How Did I End Up Here?

I hope you don't mind if I just chat awhile. Since my new home only has dial-up, I seriously miss talking to friends on Yahoo messenger, in chatrooms, and in social worlds like Second Life. Do people there miss me? I know a few that surely do. They have my email but they never use it. It seems people that like to chat aren't the same kind that like to communicate via Email.

Our new place is out in the boonies. It has it's pros and cons. As one friend put it, the view is stunning. There is no traffic, I have a huge yard to park in so I don't have to move the truck every Wed. for street sweeping.  There are no neighbors walking above my ceiling day and night. I have more exterior space than I know what to do with and there are birds everywhere.

The downside: I'm stuck with a poor Internet connection. Considering my income comes mostly from the Internet, I see that as a crisis.  My boyfriend shows no interest in remedying the situation, and that stresses me out terribly. The weather is more extreme. I seriously need to make or buy some warm clothes because our tiny wood stove only heats about half the living room and none of the rest of the house.  We got rid of our gas dryer because this place is all electric.  I'd assumed we'd get an electric dryer. In one of those lack of communications that couples have, the next thing I know is he's stringing a clothesline with no intention to ever get a dryer. What! I feel decieved.  When I agreed to rent this place I was told we could get DSL and living without a dryer or microwave was never mentioned. He even got rid of the dish drainer so now as I stack things on flat tables and they slide off, I feel we will be breaking a lot of dishes. His reasoning is without a drainer, you dry things and put them away. Here is another value clash. I think drying dishes is the biggest waste of time on the planet.  Not gonna happen. He can feel free to dry all the dishes he wants. Did I also mention we no longer have a dishwasher? Welcome to rural life.

I am now of the impression that rich people living in the desert and poor people living in the desert is a lot like comparing apples and oranges.  We spend a lot of time chopping firewood and getting free wood from friends because buying wood is expensive.  These changes put a huge strain on our relationship because we weren't on the same page whatsoever with this move. We are 20 miles from a city and I don't have a car. How does that work? Nor do I ride a mountain bike and we live on a dirt road with sand, gravel and ruts. The closest paved road is about 2 miles away.

The clothesline plan isn't working so well either. We haven't had a warm sunny day in two weeks. It's hard to dry clothes when it's chilly, wet, hailing, raining, or snowing. When it cost me $10 to do clothes at the nearest laundromat he about flipped. Considering my last dryer cost 20 bucks used, I don't think we are saving here.

I think I could be happy here if I had a car, an income, a few appliances and a decent Internet connection. But so far he's completely inflexible. He wants to live like a hermit bachelor I guess.

But the scenery is stunning.