As I mentioned in my About section, I started my Wishful Slacker blog in 2009 and kept it going for a few years. A lot of people were blogging back then, during the infant days of social media, and I really enjoyed it for a period of time. But then after my daughter turned one, I felt this immediate concern that while posting about her as a baby was okay, I really needed to think about what I was doing as she entered into her own little person. This pang hit me as I was also at a point of wondering who I was, now that I had a child, and without writing about my daughter, then what could I write about? This created a bit of an internal battle that finally became too much, and on a random evening, I deleted my entire blog from scratch. Oh Lindsay, why???
Then, a couple of months ago, I was looking through old emails, and literally stumbled upon an email my husband had sent me in 2012 with the raw files from my blog, which we must have saved at that time! We fed it into ChatGPT (we, ha- like I know what I am doing- my HUSBAND did this) and managed to get it converted all back to normal words. It has been delightful to go through and read these old posts. This is what this section is for- to share some of these deleted blog posts from my past!
And while we’re on this topic- friends, don’t do what I did. Honor your past creative moments and the person you were then. Shower that version of you with the love that you deserved at the time. What if we all expressed a greater kindness to ourselves in this way?
So- here it is- segments from the original Wishful Slacker! While I may make minor edits, I will try to leave the majority of these posts in their original form. :)
The Original Wishful Slacker About Me section (edited sometime after November 2010)
I am a genetic counselor living in the great city of Chicago with my husband, our cat, and our new baby girl. I have enjoyed writing ever since I was a little girl, and I started blogging back in May of 2009 as a way to get down the thoughts that frequently swirl in my head. This blog is really about daily life- living in a city, following a budget, meal planning and cooking, and most importantly, finding a healthy and happy balance between work and play.
The birth of our daughter in November, 2010 has so dramatically changed our existance in so many beautiful (and occasionally challenging! ) ways, and we cannot wait to watch her grow and share with others in that universal journey. I don't really have a targeted audience for my writing, though I hope to reach more people over time who have similar interests. Check out the "Featured Recipes" tab at the top of the page for tasty and easy meals that we have cooked at home. I would love to one day upgrade this site into something more aesthetically pleasing, but have no idea how that is done! Perhaps one day I will figure that one out! I grew up in Shelby Township, Michigan, north of Detroit, and took the popular trail westward to Chicago, stopping in Ann Arbor for two years to complete grad school. I could have worked in Detroit, or I could have worked in Chicago. I chose Chicago. I never imagined myself living IN a city. The noise, the congestion, the cost, the intimidation. But, surprise surprise, I have really enjoyed this experience. It allows us such an interesting lifestyle, and I am very content here for now, though we will see if this changes as our daughter gets older.
I have been working as a genetic counselor for five years. I used to joke daily of my strong desire to be a housewife and to make my husband his dinner each night and spend the days ironing our underwear and pillow cases. My profession is both rewarding and challenging, and my personal mission has been to find a balance between the two extremes. As a new mother, I am now working part-time, and know that this step, like all career moves I have made in the past, will be a work in progress. I started this blog as a way to exercise the right side of my brain. Learning new things, eating good food, being healthy, and enjoying the present moment makes for a good time. And that's where I'd like to be.
07/13/2009 I'll spare you the bloody details
I chuckled ominously today reading not one, but two company-wide work emails that came through about an upcoming blood drive. You see, I approach the decision to donate rather delicately based on my last experience. And- if you're squeamish, please do not read on. Seriously. To briefly summarize this incredible encounter in November, 2008- the nurse tied the tourniquet too tight on my arm, so much so that when she pierced the vein. . well, you all know what happens when a volcano erupts due to the mounting pressure underneath, right? Suddenly a stream of my blood squirted out, hitting my face, sweater (which, of course, was yellow), and work badge. The nurse squealed "THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! " and tried frantically adjusting the needle while I laid there and waited an oddly long time for someone to help dab the blood off my face. I have to say if I ever was a trooper in my life it was in those minutes as I continued to provide my donation, despite the elongated time that this took after my body's control center screamed, "OH MY GOD WE'RE BLEEDING OUT! " and instructed my blood cells to put on their brakes and clot. Needless to say, I look ahead to my next blood donor experience with slight trepidation. Someone close to me has needed blood and stem cell donations, and I have always kept this in mind as I marched to the chair and rolled up my shirt sleeve. When it came time to donate again this past winter, I got freaked out about what happened previously and passed. Perhaps I was thinking about how much it hurt to bend my arm in the days afterward, or the alarmed look on my husband's face when he saw my blood stained sweater that evening. I feel a little ashamed that I stepped away from something that can truly benefit someone so directly. So, with a deep breath and calm thoughts of all the previous times I've donated with no problems, I think I will give this another whirl. But this time, I'll make sure to wear black.
07/07/2009 Ahhhh ice cream. . .
My husband has been making some amazing ice cream recently- mint chocolate chip, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla custard. But sorry guys, I won't be posting these recipes. He won't even tell ME how he does it! I consider myself very lucky that I can get in on the goodness of it all: -)
07/04/2009 Happy July 4th!
My cousin's wife emailed us this week with a request. His school in the UK is having a "Countries of the World" day, and my cousin's classroom of 8 and 9 year olds have chosen to do America. The request was for us to send an email from America to the students, along with pictures of American things that are not typically seen in England. For the past few days we've been considering this assignment and thinking about what we can include in this email.
My cousin suggested we take a picture of a hot dog stand, which I agree is a very American symbol. My major concern with that is that for their entire lives, this group of English youngsters will be under the impression that the American diet consists exclusively of leftover ground meat products enclosed by a casing and stuck in a bun. Then I cringe a little, because when we had this cousin's brother here for a visit a couple weeks ago, 60% of our meals consisted of a hotdog, hamburger, or other large slab of meat. We did the "walking home from the bar after midnight let's stop at Weiner's Circle! " meal, and the "We're at Wrigley Field- we have to get hotdogs! " meal, both within 16 hours of each other. My cousin even managed to see a kid get literally thrown out of Weiner's Circle, consistent with our stories that prepared him to not expect normal polite customer service (but a good entertaining time, none the less!).
In our brainstorming, my husband and I have of course come up with some ideas that would probably be quite inappropriate for an 8 year old audience. For example, we could include a picture of a police officer's holster with the caption, "In America, our cops carry real guns instead of sticks! " Kidding aside, we're looking forward to generating this email and highlighting the cool parts of this country we love. Here are some things we may include: In America, baseball is a very popular sport. Go Cubs! In the city of Chicago, we have some very tall buildings (check out the comparison of Sears Tower with one of the tallest buildings in London!) In America, we get some very powerful thunder and lightning storms! In America, bacon + anything = Heaven! In America, we have cats who can read and write! As you can see, this is a work in progress: -) Happy Independence Day!
07/03/2009 Post call, new charm!
For Christmas this year my mother-in-law gave me a Chamilia charm bracelet, already outfitted with 4 charms. Being out of the fashion loop recently, I had actually not heard that charm bracelets had made a comeback. Come to find out that there are two big names for these charm bracelets, Chamilia and Pandora, and the charms made by each brand are able to fit both bracelet chains. Anyways, I really love wearing mine and enjoy having a piece of jewelry that I can add to over time. Soon after receiving my bracelet, I experienced my first time being the genetic counselor "on call" at work. For the two weeks that we're on call, we handle all the extra stuff that comes in to our office- physician and patient inquiries, inpatient genetic consults, metabolic newborn screen referrals, etc. It can get pretty crazy at times and we sadly witness our usual work "to do" list slide into the lowest priority category. To reward myself each time I finish being on call, I came up with the idea of ordering a new charm for my bracelet. So far I've been able to add 3 charms to commemorate on call completions. I understand that this system is comprable to rewarding toddlers with a sticker each time they don't throw a temper tantrum at the grocery store. But for me, it was something pleasant to think about while handling the 5 abnormal newborn screen referrals that came in on Tuesday afternoon. If it helps contribute to the preservation of my sanity, I'm all for it!
06/30/2009 Our Thoughtful Boy
While I am the "wishful slacker, " our cat Major is the true slacker for us all to emulate. Not only does that boy have probably the most leisurely and carefree life of all creatures, but you can tell that he enjoys every second of it. I'll make sure to post some of his sillier moments in the future (the ever-popular lying on his back pose with his legs in the air), but tonight I caught him being more reflective. In actuality, I think he was eyeing our pork chops, but he'd prefer you all believe that he was in the middle of a deep, deep thought.
He was such a special guy- I still miss him!
06/29/2009 Sock knitting. . slowly. . .
Over the weekend I finished knitting a sock. It's pretty cute with nice Easter-colored stripes. A couple issues though. First problem- it's only one sock. And typically, for a sock to work, it needs a mate. This leads me into my second problem- it took me (and I'm not exaggerating) probably 2-3 months to finish just this one sock. Yes, I've been busy and have been doing others things, etc, etc, but I had hopes when I started doing socks that I'd get at least more than just 2 pairs from a year's worth of knitting! And I feel I owe it to this newly completed sock to get some use out of it. I mean, is it fair to this sock to make it chill in my sock draw for the next 3 months until I finish its partner? I'm sure I look goofy wearing only one sock as I sit here typing, but at least that sock feels loved. It was a big step for me to move from back-and-forth scarves to socks. My mother-in-law passed along a great website for learning to knit socks, which is what I've used to help jump-start this very important phase in my knitting maturity. I have yet to find a nice knitting shop near me in Chicago so have felt limited to projects where I don't need anyone's help to get me out of a bind. Alas- sweaters, baby booties, and felted purses will have to wait. So, if anyone wants me to make them a pair of socks, and hopes to have the socks delivered by the year 2012- you'd best place your order now!
06/28/2009 The Making of Public Enemies
The movie Public Enemies opens in theaters this week and I wanted to share these pictures that we took back in May, 2008. Being a true story, several scenes were shot in the actual location where events occurred, including the Biograph Theater in Lincoln Park. Word spread like wildfire when the production crew came in and converted this section of Lincoln Avenue into how it appeared in 1934. We and several hundred others flocked here on that Friday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the action. Production vehicles and trailors were parked up and down Halsted, and many cool vintage cars were brought in. They created artificial storefronts, laid street car tracks, and even sawed away all the metal parking meters- because obviously those weren't around in 1934 (heck, they can't even get them to work in 2009)! On a separate night, they shot scenes just down the street from our apartment building at Pine Grove and Surf. All evening we kept hearing continuous rounds of tommy gun fire. It was really loud! Apparently Johnny Depp even paid a visit to our corner Red Hen bakery for a coffee. For all the hype the production created around this area, the movie had better be good!
06/27/2009 Mr. "Breaking News"
One of my husband's and my shared themes is that we both had grandmothers with avid interests in current events and breaking news. I remember huddling around the radio with my grandma, grandpa, and sister, listening to live coverage from Norway of Tonya Harding's 1994 Olympic skate. There was no way my grandmother was waiting until NBC's coverage at 7pm. "Wait, she's stopped skating and is in tears. She's trying to tell the judge there's something wrong with her skate lace, " reported the announcer. It was thrilling, and when we watched the American tv broadcast that evening we all felt special for knowing the outcome in advance of everyone else. My grandmother recorded every single day of the OJ Simpson trial. As we went through her house after she passed away, we encountered boxes and boxes of these videotapes. Not only that, but we came across every cheesy pop news novel that was ever written. If it was about JonBenet Ramsey, the Menendez Brothers, or Princess Diana, my grandmother could have been a key consultant. As my grandmother's daughter, my mother also shares this passion. During the goofy court hearings following Anna Nicole Smith's death, my mom and I almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. "There is no circus here my friends" may be one of the greatest quotes in the history of American entertainment. A few years ago a man near my parents' home in Michigan went nuts and killed his wife. If that wasn't enough, his arrest took place after he fled to northern Michigan and was chased through the snowy woods barefoot by a helicopter, cameras rolling. My mother tivo'd every news story documenting his trial, and sat us down in front of the tv each time we traveled home so we could get caught up. My husband reports having had similar experiences in his childhood. His upbringing allowed him to develop "breaking news" superpowers. He has this unnatural ability to know every major headline the second before the rest of us learn of it. My mother has it as a personal goal to surprise my husband with a breaking news story prior to him discovering it for himself. So far she hasn't won. After news of Michael Jackson's death on Thursday she scrambled to send him a text message, only to receive my husband's response a few seconds later-"I know." Between the two of them, at least I know that I'll never be left in the dark!
06/06/2009 Disorder on the 18th Floor
When we moved to Chicago 3 years ago, we decided on renting an 18th floor 1 bedroom unit in Lincoln Park. The place has a great view of Diversey Harbor, Lakeshore Drive, and Lake Michigan. Looking south from our balcony we can see the Hancock building. The inside of the place is small but it works just fine for the two of us. However, when you live in the same place for 3 years, stuff begins to accumulate. And in small confines, the level of disorder increases ten-fold. My wonderful cousin will be arriving in a few days from England for a 10 day Chicago vacation. We're excited to have him stay with us, and he claims he doesn't mind sleeping on our aerobed in the living room. I love how having a house guest opens your eyes to all the work that needs to be done in your living space. We've become comfortable with our little table collecting magazines and junk mail- it doesn't really matter when we're the only two who ever see it. I've walked past the picture frames needing dusting for weeks but have done no more than acknowledge that fact. We did go through some of our things a month ago and filled a blue storage tub in our living room with items to sell or donate. But then the cat decided he liked sitting on top and we even set a towel on the lid to increase his comfort. Needless to say, the bin remains, full of the things we intended to rid ourselves. As my cousin's arrival date gets closer, I've started a list on our dry erase board. Currently it reads: 1. Replace shower curtain liner (the one we have now is disgusting)2. Scrape mold off bathroom ceiling. Get rid of cobwebs. I mean, these are all things that we should be doing just for ourselves, I understand. But having visitors gives you that good kick in the pants to get up and start to make things more presentable. This weekend is our pre-visitor time to get the place back in working order. But I have to say that as I sit here on the couch waiting for that motivation to set in, I still just keep thinking, "ugh, do I have to? " Yes. You do. You really do.
05/16/2009 Welcome!
Why hello, and welcome to my blog! I intend to make this a lifestyle blog featuring the events, projects, and situations I encounter in my day-to-day. I am a pediatric genetic counselor, and my work days are spent preparing for clinic, coordinating genetic testing, communicating results, and counseling families. This work frequently sucks away much of my energy, and outside of work there are so many things I enjoy doing, especially in this cool city of Chicago where I live with my husband and cat. I am a pretend foodie, and enjoy finding recipes and cooking. By "pretend, " I mean that I have not experimented much with my own recipe alterations or creations. Let's face it- one must have some extra time and backup plans to allow for mess ups! I plan on posting the good recipes that I find for those after work days when you need something fast and those lazy weekend days when you have more time for an involved meal. In addition, I am striving to cook healthier foods and nothing pleases me more than meals that are inexpensive! In addition to food, I will highlight my other interests and projects- knitting, dancing, scrapbooking, photography, decorating, etc. As alluded to above regarding liking cheap meals, I may possibly be addicted to couponing. My Sunday morning routine involves sitting on the floor cutting out coupons and discovering the weekly specials that will give us our biggest bang for our buck. I will share those tricks and the ways I stay organized. Our cat Major will likely make a few appearances too. I may occasionally comment on genetics- but only if it comes with some type of monetary reward: -)I remember last year a rare day that I took off of work. Despite hoping to sleep in, I woke up at the usual time, saw Jim off to work, and then proceeded to attack an internal to-do list which popped up out of nowhere. I ran to the the grocery store, got a slow cooker meal going, did some cleaning, did some wedding planning, and then before I knew it Jim was home and the day was over! Still, all in all, it felt great to move through the day on my own schedule. My biggest challenges are balancing the things I enjoy with the daily grind of working a fairly draining job and still trying to manage some level of mental sanity. It doesn't always work, but I invite all of you to follow me along for the ride!