Under Contract!

Yes, the buyers accepted our counter offer, and the next step is the home inspection and we feel pretty good about that. In the meantime we will be getting the rest of my stuff out of the closet, gathering the planters, and bringing garbage to the dump for the last time. Woowoo! Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers, which certainly made a difference. Yay! It turns out that Dave's friend Carl knows the buyers and told them to take a look at the house, which led to the sale. Small world on the mountain.
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Now about that book idea. I think I may have led you to think that some publisher was sending me a book proposal, which definitely was not the case. Not at all. It was a reader who wanted me to write a book.
Here's what I have to say about that. I have written everything I can think of about what it is that goes into making the art I make. It is all here on the blog, and repeated in the books of my compatriots from the Chicago School of Fusing, Laura Wasilowski and Frieda Anderson. And I have clogged up the internet with blog pages, Flickr pages, Pinterest pages and websites with photos of my work. However I do understand that some would like an actual book to hold in their hands and flip through, even study. Eek.
Hmm. I think I might agree to that, in the form of those books you can order online and that don't cost too much and I could do myself. Some. Time. In. The. Future.
Right now, please take advantage of the glut of my work on the archived posts of this blog, links in the sidebar to tutorials, and in the aforementioned sites.
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I must share some things that the visitors over the weekend, Dave's sister Carol and her husband Dan provided. Dan was just essential in approaching the offer and how to arrange the deal with clarity and I am so grateful for his experience and knowledge about real estate. He has helped us before with a previous house sale and that worked out beautifully too. He wants me to declare that he is not acting as a lawyer in the state of TN, merely a family advisor. OK? Got that covered.
And Carol did have a great impact on my interior design issues. WE looked at the room with the old polka dotted chairs against the new sofa and decided new chairs were necessary. I already thought this was the case and was delighted to have her input and agreement.

And we auditioned some of my fave quilts against the beige walls and discovered that beige is really a 'muted version of yellow' and looks great with purple as a contrast. I have plenty of quilts with purple in the mix, so the first one I pulled out, we hung.

What else goes well with beige? Turquoise, red, greens...etc. So I feel better and will start finding work to hang, as well as shopping for new chairs.
But wait, that's not all.

She brought me the book by Eckhart Tolle,  A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose and we had several in depth discussions of the themes, which happen to be just what I needed to hear at this moment in my life. Her gifts, which are many, include gentle encouragement and a deep understanding of spiritual concepts, which she explains with clarity and simplicity. I am already feeling better, and can see this new phase of our lives as one of the healthiest yet. This morning before they left, she advised Dave on his health, as she is a retired occupational therapist, and her advice may have resounded with him because of his respect for her. I hope.
Their visit was so much fun and we included a trip into Chattanooga to see all the kool stuff it has to offer. After quenching our thirst at the Terminal Brewhouse, we invaded my sister's workplace, a high end jewelry store, and made idiots of ourselves, trying on diamonds and gold jewelry. Luckily the day was awfully cold, snowing, and windy, so we were 'welcome' comic relief to the gals who were waiting for 5pm to roll around.
  Alas, no diamond jewelry came home with us.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.