man up and be a woman.

"A rally is not a breather. A rally is the breath before the battle-cry." --Jenna of SingleInTheSouth

I made it extra large for you so you'll know how serious I am.  Ladies, rally!!!!

Ok, so, I'm tired.  And I've been working like mad so I can be fancy and out of debt.  So far, so good.  However, I haven't had a chance to do a few of the things I love so such as tea parties and writing to you inspiring and lovely ladies. In fact, all I've done when I'm not working is wine, eat cookies, and watch Ugly Betty.

At the end of Ugly Betty, episode 20, season 4, with a mouthful of cookies (Don't make fun), I had an epiphany.  "Crystal," I said, "You must rally!"  I mean, Betty did it.  No more whining!  No more cookies!  No more Ugly Betty!

So here I am, tired, rallying, and ready (aaand, wearing a sugar mask as I type this--just because you're worn out doesn't mean you should look like you are).  Sometimes you've just got to man up and be a woman, do what you've got to do, fight for the greater good, so you may be who you were called to be.

So, no tips today on being poor and fancy--just a word to live well and rally.

Dear Xanga

Dear Xanga,

Today I am all fancy and pouting.  I have no tips--just sighs.

you can't take the fancy out.

The roof leaked. The window sill was rotting. The floor creaked and caved around the 60 year old heater in the floor. The grass had grown 2 feet tall because I couldn’t afford to put gas into the mower. I sat on my couch, eating my meal du jour, a hot dog and mayonnaise, while I sipped hot water from a Hutschenreuther teacup (Richelieu), signed and numbered “33.” 

Hutschenreuther Richelieu 

Hot dog and Mayonnaise

do these really go together?




















Yes, yes, it is true. Fancy moved out of her parents’ house and into a place of her own, carting only her Hutschenreuther and an old silver spoon she got from her mother. It’s a well known fact that the women in my family can pick out the most expensive thing in the room because it’s the first thing to which we’re drawn. We’re fancy girls. We want it all. And really, let’s be reasonable, what’s the point in having cake if you can’t eat it too? 

And yet, amid all of the frill, there’s the survivor, the warrior, the girl who will stop at nothing for freedom and a love to call her own. Though she may have to trudge through the rain, sell her dresses to buy groceries, hold the soles [souls] of her shoes together with duct tape, and wear mud on her shirts because she can’t afford detergent, she will survive. She will make due. She will rise above and conquer. And she’ll look good doing it. 

This, my friends, is why I present you with the fancy girl’s guide to being poor. Because you can take the girl out of the fancy, but you can’t take the fancy out of the girl.