Who's YamDankee?

I’m a facilities manager, chauffer, housekeeper, financial planner, homework coach, social secretary, event coordinator, chef and laundress.  One of those things is actually my day job.

I have one husband (Himself) and two kids – a 13-year-old boy (Thing One, or the Heir – he is smart and funny and has an obsession with World War II that borders on bizarre) and a 10-year-old girl (Thing Two, the Spare – she is smart and funny and has an obsession with nail polish which she did not get from me).  The household also includes two mutant dogs (combined weight is a bit north of 200 lbs), two neurotic cats and an indestructible parakeet. 

We live in midcoast Maine.  The house is eight or nine miles inland, but if the wind is in the right direction or it’s one of those heavy, foggy days, we can smell the salt water and hear the foghorns.  It’s close enough to the coast that we are able to rationalize sailboat ownership.

Walk out my backyard and you can pick up the Georges Highland Trail, or head just down the hill through the woods (follow the old stone wall) to the shore of the lake, and that’s where we keep our canoes for when we hanker for a paddle. 

Within three miles we have Thing Two’s dance studio and a rec center with a seasonal ice arena.  Five miles gets us to a ski slope.  Ten miles and we can take our pick of concerts, lectures, art exhibits and some really top-notch events – the Lobster Festival, the North Atlantic Blues Festival, the Boats Homes & Harbors Show, Christmas by the Sea, farmers’ markets, and fairs.

The schools are good. 

I really do like my job.  I also like reading, cooking, sailing, music, and fiber arts. 

I have everything except enough time for it all.