Airport Express & External Hard Drive?

Please forgive this question--I know it's been asked both here and elsewhere many times but I am looking for some clarity.

I have a Macbook, a Airport Express, a printer and an external hard drive. Is there a way to connect a powered usb hub to the AE so as to connect both my printer and the hard drive? Has anyone found a way to utilize AE and Time Machine? Do I need to scrap this idea and either just plug in the hard drive or go out and purchase Airport Extreme? Any thoughts are much welcomed.