Jaye and Judy's Albany Adventure

Well, I've been trying to keep everyone up to date on what's been going on with our Albany odyssey, but it's darn near impossible. I can barely remember what I did 5 minutes ago, let alone what details I shared with what friends about what happened last week. My friend Bonnie suggested that I write a blog and that way I could get the updates to everyone at the same time. So here it goes...

June ended in what felt like a cyclone inside a hurricane during an earthquake. Our house in Maryland sold and we went to closing on June 30. That means that the movers arrived on Thursday, June 26 to pack the house and on Friday, June 27 they loaded the truck and drove away with all our worldly possessions. Judy drove to the apartment Troy, New York (right across the Hudson River from Albany) on the 26th, with two screaming cats in the back of her car. They did settle down after the first bit of the trip, but you should have heard the howling when we first put them in the car! After the movers were done on Friday, I stayed behind to clean the empty house, then drove up to the apartment on Friday night, arriving at 2:30 AM. At 7:50 AM on Saturday, the movers called to say they would be arriving any moment to unload. Considering the move was from a 3-bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment, things went smoothly. Lots of stuff went to storage. Given that we'll only be in the apt. temporarily, we'll make do with the cramped quarters.

We have found a house in Albany that we put an offer on. It was accepted, with a few minor changes. Our revised contract was in the hands of the selling agent, on its way to be signed by the seller, when another offer came in. It was slightly higher than our offer, and even though they had already agreed to ours, the seller decided to go with the highest bidder. Our agent called me in the middle of closing for the house in Maryland to give me the bad news. We quickly made an adjustment to our offer to match the counter-offer. Our offer has been accepted, and we now have a signed contract, but it has left me with a queasy feeling about the whole thing. If the seller will pull an underhanded trick like this, will there be other unpleasant surprises waiting for us when we move in? All we can do is hope for the best.

Meanwhile, I'm still working at the library in Maryland. I had trainings scheduled through the end of July because I never imagined that the house would sell so fast and that we'd have to go to closing so soon. My last day at the library will be August 1. Until then, I'm house sitting for a lady that works at the library, Beth. She and her husband are on a month long camping trip and needed someone to look after their cat. I needed a place to stay close to work, and I love cats. Neither of us knew about the other's plight until we walked in Relay for Life 2 weeks ago. Just goes to prove, miracles happen all around us; we just have to be open to them when they arrive.

Judy's job is keeping her busy at least 12 hours a day. But now that she has been re-united with her TV and the desktop computer (she didn't like having the Vista laptop when she was staying at the hotel), I think she's feeling a lot better. Besides, she's got Ricky and Marci to keep her company. (Lucy left us on June 11. We miss her a lot.) Oh, and her dad, who was initially diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, is doing better. It turned out to be some other tick-born illness, so it's not quite as serious. The antibiotics are working and he's back to his normal smart-alecky self.

OK, I think that's all the news for now. I'll keep you posted on new developments, so stay tuned.