Date night in Lexington

Last weekend, I went ice-skating for the first time since high school (actually, only my second time ever)! I still can't bring myself to love it. The skates hurt my feet too much for me to really enjoy it. Being in pain can kind of put a damper on the fun. Maybe I just have weird feet? Anyways, Jeff and I went there on a date with another couple. It was cute because the guys were the ones who bugged us to go and they skated until the rink was closing. Jeff held my hand the entire time I was on the ice, because he wanted to make sure I didn't fall. I would have been just fine without him holding onto me, but it was sweet, so I tried not to play the "independent woman" card and let him help me.

Afterwards, we shared free nachos and then went to play pool at the Silver Cue Billiards Bar in Lexington. I wasn't nearly as good as I was the past couple times we have went, but I enjoyed it none-the-less. Once we left the Silver Cue, we headed over to Tolly-Ho where I had a giant plate of chili cheese fries covered in jalapeño peppers. What can I say....we know how to eat!

These past few weeks, I've pretty much just been cooped up in the house and haven't gone anywhere. I appreciated the chance to get out for awhile.

                                                                                               -Miss Ellaneous

Day 6: Christmas Lights

Below are a few photos that I have taken of the beautiful Christmas lights in Lexington this year. Please excuse the poor quality...my cell doesn't take good photos as it is, let alone when I am taking them from a moving car.

My family has never done much in the way of decorating outdoors for Christmas, so I always have enjoyed driving around and looking at everyone else's lights. I feel kinda cooped up indoors once the weather is cold, but the lights are a good incentive to go out (especially when it gets dark so early now).

Sitting in a coffee shop...

Starbucks, to be exact. Drinking a nonfat grande caramel macchiato. I've been a lousy blogger the past week or two because, well, I haven't written. Several exciting blog ideas came to mind and that's all they did. I suppose they're still floating around in my prefrontal cortex somewhere.

I've done entertaining things like host our Because We Beat the British Fourth of July Party, visit the arboretum in Lexington, fish at Miss Ellaneous' pond, watch LOTS of movies (I've definitely improved my repertoire this summer!), purchase more outdoor furniture and cook some scrumptious recipes!

I've also done my fair share of laborious activities including cleaning up after cooking and eating all those recipes, cleaning, maintain my top 5 status on Master of Words, bills, laundry, groceries, and being a socialite.

Interesting things? Had those happen too. My transportation device is on the fast track to no longer transporting. My A/C has been extremely fussy. We found an exhaust leak at the beginning of this week. My muffler is not appropriately attached. I need a new serpentine belt and the wheel bearing is going bad. But, the lassy hasn't let me down yet. Still running like a dream. Just a very faint one. And I may have concussed my head today. Horseplaying with the hubs, he lifted me up on the count of three and we just happened to be under the doorway. Let's just say it's the hardest my head has been hit that I can recall. I sobbed like a child for a few moments. Felt in a blur for a few more. But feel much better now and am thankful it wasn't worse.

Now that you've had a very brief verbal update, I'll showcase a very small pictorial update. I've been lousy at self-documenting too. Oops.

* Party decor and s'mores *

Long time, no selfie.

Started the curly girl method. Very pleased with the results so far. More in detail post later.
BTW, never do this selfie pose. I despise it.

Arboretum / Lexington, KY

Arboretum / Lexington, KY

Now, I can frequent the front porch and be comfortable!

Lastly, in attempts to hold myself more accountable, I am posting it here and now that I will post at least twice in the coming week. Send me black mail if I fail to follow through.

In the meantime, be spontaneous, eat well, take action.

Signing off,

Coffee, Barn Building & Llamas

Common Grounds

Jason and I were in Lexington and we happened to be near Common Grounds coffee shop on Nicholasville Rd. Since I live in the middle of no-where I don't have frequent access to coffee shops, so they're always a treat. This Common Grounds location had a large selection of espresso drinks as well as smoothies. I was interested in the espresso drinks though and they would make any of their espresso drinks into frappes. I got a Snickers frappe (hazelnut, caramel & chocolate flavors) and Jason got Almond Joy (coconut, chocolate & almond flavors). They were both awesome tasting and fairly reasonably priced ($3.77 for 16 oz.). They were also aesthetically pleasing and even included a chocolate covered espresso bean on top! I will definitely be visiting there again!

Work

Dad and I have been working hard on the barn every morning. We're really beginning to see the progress, too. We have been putting tin up on the back side of the barn for the past week. I think we'll finish with the tin tomorrow (if it doesn't rain!) Check it out! I wish I had taken a photo every day so you could really see the progress.

Llama Shearing

It's that time of year. Time to shear the llamas! They never like being trimmed and we don't enjoy it very much either. We have to cut their hair so they can stay cooler in the hot summer months. Their wool is really warm! Just imagine wearing a wool sweater on a 90 degree day! We've only trimmed two so far. Emmie was very cooperative and didn't fight at all. Noah wasn't as cooperative though and kicked and spit at us nearly the entire time. His cut doesn't look as good and that's why! Many people use electric trimmers to shear their animals but we have found this is scary for the llamas and more trouble, so we cut them with large scissors. It takes a while and is tiring but since we only have 4 animals, it isn't too bad.

You may be wondering what we do with their wool. At one time my mother wanted to use their wool for spinning into yarn and then using the yarn to make things. We soon realized the llamas were going to supply us with much more wool than we wanted. There is also the added expense of having the wool cleaned and processed into rovings so it can be spun. So as of right now, most of the wool gets thrown away. We have so much of it we don't have enough uses for it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to tell us!

Some before & after photos: 

Before                                     Noah                                       After

Before                                        Emmie                                          After

The wool...just from Emmie.

Two llamas trimmed, two more to go!

Until next time...

The Farmer's Daughter