first things first...

okay, so here's the deal. I started a blog about 18 months ago and kept it going for 5 days or so. It was a huge success! (ha, ha!) Then I got discouraged, stopped writing, and when I was ready to start it up again, I couldn't remember my login info. Pretty smart, huh? At the time, my goal was to live within our budget and to do that, I wanted to spend $40/day or less. www.livingon40aday.blogspot.com

Now, my family has moved many, many miles away from our hometown. I've got 2 things going on right now that need my attention. My expanding waistline and my shrinking savings account.

Waistline -- For a solid 3 months, I've eaten more take out, drive through, and restaurant food than anyone should eat in an entire year. Add to that a generously poured glass (or two...) of wine each night and I've got an extra 10 pounds under my belt.

$$ -- Cost of living (mainly, housing) is quite a bit more here than it was where we used to live. We've been in our new home for about a month and still trying to get settled and start figuring out our new expenses. We need to bite the bullet and claim ourselves as permanent residents and start tracking our spending again and make sure we're working towards our financial goals.

That's enough for now...