Welcome to My Custom-Built Life

"When a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. And this is where we got the job. So it's the beginning..."

First posts are always so awkward. I mean, where do I start, you know? Do I go with the whole, "I started this blog because [insert drivel about expertise and encouragement from friends/family here]," angle? It feels a little trite. I could try to be funny, and frankly, I'm hilarious, so in theory this is a great idea. But since this is a first post, I haven't really found my voice here yet, and you haven't gotten a chance to know me, so any real attempt is likely to be cringe-inducing and possibly even a little painful.

So no.

I really want to create an established About Me page, so talking about my life and general bad-assery feels potentially redundant. But I guess that's where I'm headed, because if you're still with me at this point then you deserve something here. So here's a basic introduction to me and the life my family and I are carefully, thoughtfully custom building.

I'm Jen, a stunning(ly audacious) 31 30 24-year-old model (citizen) from Northern Kentucky, which is not the same as Cincinnati AT ALL, so don't call me Jen from Cincy. 'Cause I'm not. My doting husband, Husband, and I are raising our two kiddos (a girl and boy, who shall be given fun but identity-concealing nicknames at some point), ages 8 years and 6.5 months, respectively, in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom tri-level that we planned to move out of six years ago. I also work from home as a professional freelance writer, and clearly I love a run-on sentence.

So now that we have (male child), it's become even more strikingly apparent that we really, really have to move. We're making big plans and paying off debt so that by this time next year, we'll be putting our tiny-but-adorable house on the market and moving on to the next phase of our lives, which includes building our custom dream home on 10-15 acres.

So yeah. This is my way of chronicling that process and all the beautiful, messy stuff in between. I hope someone comes along and enjoys this inevitably hot mess. I can't promise you much, but I will promise you honesty, semi-full disclosure, and frequent profanity. Enjoy.