The House

Here she is, in all of her glory...

Today is the day

Today is the day that we close on our house in Seattle...we get the keys this afternoon...
We're getting anxious...we can't wait to live in a real house again (as opposed to a hotel room) and have our kitties cuddle with us on the couch.
We still have about a month and a half of room and board here at CR as part of Dylan's move package and will use some of that time to redo the flooring in our new place. As soon as we have floors, we're moving in. I can't wait!

Homeless

As of today we are offically homeless. The house in Seattle sold successfully and we don't close on our house in Tucson until Wednesday...

Hallelujah!

We finally have a signed Purchase and Sale contract on our home in Seattle! This is great news because, assuming everything goes smoothly and we close on time, we won't have to ick around with any bridge financing on our new home here. Yippiee!!!
Here's a recent picture of our lovely Seattle abode, who's caretaking we are now passing on to another person...

jail break!

cue the Peter Gunn Theme...

life at the spa

Now that we've been her for 10+ days it has finally hit me. This isn't another short jaunt to the desert so Dylan can interview. We are actually living at the spa.
Having never attended a full-on summer camp as a child I can only imagine that this is what the adult version is like. There are hikes, bike rides, yoga and craft classes scheduled throughout the day. The hardest decisions you have to make are whether you want to hike in the morning or have an invigorating yoga class; whether you want to participate in the drumming circle or take a decoupage class.
I just finished with an excellent yoga class. The instructor (who also teaches the death-abs class) leads a challenging class and then during Savasana, as she finds spaces, chants/sings in the most beautiful voice as you take in energy from the universe surrounding you.
For lunch today I'm going to go to "Lunch and Learn," which is a cooking class. Today we'll be making crispy coconut crusted salmon (it's an illiteration lunch).
I've also been hiking quite a bit and taking pictures as much as possible. Dylan is back to work now, and really enjoying himself. I'm glad that he's found a place that is healthy for him to work (physically as well as psychologically). We both feel blessed to have been granted this opportunity in our lifetime. Then again, as the proverb goes, "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Dylan's diligence, even in a crappy job, set him up to be selected for this opportunity. I have to say, I know that I wouldn't have had the patience to stick it out as long as he did in his previous situation...
So, things are going well, especially for being in flux as we are. Caleb and Rory are still being boarded but I have two good leads on people that might be able to care for them, so I'm planning to break them out of jail soon...

38 cats

Though Caleb and Rory are managing the transition well I know that they can't wait until they get to leave the caged environment of the Sabino Canyon Pet Resort (it is a kennel, despite the euphimism).
I visit them every day and have an ad on the local Craigslist to try and find someone to take them into their home for slightly more than a month, but it's hard finding someone that wants to follow through on their initial response to my posting. Today, on reccomendation from one of the receptionists at Sabino Canyon, I spoke with their groomer who, I was told, rescues cats and might be able to take our buggers.
We started talking and she seemed nice enough, telling me about all the kinds of cats (and Rotweillers) she rescues. Then she got to the part about how she currently has 38 cats. I suddenly felt like I was in a parallel universe. Who in their right mind would have 38 cats in their home - and be willing to accept 2 more?!?
Naturally, I told her that we'd keep looking. I can't imagine that our guys would get any attention living with so many other cats.

alive

We've made it, safe and sound.
There was a bit of drama with our unsedated kitties, but not much. Caleb squirmed in pain during landing and Rory tossed his breakfast, but otherwise they were really well behaved. After some confusion getting picked up (they thought we were driving our car in, but our truck was in transport from Seattle on a tractor-trailor) we finally got to the Ranch...
We can't have our kitties with us in our room here, so we had to find a place to board them. We got in at about 5 pm and the place we had pre-arranged to board the kitties was closed. In fact, every place we called out of the yellow pages was closing in the next few minutes. We did not have a car, so we were at the mercy of the CR vans to be able to deliver us to a Vet/Boarding facility. AND, all of the CR vans were out driving other guests around!
Finally, at 5:45, we found the Sabino Canyon Pet Resort, which closes at 6 pm. Still, the CR vans were out on other errands. In a moment of quick thinking, the Bell Desk organizer saved they day by calling the town car service they use. Fortunately they were pulling through the gate at that moment and were able to whisk Dylan, Caleb and Rory off while I called the Pet Resort back to let them know we were on the way. In the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car with tinted windows our kitties rode to their resort in style...
When Dylan got back we ate our second meal of the day (you gotta love how airlines feed you NOTHING, even when you fly during a meal time) and I headed to the Whirlpool to relax my stressed-out body.

Whew...

And the winner is...

Tucson, Arizona.
Dylan has just been offered a great opportunity to work for Canyon Ranch (here). Naturally, he accepted and will begin work on October 31.
I'm really proud of him.
We now have the monumental task of moving ourselves and the kitties down to Tucson. We're very excited and also slightly overwhelmed but at least the weight of waiting is finally off our backs!