We finally sold the house today.

...after SIX MONTHS!!!

For $6,000 less than we wanted.

:(

Oh well. We still have enough cash left to start working on new house projects.

:)

Nitro's gone. When we came back from our trip, he couldn't stand and was basically helpless. He hadn't been eating while we were gone. The vet said he probably had cancer. We euthanized him before he could completely starve to death.

For those not familiar, Nitro was our male cat. You can see pictures of him in the photo gallery. We've had him since May 1996. We got him from a local pet store after our previous cat disappeared.

When we were at the pet store, I went into the enclosure with the loose kittens. I was enamored of some tiny grey fluffballs with bright blue eyes. Nitro was a gangly older kitten, and he wanted me to take him home. He climbed my leg and sat on my shoulder--and I was wearing shorts that day. When he was a kitten, he had slight tabby markings that I thought might darken when he grew up. But no, they lightened, and the striping was not very apparent most of the time.

Nitro was a loving cat, happy to be cuddled and carried. He would ask for a pet with a paw, gently resting it on my knee or shoulder. He was incredibly tolerant with the kids, giving numerous warnings for tail-pulling and hair-grabbing. I trusted him completely with them--though I tried to protect him from the kids whenever possible. He was also a sort of 'big brother' for our female cat, Scribbles. He'd groom her and wrestle with her, making her scream just like human siblings would.

Lately he'd been losing teeth and getting more grumpy. He'd hiss at Matt when Matt was talking on the phone, pacing. He also didn't like some of the things we were doing for litter arrangements in the new house. But he was a great pet.

Goodbye, Nitro. I'm sorry your last week wasn't more pleasant, but we did the best we knew at the time with the facts we had to hand.

I'm so excited. This is so goofy. The people who brought us Paperbackswap.com have now brought us SwapADVD.com! Hooray!

Now, we can get a whole new collection of kids' movies for every trip we take (instead of burning a hole in Cars yet again. Now I can try out a bundle of different exercise DVDs and get rid of them just as easily!

Oh, happy me. If you click the link above and decide to join, I get an extra credit for every ten addicts...er...new members. No shame if you don't decide to join, it's not for everyone. But here's a brief summary.

You sign up, for free. They don't sell your data. You post 10 DVDs you already own for other people to request from you. You get one free credit right off the bat, just for listing that first set of DVDs. You browse the list, find a DVD you want (that happens to be posted already by someone else), and you order it. When someone requests a DVD from you, you send it out via first class mail for the cost of postage. When you request a DVD from someone else, you get it for free! There are also wish lists and ratings and a bunch of other features, but that's the core. Think Netflix, minus the subscription fee. Think Blockbuster, minus the car ride and the 3 day duration limit. Think pay-per-view, but for only $1.64 instead of $3.95 or more.

The more people who join, the better the selection is for all of us! I listed 17 DVDs tonight and three of them had previously been wished for (with autorequest) by other members. They're now wrapped and ready to mail tomorrow. A fourth request has also come in, another wish (without autorequest).

People list anything and everything, and they'll order anything and everything too. I can't wait to send these first four off--I get credits when the receiving members acknowledge receipt. I've got plans for those already. :)

Anyway, if you want to dabble in movies--maybe see some of the old classics again, re-view the ones you remember fondly, or try out a poorly-reviewed movie you skipped in the theatre, what a great tool! Now, it is possible to bootleg stuff for free, but you have to spend time hunting and downloading and burning, only to discover the thing is in Polish and the guy who shot it in the theatre was a little wobbly. Of course, that's illegal--but SwapADVD isn't. Original boxes and art and discs are required, in playable condition. If you don't get the real thing, the sender doesn't get a credit.

*bounce* Can't wait!

The old house isn't sold yet, but the new house is shaping up.

Life seems to be getting back to normal, nearly. We have a new channel to watch on TV with the kids, called Sprout. They love the nighttime Star character, and that channel has lots of short snippets from shows they like, like Thomas and Bob the Builder. They also like one we'd never seen before, called Sagwa (the Chinese Siamese Cat). Anyway, that's how we calm them down before bed, a few minutes of that show to slow their heart rates.

Just more unpacking, these days. There's a couple interested in buying the old house, but they're taking a loooong time to make a final decision. Apparently the house is on the small side, though the fellow needs a garage workshop. They're also worried about the apartments on the other side of the circle, though we never had any trouble with them. They have seen the house three times now, and our realtor keeps saying she thinks they're going to make an offer any day now. We'll see.

Sam likes to break out in song spontaneously. Tonight it was the 101 verses of Hokey Pokey, including the lesser-known verses 'bowl', 'plate', 'eyes', 'hair', 'teeth', and 'shirt'. It was amazingly funny for the first five verses, especially since he was wiggling.

For those of you who know the web address, the webcam is back up and running, live in the new living room. It should be more reliable than the last few months, hopefully.

We have moved all of our stuff except what's in the garage and the shed, that'll be coming over soon.

We listed the old house today. It's up on MLS now, photos to follow on Thursday, I think. The agent is very pleased with how the place cleaned up. Matt did a fabulous job on floor wax and paint and hole-patching. Anyway, you can go see the listing if you know the old address. :)

We closed this morning on the house. It's ours now.

We went over to the new place with a bunch of tools and a few boxes and Matt started tearing out the office while I started cleaning out the kitchen. I wiped out all the cabinets, then all the bathroom cabinets, closet shelves, etc. Then I cleaned out cobwebs from all the corners. Matt continued to tear pieces of the office apart.

Realtor reminded me yesterday we need to bring a certified check to the closing for the dollars we're laying down. Minor rub: Our bank doesn't have any branches in North or South Carolina.

So, minor scramble to figure out what can happen. We ended up settling on a wire transfer from our account directly to the attorney's account. Safer than carrying a Big Check around town, that's for sure.

Then there was a minor scramble to figure out what the dollar amount should be. We ended up settling on a close estimate, since the attorney can accept a small personal check if it's not enough, and will cut a check back to us if we've sent too much.

So, crisis averted, and the last hurdle is over.

Got good news today.

1. Termite inspection came back clean.

2. Got final loan approval.

3. Septic inspection is clean.