The Twilight Zone

Don't get me wrong - I love "The Twilight Zone"... I was raised on that show, my father being a major sci-fi & TV junkie. So, when I compare our first 48 hours living in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to the show about twisted and dark realities, I mean no harm.

But, it's just strange, being here. Andy and I both feel a little discombobulated.

We moved here on Saturday -Mom and Harvey came with us (Andy drove Earl, I drove Samantha w/ mom and Harvey came in his car), each car loaded with our clothes, books and necessities that we can't live without. We brought our stuff up to the apartment and then high-tailed it out to Northampton to meet our realtor and see 4 houses. That's right - the house hunt has begun!

We saw two houses in the town of Northampton and one in Goshen and one in Chesterfield. The one loved and asked to see, in Noho, was a dark Victorian that we fell in love with months ago when it showed up on the listing website. It's gorgeous but in our visit we found out that the roof needs to be replaced (not a huge deal) but then we saw that the roof is actually being held together with cords, strung up in every room upstairs, holding the damn house together. Madness. We don't want to buy a place that will fall on our heads... literally.

The house in Goshen was 120 years old and awesome - huge, too, at almost 3000 square feet. But there was water in the basement and it's likely that with all the repairs we would be looking at some major money. It was a really cool old house, though, and it's kind of stuck in my mind, so we'll see what happens with that. The other two houses were not options for us (sterile, too small, etc).

Anyway, after we house hunted we went to Chef Wayne's Big Mamou in Williamsburg for an awesome cajun lunch, and then looked around the Williamsburg General Store where I bought some cheap herbs and maple sugar candy.

Mom and Harvey left, we went food shopping in Hadley to Trader Joe's, came home and basically passed out. Yesterday we continued our shopping (stocking up on groceries when you've got nothing is pretty crazy - and pricey!), bought slippers at Target (the floor here gets cold... we are in the Berkshire Mountains, you know), came home and chilled.

We're getting used to it, but we definitely don't yet feel at home here in the condo or the town. When we woke up yesterday morning we felt like we were on vacation... in a hotel, in a strange town, not sure what to do or where to go. Or how to get there. But, it's getting better.

Now Andy's at work - his first day at the hospital, but it's just the orientation. I've applied to a couple jobs, one customer service working from home handling calls for a Nursing Agency, and the other in the circulation department at the Berkshire Eagle, which happens to be right next door to our condo here.

We'll see what happens next!

Here's some pictures of the loft-like condo (check out the wood beams - remember, the building was an old stationery factory), and me in our new car (in New Paltz).