Look at me trying to be socially acceptable!

I figured today was a good day to start a blog because I got an American Girl catalog in the mail. It felt like a good omen. I haven't owned or thought about American Girl dolls since I was 8 years old, and 17 years later, they are still carrying the flame for me. That's dedication, and it's inspiring. If a dead-eyed fake child staring at me from the glossy pages of a magazine can't get me motivated, what can?

I'm not sure what this is going to be about yet. I have other blogs on which I post little bits of nonsense and silly pictures and a great deal of swear words. I hope to make this a bit more substantial and accessible and useful.

I'm interested in frugality, self-improvement, and finding the simplest possible solution for every problem. I experiment a bit with all of these things just about all of the time, but I always feel like I could be doing more. I learn just as much from my (frequent) spectacular failures as I do from my (less frequent) modest successes.

My plan is to take you through each of these experiments and detail what has worked for me, what hasn't, and the resources I used to cobble everything together. I'll also share my goals, a few deep thoughts, and maybe a swear word here and there.