40

This year I turned 40.  A few days ago in fact.  To be honest it rather feels the same as 39 although it has a different weight if you think about it too long.  No longer a kid.  I am doing what I am going to do as an adult.  There used to be so many options and questions in front of me.  Not that I would change a single thing.  I love the town we live in, our home, our friends and family (not that you can really change that), I love what I do for work and that we volunteer.
We worked pretty hard in our thirties.  We owned our business and it was my primary job for the entire decade.  That seems a little odd when written down.  Makes one wonder if it will be another decade?  Time does seem to be accelerating, so another decade could pass in no time at all.  I still think we are in a good industry and provide a product and service that is helpful.  It is an alternative energy, but more than that it is a local energy that provides local jobs and supports the communities around us.
We have spent almost 9 years in our little farm house.  We have been renovating it since the day we moved in.  A process that is not likely to end any time soon.  This year we took the front part of the greenhouse that was falling down (and by we I mean our contractor friend :-/) and put in a concrete pad and a higher roof so that it can be used to park our tractors and bobcat.  Inside I spruced up a bathroom that had an ugly beam in it, Ody-bird chewed wood trim, and some dilapidated drywall.  I also updated the countertop and sink in the bar.  Little things but it is nice to have many of the big projects out of the way.
It is my third or fourth year with chickens.  I need to go back through my blog history to find out for sure.  We still have Abbie and Dorrie, two chickens from our first group.  They no longer lay but they are both very sweet and have a forever home here.  Mama (Cuddles) has been busily sitting on three eggs for almost three weeks now.  It is really late in the season but for many reasons she never was able to hatch a chick this year.  I am hoping for one for her at least.  If not, that would probably be o.k.  We are supposed to receive our first snow today.
It is amazing to me how I adapted to New England weather.  When we first moved here I was always cold!  I couldn't imagine what the crazy people who were running around without a coat were doing in the rain or on (what I thought) was a cold day of 60 degrees or less.  Each year I wear my coat less and less, turn the stove on later and later, and get grumpy when it is hot.
We stayed locally this year, both due to cost and because we have a wonderful new puppy that we were training and wanted to have around.  We did take what is becoming our annual ski trip with our friends.  The guys and kids ski while us girls go shop or snowshoe.  We enjoy the friends we have made in our town.  It makes it a home.  We also rented a beach house with my sister and brother in law.  That was fabulous since it was so close.  Hubby's folks could come by and other family members and even a visit from our friends.  This coming year we have a few more ventures in store.  Our fifteenth wedding anniversary was last year and we have yet to take our trip for that.
One of the most memorable trips I will have from this year is the surprise trip my wonderful husband took me on to celebrate my birthday.  He has been so busy at the store this fall that I don't get to see him much.  He has been working seven days a week.  Even when my folks were here for almost two weeks he was only able to take a couple of half days and one full day off.  I was a little disappointed but glad my folks understood.  We have just come off of a few really lean years at the shop and this was our first opportunity to pay off some of the costs incurred from our move and property purchase.  So the trip was very unexpected.  He held the secret until the Saturday before when we were on the way to the Bruins game.  He had actually planned to take me to Quebec City as I had missed a trip a few years back and have always wanted to go.  But once I knew that it was really just for a day I wanted to go closer to home.  I didn't want to drive twelve hours to enjoy a day when we could drive two and enjoy two half days and a full day.  So we searched around and settled on Portland, Maine.  Neither of us had spent time there exploring the city.  I liked going somewhere new and so did hubby.  We picked a hotel down in the heart of the city on the waterfront.  It was a couple hour drive and then we were checking in.  We immediately headed out and walked around and around and around.   Up and down the waterfront and some cozy streets with cobbled stone.  What a great little city.  We stopped at a floating restaurant for a drink then went off to find some dinner.  We ended up at Bull Feeney's which is a little Irish pub and restaurant.  They actually had a really great menu.  I ended up with a lamb-hamburger which was incredible.  Hubby had fried Camembert cheese which is a favorite of his at a German restaurant we like in Massachusetts.  We walked around more before heading back to turn in.  We started the next morning at a spot called Breakfast in Paris then spent the day exploring Portland more.  We also took an excursion North to my absolute favorite LL Bean.  The real one with five different stores.  So much more selection that the outlets around us.  Such fun.  We then did a couples massage in the afternoon.  Hubby's first massage.  It was very relaxing and decadent.  We shopped around a little bit and finished the night talking with a couple visiting from the UK and Scotland at a cozy little place called the Chocolate Bar.  The next day we took a leisurely morning walking around a bit more but heading home before noon.  Hubby was back in work mode, on the phone and stopping at the distributor.  I ended up with a flu so it was a bit of a long ride home for me.  At the end of it all a wonderful trip and fabulous memories with my love.  So thoughtful of him.