Beautiful Winter's Day

Oh wonderful day. I am sitting in the sun shining through the window drinking some raspberry green tea making my rag rug with my two babies at my feet, all the while my God station on Pandora composed of mainly my beloved Matthew, Tenth Avenue North, and Toby is playing. :D. Does it get any better? For winter, I think not. And what's even better is that I don't even need to be listening to Pandora to listen to God music now that Christmas is over and Life 97.3 is back to normal.

If everything stays according to plan we'll be moving into our new house in less than a month!!! Ahhhh. We're so excited. Though our place now is a mess, especially after Christmas. Speaking of which, we survived going home for Christmas! We were a bit weary, but we made it. All in all it wasn't so bad. It was nice to see everyone again.... though I didn't get enough time with my mommy! Never do nowadays :(. Luckily when we got back home on Sunday I had a parking ticket waiting for me on my car. Boy, do I love Duluth police! And guess what, they haven't plowed any of the streets I've seen yet so that's good they gave me that ticket and got the job done.

I don't really have anything else to inform people of. Even though maybe most people don't even care to be informed of what they read on here coughBENHARTLEYcough. But those that do care, thanks for reading ;)I leave you with a song and pictures.

House

So..... we've officially had our offer accepted on a house! So pending an inspection that I don't think will be a problem, and depending on how fast the bank can get us our mortgage we will be moving on or before January 26th!! Ahhhhhh! How crazy. I can't believe we're going to have our very own house :)

And in the spring we're getting a fence put in so the dogs can pretend they're wild dogs; at least until they come to the fence and realize they can't go any further. Matt got me the Square Foot Gardening book and I think I will be able to put it to good use this spring/summer. The yard at the new house isn't the biggest, but hopefully I can utilize vertical gardening. I've never done it before, so it'll be an adventure at least. We can't wait to move! We've got big plans and I'm excited to see them come together.

What else? Well, it's almost Christmas and it sounds like we're going to be able to see plenty of family on both sides! That's good because I'm sure both families are anxious to meet us since we actually haven't really been to each other's holidays yet. Not to mention, I haven't seen my dad's side of the family since I can't really even remember when! So I'm excited to be able to see them on Christmas day.

I suppose that's all that's going on with our lives now. So a few more weeks of nothing too fun and then lots of busy-ness with moving and putting a new home together! Should be fun with the two dogs going crazy all over the place. And with being busy with more Charlie time; though I won't complain about that one bit!

Later, gators!

Being Crafty

Charlie's dad is sick today so his mom is staying home and taking care of both of them. Which means... more time for me to do my crafts! Well.... I'm only making a blanket right now. BUT I'm going to start making a rag rug and I'm suuuper duper excited! It's going to be the best thing ever. And then if we get the house we're looking at buying now it'll go beautifully with the wooden floors.

I also need to clean up around here because between my yarn explosion and Smiler taking out EVERY toy and anything she thinks should be a toy, our house is a mess. Today would be a great day for dehydrating my bananas too but they're not ripe yet. Perhaps they can dry tomorrow while I stocking shop for my lovely lover and get my hair cut and hopefully get my ring cleaned :)

Yesterday I rechecked the Sonshine schedule and they put up some artists and I'm soooo going because Toby Mac and Tenth Avenue North are going to be there! Now if only Matthew West would sign on for it......

Song of the Day: Aaron Shust "Matchless"

Pictures

So I just have two pictures to share with y'all. One, of my adorable puppy in the sweater I knitted for her. I had knitted it probably two weeks before getting her in anticipation and yesterday was the first day she wore it.(Don't worry, she was only in it for five minutes and probably won't be in it for much longer than that ever). She didn't mind wearing it at all and I think she would have been totally fine wearing it all day.

Next, I recently began stumbling again because I discovered that you can customize it a whole lot more than last time. Still a huge time suck, but at least I get meal plan ideas and THIS picture :)

Just try and tell me that's not the most amazing picture you've ever seen!

Joyful Noise

Sooo.... from what I can clearly see now, my most amazing friend from high school, Jessica, informed me today about the Joyful Noise Family Fest in Blaine and Brandon Heath is going to be there this year!!!! Along with Casting Crowns. And so we're definitely going! And I can't waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiitttt! It's going to be simply amazing. And upon thinking and investigating I'm super hoping Toby Mac will be at Sonshine again this year because just the week before he'll be at LifeFest in Wisconsin so it'll only be proper if he hops on over here, right? Right.

Brandon Heath 'Song of the Day'

I Just Have To Share This Video

Happy Happy HAPPY!

HI! So I do believe I'll get to be watching Charlie 3-4 days a week til probably June! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!! It would just make my life. Or at least next six months :) Hopefully I can make it work with my other job so I can stay there for a bit when I'm not watching Charlie. Annnnd Charlie is gonna start eating solid foods at the end of this month (I can't believe it's already December!) so he's gonna be even more exciting; even if that means I'm gonna have more messy shirts.

I'm just so happy. And farm class tonight! I think I'll go even though I'm super scared I'm gonna crash in die in the snow and ice. Hopefully not. Speaking of class though, I gotta go read for tonight!

Buh bye y'all!

PS- a couple new pictures in the My Dogs set on flickr, though I guess now since it's over 200 I think it's deleting/hiding my wedding pictures. Oh well, I have cute dogs :) flickr.com/foggyacres

Like a Whole New Puppy!

Cute lil Smiler got her first haircut while she's been with us today. Crappy day to drive out there and back with all this snow and ice, but I think it was worth it for how how precious our puppy looks!

Adorable, huh? Now we can finally have a family picture! And then we're gonna make it into a Christmas card :)

In other amazing news. We've for real been approved for a mortgage! Now just gotta find a decent house in a good neighborhood. Sooooo excited! Real real life can begin.

And for the 'Video of the Day', a song by what I would call my boyfriend if I were still in high school or college. But since I'm a grown up now, I'll say it's by one of my favorite Christian dudes, Brandon Heath. He sings good songs, check him out if you're not familiar with him.

I've added to this post like five bajillion times but I HAD to share this with the world. Remember once upon a time they had orange Classic Short UGGs? Well, we're not lucky enough to have those again but we get second best! Hello 'Ever Green' Bailey Button UGGs :) http://www.uggaustralia.com/ProductDetails.aspx?gID=w&productID=5803&model=Bailey Button

Hello?

Hello? Hi? I feel like I haven't actually done a real post in awhile. Though it's probably only been five days. I've lost concept of time. Working holidays is not fun. Working boring jobs isn't fun. Tell me why again I don't have kids and a goats and acres of crops to care for? Now that wouldn't be boring. And would be 'fun' 80%. At least I got my two dogs for now. Who are currently beating each other up.... I think the 6.5 pound one is winning. And speaking of Smi, she chewed her harness to pieces so she's now wearing a big girl collar. She doesn't much like it.

This is important. The other day I was pouring some M&M's into my hand and 13 1/2 came out..... THEY WERE ALL ORANGE AND GREEN!!!!! My favorite! What are the odds of that?! It was magical. I saved them in my hand and showed them to Matt.

There's not really anything going on with our lives. Had a nice Thanksgiving, though definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving. And nobody has holidays at the right time so we didn't see any family. Maybe Christmas. Maybe. Only if I can have Christmas Eve off of work to spend it with my mommy's side :) Then I can see my brother!

Well I guess I gotta go. Gotta let Smi out one more time before leaving for work blah blah blah. No work tomorrow or Wednesday though :) But I still have to decide if I want to drive to Ashland on Wednesday night. Wanna go to farm class but I hate driving in the winter alone!

Peace.

.

My Saturday

Howdy! So today Mr. Hartley and Smi and I went to the vet to get Smiler's booster shot and rabies shot and she was a rockstar. No whining at all and she got lots of treats- her favorite! She's now like 6.5 pounds and looks like the shaggiest dog ever and really needs to get her hair cut. And now that she is up to date on all her shots she can get cut thank goodness; I'm afraid she can't even see through her hair.

At like 330 we went to the Festival of Trees and it was amazing and I wanted to buy everything. There were these cute tress called Happy Trees and some day we're gonna have a whole bunch of them! Also, we discovered this stuff called Frappe Vino and it was amazing and we're gonna get some. It's this mix you combine with a bottle of wine and a wine bottle of water and freeze it for five hours and it turns into a delicious slushie/smoothie. Only, we don't know of any good wines so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to let us know!

After the craft fair we went to Gander Mountain where I dreamed about snowshoes. And my lost mitten :( which would come in handy for Bentleyville which we're about to leave for. It opens tonight and has nearly three MILLION Christmas lights! That's a big number, ya know. And free marshmallows and hot chocolate to boot! :)

Peace out!

PS- I miss Charlie. Hopefully I get to see him on Tuesday.

Smiler's Post

M, .=/;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; cv
/09B








*77777778/
*









GGGGGGGGGVB=-OLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL7UYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY0

I Feel Old

So last night was like the third night in a row Matt and I went to sleep at about 9pm. Who does that? I'm turning into my mother (love you mom!). It won't be long before my kid makes me a sign saying "Warning: Mom at Sleep". And speaking of kids and sleeping, I watched Charlie yesterday for five and a half hours and he only slept for a total of an hour during it. And cried for probably two and a half hours of it. It was awesome. He's lucky he's cute.

Smiler is also lucky she's cute because if she wasn't I'd have to squeeze her to death for stealing my flipflops to go chew on them for the 5 billionth time. But anyway, I have two dogs :)

I'm not really sure why I'm even writing this? I don't really have anything important to say. Except for that I want it to be November 20th so I can go to Bentleyville and the Festival of Trees and it will be the best day ever!

Song of the Day: My current ringtone that apparently does not wake me up if it rings when I'm sleeping because it is too familiar.

Pictures!

Hey there dear blog readers. Just wanted to let y'all know that there are tons of new ship pictures on my flickr (flickr.com/foggyacres). Apparently you can only add so much per month so I guess you'll have to wait for Penn and Smi ones which is sad because I would have added those first had I known! Also, for anybody that knows anything about flickr, can you tell me what it means when it says it will only show my 200 most recent photos? Does that just mean on my photostream? Or can people not look at my older pictures before 200 even in my sets? I don't know anything about it! Either way, check them out! A million pictures of Tregurtha, some from the Tall Ships Festival, and a few from when we were at the Soo Locks this summer.

Song of the Day: "Brandy" by Looking Glass (I'm obviously in a ship mood :))

I Don't Wanna Gain The Whole World and Lose My Soul

Hello there! I don't really have anything new to say at the moment. Babysitting Charlie is awesome. He's a good boy. And my dogs are adorable. We got a new computer so hopefully I can put some more pictures of them on here to show you guys soon. Now, for the songs of the day. Same song, two different ways :P

I Love Candy

I got to order a new phone last night! Yay! Thank goodness because my phone freezes everytime I close it and then I need to turn it off and back on. Only it doesn't really let me turn it off anymore so I have to take the battery out, put it back in, and then turn it on and cross my fingers that it works.

We had farm class on Saturday and it was good! I do believe we'll learn a ton of useful stuff. And we got three decently sized books about starting our own small farm business that I think will be really helpful. The first class was pretty much just basically an intro to holistic management, because that's the only form of management they use in this class. In fact, I think the whole program will really be based off of it. So it's a good thing I'm 100% on board with the idea! I think it's really great, especially when you look at what's going on at my former workplace where they clearly do not run a business based on quality of life goals; or if they do, they don't have very good morals. I think it's awesome, and actually really important that when thinking of the business you want (or really all aspects of your life), to think about what you really value in your life and think of that everytime you make a decision. And to incorporate all involved when you're thinking about it. Really, it would save a lot of terrible decisions in people's lives; this I know from experience.

I told you guys you'd be hearing from Chris August again, so here he is! I hope all y'all had a wonderful Halloween and didn't get too drunk, seeing as most people who read this probably did go drink too much the night before Halloween (can't wait until it turns into me telling most of my audience that I hope their children didn't eat too much candy because they're parents and now taking their kids trick-or-treating instead of getting wasted).

You Know The Saying....

Ignorance is bliss? I find it to be very true. Foolish? Absolutely. But still true.

I Am Elated With Happiness

Hiya! So I got some emails today. And they made my day! They were from one of the facilitators of the Farm Beginnings program. One reminding us that our first class is on Saturday from 10-4pm and the other saying I got a $500 scholarship for the class :) :) I soooo can't wait for Saturday! It's gonna be the best Saturday ever. We're gonna learn lots and start making our business plan. You'll be sure to hear more about that after the class!

Another exciting thing: I quit my job! Kinda. I, in my opinion, gave my two weeks yesterday. Will likes me though and doesn't want me to leave so I don't think he's believeing in his head that I'm really going to be gone. He said he'd like to talk further after he 'addresses the issue'. Yeah.... no thanks. I don't need to be around everyone after that because they're all going to know it was me. Anyway, that's a huge, huge burden off my shoulders and I feel like I did the right thing. Go Tracie morals! :)

Last exciting thing for the moment..... Smiler knows how to sit! She was catching on last night and would sit everytime I told her to and then this morning she remembered! So we're going to work on it some more tonight so we know that she has it nailed down and then a little practice tomorrow morning so she can show her daddy her new trick when he comes home. I'm proud. My lil pup is growing up.


Now for that 'Song of The Day' thing. What else could I do but "Henry Cartwright's Produce Stand"?

I'm Alone and Bored Before Work.... Here's a Post

Hi again! It's me. Matt might come home tomorrow morning :) Maybe. He needs to nap though so he won't die on the way back. Especially if it's still snowing. Yeah, by the way, it's snowing. Did last night actually pretty bad; and now a few flurries. Lame lame lame. My car is not gonna like the hill.

So baby Charlie last night was so cute! He took a bottle from me without much problem which is good because apparently he doesn't take it from strangers well. He did throw a little temper tantrum for like ten minutes which I'm glad for because I wanted to see the steps they go through to calm him down. Overall he's a pretty happy baby and I think he thinks I'm a pretty cool girl so I think we will get along just fine. Oh! I haven't even told Matt yet, I'll have to remember to, they have sugar gliders!!!!! And a cute dog too. So I think this will be a great gig for me.

Now, kinda inspired by Cassie's latest post, I'm gonna share a song. And perhaps turn it into a kinda 'Song of The Day'. Though I will not be posting everyday because that's a lot of work. Anyway, here you go, Chris August's "Stranger". You'll be seeing another song from him in a few days.

Hello

Hello there. Just thought I'd maybe do a real live post instead of just a one or two sentence post that I seem to be good at these days. Today is icky. It's been raining all day and tonight it's supposed to turn into wet snow :( I don't know how I ended up here! I thought I was gonna move somewhere warmer someday.

Little Smi went to the vet today to get some booster shots. She did very well and didn't even cry when she got them. That is good because if she had cried I would have too. Now she's taking a nap next to me and I wish I could stay with her longer because the vet said to keep an eye on her for a few hours to make sure that she doesn't have any allergic reaction. I guess it's not common but can still happen. However, in half an hour I gotta go watch a cute five month old baby boy for a couple hours. And I'll probably continue to do so through November and possibly longer depending on his parents' schedules and if they can get into the daycare on-campus. I'm pretty excited though. It'll give me something to occupy the night and then I'll just have to worry about three more days without Matt here.

Mortgage stuff doesn't look too well at the moment which sucks.... but at least with that news I can quit my job and find another by the time my babysitting stint is possibly over in November. Gotta love real life. I just hope we can get outta this place by spring 'cause we have plans hinging on getting outta Lincoln Park. We'll see though. Too much money to have to spend lately. Blah blah blah.......

Sad Sad Sad

Matt might only come home for the weekend and have to go back up to International Falls for another week :(

I Miss My Husband

Matt just left for International Falls til probably Friday. I'm sad.

How To Train Your Dragon!!!!!!

Hello there! As my title may suggest, today is the day that How To Train Your Dragon is out on DVD. I think that it is vital for all beings to get this DVD as I find it important that we all know how to train the dragons that we all obviously have or will someday have.

Anyway, it's gonna be a good family movie night :) After we give Smi a bath of course, because puppies are ruthless.

Later!

Smiler!

So I got Smiler last Tuesday and we loooove her! She's super cute and soft and snuggley. But she's a punk. She's teething bad and likes to jump and try and bite Penny's face and ears and likes to bite Matt's chin. She does really well sleeping most of the night from like 10P to 6A. But after that you pretty much gotta get up or she'll scream forever. And yes, she screams, not whines.

Check out some pictures of her and Penn in the 'My Dogs' album or set or whatever it's called on my Flickr page. flickr.com/foggyacres

Puppy Day!

Today is puppy day!! I'm leaving in about a half an hour to drive the hour there and then I get her!!!!!! Can't wait :)

I'll put pictures up as soon as we're home and I have a computer to use. Yayyyy!

It's Almost Time!!!!

This is my super duper cute puppy and I get to pick her up Monday or Tuesday! Waiting to hear back on which day for sure but I'm waaaaaayyy excited :)

Doesn't look like we'll be able to go to Tenth Avenue North and Matt Maher on Sunday night because it's sold out :( So I guess just randoms days in the Cities. Blah. I wish my husband wasn't going to be taking classes all those days! If anyone wants to come chill in somewhere in Maple Grove with me and the dogs that would be okay with me :) or chill anywhere else, I suppose.

Matt and I are pre-pre-approved to get a mortgage loan!!! Wahoo! He just needs to talk to people about the percentages he needs to pay back on student loans so we have a number to give the underwriter and we need to somehow print off our transcripts and then once the underwriter goes through it all we're good! We have our eye on this awesome place in Cloquet that would be perfect. Only we would need to put a fence up. Or, wouldn't need to but I would want to so that the dogs can run free. I want that for Penny soooo badly. She would love it. But the place has a nice yard that would be big enough for dog and eventual kid play AND for Tracie play (i.e.- gardening). So yeah, excited.

Last but not least exciting thing- Amy is coming in the beginning of November and I can't wait to see her and baby because it's been like 14 months since I've seen her and I have yet to see the lil munchkin.

Later dudes!

13 Days Left?

Smi at 6.5 weeks. She's gigantic! I guess I had in my head a lil runt of the litter Casey. But she's sooo cute and I can't wait to pick her up and smell her puppy breath. It's gonna be delightful! Then I get a couple days off with her and Penny so that they can (hopefully) bond. Then back to work but I'm gonna take her with me :)

Tenth Avenue North

With Matt Maher. Nuff said.

Northwestern College Oct. 3rd. Probably Smiler on the 4th. Best Sunday/Monday ever? Yes please.

Smiler is Six Weeks Old

This is Smiler's beauty shot. She just got her hair and nails did today. She's now six weeks old and is perfectly healthy and cute and perfect. Tomorrow she starts kindergarten and the breeder reckons she'll catch on quick. Of course my new lil baby is a smarty-pants!

My Heroes

For those of you who are clueless in MN or those of you who are reading that aren't from or living in MN, there's this amazing website called overheardinminneapolis.com and this is the best conversation that has ever been overheard. Period.


Coworker #1: My kids watch a lot of Tom and Jerry. I don’t like them watching that Dora the Explorer.
Coworker #2: Dora’s too violent for your tastes?
Coworker #1: No, too… Spanish.
Coworker #2: Oh.
Coworker #1: Yeah, when I have to read my kids those Dora books I read all the Spanish words in English.

Update 3

This is Smiler at about four and a half weeks! She's so cute. It sounds like she's on track to be able to come home right at eight weeks but I'm going to be busy at work that weekend so hopefully I will be able to get her on October 4th. We had Randali convinced to get Smiler's brother but we were all unsuccessful at convincing Ryan that it would be a good idea. Husband's....

We went out looking at houses last night. We found this amaaazing barn-style house with about five acres and I want it soooo bad but it cost a fortune, at least for our budget, so in my dreams. We're gonna sit down and talk with someone soon about a mortgage so hopefully that'll go well and then we can start for real looking at houses! We're hoping by spring.

25 Days Old

Smiler at 25 days old!! She's getting big! In our update today the breeder said she's starting to play with her brother (they were only a litter of two) and they both try to run but trip every couple of steps :) Tonight when Matt gets off of work we're gonna go puppy shopping and maybe get some things on sale at Petco and try and set up shop so that Penny isn't overwhelmed by new puppy things and a puppy all at the same time.

Tim was amazing as usual at the Fair. Oh do I love his shows. Between the girl who opened for him and his concert they played two new songs of his and I hope they're on the next CD and that that CD comes out quick! I stuffed my face pretty good at the fair but I'm gonna have to remember next time to take some lactose pills or something 'cause that vanilla shake with milk straight from the cow that day was not good for me. Already looking forward to next year though! I wish I had more time off so I could go again this year.

Update 1!

That's our new baby at 2 1/2 weeks old! Her hair is starting to get long enough to curl and her eyes are open! Oh I can't waaaaaaait to take her home! Matt or Randali might come with depending on the day so that the 6 hour round trip doesn't seem so long. Even though I would be perfectly fine with three hours alone with Smiler :) Anyway, puppy breath coming my way in a little over a month!! :D

Tim in four days!!!!!!!

It's Official

Penny is going to be a big sister! To a Smiler. :) :) :) :) :). We don't get her til September 30th at the earliest but we can visit her at six weeks and will get updates and pictures til we bring her home. I will share on here :).

Annnnd, TIM IN ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! And a vanilla shake and pickle on a stick at 8A at the fair. Yummmmm. :D

By The Way

We're probably getting a puppy in October/November...... :D

New Addition to the Family

Heeeeeeeeeyyy. Now before people go crazy thinking it's something else, the new addition to the family is my new Deering Goodtime 2 5-string banjo! And I'm in love. It's simply amazing. It's not the one that I linked to in the last post, but I believe the only difference is that it has a resonator. We also bought a banjo methods book for me to learn from until I take some lessons. We'll see how the lessons go since I don't like people telling me what to do. Matt was very impressed at me saying I would be willing to take some. But I've already learned the more common chords and am learning some rolls right now and just love everything :) I'd like to play all day everyday if I could.

Saturday we went to the county fair. Definitely nowhere near as good as the Dakota County Fair, but it was pretty decent. They had a petting zoo that had lots of goats. We bought carrots to feed them! I wanted to take them all home. There was a baby camel there too that had super long legs; but he didn't like carrots.

I don't have anymore to say and my banjo and the laundry is calling me, so later!

Tracie Lee

BANJO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, hi, beautiful, lovely my-blog-readers-of-the-world! So today I got a job, not the most desireable job, but a job nonetheless so we can start saving money towards paying off our school debt and saving for land for farming! It's at Sears, so ehh, whatever. And only part time, so I'll keep an eye out for something full time perhaps.

ANYWAY, that's not the point. The point is that my husband said that as soon as I got a job I can get a banjo! And my long awaited day is here!!! We might even order it tonight :) Oooooooooohhh, I can't wait! It's gonna be the sweetest thing ever. Though probably won't make the sweetest music for quite some time. Good thing my husband and dog love me unconditionally. I'm so excited.

Matt and I are gonna go out to eat tonight because we were supposed to get married today once upon a time. So we're using it as an excuse to date. I am actually pretty glad that we're already married and not just getting married today. The weather definitely would have been nicer today than it was in April, but I'm glad that we've already started our life.

Gotta go, but more banjo info later :) Look at this link about the banjo I'm getting in the meantime!


http://www.deeringbanjos.com/goodtime-openback

Tracie Lee

More stuff

I was just gonna reupdate my blog with the millions of things I forgot to write about but I decided to just do a new one instead.

First off, while we were shopping today we went into Schmitt(sp?) music and there was a Deering Goodtime 2 there and I fell in LOVE. Well, I'm still willing to get just the Deering Goodtime for my first banjo, but maybe the 2 can be an upgrade. But seriously, it's amazing. And it felt amazing in my hands and I just realllllyyy need one. If only someone would hire me and then I could get one!

Second, has anyone looked at the farm and garden section on craigslist?! AMAZING! I can now spend hours a day looking at animals I can get :) I could get one day old chicks for only $2! TWO DOLLARS!!! And there are lots of goats for sale too. I wish getting out of debt and saving money would hurry up so we can get land for animals. Dang school is good for nothing.

Happy July!

I don't know why I haven't updated this for a week, because there's been things I've wanted to say! But for some reason I've been putting it off and now I feel like I've forgotten about a lot of the things.

Last week, Monday I think, Matt and I went driving out around Saginaw which is a little past Hermantown, because someone he works with lives out there and says it's the perfect spot. After going there we agree! Hopefully in a few years we can find someplace nice out around there, or someplace like it to settle down and buy some land! While driving out there we found some dirt roads to drive down and driving along a railroad we saw a coyote on the otherside walking along it. At the end of a deadend road where we were looking at land that was for sale we saw foxes and what we think was their den. Four foxes! A mom and dad and two babies! :)

In other wildlife news, Saturday afternoon we went playing in the creek in Lincoln Park and then came back to the house and gave Stinky a bath. A few hours later when we were going to let Stink out for the last time that night she went running towards a tree in the corner of the yard by the street and out comes a skunk! Luckily we were able to pull Penny away before the skunk thought it was going to spray Penny. And the girl that lives downstairs says it like lives in the neighbors backyard. Lovely.

Last night we went to go see the fireworks at Bayfront. They were pretty good fireworks, a wonderful finale, however we were right by a light by the water and the music choice was pretty sucky. We reckon we'll check out what other places around the area have to offer over the next few years. I hope everyone else had a great 4th of July!

Matt has the day off today so we've been hanging out, making our house actually look semi presentable. Yeah, sad that it still hadn't until now. And it still needs work. Whatever. I just made pickle burgers (if you've talked to me in the last month you'd know I've been dying for burgers with diced pickles in them) and Matt's gonna grill them later and we're about to make deviled eggs. Sounds like a good meal to me!

Later!

Tracie Lee

Guess who I saw this weekend!

Actually, I bet you don't need to guess too hard at who I saw this weekend since everybody that knows me knows I've been gushing about seeing Tim for months leading up to Saturday. Tim was phenomenal, as always. Still puts on the best show that I've seen; and I've seen quite a few different performers. Despite being 43 he is still high energy though I did find it funny that he did sit at the end of the catwalk a few times to sing to fans/take a breather. He played a lot of old favorites, which he had promised to do on this tour; though he didn't play the best old favorite again: "Don't Take The Girl". I was pretty bummed about it. I just don't understand how a singer doesn't sing their first #1 at every concert. I still love him. Maybe he'll sing it when I go see him at the fair on August 28th!! :) :) :)

The Warren Brothers were with Tim, just playing with the band, which I thought was super cool. Love me some Warren Brothers. But I wish they woulda sang a song or two by themselves. I do think I heard some new music from them in between acts, so that's promising. As for the others..... it's a pretty well known fact I am not a fan of the super whiny Love and Theft, so really, I have nothing good to say about their act. They were whiny. Lady Antebellum was pretty good but at least half of the time the girl and the lead guy singer had their backs to the crowd so that they could be in front of the fans. I understand it was hot, but c'mon, take one for the team. Did Tim ever stand in front of the fans? No. Because he's Tim and he's perfect.

The rest of the weekend continued the way too much driving and we're looking forward to this long weekend of doing nothing!

Check out flickr.com/photos/foggyacres there's a few Tim pictures, ship pictures, and of course, Penny ;)

Later!

It is Well

Well hello all you lovely people out there! Guess what? I've been married for two months now! And no regrets ;) I love him a lot.

And guess what else? In two days we'll be driving to Chicago to go see Tim on Saturday!!!! Well, actually, we're only driving to somewhere in Wisconsin on Friday night and then we'll drive the rest early Saturday afternoon and grab some food before seeing the wonderful Mr. McGraw. And speaking of him, he's on the cover of Country People right now, you should go get it. (ps- if you're like me and love "Pray For You" by Jaron and the Long Road to Love, go to People.com/free and you can download that song for free!)

Yesterday we went shopping for a toaster and microwave but I got to get two new bras from VS (Matt even went in with me for a few minutes), Hobby Farms and Grit magazine, both of which have some good looking goat articles I'll hopefully find useful, and we also bought Walden by Henry David Thoreau because it turns out we had both been wanting to read it! Matt thinks he wanted to read it more just because he was an outdoor rec student, but he's wrong. He may know more about surviving with just a tent and a knife or whatever better than me but we're "going back to the land" and gonna have a small farm because of me. So there. (Matt, if you're reading this, love you! :))

We got all of our stuff here from Marquette now, but our house is a terrible mess and it'll take some time to get it all sorted out. Hopefully we can get rid of a ton of stuff. I just want a clean house! Ugh. But I guess I have to get it clean to keep it clean.

That's all for now! Later!

Tracie Lee

Rock Out

You know those songs that come on the radio and you can't help but jam out to? Where you have to go grab something to use as a microphone and preferably have some room to dance around and of course bring out the air guitar, maybe do some headbanging if you have the hair for it.

Well this one is mine. Enjoy!





Tracie Lee

Marquette next weekend....

That whole moving everything from Marquette this last weekend didn't quite work out as planned. While helping us move Matt's dad had some hernia troubles and ended up having surgery late Friday night. So obviously we did not make it to Marquette on Saturday. Now next weekend it looks like we'll be trying it over, just Matt, Penn, and I. We'll see how that goes. And for now our house looks like a mess and I should really clean it up before we have a million more boxes all over the place but I just don't have any motivation to do anything. The weather being super lame doesn't help either. I just want to run or do yoga. But I don't trust the people around here to go running alone..... sigh.

Has anybody seen the "Direct Your Destiny" commercial about the girl who goes to some fancy college and ends up picking up at a farm or whatever? I know the play it on MTV, but donno if they play it on any other stations. Anyway, that kind of offends me. They make it out to seem like the worst job ever; and that's my dream. But it also makes me kind of happy because I am further confident in my choice to stop going to school for a meaningless degree unless I'm going for agriculture. And at this point I think it would be just as valuable to find a farm to give me experience rather than spend thousands of dollars to read out of a text book.

After Marquette this weekend just gotta get through the week and then Tim! Lets see if we have any money left after all this driving we've been doing.....

Tracie Lee

Yay!!!!!

Hi. GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE AT THE STATE FAIR ON AUGUST 28TH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? TIM McGRAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

So I guess I'll be seeing him three times in one year :) :) :) :) I'm a lucky girl.

So yeah, I love my life.

Getting out of this motel soon!

Hey hey hey! I guess I haven't posted anything in a couple days.

First and foremost I must announce something cute! We were doing laundry two nights ago and on the way outta there to go find a slushie I saw a turtle in the grass and so of course we had to stop and GUESS WHAT! The turtle had layed eggs and was just about to bury them!!!!! Cool, huh? It was a painted turtle so I had to research when the eggs would hatch but it's something like around 70 days or something. Bummer. I was hoping they'd hatch in like 10 days. They'll be cute lil things. I want one. Naturally.

Next, we went to the zoo on Saturday and I get to pet and feed goats :). I want one. Two, actually. To start out with. Also, the grizzly bear there had alfalfa hair like Penny which I thought was super cute. And I saw porcupines. Five of them.

On Wednesday we met with the landlord of the house we were looking at and got to check the place out. We really liked it! So Friday we can move in. That means this weekend we're going back up to MQT to get the rest of the big stuff and less important things we left there. And then all next week I get to decorate our house :) and it will be clean and if anyone (Matt...) messes it up, their fingers will be chopped off (I love you, husband!). Then we'll have a weekend of nothing, maybe. Maybe my sister might come up. AND THEN TIM McGRAW the weekend after that! I should get on that looking for a hotel room....

So that's our life right now. I probably won't post again until after we're getting settled in, but I'll get to it eventually! I hope everybody is having a great beginning to their week!

Later!

Tracie Lee

We made our first big purchase!!

Yesterday Matt and I bought a bed!! Our first big purchase as a married couple :) We're nerds. But we're super duper excited and it's super comfy!

Oh, ps to those of you that don't already know... we're in Duluth now! When we first got here after getting the motel room set up we went and drove by the house we were looking at renting. Not bad, but we get to see the inside tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. Hopefully it's good enough to what we're thinking because the price is pretty great and the neighborhood isn't too bad.

My lovely lover is at his first day of work today. All I can do is think of him there and hope that it's going well! They're at UMD right now so at least he gets to start with something that seems easier. I need a job too. Really bad. Matt says that once I get a job my first big pay check can go towards my banjo. Oh baby! I neeeeeeed a job. I already needed and wanted one really bad but this makes me want one even more. I need my banjo! Then Matt can hold his hands over his ears for months when I get it :) I just wish I wasn't the most stressed out driver ever. Especially with all this construction going on. I have no idea where I'm going and with all the exits closed it makes it even harder. We're gonna look into getting me a GPS, but after today Matt said I can use his at least while he's working so that I can go look for jobs.

I think Stink and I are gonna go explore this trail out back now and see what we can find. Cross your fingers for no ticks! But first some pictures....




My favorite parts of Duluth! (And of Marquette). Superior and ships! This is Beeghly.... he was the last one we saw in MQT, he followed us here!

Stinky waiting for Daddy to come home. My precious lil baby.

Later!

Tracie Lee

List

Husband is gone and it's hot out so me and Stink are staying in for the night and since I've already read for like an hour and a half I decided I could blog. Today it was between 87-93 degrees so we went to a beach out past the casino so we could bring Penny. She actually went in a little on her own free will! Then we dragged her out til the water was just below her back. She didn't protest too much but we could tell she wouldn't go out that far willingly. Someday I'll have a dog that loves water as much as me.

While I was in the shower today I was thinking of a list of things I want to do/goals I have for myself and thought I might put some on here so I would remember even the littlest. Roughly in order but with no definite timeline, these are my goals/things I'd like to do:

1. Eat ice cream after this (or before, depending on how long this takes me)
2. Talk on the phone with Matt tonight
3. Move to Duluth
4. Eat DQ
5. Swim
6. Find a niceish place to live in Duluth
7. Get a haircut
8. Find a decent job
9. Make new, grown-up friends
10. Garden
11. Go to the Duluth zoo
12. Go to the State Fair and stuff my face. Twice.
13. See a porcupine (not in the zoo)
14. Get a banjo/learn how to play
15. Buy a spindle and learn how to use it
16. Get a bichon puppy that looks like Casey
17. Learn how to knit more than just a scarf
18. Knit Matt an ugly Christmas sweater from the fiber I've spun
19. Have babies
20. Buy land (5-10 acres) outside of Duluth
21. Buy goats, chickens, steers, maybe some pigs for our land

That's as far into the future as I'm gonna go for now! Gotta get to #1 now, so later!

Tracie Lee

Last Day of Work

Hi. It's me. How's everybody been? I, for one, am fabulous! Just quit at Walmart today and couldn't be happier! If it wasn't for moving I would have quit yesterday anyway from being so so SOOO mad at them. Let me tell you a story:

So on Thursday I answered the phone to a lady saying, "I'm not trying to be rude or mean or anything but I just wanted to tell you guys that last night my two year old son and I (she's five months pregnant) bought ice cream from there and got really, really sick and I checked the ice cream and it said it expired January of 2010". I said that we could certainly give her her money back though I know that that wouldn't have helped the fact that they probably got food poisoning. So I told her that I would let management know so we could get it off the shelf. Well I did let management know and it sounded like they would take care of it. Now it's Friday (yesterday) and I decide to check and make sure all the ice cream was taken care of on my lunch break. IT WAS NOT TAKEN CARE OF! There were probably eight packs of the ice cream the lady had told me about, all of which were expired. Oh boy was I fuming. My heart still speeds up typing about it now from being so angry. So I told Victoria who was at the fitting room at the time to tell management again that that needed to be taken care of and I waited while she was making the call. It sounded as though they would take care of it. I still had it planned that if it was not fixed by the end of my lunch I was going to buy all the expired ice cream and then immediately bring them to the service desk and return them for being expired to get my money back before quitting. Luckily management got a brain and decided they shouldn't keep bad food on their shelves. Needless to say I will not be stepping foot in another Walmart again.

So that's my rant. Thank you for listening, and if you actually read through it all I'm impressed.

Still don't know for sure when we're moving for sure but hopefully within two weeks. Haven't found a place yet either, so hopefully we get on that....

I was talking with my mommy just a few minutes ago and I can't wait for the State Fair!!!!! Though it will still be like a three hour drive to get to it I'm still excited. Better than having to drive seven hours for it! Can't wait for that vanilla shake and pickle on a stick! Yummmm.

That's all for now. Hopefully once we get settled in I can visit that goat farm around Duluth and get my spindle (and make friends and get to help with goats?!?!? I can hope) and learn how to use it I will have more interesting stories! Though I know that doesn't sound interesting to some of you I'm sure.

Til next time!

Tracie Lee

Moving! Someday. Soonish!

Well hello there, whoever is reading this! A lot has happened since I last posted anything. When we went to Duluth to change my driver's license Matt talked to the boss of a painting job he applied for and the boss said he started tomorrow. That obviously wasn't going to happen because we live in Marquette! But after talking to everyone it looks like as soon as Matt can get a physical and take a drug test which are happening on Tuesday, once the results get back to the boss they'll figure out a start date, which will probably very soon after. So it looks like we'll be moving in a few weeks here instead of August! It's funny because on our way to Duluth that day we shook on it that by the first week of August we would for sure be moving to Duluth. God loves me :)

I absolutely cannot wait to move! Or rather, I'm excited to be moved, not so excited for the actual moving part. Unfortunately, moving means that I won't have my garden; the thing I was most excited about for the summer. And it looks like all the gardens in Duluth are full too. Sigh. I guess I can't have everything or I might die of happiness overload.

It was nice and warm here today! Kayla and I went to the beach and had some good talks that only Kayla and I can have. I have some good ideas for my next tattoo now! Hopefully I can figure out something perfect and get it done sometime soon! Speaking of warm weather, I was beginning to get depressed how it's never warming up here and now it's finally warming up here and I look at the temps for Duluth and they're all colder than even here! Hopefully it'll warm up some once we move there.

Off to do some dishes to Matt Hires! Haven't heard of him? Check him out! This is my favorite song of his... it's so true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RliY1p1FE8

We're Crossin' Over State Lines

Hiya! Last night I, and by 'I' I mean mostly Matt, put a bookshelf together. But I screwed two screws in and handed him pieces and put all the shelves in.

Tonight we went to Frosty Treats and then looked for boats after. There were no boats but I have the best husband in the world and he stopped at the field by Biolife and let me kick lots and lots of dandelions! And now I can keep a watch out in the next week to see if there are even more.

Day off tomorrow and hopefully we can get a lot done around the house. It's supposed to be nice so maybe we can ride bikes too! And perhaps visit my garden. Which still remains a pile of dirt because of nights like tonight where it's supposed to get down to 36 degrees. Maybe someday I'll get to plant vegetables.

I think I might add a few more pictures to the flickr thing, so keep your eyes on that! I'm not sure if I've even shared it on here, but it's flickr.com/foggyacres.

Off to bed I think because possibly early church tomorrow! Even though I'm sure we'll be too tired and end up going at 11 like always.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Tracie Lee

Exciting Things!

Guess what happened on Monday that I forgot to say yesterday?!?! I got my new social security card with my new name! :) It was super exciting and now we can drive five hours to Duluth on Monday to go change my license even though I'll have to change it again before August. But Duluth equals Dairy Queen and Dairy Queen equals yum.

In other exciting news: My cute lovely husband bought me flowers yesterday! :) :) and OUR TIM McGRAW TICKETS CAME YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means it's for real that we're going!!!!! Wooohooooooo hurry June 26th!

That is all because I have to get ready to go to work. Bye y'all!

Tracie Lee

I think a lot of people would pay to see this

Is it supposed to take like five minutes to peel an egg shell off the egg? I don't think it's supposed to take that long. But I've boycotted eggs for so long that I can't really remember how to take the shell off a hard boiled egg. In fact, pretty sure I just completely squished this egg. Maybe we'll only have like eight bad-tasting deviled eggs instead of 14. Good thing Matt said he'd eat them all no matter what!

Ps though- Matt and I made homemade pizza on Sunday night and it was super yummy! AND I made porkchops last week too and Matt ate two whole ones :) Now if I can just get good enough for other people to eat my food and kids someday. I got years of practice ahead of me. And I'm convinced my food will be better once I get to use my own vegetables from the garden (if the UP summer lets us plant my garden).

Anyway, this is taking far too long trying to blog and take shells off of hard boiled eggs at the same time so I'm gonna be done so I can get stuff done before work.

Later!

Tracie Lee

Oh, Life

Hello! Our life is crazy right now. First and foremost let me just say that it's 37 degress outside right now and it snowed last night. That's probably about number 5 on the list of reasons I need to get the heck out of this place. I'm not going to go into the specifics of why, but dear Lord, please get me out of here. As soon as possible.

We were going to put my tomato, onion, and green pepper seedlings in the ground tomorrow because they're getting out of control in the kitchen and their roots are going through the container, but I don't think that they'll make it unless it starts being at least 60 all the time now. But I also think they're going to die from trying to untangle all their roots anyway so I guess we have to give it a shot and replant onions if it doesn't work out and buy tomato green pepper starters at the farmer's market when it opens up.

Our house is a mess. Dan is leaving tomorrow, so hopefully on my two days off Sunday and Monday we can get it feeling like a home instead of me feeling like I'm living out of my car. Once we get situated I'm hoping that this will feel like my first real home since the house in Apple Valley. I think I'm being a little too hopeful because I can't even stand this city anymore..... so again, moving to Duluth please hurry.

I'm reading "Never Kiss Your Goat on the Lips" right now, and I think you all should read it; it's a fabulous book! And no (to my disappointment), it does not mention goats a lot. This book will soon be done and it'll be on to the next farming/homesteading/self-sufficient book. It looks like a few of the people reading this might have some ideas of good books on those topics..... if you do let me know!

I'll try to write again soon.

Tracie Lee

How many things can change in a week??

Well we got hitched a week ago today! It was cold, but good. Stinky got to come so that made me happy. And she was such a good girl.

Now all of my stuff has to be out of the apartment by 8 tonight and that has me soooo stressed. But I'm excited for the place to be just ours and make it our own for a few months at least. And now school is out and I just have to work! I'm sad that Matt and I will be working different shifts though most of the time.

Oh, and we bought a Wii last night! I pretty much crushed Matt and will probably continue to do so for forever.

I thought I had more to write but I guess I don't; especially not with Penny laying on my left arm making it hard to type.

So talk to y'all later!

Tracie Lee

Wedding!

Ahhh, we're getting married tomorrow!!!! I'm excited for the wedding and I hope it goes amazingly, but honestly I am more excited about it being done and just being married. I can't wait to 'officially' have the man I love more than the world itself be mine all mine for the rest of my life.

Penny just drooled on my arm. Gotta love her. Even when she pees in her kennel and sits in it an hour and a half after we give her a bath to be pretty for the wedding. I love her so much; she's adorable. I was packing the car 15 minutes ago after our walk and I heard her whining at the door and I turned to look and she was standing there with her head pushing out the screen. We'll have to keep bars in front of screened windows so she doesn't break every screen.

Anyway, Matt's about to get back from class and then we'll be packing up and hittin' the road! Then I get DQ! Hallelujah!


"And I have never been so sure of anything before
Like I am in this moment here with you
Now for better or for worse are so much more than only words
And I pray everyday will be the proof
That I mean what I say when I say 'I do'
Yeah I mean what I say when I say 'I do'"

-Matthew West "When I say I Do"

Tracie Lee

Yeehaw!!!!!!

So today the Tim McGraw fanpage let me know that I get to buy the presale for the Chicago show in June tomorrow!!!! I simply can't wait. I hope I get good seats! This will be the first time, with the exception of WeFest, that I am allowing another person (my love) to get tickets by me. Is that love, or what. I know it'll be an awesome time regardless if I get the seats I'm hoping for though because there's nothin' better than roadtripping with my boyfriend and listening to Tim live!

What else? I'm getting married on the 23rd and I am super excited! At first I was skeptical of it being in Minnesota, but things are really coming together and I think it's going to be great! I hope I hope I hope that my cousin will be able to come and bring her baby along. That would seriously make my day.

Annnnd, the finale, I my onions and green pepper starters are growing like crazy!! The tomatoes should be sprouting in just a few days too. With all this warm weather I'm itching to get out to my garden and put some seeds in the ground!

I'll leave y'all with this quote I read in Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul: "The purpose of agriculture is not the production of food, but the perfection of human beings" -Masanobu Fukuoka

Keep on keepin' on,

Tracie Lee

Spring Has Sprung!

The first ship of the season came today! Good ol Michipicoten. I love water and ships make it even better! In the sunshine when the water is sparkling is the best. I'll miss Marquette when I'm gone for sure but luckily Duluth has my Superior and my ships. And Duluth has that smell I love. The fishy smell that I'd despise in any other setting.

Another sign of my spring is my onion seeds sprouting! They were ambitious little onions and sprouted after like four days! I can't wait for my green peppers to start sprouting and to plant the rest of the vegetables. And more excited for the first day putting everything into the ground and getting my hands dirty. Except they're not going to get dirty this growing season because I'm going to wear gloves to keep my beautiful ring clean :)

I didn't think I'd actually have anything interesting to say for awhile, but I do love my water, ships, and plants! And tomorrow shall be another good day because we're meeting with the man that's going to make Matt's wedding ring!

Later!

Tracie Lee

First Post....

Hello! I've decided to get a blog to write about all the interesting things that will hopefully be happening in my life soon! As soon as I get something interesting (at least to me) to write about, like a spindle or a banjo I am also quitting facebook so I don't have to hear about who's hooking-up with who and the parties last weekend. That is another reason I created this blog, so people that feel like they need to keep in contact with me after I'm through with facebook (Cassie) can still hear about my life. I'd also like to use this as a means to find other people with similar interests as me to learn things from and to just share ideas with.

Now for a little bit about me, I guess. Though I haven't had many interesting things happen in my short life yet. I've titled my blog 'Foggy Acres Farm' because I've dreamt about having a farm for as long as I can remember. However, I do not have a farm yet, this is just what me and my fiancé, Matt, would like to name our future farm. I have begun taking the steps towards my farming dream. I will no longer be going to school for a degree that I'll never use after this semester and hopefully will go back to school at some point to finish with an agriculture degree. Hopefully in the near future I'll get some experience working on a farm.

We plan on starting a farm within 10-15 years. I've started little things like my gardening; I had a bed in the Marquette Community Garden last year and have one reserved for this year as well. I've read a lot of farming books, specifically about goats because I want goats to be the main focus and means of profit for our farm. I have a ton of other ideas about what to do with our farm but I'd prefer to keep them to myself until the right time comes.

I'm running out of things to say for tonight so I'll update y'all later when I have something interesting to say!

Tracie Lee

*Honorable mention to my stinky dog Penny