Long Time No See

Yeah...I've been away for awhile. I've missed this blog and my readers (both of you) very much!

I recently came across this retrospective on Glamour Shots. It reminded me of a terribly embarrassing incident from my own adolescence.

The time I went to Glamour Shots.

So that you realize how out of character this was for me, you must realize I was more Angela Chase than Brenda Walsh. I spent most of middle school wearing black and white clothes, reading Sassy, and rolling my eyes (I was a champion eye roller) at the suburban pursuits of my classmates.

Yes, I was a lot of fun.

But somehow, on a spring Saturday, I ended up Glamour Shots with my aunt and little cousin. Why? Maybe because I was (and am) a bit of an event whore?

After I cracked a joke about them on Facebook, my mother actually scanned them in. And, as punishment for ignoring this here blog, I thought I'd share them.

As I look at these pictures, I try to reconstruct what I was thinking as a I picked these costumes from Galmour Shot's collection and as I posed.

Like this look. WTH was I thinking? I look like a white trash vixen (like Heather Locklear on Dynasty).  J hates this one, because he first saw it at my grandmother's house right after we started dating. He was all "this is kind of a sexy picture of you, even if you have waaaayyyy to much makeup on."

Then I told him I was twelve when it was taken. He now HATES this picture because it freaks him out. Ha.

This outfit looks the most like Tracie in 1991. Dark. No decoration.

However, I didn't usually pair these outfits with curly hair and heavy makeup. I commented on Facebook that I look like a stripper posing as an attorney.

This picture is my favorite. I look pained. Probably from the awkward posing. Or the huge, heavy clip-on earrings. Or both.

Does anyone else have awkward Glamour Shots from their younger years?

Get Organized For Spring

This isn't a spring cleaning post (although one is probably in the offing!). This more a list of things you need to do now, while winter is still hanging over all of our heads, so you can really enjoy the warm weather that's just around the corner!

Photo From How Stuff Works

1. Clean Our Your Air Conditioner

Few things are worse than waiting to turn your a/c on until you really need it (I'm one of those people who puts it off as long as possible) and then it not actually turning on! And naturally this happened to multiple other people, so the HVAC repair people can't get out to you immediately...

Improve your odds by following these simple instructions on cleaning your window unit or central air system. Yeah, they need cleaning. Then give them a test run so you can make sure everything is ready to go!

Photo From All Natural Store

2. Find A Farmer's Market

I'm a huge farmer's market booster. During the summer season I usually go at least once a week. The vegetables are, naturally, out of this world but you can also buy local honey, meat, eggs (and even meet the chicken who laid them!), prepared food, plants...it's amazing! Use this link to find your local farmer's market.

Photo From My Lot

3. Get Your Clothes Ready

Our master bedroom boasts of one fairly small closet and one chest of drawers. So we rotate our clothes in and out, using the larger closet in the spare room to store our out of season clothes. Right now our summer stuff is in there but over the next few weeks I'll start moving sweaters and sweats into the closet and pulling our summer wear back into our bedroom

This is also a good time to go through your clothes and decide what you need. J and I both need flip flops and summer shoes. I'm digging these Hogan turquoise striped canvas thong sandals although they are WAY out of my price range.

Here's a great link with ideas for organizing out of season clothing.

4. Set Up Your Outdoor Space

Photo From 1927 Countryside

We've lived here two years and we still don't have a good space outdoors for hanging out. I'm currently digging these benches made from pallets. We have a small deck, but these would provide a LOT of seating and we could pop a small circular table like this into the space for dining.

Speaking of dining, we don't have a grill! Crazy! We are SO getting one this summer. I'm not sure if it'll be a simple charcoal grill or a fancy gas grill with side burners, but I LOVE grilling out and it is past time we created an outdoor cooking space.

Emily pondering how much she hates flea meds.

5. Get Your Pets Ready

First, lets talk flea meds. I'm so conflicted about them. I don't like the idea of these chemicals coursing through Emily's body (we haven't used them yet on Nola, but given her health issues I'm even more leery of using them on her). I don't know if you've ever gotten any of the meds on your hand, but as soon as it hits your skin you get the WORST taste in your mouth. Gross.

However. Where we live is over run with fleas (maybe because we live by the lake?). All the neighbors battle them, too. And the more natural remedies we've pursued, and even giving Emily a weekly flea bath, doesn't work during summer. So we do all the prevention stuff but if we see a flea we break out the big guns for a couple of months.

If you are planning a summer vacation that includes the pets or includes them boarding somewhere while you are gone, remember to make get copies of their medical records from their vet and make sure they are up to date on their rabies and kennel cough vaccines.

Cavalier Motel, Outerbanks

6. Plan some summer fun!

We haven't been anywhere together in FOREVER. I'm busily pinning all sorts of ideas so we can plan a little getaway. Some of my favorites? Figure out a driving route that includes all major landmarks, a list of all factory tours by state (J would love this!), and I love the idea of this website where you plug in your start and ending places and it fills in all the cool stuff you could do along the way.

I love the beach, and I love vintage-y places (J interprets this as "Tracie loves to stay in places that makes me think of the Bates Motel") and I think the Cavalier looks AWESOME.

7. How Old ARE Your Sneakers?

My current sneakers are ancient. And I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on the blog, but I have scoliosis (former Boston Brace wearers, represent!), crazy flat feet, and overpronate like CRAZY. Ergo, I'm incredibly hard on my shoes.


I've heard good things about running shoes with metal springs. I KILL the cushioning in my sneakers, and these are supposedly very durable, along with providing lots of shock absorption (which I need). I'm planning on ordering some soon.

This is a good time to think about getting new running shoes, because hopefully we are all about to be more active as warm weather hits.

Affiliate links are included in this post.

What steps are y'all taking to get ready for spring?

A Day In The Life

Last Tuesday I kept running notes about my day. Welcome to my world, everyone. Updates are in italics.

5:00 AM: Once or twice a month J has to go in for labs. These appointments are always soul crushingly early. Sometimes they are quick appointments; sometimes they last for HOURS. Luckily, today should be a quick appointment. Also, I'm just the driver so I get to go in my pajamas. #TheresAlwaysASilverLining

Unluckily, I didn't go to bed until 11 and J had a hard night. I should've slept on the sofa, because I think I got maybe three hours of uninterrupted sleep. Where's the coffee?

6:00 AM: Emily and I are hanging out in the car, waiting on J. I'm using the time to get a jump start on my day- going through my inboxes, proofreading today's post one last time, approving and responding to a couple of comments (the pedipaws post was rather controversial!).

6:30-8:00 AM: Time to get ready! First I head off to the kitchen and throw together the ingredients for chicken and lentil stew.  I know I won't have time to make dinner later, and I'm hoping it'll be ready for me to pack some up and take it for lunch. And I don't like to leave J without anything to eat.

Afterwards I grab a shower and quickly get dressed. So quickly I put my heel through the hem of my slacks. I have enough time to quickly hem it back and run into the spare room to press the hem.

There's a slight problem.

Where the *?!!??!!!((***!!! is the ironing board cover? Where? I very vaguely remember taking the cover off for some reason but I can't remember what that reason was OR where I placed said cover. I toss a folded beach towel on the board cursing myself the whole time. (Five days later and I STILL don't know what I did with the cover!)

Kiss J and the furries good-bye, head out the door.

8:00-9:00 AM: Commuting. Someone remind me why we moved so far out? The sun is out, the traffic is slow moving, and I feeeel the lack of sleep. Also, I realize halfway to Atlanta that the lunch I carefully packed? I left sitting on the kitchen counter. Awesome.

9:00-2:00: Although I usually do my freelance work from home, occasionally I venture forth to a client's office. This is one of those days. Luckily? I love these clients! And although they have a lot of things that need addressing, they make time to take me to lunch. I love going out to lunch. I especially love Mediterranean sandwich shops (I have a lamb shawarma. So delicious!)

Photo From Ever New Recipes

They have a huge project they need done YESTERDAY, so when I leave I know that they alone are going to keep me very busy this week, since they need it finished by Friday...

As I'm putting my stuff back in the trunk, I spy the box of recycling that's been chilling back there since Sunday. Whoops. (Update: Five days later I finally managed to drop the recycling off. This occured because of my embarrassment as I edited this post.)

2:00: As I'm walking back to my car I get a text from J. There's a problem with one of his prescriptions. I call the drug store. They tell me they didn't receive the refill authorization. I call the doctor's office. I very clearly remember speaking to the office IN PERSON about this refill. They remember it, too. The problem? It's what the problem ALWAYS IS.

Doctors' office apparently no longer call in refills. They use a service that faxes them into the pharmacy.

Faxes. Them. In.

Has there ever, in the history of technology, been a piece of equipment that works the way its supposed to as RARELY as the fax machine? And why in the $%%^^&&*^%$#@$ are we still using this god-awful dinosaur in 2013? FAX MACHINES SUCK.

Honestly, my most feared phrase in the English language? "I'll just/can you fax this." AHH!!!!!! Let's just accept the eighties are over and scan/email these documents like the adults we are! When something goes awry with an email, there's a trail! There's the initial email! Faxes are akin to sending needed information in a bottle and tossing it into the ocean! Who knows when it will finally show up!

The issue doesn't get resolved, but the pharmacy loans us two days worth while this issue is resolved. (Update: It was, indeed, the fax machines fault.)

3:00-3:40: I'm home! Emily and Nola are happy. J thanks me for dealing with the refill snafu. I check in on the blog, go through my blog and business emails, change clothes, and head out to my part time job. There's more blog business than usual to attend to this week, mostly because I'm arranging Middle Class Modern's first ever giveaway and publishing my first sponsored post. Yay!

4:00-8:00: My other job. I drink lots of caffeine. No one feeds me awesome Mediterranean sandwiches.

8:00-midnight: Grocery store run. I load up on caffeine, milk, and cat food. Get home, jump in the shower, finally have some of the stew I made this morning. Delish. (Alas, a better blogger would've taken pictures.)

When I flip on the television I'm super disappointed, because at some point during the day I became convinced it was Wednesday. So...no Modern Family, no The Americans. At least there's an SVU marathon.

 Cozy in my pajamas I catch up on a couple of smaller freelance projects, prep the Jubilee post for Wednesday morning, and then attack my new project. Around midnight, as I'm drowsing over my laptop, Miss Nola Kitty jumps in my lap and demands cuddles. I take it as a sign and put the laptop up for the night.

It's Pi Day, And It's Also Date Night

Okay, its more like Date Afternoon because I have to work tonight! 

But the main point? It's Pi Day, the day we celebrate the never ending number 3.14etcetera. Did you know it's also Einstein's birthday? Seems appropriate, no?

Y'all, I've been absolutely SLAMMED this week. One of my freelance clients needed a big project done ASAP, we've had lots of J medical appointments, and I've been working a lot of hours at my other job.

All of this means I haven't had a lot of downtime and we certainly haven't had quality time (roughly defined as time we are both awake, in the same room, and I'm not attached to my laptop!). So a miniature dinner and a movie geek fest seemed appropriate and needed. Because of time and money crunches, it was important we have a cheap and easy date night.

First we needed dinner. I hit up my freezer stash. In honor of the day, I had to serve pie, right?

Remember when I told you guys that J's favorite dinner is chicken pot pie and so I always keep some on hand for quick meals?

A Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie was waiting in our freezer (um, along with my paint roller). How much do I love an on-theme dinner that also is J's favorite AND requires very little hands on time from me? If you need to add some frozen pies to your freezer, Marie Callender's is offering a coupon good for a $1.50 off of any one of their frozen pies. The link is live through March 21, 2013 and the coupon is good through March 31, 2013.  Affordable and...

Easy! Prep is as simple as removing the pie from the box, wrapping the edges of the crust in a strip of aluminum foil and placing it in the oven on 400 for about an hour. And during that hour I can catch up on some other work. Awesome. Check out Marie Callender's blog for great entertaining tips and other great tips! Also on their website you can review and rate any Marie Callender's frozen meal. I'm super curious about the Chicken Corn Chowder Pot Pie. I love chicken corn chowder generally (I love almost any chowder, generally!) so this sounds awesome.

Ahh...a happy J! True confession? We're totally going to eat in bed while we watch our movie! It's a holiday, so rules of normal civility just go flying out the window! (Right?)

Now, for the next part of our Pi Day Date Night/Afternoon? A viewing of Star Trek. One of our favorite movies! The next entry in the JJ Abrams reboot comes out in May and we are ridiculously excited. We're going to have leave the house for that date night! Although, knowing us, we'll still probably end up eating Marie Callender's frozen chicken pot pies before we go. For now, watching a DVD in bed while eating a yummy dinner seems a fantastic treat. All in all, a cheap and easy (and super enjoyable!) date night treat!

So how are y'all celebrating Pi Day this year?

(I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.)

Go From Eating Out To Eating In...The Easy Way

Original Image From Here

Here's a true confession: we ate out a lot when I was growing up. The times my mom or dad cooked were more the exception than the rule. I carried on in this manner as an adult. Unlike my parents, I actually love cooking (thanks, grandmothers!). However, my cooking tended to be very involved affairs with various spice profiles and multiple pots.

Not sustainable. Especially after J and I married I needed to churn out inexpensive, budget friendly, tasty meals on the regular. We both really enjoy cooking, so for awhile every night was a culinary adventure.

This was also unsustainable. I read around on the internet on "how to eat cheaply" and "how to eat at home." I didn't find these ideas especially useful, either. These plans were usually extremely complicated, full of processed ingredients, and involved freezing complete meals. I didn't think this was workable either.

So here is how I went from eating out to eating in, and saving money along the way.

1. Avoid The Chicken Nugget Conundrum

Photo From Here

A friend recently commented that she and her husband need to save money and decided to cut out restaurants, but inevitably ended up grabbing fast food because they were exhausted and fast food is quick.

This is where I break away from most "save money on food" advice.

As you move from eating out (and grabbing take out) on a regular basis to eating in, you need things in your freezer that don't require forethought, a lot of time, or preparation.

You need to hit up the frozen food aisle. Yeah, I said it. At any given time our freezer is usually home to various frozen pizzas, chicken pot pies, and taquitos. Over in the pantry I keep a few cans of clam chowder.

Now this stuff can be ridiculously expensive. Never, ever pay full price. Friend the makers of your favorite frozen meals on Facebook; occasionally you'll score a coupon. Watch the frozen food aisle for sales and decide what your acceptable price is. I never pay more than a dollar for chicken pot pies, $4 for a big box of taquitos, and $5 for a large, specialty frozen pizza.

It might not be the healthiest choices EVER, but it's much better to spend $4 on a 20 count box of taquitos and add on $.50 of salsa than to buy dinner for both of us at Taco Bell, which would definitely clock in at over $10.

We also don't do this all the time. Maybe once a week.

By the way, rotisserie grocery store chickens can be a fantastic deal. I buy them at our local store for $5 and usually get at least three meals for both of us at out of it (sliced chicken, various chicken bits in a pasta dish or salad, and the carcass as the basis for chicken noodle soup).

2. Develop A Collection of Quick Recipes

Photo From Here

I love long simmered braises and stews. Those don't happen on a regular basis. If turning out dinner becomes an involved, hours long affair which results in fantastic food but multiple dirty pots...you are going to resume your first name basis relationship with the nice person at your favorite drive-thru with a quickness.

Create a collection (and record them somewhere easily accessible; I actually have a private blog where I keep all my recipes) of easy, quick dinners.

One of our favorites is a spinach salad with either boiled eggs (which I try to keep ready in the fridge) or sautéed chicken with sesame dressing. Delish. Another quick favorite is curried carrots and lentils (I sauté onions with curry powder, add chicken broth, add diced carrots and lentils, cook for 30 minutes). I adore eggs in purgatory , which is basically poached eggs in tomato sauce, which I eat with toast.

One pot meals are awesome. Orzo pasta can cook with the pasta toppings. Sauté tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms. Add in broth, add in orzo...and you have dinner.

Sandwich fixings (we both ate roast beef and cheddar sandwiches for dinner last night and were very happy) are also awesome for turning out quick meals AND bringing your lunch.

Any sort of "flat" sandwich also make for great dinners. I'm a big fan of bean and cheese quesadillas. Super cheap, super easy.

3. Decide On What's Convenient For You

Photo From Here

There is nothing I love better than a long simmered, homemade chicken stock. I wish I was the kind of person who always has some stashed away in her freezer. I'm not. So I have beef and chicken stock bases in my cabinet. I'm not going to pretend that dishes made with prepared broths and stocks are as good as those made with homemade stock; they aren't. But with most dishes the prepared stock is fine. It's a really rare dish that's going to be severely comprised by using commercial stock base.

Usually I cook up huge batches of dried beans, divide them up into bags, and freeze them. If I'm running low and know I'm not going to cook up another batch I'll buy canned beans. Canned beans are still a good deal. They can help make a salad, pop into a pasta dish, be part of a rice and beans dish, or go into a quesadilla or burrito.

Other "convenient" items I keep on hand are bread, tortillas, a couple of jars of pasta sauce, salsa, and lots of canned tomatoes. Sometimes I buy hummus.

(Stuff I never buy? Canned soup (other than clam chowder) because I think it tastes weird.)

The biggest thing here is to be realistic. I often think that I'll just grab a huge country ham, cook it, and we can make sandwiches off of it for months! In reality, I know that although deli ham isn't as good of a deal, it means we'll actually have sandwich fixings.

4. Don't Come Home From The Grocery Store And Decide You Have Nothing To Eat

Photo From Here

We've all been there. We've gone to the grocery store, spent lots of money, come home, put away bags and bags of groceries, looked in the fridge, and felt like there was nothing in there to actually eat.

I think this phenomena occurs because people shop for recipes instead of for food they actually eat. When I walk into the grocery store I rarely have specific recipes in mind (unless its for a special occaison). Instead I focus on the kinds of food we like to eat and zero in on sale items.

I buy different things at different times of the year. During the winter we eats lots of beans, potatoes, and cheap cuts of meat because we eat a lot of braised dishes and soups. During the spring and summer we eats lots of vegetable based dishes.

Later I'll post about exactly how I save money grocery shopping, but right now I just want you to focus on keeping your kitchen stocked with food you genuinely like to eat. If you eat lots of pasta dishes, make sure you keep pasta on hand.

What tips do you guys have for cutting out restaurants and take-out?

Favorite Things: TV!

In honor of Valentine's Day I'm devoting this week of posts to my favorite things. Sounds fun, right? I'm going to post my favorite recipe, introduce my first Your Story (from one of my favorite readers!),   all sorts of fun stuff.

So I thought I'd kick off with my favorite television shows. Because, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, I really don't spend all my time watching Bewitched and The Brady Bunch.

1. Downton Abbey

The Beautiful Crawley Sisters. From PBS

Downton Abbey is simply incredible. I know there's rumblings about how season three isn't as good as season two which wasn't as good as season one...whatever. J watched it with me one night and described as "General Hospital with accents, costumes, and castles."

When the man is right the man is right. Downton Abbey  is exactly a soap opera with posh accents and amazing accessories. And I can't get enough of it. If you are the rare person who hasn't seen it, I won't spoil it for you. Just go watch it, twitter me, and lets dish.

2. Dallas

Image From TNT

True story: Dallas was my favorite show growing up. My whole family would watch together on Friday nights (I still remember my mother's reaction to Bobby's death being just a dream. The gist was "this is ridiculous." With curse words.

So naturally I'm ALL OVER the reboot. Y'all, Christopher is SO WHINY. How did Bobby raise that brainless brat? I'm rooting for Pambecca and John Ross simply because they manage to be evil AND rank lower on the douche-o-meter!

(We aren't even going to talk about Larry Hagman's death, okay?)

3. Community

Yeah, I love Annie and Jeff. So what? Photo from NBC

The goings-on at Greendale Community College never fail to leave me howling (and sometimes very, very confused). My favorite ever ep? The Law & Order spoof from last season. J and I were crying we were laughing so hard. 

Okay, and the fake youtube couple vid of Annie and Jeff was also pretty classic. And and and. 

4. Scandal 

Grey's Anatomy never did anything for me. So I pretty much gave Scandal a pass. Then a funny thing happened: everyone on Facebook and Twitter started talking about it. Non-stop. All the time. So I gave it a shot.

Coincidentally, this was the episode where President Fitz (Olivia's undercover lover/Republican president she rigged the election for without his knowledge) was shot, and LANE KIM FROM THE GILMORE GIRLS WAS KILLED.

OMG! I was hooked. This is another show I attempted to describe to J. I went with "it's like the West Wing, if the West Wing had been written by romance novelists and Martin Sheen was all kinds of wrong-hot."

Shockingly, this didn't make him want to watch it.

Really, though, there's a better description. It's a crazy pastiche of Valley of the Dolls meets All The Presidents Men meets The West Wing with a heaping side of Machiavelli (seriously, Machiavelli would be incredibly impressed with the endless machinations of First Lady Melly...who might be named for him, actually, come to think).

Anyway. Watch it.

5. Mad Men

Raise your hand if you just sort of automatically assumed Mad Men is my favorite television show? Yeah, you are right. And this year it comes back the week of my birthday! Thanks, AMC.

I will say that while I love looooovvvveeee the set design (the office is my favorite, but Don and Megan's penthouse is also incredibly awesome) and the costumes, the whole show is amazing. The actors, the dialogue, and I even think Matthew Weiner and company handle the history in a real, organic, IVeryRarelyThrowThingsAtTheTelevision kind of way.

So...these are my favorites. I'm very grateful they aren't all on at the same time so I can actually watch them all! What about you guys? What shows do you love?

Hey, I Won An Award!

When I checked my email this morning I saw message from o'habitation. I've won the Liebster Award. It specifically seeks out new/small bloggers.

I think the last time I won something quarters, Fred Flintstone, and plastic eggs were involved!

This is what she had to say about me: Tracie at Middle Class Modern had my attention immediately with her hilarious writing style.  She stalks houses (real and fictional), shares the ups and downs of her embroidery projects, offers great pet advice, and steals her husbands clothing for DIY projects.  I can’t wait to read what’s next!

I don't know about great pet advice, but I do regularly, um, "repurpose" J's clothing for lampshades and the like!

I'm supposed to list 11 facts about my self, and then answer some questions. So here's your chance to learn WAAAY to much about me!

11 Random Tracie Facts

1. I wore a sunbonnet to school every day in third grade due to an obsession interest in Little House on the Prairie.

2. I have scoliosis. I wore the brace and everything for a couple of years.

3. J and I met when he moved in next door.

4. I graduated from a women's only college.

5. I loved college.

6. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up; this probably explains why I have the taste and likes of your average 80 something.

7. I'm a voracious reader.

8. When I take a shower I don't feel properly clean until I've steamed myself and my skin has turned a nice shade of pink.

9. I have insanely thick hair.

10. During the same period of the scoliosis brace, I also had a mouth full of braces AND a spiral perm. See number 9? Thick hair and spiral perms are NOT a good combo.

11. You know how you buy six months worth of disposable contact lenses? I made my last pack last three and a half years. Oops.

11 Questions

what is your favorite blog and why?

Um...I have so many I love and read faithfully. I'm going to answer Pam at Retro Renovation, just because I started reading her about a month after she started posting...six years ago. She was my first homespace blog. I love how well-researched her posts are and I've learned a lot from her posts over the years.

would you choose the mountains or the beach?

Preferably, I'd live somewhere where I'm close to both. Actually, we sort of live there now. We are at the  foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains and live right by two lakes.

what prompted you to start blogging?

I don't have a neat, linear blogging path. I wrote one post in 2010, and then a handful in 2011. 

Fall of 2012 I was reading the comments on a Young House Love post and saw a comment from Emma at Broke Ass Home. I HAD to check out that blog. Emma and I soon struck up a friendship, and I "met" Kenz from Interiors by Kenz and Sandpaper and Glue's Stephanie. My bloggy besties help keep me on track with blogging!

what is your favorite time of day?

Depends on the day! 

when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Usually a writer or an actress. 

what is #1 on your bucket list?

Finishing grad school.

what is your favorite meal to make at home?

Beef Stroganoff. It's beefy, carby, creamy, AND has copious amounts of mushrooms and onions. These are basically my favorite things.

what is your favorite meal to eat out?

Probably Mexican, although a good Dim Sum Sunday is hard to beat.

if you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

So many people! Eleanor Roosevelt, Marie Curie...I'd really like to meet my paternal great-grandmother. I've talked about my interest in genealogy before, and when I researched my family I became sort of fascinated by her. She died before my dad was born, but my grandmother (her daughter-in-law) described her as the "sweetest woman she'd ever met."

If your DAUGHTER-IN-LAW thinks that about you...wow. Anyway, she went through a lot in her life and I'd love to hear her take on it. I wish SHE'D had a blog!

what is one thing you would change about yourself?

What my husband describes as my Eeyore-tendencies. Self-doubt and a slightly pessimistic nature are my foes.

what is one thing you would never change about yourself?

I think I have an unbridled curiosity and I love learning things.

Happy, Happy, Happy, Haapppyyy Anniversary!

Am I the only who sings the Flintstones "Happy Anniversary" song...basically every time the phrase is uttered? Okay then.

J and I celebrated our third anniversary last week. A better blogger would have an awesome recap of their wedding complete with drool-worthy pictures of the big day and all the DIY projects they did. Together. As a couple.

I am not that blogger.

We don't even have pictures of the big day!

J and I were older (32 and 30) when we married, and had each been married before. Neither of us had any desire for a big wedding. We talked about various wedding-ish scenarios, but nothing really seemed like us. So we finally decided on going to the mountains and getting married. Just us. Oh, and Emily. Of course.

I found a wedding dress at Anthropologie, super similar to this one. I wore with a little gray cardigan, gray tights and black flats.

Photo From Anthropology

One of J's friends is a minister and agreed to marry us. We got married at Fort Mountain State Park. It was an absolutely beautiful day in a beautiful place.

Photo From North Georgia Photos

See? Beautiful! It was also about 150 degrees below zero and incredibly, crazily, miserably windy. Minister Friend was saying what I'm sure were beautiful things about marriage and love. I was so cold I was just hoping we got to the "I do's" before I froze to death. I at least wanted to go out married! J spent the ceremony clutching me to him, trying to shield me from the wind. Oh, and I wasn't just wearing my pretty dress and a cardi. I was BUNDLED. And still freezing. Even J (who complains about being hot even when I'm shivering while wearing layers of clothing and covered in blankets) was freezing. He shed a tear at one point (he's so much the sweetest spouse) and I worried about it freezing to his face. Poor little Emily was cowering at our feet in her coat. Probably fearful the next wind gust would blow her off the mountain. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life. We picked up our marriage certificate (small counties are awesome) and took our cold selves to LUNCH. We ate at Edna's restaurant in Chatsworth, GA. Y'all, I am something of a roadfood connoisseur. This place is awesome. I don't remember exactly what we ate (we were so busy gazing into each other's eyes!), only that we had coconut cream pie. Oh! And that J ordered pickled beets. I'd never had them before, so I tried one (I haven't had one since, either). I've had fried chicken there before/since and recommend it highly.

So, how did two hopeless romantics like ourselves celebrate our third anniversary?

Why, the same way we celebrated our first two!

Yes, lovelies, that is a meat and cheese plate. With grapes. We went with Dubliner, a super aged Gouda, and smoked cheddar. SO YUMMY. One of the reasons I fell in love with J? The man loves Law and Order, smoked meats, and cheeses. 

We also picked up a coconut creme pie, in honor of our wedding day desert.

So those our anniversary traditions. What are y'alls? (And because we don't have any pictures, I plan a redo on our fifth anniversary. This time I'm wearing a parka!)

Family History Ideas For The Holiday Season

I've mentioned in passing that I have a history degree. Around the time I graduated from college I used my new found history skillz to put together family genealogy projects for my mom and dad. This project was based in my love of research and the fact I was really quite broke. I expected it would be a one and done type thing.

Yeah, not so much. I fell in love with genealogy. How could I not? After all, my historical focus has always been bottom-up (the personal, the local) over top-down (rulers and wars). This was my own locality and my own family. I think I'm going to do a whole series of genealogy posts, but I wanted to start with three easy Christmas related genealogy projects.

My grandparents and uncle in the late 1930s. 

My grandparents, younger than I am now (gulp!). They were both gone before I became interested in genealogy, and I have so many questions I love to ask them!

Take A Holiday Related Oral History

The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide is ground zero for any work with oral histories. It's kind of long, and I'm going to summarize, but if you have any serious interest in family history you should really read it.

Here are the basics of oral histories. Ask open ended or directed questions. "Did you like Christmas when you are little?" doesn't work because it only requires a yes or no answer. "What was New Years like?" is soooo open ended. That's a big question, and people sometimes get lost in big questions. So you want open ended but very directed questions. Here are some questions to get you started.

1. Where did you spend the holidays when you a child?

2. Who did you spend the holidays with? 

3. What foods did you eat at Christmas?

4. What was your favorite part of your family's holiday celebrations?

5. What traditions were important when you were little? What tradition do you wish we still did? What traditions do we still do?

6. What is your favorite memory of the holidays?

I suggest recording these interviews. Camera, phone, laptop, it doesn't really matter. Just record it and immediately back it up. Later you can slice the interviews into movies, or transcribe the interviews into written form.

Often Sometimes the interviewee will go off on what you might think are unrelated tangents. Especially with older people. Let them. If it goes and on you might try to redirect a little, but honestly? The best stories come out when you least expect them. So just let it go and you can edit your recording later.

This is also a good time to collect artifacts. If you have snapshots from the interviewee's childhood or young adult Christmases, get them out and ask for descriptions of what was going in the pictures. Try to get dates, names of people, and location of the pictures (at the minimum). DON'T WRITE ON AN ORIGINAL PICTURE. EVER. I will come to your home and make you read books about proper archival techniques. 

By the way, I did a similar interview with my grandmother and discovered her mother made a certain kind of fruitcake. My grandmother hadn't had it since her mom died and didn't have the recipe. Thanks to google I found the recipe for Japanese fruitcake and made it for her.

Photo from Pink Pig Flyer

The Pink Pig was a monorail that ran through a downtown department store (Rich's) then on the roof. For generations of Atlanta kids it was one of THE big parts of Christmas. Every city and family has its own crazy traditions!

Get The Whole Story

Every family has certain foods, old ornaments, or other bits of holiday ephemera that is woven deeply into the fabric of the holiday season. Use this time to get the story behind it. Who made the faded construction paper Santa? Where did the felt reindeer all the grandkids love to play with come from? And, going back to my last point, try to get holiday photos identified.

Do this with your own holiday traditions. You might think you'll always remember the cute story behind the aluminum can ornament your child made, but...you might not. So take a picture of it and type up the story behind it. 

My grandmother (from the picture above!) had a cross stitch just like this, and now my parents have it. Did she make it? When? Or was it a gift? I wish I'd asked!

Remember You Are Making History

Family history isn't just concerned with everyone who came before you. Leave a record of holidays you experience! This is especially fun with children. Every year ask them the same questions. Here are some examples.

1. What was the most exciting thing that happened at Christmas?

2. What do you love best about the holidays?

3. What is your favorite thing to eat at the holidays?

4. What is your favorite thing to do?

...et cetera. Each family will want to customize these questions around their own traditions. Recording the answers every Boxing Day and then editing them together would be AMAZING. You could also write out the answers and bind them into a book. Don't forget to answer the questions yourself!

Photo From Celebrations

So many kids (according to blogland and Pinterest, anyway!) are going to have lots of Christmas memories based around Elf on the Shelf. So record the Elf's adventures and the kids reactions to it!

Does anyone else have traditions or genealogy tips they'd like to share?

See this post at Two Yellow Birds Decor, A Glimpse Inside, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Seven Alive, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Happy Hour Projects

5 Tips For Dealing With a Spouse's Illness

J deals with chronic illnesses. Yes, multiple chronic illnesses. He was very, very honest about his health issues back when we were just friends, so I went into dating/our marriage (which, uh, had a pretty short turnaround time) with eyes wide open.

Since we've been together J's health has taken a serious downtown for the worse. He's been given new diagnosis. Is it easy being the spouse of a seriously ill person? No (ugh, I don't want to sound like a martyr, but I also want to be real). Is it easier than being seriously ill? Yes.

I'm not going to pretend I always handle J's illnesses and the impact they have on our life with perfect grace. I wish I did. But I get impatient when he's in the bathroom for long periods or when we can't do something we've planned or just when he can't help me with something around the house. I married him because he's my favorite person, the person I most enjoy doing things with. It is hard when we can't do the things we enjoy because of his health issues.

Gratuitous shot of Emily. Actually, we couldn't make it through the rough times without her.

It's also kind of isolating. None of my friends' deal with this level of illness in themselves or their spouses, but then I met someone whose husband has a couple of the same illnesses as J and it helped me to have a friend who gets the awfulness of watching your husband suffer/the suckiness of not getting to be a normal 30something couple.

So, here are my top five tips for dealing with a seriously ill spouse. These tips also apply, more or less, to other family members with chronic illnesses.

1. Read About Spoons. 

Christine Miserandino's Spoon Theory is an absolute must-read if you have anyone in your life dealing with chronic illness. Christine talks about how she only gets so many "spoons," which represent energy, each day and how she has to carefully budget them to get through the day. Reading this helped me understand why J wears out and how to help him conserve and budget his spoons. I can get up, walk the pets, write a blog post, work, run to the grocery, run a load of laundry, watch a movie, work on a project all in one day. J can't. He has to pick and choose very carefully. 

2. Learn About the Diagnosis.

Reading about J's illnesses also helped me understand what he goes through and how I can help. It helps me differentiate between the symptoms of entering a flare and a possible reaction to medicine, and assess when he needs to get to the doctor/hospital. I think it also helps him feel less isolated, because we're on the same page as far as information and being able to discuss his illnesses. It also plays an important part in advocating for him.

Understanding his illnesses allows me to plan around them. If we are going someplace new I try to locate, in advance, rest stops and other places with restroom facilities. I bring a book so that if he's in the restroom for extended periods of time I'm entertained. I try to schedule appointments for his good times of the day. Et cetera.

3. Get Organized. 

I made this free printable health form summarizing J's medical records. On it I've listed his allergies, all the info about his prescriptions, doctors, surgeries, diagnosis, and notes, complete with phone numbers. Copies of it are folded up inside both of our wallets and saved to my email. During hectic ER visits or hospital admissions it's a lot easier to just pull out a piece of paper than try to remember every prescription/procedure/diagnosis.

Prescription management is important, and something that took me a bit to get organized. On iCalendar I mark the day I pick up a refill and set a reminder for two days before he'll need it again. I also save the Rx numbers of his prescription under the pharmacy's contact info on my phone so I'm not scrambling when I call the refills in.

4. Be an Advocate, But Know When to Back Off. 

Photo From The Sauna Times

J's a grown-up. Does he need my support about his health issues? Yes. Does he need me to micro-manage his illnesses? No. So I try to balance being an effective advocate with not being overbearing. If one of his doctors wants to try a new treatment or prescription we discuss it. I share my viewpoint. Then I let him decide, and I back him up. Sometimes I feel like a course adjustment is necessary, and we'll discuss that. It's still his body, though, and therefore his call.

However, when he's in the hospital, I'm there to make sure he gets the best care possible. And I think its super important to be there as much as possible. A couple of years ago J was almost given a drug he's deathly allergic to, although the hospital had put a red allergy bracelet on him listing the drug and I'd told the nurses and the doctor. They were placing the syringe into his IV line when I walked into room and started screaming for them to stop.

Being an effective advocate doesn't mean being a pain. I'm always nice and polite. It just means standing up for J's needs. If he's in pain and we've been brushed off for an hour or so, that's not acceptable. One of J's illnesses is pretty rare. One ER doctor told us it wasn't the right diagnosis because he (the doctor) had never heard of it??!?!?! I mean, once you read about the disease J has every single outward physical symptom. 

Another issue I'm always on the look out for is meds that are counter-indicated for his prescriptions. This is one that pops up a LOT. So on the notes section of my printable I've listed the drugs that doctors always want to give J which are not a good mix with is everyday meds.

5. Make Your Own Version of Normalcy

There's a lot of things we can't do. Going to the movies is pretty much out of the question. Large scale DIY projects that require both us are a no go. And at one point I was really focused on all the things we couldn't do. This wasn't good for our marriage or my sanity. Now I put my focus on the things we can do together. 

We also make sure that J's health isn't the only thing we discuss. We do what he can when he can and we enjoy it. This week we rented The Dark Knight Rises and had a date night at home where I turned off my phone and the computer and we enjoyed our movie.

J has illnesses, but J is not his illnesses. All the stuff we did before we try enjoy modified versions of now. We have our rituals and routines and we try to stick to them as much as possible.

On a related note, I make sure I'm living my life, especially when we are in the middle of a flare. When J's down for the count for a week or more at a time its easy for me to sink into depression. Instead, I make sure  to take time out to do Tracie stuff and get out of the house. This blog's really good for me, because it helps me shape my downtime, both in terms of blogging time and working on projects.

Does anyone else have any times for dealing with health issues?