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Things are really coming along now in the house. The painting is all done (for now, there's more I want to tackle later on), the living room baseboards are finished and slowly yet surely those pesky corners are all getting cleaned. I'm finding myself busy removing bits of old painters tape from the baseboards and drips of dried paint from the floors. Both were left by previous owners. Apparently they thought they would get to it one day and never did.

All the boxes are officially unpacked now. The spare room is still a work in progress, but is now a functional guest room and craft room type area.

This house hasn't been lived in for several years and that is very apparent by the state of cleanliness I'm encountering. Add that to the fact that it was previously a bachelor pad - minimal "good enough" slap happy type cleaning - and I'm reassured that although this particular cleansing is taking forever, once I'm done it will just be a matter of maintenance care to keep it tidy.

We have a house phone line now too, which is good because of the varying degrees of cell phone service we have encountered here. At first I thought it was kind of charming that we were "unplugged" out here in our new country home. However, after many a time picking up the iPhone to send a quick text and seeing that dreaded 'No Service' staring back, it's getting kind of old.

Texts don't go through sometimes, either sending or receiving, or they take hours to reach their intended party. It's a bit frustrating. Not to mention the constant cycling between three bars to no service runs the battery down fast.

The load times for emails or Facebook differ only slightly - from abysmal to terrible. I'm sure we won't bother with getting Internet access as it's sure to be about the same speed - and dreadfully expensive to boot.

The alarm system was installed today, and that concludes the intrusion of workers into our house for now.

I have a lot to say about the mud around this place. There is so much of it. And if it would quit snowing maybe it would dry up a bit. I'm extremely thankful for the mud room, and for the easy access to washing facilities.

Everyone is settling in really well. The kids help me walk the dog several times a day and play outside in the snow, puddles and mud. The snow melts a bit more each day and exposes a bit more of the yard. Or what is supposed to be the yard. "Pastureland" or perhaps "hayfield" is more fitting at this time. But! We just got a new John Deere tractor that will make short work of it.

There's quite a bit of large scale gravel on the front yard. I've been trying to convince the kids that picking rocks is fun, but they are too smart for that nonsense.