons. We bought two (Red King and White King..I think they were called). We also bought some smoke pepper jack cheese. Then we came back to our place and ate MORE! We also added some Mt. St. Helens Goat cheese from http://www.soundfood.org/sfcommunity/sflocalfoodblog/34-port-madison-goat-farm-and-dairy.html

and some sourdough bread from the farmer's market. Yummy lunch!

Tom and I fought off taking an afternoon nap. Instead we computered and did some errands and then read. Eventually we decided to venture to REI to use up our wonderful gift cards. We only got mildly lost on the way there. Maybe we added 10 minutes to our time because we drove by the baseball field when a game was about to begin (oops). We got a water filter, a suitcase for us to share for now..later we will add a second, a map of where we want to go hiking/camping next weekend, a book on hikes to do with dogs, a pair of running shorts for Tom, a National Forest Pass, and an REI membership. YEAH to people who bought us the gift cards because they helped us out a LOT!

We made it home somewhat tired, but instead of succumbing to eating out, we buckled down and made some yummy peanut noodles with chicken and mangos!

WordPlay

Cool cool documentary!
Made me want to start doing the New York Times crossword puzzle again.
Man those people are ridiculously good.
Mom if you read this - you should enter the tournament next year!!!!!

Sunset at Golden Gardens

We decided to have a picnic at Golden Gardens on the beach to see the sunset.
We made a tomato/cucumber/basil/olive oil/vinegar/feta salad.
We cut up some cheddar and crackers.

We walked down the street to the store "Picnic" and bought some triple cream cheese and a mini loaf of bread and a bottle of red table wine.

Then comes the insane part. We picked TONS of blackberries at the dog beach, so we made a blackberry galette. We made the dough together by hand. We really weren't sure if it would work or not. It came out of the oven smelling and looking wonderful!

We drove to the park. It was PACKED on a part of the beach, and then not packed on the other part. We went to the less busy part and ate our feast and drank wine. We saw tons of people with their dogs on the beach even though it says NO DOGS ON BEACH. We are still trying to figure out that one.

Unfortunately we did not get to see the sunset because the sun went down RIGHT behind a giant chunk of clouds. We did get to see people kite-boarding and flying kits and just hanging out. It was fun.

Edmonds Dog Beach

We drove about 1/2 an hour north/west to the Edmonds Dog Beach.

It was huge (we were there at low tide) and there were tons of friendly dogs, but still LOTS of space. Harper was incredibly friendly and even tried to play with a dog for a bit (wow!).

There was insane seaweed everywhere and it was sort of a death trap and a bit gooey but it was fun. There were also blackberry bushes everywhere and Tom and I went a little "tourist" on the dog beach and started picking them.

I think we will attempt a pie or something tonight.

Harper swam/ran in the water and chased dogs and it was WAY WAY better than him at the dog park.

I'm starting to think (in my Caesar Milan way) that I am more stressed at the dog park and sort of waiting for annoying dogs to annoy him, compared to how I am at a big dog beach. Maybe Harper's snappiness is all my fault.

Dogs dogs dogs dogs. For those who know Quincy...I am on the hunt for a Quincy replacement as a sister for Harper. Tom is NOT into this idea....but I figure once we buy a place and get settled maybe maybe he will warm up to this. I have found Quincy's twin online and I hope more turn up.

Dog Park - First Attempt

Oh man. It's like a change in the world going to the dog park again in a big city.

It's really not so different from Chicago, however Harper is no longer a puppy who loves all dogs. Now he is a grumpy old man who growls WAY too often.

I was there about an hour. It is nine thousand/million (not really) times the size of the St. Ronan park, and it is one of the SMALLEST in the city. Good lord that is crazy. It is way bigger than even the Chicago one I used to go to.

We ran into two dog walkers who each brought probably 7-8 dogs. The rest of the dogs around were totally fine, but when 15 come inside in a matter of 5 minutes it is just a little overwhelming I think.

Harper only did minor growling. I kept correcting him and making him NOT stand next to me and protect me. There are just SO many dogs for him to get all figured out, it is insane. On the upside, it took me about a 7 minute drive which is way less than I figured it would be. Another plus for our house and it's location.

Work Work Work

Well I have had my first four official days of work.

Soundview is full of insanely nice people who seem super creative. Like any somewhat new school (only 12 years old) we have things to iron out and get perfected, but I think it will be a really cool opportunity. It is such a different experience from a public school. I am soooooo not used to the word "retention" meaning keeping students and parents at the school. I'm used to that meaning YOU WILL STAY BACK. Funny how certain words will always mean certain things for me after my Davis experience (or maybe just public schools in general).

It appears that my class will have 12, yes I said 12 (Davis girls...is this making you puke yet?) students in my class this year. There is obviously room for 18 in each room, so there is DEFINITELY the potential (and hope of the school) to get some more. That number is so low I almost can't believe it.