I’m starting a bit earlier this afternoon – hmm – I just tried changing the font again – more annoyment 
if I make the font big enough for easy editing, the finished text size is too big (I think, anyway) and the Title definitely is too big. I can change the font while I’m writing the blog so as to make editing easier, and then change it back again when I’ve finished, but honestly, I shouldn’t have to! [*insert naughty words here*] Oh well, I’ll leave it like this, and change it back again when I’ve finished. *sigh* Today I’ve been a “Jill of all Trades” – starting out with house searching on a different site this time – Realestate.com.au – it’s not nearly as comprehensive and user-friendly as Domain, but they do seem to have some different listings, so I spent most of the morning there, while Julian worked in the Office. I sent him all of my finds via our handy little LAN Messenger utility (I love it – it means that I no longer have to yell for him if something goes wrong, or decides not to work 😉 ) Some of the prices were good, but the house itself needed so much work as to not be acceptable, and honestly, I know I’m always saying that you shouldn’t spit on anyone (else’s) taste (or to quote the old Italian saying “su i gusti non si sputa”) but some of the interiors were shudders to behold! Carmen likes her vendors to clear out all the clutter. In fact, she advises people to actually move out, and let her and her “stylist” move in (not literally!) with a few choice pieces of rented furniture – and I can see her point. A prospective buyer has no real imagination – when they come into a vacant house, it’s hard to imagine where the television will go, or what colour lounge suite would look best in a small lounge room, but if you put a few pieces of furniture into a room, it gives more of a perspective – buyers can say, “Oh, I don’t like the couch over there! I’d put it over here, with some nice side tables… and blah, blah, blah…” Too much furniture makes rooms look small and crowded, too little, and the place looks soul-less. Anyway, some of the interiors we’ve already seen really put me off the place (I don’t know about Julian!) like the first place in the cul-de-sac with the very steep drive – the rooms were absolutely crammed with furniture to the point where it was like running a maze just to get around the room! And I’m afraid that the pile of pictures leaning up against the arm of a chair (and half way across the walk space) didn’t really do it for me… The big place we saw on Saturday was beautifully decked out, with just the right amount of furniture – though I’d put in a recommendation to stylists to only use three-quarter size beds in a small bedroom – it would make the room look much bigger, and “cozy”, rather than “cramped” Anyway, some of the places in the listings this morning… one featured bare brick walls… on just about every wall in the house, except the bathrooms. Now, I don’t mind the occasional bare brick “feature” wall, but that house easily demonstrated that you can indeed have “too much of a good thing”! Some of the places had obviously been done up for sale – but then they’d gone and filled it full of old, tatty furniture – and I’m not talking about “Shabby Chic”, either! Still, as I said to Julian (when he commented on some of the decor) I was mainly deciding which places were worth following up by their floor plan. Rooms can be changed, walls rendered, carpets ripped up and tiles put down, curtains at least “modernised” – that sort of thing, but if the floor plan isn’t suitable, then the house isn’t, no matter how beautiful the rooms might be.
So I looked for houses (four l-o-n-g pages of listings worth) until Julian went off to his Podiatrist, then I Rifted for a bit. The weekend 50% experience bonus was still active (it was still Sunday in the US!) and Incantessa was still in Freemarch, sitting on level 11, so I ran her around there a few times, picking flowers, mining tin, skinning wolves and piggies, and looking for Artifacts, just waiting until the Merchant that you have to kill to get the title “Merchant of Death” arrived.. Then Julian came home, we chatted about his Podiatry visit, and had lunch. The Podiatrist took a plaster cast of both of his feet, and he’s having an “orthotic” made for the injured foot (and ankle) It’s a bit like a slipper that goes inside his shoe and is designed to slightly rotate his heel (but I’m not quite sure why, or what that’s supposed to do) He’s off to see the Physio tomorrow morning, so if my favourite eldest daughter is coming over, she’ll be here nice and early, as his appointment is at 11.30, and he can drop her off here on his way there. After lunch, I hit the graphics trail once again – this time working on (yet another) Desktop Wallpaper thingy. I’m thinking of using the same background as I’ve used here (I quite like it at the moment, but don’t expect that to last for too long 😉 ) Unfortunately, once again the brushes I downloaded have let me down. I don’t have anything that’s suitable, or that I really like – so I’m now starting to think that I may go for a straight graphic instead. I probably won’t get a chance to work on it tomorrow, but I should have something viable to show you all the day after. (Winter looks in her coffee cup. Damn! It’s empty! *cry* )
Weigh-in this morning. Well, I didn’t go up, as I fully expected that I might (that will happen tomorrow – you can count on it, especially seeing that I started back on those ghastly fluid retaining pills this morning! 😦 ) I went down one point (a much more reasonable drop!) to 89.0kg. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…
I’m not sure what’s happening tomorrow, except that my favourite eldest daughter will be here (she just SMS’d us to let us know) so I suppose we’ll be watching a few episodes of this, that, or the other, as we usually do. Tonight, when I get back from our nightly television session, I’ll probably continue with my house hunting – Julian wants to see if he can organise some inspections on Wednesday – there was one I found this morning that we both thought was “intriguing” (he’s actually having another look at the floor plans as I type! Great minds do think alike! 😉 ) so I hope he can organise something with that one – I’d love to have a look inside! It’s most unusual – it’s on a corner block, and it sort-of curves around the corner of the block – so it’s not so much an “L” shaped house, it’s more of a “C” shape! I’ll let you know if we can get an appointment to see it. There’s another house in Wheeler’s Hill, fairly close to the Police Academy on top of the hill – and fairly close (but not walking distance!) to where we used to live, and where my favourite eldest daughter and her spouse are now. Unfortunately the Auction’s this Saturday, so we really don’t have time to get things organised. Pity. It had the best floor plan of the lot! Anyway, that’s about all from me for tonight – stay tuned tomorrow though, as there’ll be lots and lots of news on all fronts! 🙂 Will we get to see those two houses? (and will they put off the Auction until we can get ourselves organised? I can tell you that right now, actually! That is not going to happen!) Will I find more, and even betterer houses? Probably! 🙂 Will my weight go up? down? or stay boringly the same? Who knows! Anything is possible! But those, and lots of other interesting pieces of information, will be all yours for the grabbing thereof, right here, this time (or slightly later, depending on what time I start writing!) tomorrow night! However, until then, bee good, remember that you can trust your dog to guard your house, but never trust your dog to guard your sandwich, but above all… please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 