New here! Hello everyone!

**MelissaP** · 12-28-2010, 12:17 AM

I put this together on my profile.. so here is me in a quick nutshell:

Historic Home owner in Belleville Illinois new to the frugal scene.

Hope to learn from folks here and share what I know too! Im originally from Louisiana, born and raised in New Orleans. We were transfered to Il yrs ago due to hubby's job.. and I dislike it here due to weather and the people arent what Im used to. Much better than post-Katrina NO though! LOL!
We have a very large city lot with the old farm home that was originally here before the neighborhood. Its called The Stolberg House. Ive put in 3 large raised gardens and am going to attempt permaculture ideas in the spring/summer of 2011.

We have 3 kids.. all girls! 17, 12, and 5. Our middle daughter is a liver transplant recipient that has experienced many complications and the 17 yr old is a high functioning high IQ Aspie. I will be happy if the youngest is healthy and average! We home school due to several reasons Im sure we will eventually discuss here.

Im an ex-RN that had spent a decade in an ER in one of the largest trauma ERs in the area. I didnt retire, I burned out!

Hubby works for the DoD at Scott AFB and works with computers and information on the sipr and nipr networks. AKA not civilian nor enlisted computer geek for the feds.

We have 3 dogs... an elderly AMerican bulldog, an elderly JRT, and a 2 yr old insane hairless chinese crested. Plus we have a chameleon and a tarantula, plus several finches and some fish. Id love to add a chicken coop to the menagerie, but Im currently at a standoff with the hubby concerning my homesteading dabbling.