A little more about me

Since I like to know a bit more about the writers I enjoy reading, here are some basics...

I'm Kristy, 25, and I live in a pleasantly boring suburb of Chicago. I'm married to Art, 28; we have been together ("officially") since December 3, 2000 and we got married on May 30, 2008. The year we got married was absolutely insane: April 3 - my grandma died, April 10 - we closed on our townhouse, May 30 - we got married, June - we'remarriedwhoneedsprotectionsex, June 28 - positive pregnancy test! It's a good thing we were together for 7+ years prior to all the craziness. Well, actually, we'd survived a few years of craziness prior to that too. Not as in our relationship was crazy though; that's never been true. We've always been really level headed--never really fight. Okay, anyway, positive pregnancy test! Lily was born March 8, 2009. I'm all for natural birth and breastfeeding whenever possible and am thankful that both came easily for me. Lily's all toddler-y now an absolutely hilarious to live with.

I dream of buying a lot of land and growing a ton of food and living sustainably. I also dream of getting rid of all of our things and driving around the country with a small house in tow and living spontaneously. At the bare minimum, I dream of getting the hell out of the town I was born in! In all likelihood we're going to end up moving nearer Art's work, since he so wonderfully supports me to stay home with Lily. So we'll settle in a different northwest Chicago suburb, but that's better than nothing. So long as the yard has room for a vegetable garden! (We currently garden in my parents' yard since our townhouse has no space.)

Aside from dreaming and toddler-ness, I love crafting. I knit, crochet, cross-stitch, sew, and just about whatever else I need/want to do. My favorites lately have been knitting and sewing though, the latter of which I'm not so good at, but whatever I make is at least functional. I craft at the sacrifice of house work, much to Art's sadness. I try to keep up, but if my choices are do the dishes or knit one more row of this lace shawl with the gorgeous hand-dyed yarn? Well, c'mon.

If it hasn't been obvious over the past few days, I've been really trying to write in here more regularly. I'm unofficially calling it a NaBloPoMo, but if I slack a day or two I'm not going to throw my hands in the air and give up entirely (as I'm known to do when it comes to writing projects).

I've been trying to think of a direction for this blog to go, but the more I think, the more I realize that any one theme just plain isn't going to stick. I guess you all will just have to put up with my scatter-brained ideas--random crafts, mothering musings, and hopefully a bit more of how to live poor and be proud of it. That's something I don't talk much about, even in real life, but do take great pride in. We live on a small income and do it just fine. We've sacrificed some luxuries; I still can't believe the horror on peoples' faces when we tell them we don't have cable television! And a lot of the more "natural" things we do like cloth diapering and growing a garden tie in so wonderfully to living more frugal too.

So, thank you to anyone who's actually reading this :) It'd be nice to know you're out there, but I don't mind the silent lurking type either. I hope you choose to visit again!