Graduation Blues

Having graduated almost a month ago now, I am gradually beginning to settle in to life as a post-grad. It isn't easy. Just five weeks ago, my life was consumed with due dates, a full schedule, two jobs, and a struggling social life. I never had to give myself a to do list. Everyone else was doing it for me.

Since May 4th, I have had to work at keeping myself feeling productive and being entertained. My handiest tool, the thing that has kept me most sane, is this little guy:

A simple (and cute!) notebook Miss Ellaneous gave me. In it I write down what I have accomplished that day. Projects I work on, the four Netflix movies I watched, stores I stopped at, and visits with friends and family are a few of the things I include. I also frequently jot down goals -- sometimes for the next day or the coming week. It is a place where I can reflect on what I've thought or done and later be reminded that I have done lots of things despite being unemployed and not currently going to school.

Unemployment: my main source of the blues. As I've researched and watched close friends struggle with the same issue, I've learned a few things:

1.) Trying to find a job directly related to what I want to do (which is occupational therapy by the way) is like trying to find the golden egg; there's a lot of eggs out there with some benefit (decent pay, ease of work, hours or location) but the golden egg has the most benefits (healthcare experience, part-time, working with children or seniors).  An article I found here says that around half of all college grads aren't able to find a job directly related to their major. HALF.

2.) If you're having trouble finding a job, you are not alone! There's at least one other person searching every classified ad and keeping Indeed, Monster, and Glassdoor tabs open in their browser to be refreshed every couple of hours---me. You'll find the right opportunity eventually.

3.) Lots of articles and books I've skimmed have told stories of people who thought they knew exactly what they wanted to do in the beginning but life offered them something completely different. They've had careers in several different fields that has led them to a job that they truly love.

4.) I'm a darn good housewife. I've had the time to cook. A LOT. I've also gotten to make cute gifts, read  newspapers and books, watch some TV, seek out deals, organize our new home and take better care of myself. But there is absolutely no way I could do it for the rest of my life.

So for now, I'll sit back, try to relax, fill out my handy dandy (and cute!) notebook and continue my search with a promise to myself that I won't let all the waiting and frustrations get me down.

Until next time,

Double Dog Dare Ya!

Today at work there were a few extra minutes of down time in between cleaning up lunch messes and getting ready for snack time. Usually I take the down time to sit down in the available chair in the kitchen and close my eyes but as soon as I sat down to do just that Katie, the second in charge of the kitchen, asked me to do a prank. Mind you this is not the first time she has asked me to do some prank idea she has made up. I was feeling a bit mischievous so I asked Katie what she had in mind. She wanted to prank call another student worker, like me, who was was up at the front desk covering for the main lady.
think bubble time...

(I have always loved the idea of prank calls and have been in on a few myself along with the help of some friends of course. The problem is though I start laughing so much just at the idea of what I am suppose to be saying to the person on the receiver that I give myself away, added with the fact that I am terrified of talking on the phone, these two things are not a good combination.) 

end think bubble...

When Katie got done explaining to me her idea I said to her, "Who is gonna call Chelsea(the student worker up front)?" This is when things started to get real. Katie told me to do it. She said, "I double dog dare you to!" I could not help but laugh when she said that. I have not heard that phrase used in a long time, mainly only growing up with my siblings and our crazy ideas to beat each other at something. Thinking of a comeback because I really did not want to be the person doing the calling I triple dog dared her to do it. This daring each other to infinity and beyond back and forth lasted about five minutes. Seeing as I infinity and beyond dared Katie, it was technically her that should of had to make the prank call but as she is older and more in charge, she bowed out. Not without a plan though. Three teachers and a minute later our prank was ready to go. (It was hard to find a willing teacher who was on break). Phone in hand Ms. Leighann dialed the extension to reach the front desk. I won't go into detail about the conversation except to say this, it involved a refrigerator running and sending someone to catch it. All in all I would say that it was a good, healthy prank. No one got hurt and there were lots of laughs shared around the building. 

If any of you reading this has a good idea for a prank of sorts please comment below!

Signing off for now,

Captain Fun Something

Summertime Sadness

The thunderstorms are offering a really nice, cool breeze, but they're also encouraging me to sit inside on the computer. It's not necessarily a sadness I'm feeling, but I'm so overwhelmed with projects I would really like to work on. It's as if I have so many enjoyable projects I'm not sure where to begin on them. I also have chores since I'm living with my parents now. And still sometimes it feels like my whole afternoon just disappeared because I was sitting inside on the computer.

It's crazy for me to think about, but I've been graduated for almost a month. I'm not exactly sure where the month of May has gone! Since the week following graduation, I've been working on renovating an old tobacco barn with my dad on my week-day mornings. Besides this work, what have I accomplished? I have unpacked all my things from living at school and put them away. I've exchanged my summer and winter clothes from storage. I helped my parents host a graduation party at my house with neighbors and family members. I got ready for and went on a camping trip with four good friends (Miss Ellaneous, Martha S., Granny Eyre & Captain Something Fun). I've helped my mom out in the garden. I've met up with friends and my beau several different times and had fun eating out, seeing movies, going riding & going fishing. I've started Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers. And now I'm planning a wedding shower for a good friend from high school. 

Looking back at this list it seems like I've been fairly busy, but I still want to do more. I want to relax and have a fun summer, but I also want to accomplish some things. I want my months of June and July to be full of enjoyment and all these things: crafts, more gardening, adventures with friends and my beau, campfires, swimming, summer celebrations, preparation for school year months, reading lots of books, star-gazing, lightening-bug watching and much, much more. I want to cut back on my screen-time and increase my time outside enjoying friends, family and my time off. I know in the blink of an eye, my summer break will be over and I want to look back at all I have done and smile.

That's all for now!

The Farmer's Daughter

Fried Chicken and Wallpaper

Today was a long day. I spent last night with my sister so that I could help her work on her house. She is currently in the process of redecorating/remodeling her laundry room. Our main goal for the day was to strip the wallpaper, which we managed to do. We also went to the store and picked out paint colors for the walls and cabinets.Pale yellow for the walls and light blue cabinets. I do not want to go into too much detail about it because I would like to wait until we get finished so that I can share the before and after photos. This is pretty much my first time redecorating a room, so I am excited to see how it turns out. We are planning to do the bathroom next!

In addition to spending the majority of the day in the laundry room, I also tried my hand at frying chicken again. I have fried chicken only twice before today. Once I had help, and the second time I left it in the pan too long and burnt it. Since I was cooking for five, I was a little nervous that we may have to end up going out to eat for dinner, but I worried for nothing. Even my brother-in-law, or BIL, as I have been referring to him lately, said that he really liked it and wished that I would teach my sister how to make it. However, he hates my new nickname for him, and said that he will have to think of something worse to call me if I don't cut it out!

I didn't really go by a recipe, but I will explain how I fried the chicken here, just in case someone may be interested:

First, I thawed out the skinless chicken breast. There were three huge ones, so I cut them in half lengthwise and width-wise  with a sharp knife and trimmed off some of the fat. I beat two eggs and coated the chicken in the egg mixture. I then rolled the chicken in all-purpose flour and added some black pepper and another spice mix that I can't remember the name of. On the bottle, it said that it tasted good on chicken, so I gave it a shot. It had a mixture of rosemary, oregano, onion, etc. in it. After that, I set the chicken on a plate and let the flour soak in while the oil heated up in the skillet. I filled the skillet up about halfway with vegetable oil and turned the burner on medium heat. When the oil started bubbling, I gently placed the chicken in the oil and waited until it the chicken was golden brown and then flipped it. You don't want to flip the chicken more than you have to since it will cause the flour to fall off. That would be bad because you put it on there for a reason, right? I felt like it was harder to keep the breading on skinless chicken because the flour doesn't have as much to hold onto (raw chicken breast is slippery, but it is possible to fry). Once both sides are golden brown, the chicken should be ready to take out and put on a plate with a few paper towels to drain the grease. I like to cut into a couple pieces of chicken with a knife just to make sure that they are thoroughly cooked before I take them out of the pan, but that's pretty much all there is to it.

There are many different ways to fry chicken, so I would recommend trying new things until you find something that you like best. I have read that lots of people soak their chicken in buttermilk in the refrigerator overnight and that really improves the flavor. Others use a beer batter. Some roll theirs in flour, while others use breadcrumbs or even crushed up potato chips (which is my boyfriend's favorite). Next time I have more time available I would like to try the buttermilk approach and see what that tastes like, but for now I will just share a photo of my dinner tonight, just to make you drool! Try to ignore the huge bite taken out of the chicken...I couldn't wait to taste it before I took the picture.

The other items on the menu were green beans from my sister's garden, homemade mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and some Great Value brand stuffing that I picked up at Walmart earlier. It was my first time trying it, and it wasn't too bad. That's all for now.

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous

Shaving a Sunburn

I came back from our annual camping trip with a sunburn on the back of my knees. I am convinced that either my skin is more sensitive or the sun is more powerful this year. I have never gotten this many sunburns. I even lathered on the sunscreen this time but I either missed this spot or it came off when I went swimming. Regardless I had a painful reminder that it was there when I went to shave my legs that night.

Similarly I had a painful reminder of life when I looked at my calendar and realized that I had an essay due on Monday. Seriously, who makes an essay due on Memorial Day? I didn't even have to work today. Geez. Thankfully I had started the essay, but I wasn't completely happy with it. Honestly I'm still not completely happy with it but I submitted it anyway.

While shaving my sunburn was enough to convince me to put on lotion, the calendar was not enough to convince me to finish the essay until about 8:30 this evening (Monday). Shocking to some of you, I do sometimes have a bit of procrastination in me.

Adios for now.

Maybe soon I (or Captain Something Fun) will share some photos from our adventure on a tandem bicycle today. Oh that story will be fun to share.

-Granny Eyre.