I have lived in a rural community for 5 whole days now and I do have to admit that it is quite a change from anyplace I've lived before.  Here a couple things this city girl has noticed/done/learned:

1)  It's SOOOO Quiet!  It hit me when I was laying in bed one night that I hadn't heard a helicopter or airplane flying by since we've been here.  And when I do hear something outside - someone's brakes squeak or a car going by I've found myself actually peeking out the front window to see who it might be because it is now such a "strange" sound!  So far, it's only been the meter guy and the UPS guy delivering to a neighbor.  I can see myself becoming that nosy neighbor that stands in front of her front window keeping tabs on all that goes on - kinda scaaarrrryyy.

2)  I actually dumped my own garbage today - completely new experience for me!  I've never not had a garbage truck make a weekly stop in my entire life!  BW put the trash in my van (ewwww!) and I "got" to take it to this area with big dumpsters.  Apparently Thursday mornings are a busy time for people to do this as I wasn't the only person there!  My children were absolutely baffled by the whole thing too!  They were full of questions - Why don't they just send a garbage man to pick up our cans?  You had to TOUCH the garbage, Mom? Make sure you wash your hands!  What happens if we have so much garbage that it doesn't fit in our car?

3)  Apparently if you have a little chip in your windshield and snow/ice is on it for a length of time, the chip can turn into a crack.

4)  When you drive by someone who is walking (or are walking and someone drives by), there seems to be some kind of obligatory wave - even if you have no clue who it is!  I kinda like it:)

5) There's really no way to keep my kids from getting dirty when they play outside anymore - and I can forget about trying to keep their shoes from getting muddy.

6) You have to really need something bad to go "into town".  I'm already trying to figure out how I can consolidate a weekly shopping trip when I take the kids to Awana or maybe just relinquish all shopping to my husband after work.  What has occurred to me today is this:  It takes about 20-30 minutes to get "into town" from where I live now, but when I lived in the San Fernando Valley to get to WalMart/Target/Etc, with lights and traffic it often took about the same amount of time, but now it seems like a REALLY BIG DEAL to go "all the way to town". 

7) The customer service is sooo good!  I asked a discount store employee where the step stools were today(my cupboards are high in this house and I kinda need one in almost every room:) and he escorted me(along with my 4 kids and cart) to the 3 different areas of the store where they were.  I'm not used to getting that kind of service unless I go to Nordstroms!

So, it's very different, but I'm still really enjoying myself.  Thought I might actually finish unpacking today, but there was an incident with the washing machine that needed urgent attention.  So, maybe I'll finish tomorrow.  I need to start to transition my brain from unpacking mode to decorating mode - and finding ways to do that with the stuff I've hauled up here and already own instead of the neat things I see in the decorating magazines.  My family will be visiting for a "pre-Easter" dinner on Saturday.  We also will enjoy a visit from one of our favorite seminary families early next week and then well, it's kind of like packing all over again as we get ready to go on the Seminary camping trip late in the week.  Then it's back to the books and "real life"(whatever that is) the following week. 

Blessings!

-J