Quick One

So yes, you may have noticed yesterday that I updated my post. Around 11h30 I got a phone call from the Estate Agent (not a useless one at all!) and my offer on the Garden Unit was accepted :)

Not only that, I also stopped worrying about my car registration because it was paid last Wednesday. And this morning I got my refund from the dining-room table :) After 2 rough weeks, things look like they're back on the up for me :)

Now I have things like bond applications and legal forms to worry about ... hee hee. Sheesh and the info the Bond Originators require is quite exhaustive, but I'm hoping to have it all together by the end of the week (I kinda wish I'd known what they'd needed in advance so I could be a little more prepared for this but anyhoo).

I also had the chat with my land lady and that went well, she's agreed to sort out our geyser issue (the one that has us sharing it between 6 people!). My only wonder is how on earth one house racks up a bill of 3grand a month for electricity - does anyone know if there is such a thing as an Electricity Auditor, because I seriously think we might need one.

And last night I went out sort-of celebrating with CollegeInstructor and MissB to MissB's favourite spot, The Magic Forest (which is actually a new place called JD's where Kumquat used to be). It's great, we ate and drank under leafy trees and fairy lights :)

And hopefully I'll be off to watch Alice in Wonderland this evening too :)

The Dead Room by Chris Mooney

A mother and her son have been executed in their home and fingerprint matches show their attacker died twenty years ago. But how can dead serial killers return to haunt the present? The answers lie in the darkest shadows of The Dead Room. When CSI Darby McCormick is called to the crime scene, it's one of the most gruesome she's ever seen. But the forensic evidence is even more disturbing: someone watched the murder unfold from the woodland behind the house - and the killer died in a shoot-out two decades earlier. The deeper Darby digs, the more horrors come to light. Her prime suspect is revealed as a serial killer on an enormous scale, with a past that's even more shocking than his crimes, thanks to a long-held secret that could rock Boston's law enforcement to its core. Is it possible to steal an identity? Or are dead men walking in Darby's footsteps? The line between the living and the dead has never been finer.

Shoo. This was exactly the sort of book I needed after the very slow read of Virgin in the Treehouse. I snapped it up in a weekend :) It starts off really well, gets a bit wishy-washy in the middle and then practically takes off at the end. Definitely a fun, mildly-twisty crime read.

I Put In an Offer!

Wowee, so I did it. Yesterday I went to see the Garden Unit a second time (just to make sure it was a good spot and I wasn't swayed by the tenant's gorgeous furniture!) and I signed an offer for the place!!

I know, it was quite a surprise for me too. Well, only in the sense that I signed it there and then, I think I knew since Sunday I'd be signing an offer on one of the two units. Shoo, I won't lie, I did wake up in a panic at 04h30 this morning, wondering if I'd done the right thing. But in the bright light of day I'm still happy with my decision :)

I feel like it's going to be a good week. Well, I did before I went to check if my dining-room table credit card reversal had shown up on my online statement yet (it hasn't!) and then I went to check if my car license renewal cheque had been deducted yet (I posted it like 2 weeks ago!!) and it hasn't either :( So I'm not thrilled. There's nothing I hate more than the idea of dealing with a government department (except perhaps SARS or having to go into an actual bank branch!). These license renewal things terrify me cause you have to send the form in with the cheque ... so now how on earth do i prove I've sent it off. And I can't resend it or anything because I don't have the document anymore. *panic stations* sigh.

Anyway, I will remain positive and upbeat while I wait to hear if my offer was accepted (because the owner is in Cape Town, she's got till next Monday).

08h11 Update: Got hold of the Randburg Licensing department (a miracle in itself, I know!) and my license was paid last Wednesday! *relief* Silly me, I checked the wrong bank account for my cheque (I only use them once a year to pay my license registration, so forgot the cheque book is attached to my old account!). Now to just get hold of Madisons :P

11h25 Update: My offer just got accepted!!

The Weekend Stuffs

Another weekend gone. Sho, the weeks just seem to be flying by these days. But I will say that, right now at 7am on a Monday morning, I am feeling quiet upbeat about this week ... it is still fresh with possibility :)

Friday evening started the weekend off perfectly with ... nothing! Which is exactly, exactly, what I needed. I went home, the weather had turned all rainy so the bunnies couldn't really have their usual outside run-around time so I settled straight in with some new series. And there I stayed, aside from a minor break to make some yummy tomato soup and cheese toast for dinner. It was the perfect end to a crappy week.

Saturday was slightly more energetic. I was up and let the bunnies run around in the morning. And then headed back to bed to watch some more series (you will notice the trend by the end of the post ;) ). Eventually I got up and headed off to Mugg&Bean in Sandton to meet up with The Bunny Farmer for lunch (she was up in Joburg for about 24hrs to go to whatever expo was on at the Dome this weekend). Was awesome being able to catch up in person again :)

And then I went and wandered the mall ... well quiet a few malls as I whiled away my afternoon. Bought some new tops, but otherwise that was the extent of it.

And then I went to watch the Stormer's game with Beukes, CollegeInstructor and another friend of ours. Was great since the Stormers had such a fun game (bu that I mean, they won, the other team didn't score *at all* and they got a bonus point, yay). And then I headed home for ... you guessed it, more series!

On Sunday RubyLetters & I met for breakfast at JB's Corner in Melrose Arch. Was so lovely seeing her again and catching up in person :) After that I headed home to collect my cuttings and CollegeInstructor and we went investment-house-hunting.

> Follow RubyLetters on Twitter:

Would you believe I've actually found 2 places that I am keen to buy ... am now just trying to weigh each one up. Both are studio apartments, actually in complexes right next door to each other, so they are the exact same area. They are roughly the same price (well, depending on what the owner of Unit One is willing to accept, but my offer would be roughly the same as Unit Two's price). Unit Two is slightly bigger (smaller balcony too).

Unit One	Unit Two
+ Garden Unit	+ Top Floor Unit
- Would have to pay transfer costs etc.	+ Buying straight from Developer, so no transfer costs etc.
+ Already has a *private* tenant (am waiting to hear how much rent she is paying and if she is keen to stay)	- Would have to find a tenant and it seems rental management fees are quite a bit (close to 10%)!

Looking at it laid out above, I think aside from "The Tenant Factor", Unit Two is probably the better buy for me. But there is, in my mind, something to be said for already having a happy tenant in place, depending on what they are paying, of course. Which hopefully I should find out today. This really could be it, folks :) Ps. did I tell you the tenant in Unit One has the most gorgeous furniture? The whole place has been done in an almost Nouveau Victorian style and it's gorgeous!

After that I cleaned the bunny hutch and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing with some series.

See, after last week I really craved the escapism of series and managed to cram it into every nook and cranny of the weekend. I'm convinced that's why I am feeling rested and relaxed this morning and ready for this week.

More Annoyance

Urgh. Life is just irritating me this week. I haven't been in a great mood. I have to do something I don't want to this weekend (confrontation is not my thing, okay?) and life is turning sour.

So, I finally got an answer on when my dining-room table should be arriving. Brace yourselves. Mid-June. Yes, that's right, three and a half months. I have no freaking clue where it's coming from, my best guess is that either it hasn't even been made in that far off destination yet or that they are planning to ship it piece by piece by canoe :P I promptly told them to refund my money and to call me when it arrived, on the off chance that I hadn't found myself another dining-room table in that time. Which to be fair I may not have ... as I said before it's not a must-have purchase right now. Although I think I should probably step-up the purchase of a couch now that I'm not expecting to be spending on dining-room chairs any time soon either :P Sigh. Frustrated much, yes.

And then I had a lovely dinner at JB's corner with some work friends last night. But just before we left I checked my phone and found out my house alarm had gone off 4 times. Beukes had called to say something weird was going on with the alarm when he'd gone out but I had assumed he'd got it sorted. I found out just how screwy the situation is this morning when I tried to switch off the alarm ... with nothing bypassed and the damn thing "ready" and NOT armed, it kept going off :P Not ideal at 06h30. Seriously, it happened like 4 times in a row before he came and showed me how he got round it ... just a now apparently broken alarm system to the conversation I have to have with the landlady this weekend and you must know how excited I am about the prospect of it :(

Seriously folks, where di my mojo go?

Grr. That is All.

Am not so much in a happy place at the moment. I don't exactly know what it is ... yesterday was a shocker of a day. I was in a foul mood, my pc at work restarted 4 times during the course of the day (our UPS stopped working on Monday, how freaking typical?!) and then this morning I woke up with some weird nervous feeling in my stomach.

I don't know what is wrong, perhaps I'm just coming down hard after the last two months of being blissed-out ... this is real-life, baby :P The honeymoon period is over, the silver-lining is starting to slip. Not that ever even for a second do I want last-year's life back. No, no, no. I don't know what I want, I don't know what would make me happy and care-free again. Sigh, sometimes dealing with real life and responsibilities is the pits.

I think I'm probably just hormonal or something ... hopefully it'll pass soon. Perhaps it's because since the whole dining-room table fiasco, I haven't bought anything new for the house. Sigh, don't even get me started on that. I'm hoping to get some kind of estimate of how much longer till the damn thing actually arrives today. But if it's more than a week I am seriously telling them to refund my cash and call me when it arrives and then, if I haven't found another table I actually want, then I might come round and purchase it, again. Maybe. Pfft.

Last night CollegeInstructor went to go see The Wolfman (it's really nice actually having someone available to watch 5pm movies with ... since he's not working at the moment and all).

Btw. the movie is absolute rubbish. I was honestly expecting far more from a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Benicio del Toro! Seriously folks, it's one giant yawn-fest ... I got up to go to the loo and I didn't even care what I missed :P

So, here's to a happier day and a great dinner this evening with friends :)