Back Online

It's been a long time, folks...Here's my attempt to crawl out of the blog-land abyss I've been lost in for the past 2 months!

As some of you may know, the past few months have been pretty crazy and overwhelming for us.  My internet absence was initiated by a loss of internet service in mid-August, a loss which lasted for 2 months.  I was amazed to realize how dependent we are on internet, because it was very challenging being without!

At the end of September, we had to move out of our apartment with nowhere to go, and spent 2 weeks as guests of my very gracious aunt and uncle.  Owen had been job hunting since the beginning of summer, and by mid-October it seemed he had finally secured a job...and we made the move to New York...and after getting settled received a call that he didn't get the job after all.  It's been more than a little bit stressful. 

Since the move, we also have been completely submerged in getting settled in our new location.  We're slowly getting to know the area better and figuring out where to go for things we need.  And even more slowly, we're getting unpacked...We are renting a spacious but old farm house situated on 100 acres--which is an amazing change from our cramped apartment with no yard!!--but it's taking some extra time and TLC to make it a clean and comfortable space for us. 

The house hadn't been lived in for at least a year, and being an old house has lots of crevices through which critters may enter, and so there's been much cleaning to do and even a few surprises here and there!  One night, our quiet evening was greatly enlivened by a bat, who decided our living room would be a good place to stretch its wings.  We also have our fair share of mice, who are helping themselves to the contents of our kitchen cabinets.  The basement houses an old, dilapidated butcher-block table, which in turn houses live termites (and yes, we have informed the landlords, but they don't seem too concerned).  There are aspects about the house that I love, and some that I really struggle to make peace about...I think the hardest part is that, as renters, we are quite limited on what we're able to do, either for the sake of permission or cost. 

Anyway, we're slowly finding solutions and making things work, and slowly setting up the pieces of our life here. 

Upstairs in the kids' "suite"--tearing out the ancient linoleum under the carpet and cleaning the floors, which had accumulated enough dirt for the lifetime of the house!

dirty floors

The newspaper was from 1952...some excerpts below:

more dirt, mouse droppings, tons of pins and needles, etc.

the kids enjoyed the temporary slide!

The finished bathroom: We painted the rotting and mismatched cabinet (next photo), painted the trim white and wall taupe (it used to be a peachy color similar to the bathtub and sink), and CLEANED!