A new start.

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. Every time I come up with a great idea for one, it's always been in the middle of the night - and I can never remember exactly what I was going to do in the morning. (I hear forgetfulness is a common problem in mothers of young children).

I guess I'll start with a little about me and my life. I'm 29. I work 20 hours a week as a bookkeeper - 10 of those being in the office on my husband's day off and the other 10 are hours I sneak in when I can from home (nap time, anyone?). I also freelance (more bookkeeping) for a small trucking company (I call that my play money because I set it aside for house projects).

My husband (he'll be known as T here) is also 29 and is a nurse. He works 36 hours a week (9 hours a day for 4 days). We're lucky. Our 1 year old daughter (aka Monkey) is able to stay home with us all week and doesn't need to be sent to a sitter just so we can work. We work to live, not live to work.

We both grew up in extreme Northern Maine. On the Canadian border, to be exact. We relocated to Central Maine after we graduated college in 2002. It was a very hard adjustment for me. I come from a small, close knit family. Sunday lunch after church was something we did every week at my grandparents house. The 200 miles between us made it a little difficult for me to continue this. After living in an apartment for 2 years, we found a little house about 20 minutes out of town that was perfect for starting our life together (he had recently proposed marriage - a story for another day). We're still there, 4 1/2 years later.

Deboullie Mountain in 1999 (site of marriage proposal in 2003)

Now we're working towards a new goal: both of us working 2 days a week within the next 5 years. This is a hefty goal, but we're extremely confident in our ability to pull it off.

We've started gardening (as much for our love of fresh produce as for the money it saves us). T started a new hobby just today: wine making (we do love a relaxing drink every now and again). We are DIYers and do all we can to save money. I'll share projects and money saving ideas later...

Picture of our 2008 garden in mid-July

I'm hoping now that my daughter is getting older, I can get back into crafting. I very much want to teach her how to get her hands dirty. And I very much want to complete the 3 half finished scrapbooks that are on my shelf.

But now, I must get to work. My baby girl is napping and I've got a folder of work sitting next to me waiting for my attention.