So, yesterday we went to Amersfoort again because our new house was to be inspected. We wanted to make sure there were no big problems and we also asked for advice on the insulation. The report will follow in the coming week but there was not much wrong with the house. At some points ventilation has to be improved and the walls and attic could use some insulation work. There's no danger of the roof or walls falling in at any time soon though, so that's good.

For the record. The house we're buying is Holkerweg 35.

Well, not actually but the seller has agreed on the price. We met on our half of the middle, about 18,5 thousand euros less than they asked and only 9 more than our starting offer. And they agreed on the transfer on the 13th of May. We got a house!

*Skips away, singing*

It's a first! I bought shoes with heels. And not just any heels... 8 cm! I was actually searching for replacements for my IC knee high boots because their soles are abandoning me. And I need replacements for my black sneakers. But what do I come home with? 'High' heels. 8 cm isn't really that high and they are quite broad - no stiletto heels for me - but still...

I have never had shoes with heels that were higher than 2 cm. It's bad for your feet, knees and back to walk on your toes all day and I was afraid I'd never manage to stay up right on the things. However, I liked the look of these shoes (they are disguised as sneakers) and I managed to walk around in the store a bit without breaking anything or falling flat on my face. They also made me feel sexy so I decided to buy them. I do not plan on wearing them entire days and I won't go shopping on them or anything. They're for (no dancing) parties or special occasions. I don't think I can manage running on them, so they need careful planning as well when public transport is involved.

Anyway, I still need to go to a shoe store for the actual things I was looking for. Who knows what I'll come home with next? :-p

Last weekend we had a birthday in Utrecht but there was work on the train tracks between here and there, so we decided to avoid the trouble and have a sleep over in Harderwijk at Matthijs' mother's place. While in the neighbourhood we also visited Matthijs' father and my father.

My dad had disturbing news for me. My grandmother has been hospitalized some time ago for a week for pulmonary embolism. She has trouble breathing and tires very rapidly for lack of oxygen. Nobody knows what caused it and thus how to 'fix' it. My grandmother is 80-something but up till now she was in quite good health for her age. This news frightened me. My dad is worried that it won't last long, in the bad way...

Because of her illness my grandmother has not been able to visit my demented grandfather and he has 'slipped' further. He is now past the stage where he is aware of his disease. This makes him less grumpy and tearful but also less aware of his environment and normal social standards. He can now just forget about visitors and go to sleep simply because he was walking past his bed.

My grandfather barely recognizes his own children anymore and I haven't visited him for quite a while, so I don't think he'd know who I am. This, however wrong it feels, makes me less inclined to go visit him. I do plan on visiting my grandmother. I sent her a 'get well' card and want to visit her on the 5th of March in the early afternoon. (Just before I go to the birthday of my other - much younger - grandmother.) I just really hope she'll get better.

Grandma Haeke will turn 75 this year and celebrates on the 5th of March. I am making her a portrait with an old photo as reference. On the photo there's four generations: my great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and me. The third try turned out quite good so I think I'll keep that one. Now I'll need to get a nice frame. It surprised me that I still can draw, since I haven't had much practise the last, say, 5 years.

We have never been a close family and I've been lucky to have know both pairs of grandparents. These tidings just make me more aware of both facts.

At the end of the weekend I could not cross off anything on my paper todo list that is standing on my desk. Still, I had a good feeling because I:

All of these things were lying on the todo heap in our hobby room. The heap is not gone yet, unfortunately. There's Matthijs's pants that need mending, a summer coat that needs new sleeves, a bathrobe that will become pants for Matthijs, a pair of trousers of which I forgot what I wanted to do with it and a Very Synthetic skirt that needs a bottom layer of something natural to be wearable.

Even though I did all those sewing projects I still had no time to work out my serger, which would make working with all my synthetic fabrics a bit easier (I hope...). I plan on using the serger on the big Get Rid Of The Synthetic Stuff project, which will clear out my stash of fabrics and make room for nice natural comfy fabrics.

But well, first a whole week of work again. On Saturday we might visit my dad if he's at home and in the evening we go to a birthday in Utrecht. Sunday should be free... And tonight a movie!

We had a second viewing of the Holkerweg today, together with our purchasing agent (I'll call him W). He pointed a few things out to us that we hadn't noticed ourselves. The house is of sturdy and decent build. However, there's not much isolation, the floor in the living room is broken (under the rug...), the roof of the shed is questionable, the walls on the first floor are degenerating and would probably come apart when you pull off the wallpaper and a few more other things.

Still, the bathroom and kitchen are good. The toilet, though old fashioned, is in good repair, the paint on the window frames is still good and there's lots of room inside the house. W told the sales broker that the price they were asking is too high and the sales broker told us that he'd advised his clients to ask less than the price they are asking now. So that's a win already. Aside from that W let fall that the interior of course is quite out dated, the floor was bad and there was not much ventilation in the house. He thinks that he might be able to have the sellers drop the price quite a bit. On the other hand, the sellers are not in a hurry to sell because their new home is still being built so they can't move out soon anyway.

Even though there are lots of things to be improved about the house, there's no telling what you'd find "under the rug" in other houses and so far this one looked the most promising. We are not afraid or incapable of working with our hands, so I think it's a matter of planning and priorities. Which things to do before moving (floor at least..) and which things to do some time later.

It's starting to getting finalized (though we're still not there yet), but I really dread the whole mortgage thing we still have to go through.