Hi!
Welcome to our crazy life!
First of all, thanks for reading. Seriously, it means a lot to us. There's lots and lots of other stuff you could be doing, so I hope we make it worth your time. As evidenced by the title, I'm writing this particular post to give you more of an introduction to who we are, what we believe in, and why you should subscribe to our blog..
For starters, I (A.J.) say "us" and "we" a lot because Nina and I are a team - but I am the writer and I will be doing the bulk of the actual blogging, picture editing, etc., so I will also occasionally refer to myself in first person. Also, please bear with me as I get this blogging thing down, I'm still learning when it comes to SEO and website building and affiliate linking and all that jazz. I might also get Nina to try her hand at writing as well, her style is very different from mine, and it's important to get a different perspective every now and then. I've always had a love of words and a flair for writing, so when Nina had the idea of starting a blog about the various projects we find ourselves doing, I jumped on board immediately. Nina is the idea person and I'm the "let's make it happen" person, so it should be a good fit for the blog world. We're also known get ourselves into trouble fairly often as we are both pretty outspoken and prefer life to be straightforward rather than tiptoeing around the elephant in the room; and this has proven to be pretty entertaining as well, so we thought it would be fun to also share our mishaps with the world - who doesn't need a good laugh every now and then?
Another thing to know about us is that sustainability, nature, and respecting all life are all extremely important things to both of us. Americans can be extremely materialistic and extremely wasteful and this bothers us. A lot. It especially started to bother me when I had my kids and suddenly I found myself with more stuff than I ever thought possible. It came about slowly, but eventually I made the choice to start living my life with more purpose and then purposefully raising my children to appreciate what they already have rather than complain about what they don't have, setting them up for a more positive outlook on life. Nina was raised in a house overflowing with antiques and even as a child found herself drawn towards a minimalist lifestyle, so it works for us. While living a strictly minimalist life with three young children can be nearly impossible, working towards that is a dream we share with each other and want to share with the world as well. We long to share our love of recycling and upcycling things that would normally be thrown in the trash - both with the kids and with others - and to our great surprise and delight, all three of the kids are already interested in recycling and reducing waste as a way of life. A sense of community is also very important to us and the internet has provided a way to find it just about anywhere - even if we live thousands of miles from one another.
As many of you already know, a big part of believing in sustainability is also knowing and understanding how important it is to control your money rather than letting your money control you - hence the reason personal finance blogs are so popular. A minimalist outlook is understanding that the best things in life are often not "things" and learning to budget and do without is a part of that outlook. We are both on a journey towards being debt free and our ultimate goal is to eventually own our own land and build a modest, sustainable house (preferably out of recycled materials!) for ourselves and the kids, so as well as blogging about our projects and life itself, we will also be talking a lot about money matters and the various things we've learned that have made it possible for us to live the life we dream about - and this especially is where Nina's knowledge comes in. She's a veritable fountain of money-saving and money-making knowledge!
Many of you may have noticed that I use the words "we" and "our" a lot, as well as "partner" and "lifestyle" - so let me confirm now that, yes, your suspicions are correct - Nina and I are a couple. (A couple of what, you may ask... I don't know yet, the jury is still out on that one, but "crazy people" and "animal loving lesbians" have definitely made the list!) She is a life-long lesbian and I am a more recently acknowledged bisexual woman and we've found a deep understanding and love for each other that has morphed into a beautiful, balanced relationship. I was married (to a guy) for 8 years and got 3 beautiful children out of the deal; she remained single, looking for that special someone. While she didn't ever see herself with children of her own, preferring instead to adopt if she ever got the chance, she found me and with me came my three kids. This meant she also found herself living part time with three small rugrats who wait at the door for her to get home from work and think, in general, that she is just the coolest person ever. Not ever what any of us expected, but the best blessings often come in disguise. She gets the kid experience without the biological part and they get a third person to shower them with love and affection. It works out beautifully. The kids' dad (who is a great dad and will not be a subject of scorn or badmouthing here on this blog) and I have 50/50 custody and they live with us every other week, which is part of what makes this all the more interesting - living with three young kids every other week tends to give you an unusual outlook on life.
It's important for me to also note that whether you agree with our choice of partner or lifestyle or not is not up for debate here, that's not what this blog is about - and we've both heard enough arguments for and against to last a lifetime. Our relationship is something that is important to us and we don't want to hide it, but we also don't want to be "in your face" about it either and often times, acknowledging it up front and then moving on to more fun topics (Like building things! And funny cats! And cute children!) is the best way to do that. Overall, our relationship has been life-giving and life-affirming in so many ways and we don't want to keep that a secret. Equality and love for all (young, old, gay, straight, black, white, male, female, and anything in between) is a huge deal to us and we want to respect the people of this beautiful planet that we all share - so we ask that you have the same respect for us. I think you'll find that we are pretty normal people, with a pretty normal home life, and with that, a unique view on life that's worth sharing. And I say all this to make one thing clear: Hate, malice, or lectures of any kind, towards any group, will not be tolerated in any way. Your comment will be deleted and you will blocked. End of story. Ain't nobody got time for that.
So there you have it - a brief story of how this all got started and what we're about. Stay tuned for our next post and please, feel free to comment and ask questions!
