Day 24: Weather

The weather is absolutely gorgeous today, but unfortunately I'm stuck inside at work.

Yesterday was also nice. I was very productive. I got the yard mowed, my car washed, and my little outdoor table painted. I have two glider chairs that I will be painting next. All of the furniture that I am redoing was given to me for free and was going to be thrown away. Jeff gave me the table, and the two chairs belonged to my grandparents and my uncle wanted to throw them away (the paint is flaking off of them and they don't look too pretty right now) And I bought the spray paint at a yard sale for 50 cents...so I figured if I mess it up, I won't be out much money! Haha

The table needs a little touching up, but I think it turned out nice.

My mom sent me some plants from her garden, so I plan to plant those tonight. There are daylilies and hostas, and I'm not sure what else.

What is everyone else doing to get ready for summer?

-Miss Ellanous

Catching up on Days 21-23

Day 21-What I'm Reading: American Green by Ted Steinberg.

Yes, I am reading a book about the history of the American lawn...don't judge! It's actually pretty fascinating. For some reason, I feel like I am wasting my time if I am reading a book that I cannot learn from (I think B.C. did that to me, but I'm not here to point fingers). Right now, I'm at the part where the author is discussing how people became obsessed with their lawns...to the point where they had no furniture in their homes because they had spent all of their money trying to impress their neighbors with a beautiful lawn.

Did you know? Clovers are actually good for your lawn, because they have the ability to filter nitrogen from the air and deposit it into the soil for the grass? Lawn clippings do the same, so save money by leaving them on your lawn and not having to buy harmful fertilizers.

Day 22: Where I Stand 

This quote has got me thinking about where I stand. I've always been told that if I work hard enough, I will be able to achieve anything....but what if what I am trying to achieve isn't worth it? How do you know when it's time to walk away from certain things in life? The biggest thing this quote brings to mind for me is relationships. I can think of certain "toxic" relationships I have had in my life where I did all I could for someone and it didn't seem like enough....this has made it difficult for me to trust people and be the generous person that I am by nature. But I do not want to miss out on helping a friend because I am afraid of getting hurt. How do you know when you have done "enough", "too much" or "too little" to help someone? 

12 O' Clock: Here is where I was at 12:00. At my house goofing off with my sweetie. I look forward to lunch time every day....almost at much as I look forward to 5:00 pm (it is now a quarter after 5 as I type this) when I can go home and kick my feet up. Today, I will probably mow the lawn instead of relaxing, though. Bummer!

Until next time, 

Miss Ellaneous

My Favorite Word

I don't really have a favorite word. But right now, I am hungry for lunch and this is the only word that comes to mind....

It's actually pretty interesting that food is one of the most fascinating things to me about life, because my stomach has gotten to be pretty picky when it comes to eating. Most nights, I have a hard time deciding what to eat, because many times I can't stomach fast food, but it's a pain to have to cook an entire meal for just myself. I enjoy cooking and eating fresh food, but it's a time consuming to have to decide what you want, go buy it, load & unload the car, then cook eat, eat it, and clean up after. Did I mention that I HATE washing dishes?!

  *This photo was taken from Google images. 

-Miss Ellaneous 

Days 10-12

Day 10: Pjs

Here are the cute pajama pants that my mom bought me for Christmas last year.

Day 11: Town You Live In

 Here is a photo of part of the campus in the college town that I live in now (photo was taken back in the fall).

Here is a photo of the view at my parents' house, where I used to live. This place will always be "home" to me in a way.  

Day 12: Commute

I do not really have a photo for this day, because I have been working from home a lot lately. My daily"commute" has been walking from my bed to the living room, which is where I usually choose to do my work. However, that is going to be changing soon. Starting Monday, I will be in the office every day. This change was made at the request of my boss, but I think it will be for the best. It will definitely make answering the phone and printing/faxing things much easier...I will mostly miss having a cute puppy sitting next to me while I work, and always having snacks close by. Oh, and getting dressed. I'm not much looking forward to trying to look nice every day! Haha! It saves time in the morning when you can go straight to working and not have to spend an hour getting ready and driving to work.

I decided to share a photo of my car, because that is what I will be making my commute in, starting next week (I guess you could also count this photo for the town I live in).

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous

Days 7-9

Day 7: Light

This is Milo's usual spot on the couch...right under the lamp. He lays on top of my pillow and just chills out there while I work or watch tv.

Day 8: Mum

I spent Mother's Day with my mom and the rest of my family. It was a very nice day. This photo is one of my favorites of the two of us. It was taken by The Farmer's Daughter.

Day 9: A Smile

Milo may have bad teeth, but he has an adorable smile. 

That's all for now, folks. 

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous 

Season

For last Friday's post, here is a look into my spice cabinet at my "seasonings".

I bought all of these to make chili back when it was cold out. Who knows...maybe I can incorporate them into our dinner for this coming Friday somehow. 

-Miss Ellaneous

Want vs. Need: My puppy!

As some of you may already know, I got a new puppy yesterday named Milo. Actually, he's not really a puppy....I was told that he is 8 years old! But Milo is the sweetest. He is a Yorkshire Terrier and reminds me a lot of my sister's dog, Jay, whom I also adore. Here's Milo before, during, and after the haircut I gave him tonight. 

I think he looks a lot better, but I do miss his tri-colored hair. It was so soft and silky. Milo is still soft now, he feels almost like velvet :)

Technically, I don't "need" Milo, but I definitely do want him, and he needs me, or at least he needs someone to care for him. Living alone, I sometimes get lonely and want company. People need interaction in order to survive...so maybe I do need him after all. 

-Miss Ellaneous

Snack

I had the perfect excuse to go buy junk food and then I didn't even post it yesterday. But, here it is: 

I ate the slim jim last night and a few of the Oreos today. I know junk food is bad for you, but sometimes it is so, so good! 

-Miss Ellaneous 

Day 3: Starts with an "F"

While trying to think of something to write about for this prompt, the only words that came to mind were vulgar ones...I think that is because the "F word" was forbidden in my house growing up. It was the #1 no-no word. It really is a filthy-sounding word that I try very hard not to use...even now when I am officially an adult and can say whatever the F word I want to! Haha! See what I did there? But now that I have permission to say it, it's not as fun anymore. Funny how that works, huh?

Other words that come to mind that start with an "F" are related to food in some way: 

• French Fries
• Fish 
• Flour
• Flan 
• Fried green tomatoes 
• Flax
• Fresh 
• Frozen 
• Farming

I also think of beautiful flowers...

-Miss Ellaneous 

Day 2: My Morning Routine

All mornings are about the same for me....the alarm goes off and I don't want to get up. Most days, I snooze it and go back to bed. Sometimes, like today, I turn all alarms off and fall back to sleep and then wake up half an hour later and find that I am late for work. I truly am not a morning person. I think most everyone who knows me is well aware of this fact by now.

A well-fitting gift from my sister.

That being said, once I do get up, I usually go through the house opening blinds. I've found that the sunlight helps wake me up. Then I head straight to the coffee pot and start brewing. While the coffee is brewing, I usually feed my bird, Dallas....as she is the only pet I have left (my fish all died from ich and I am no longer puppy sitting Jay). Once the coffee is ready, I add a little cream and sit outside on the back porch to drink my coffee and (hopefully) wake up! I used to take Jay outside during this time so that he could do his business. He was often a backup alarm clock and would whine and try to nudge me out of bed until I got up to take him to potty.

Once I have had some time to wake up, I go get dressed and ready for work. If I am working from home, I sometimes skip the getting dressed part and go straight to work in my pajamas. Those are the best days! Haha...I need one of those t-shirts that says, "I'm out of bed and dressed, what more do you want?" I swear, getting out of bed literally feels like torture most days. Luckily, I fully wake up about 15 minutes after I get out of bed, and feel much better. Does anyone else feel this way? I know I can't be the only one...even though most of the Twenty Somethings seem to be much more pleasant in the mornings than myself.

-Miss Ellaneous

May Day: I smell a rat...

On the first day of May, I was at my parent's house to help my mom do some spring cleaning. My dog, Callie, had spent most of the afternoon standing next to my mom's car, sniffing and pawing at the left headlight. After some time, we decided to open the hood, thinking that one of our cats may have climbed up in there. We held the dogs back, just in case. When mom lifted up the hood, a giant rat jumped out. The dogs chased it into a pile of rocks, so I moved several rocks until it ran out and into mom's flower bed, which was out of the dogs' reach (the dogs are on an electric collar system that keeps them in their 3-acre yard). To the dismay of some, the rat lived. It looked similar to the one pictured below: 

It was cute...in a creepy, crawly sort of way. I did a little research and found that it is called a "Black Rat" (scientific name is Rattus rattus). Although not black in color, the rats got their name from the spread of bubonic plague, or the "black death". Their blood can hold lots of infectious bacteria, which makes them great disease carriers. They are also considered pests to many farmers, since they damage agricultural crops. Now you know!

Until next time, 

Miss Ellaneous 

Garden Update #1

I am at work, so this post will have to be short.

Here is a current picture of what my squash looks like now:

 

This is the only remaining squash that I have left from the 15 or so that I started from seed. I shared the majority of my plants with friends and family, but lost a couple plants due to planting them outside too early. The frost killed them.  

My next door neighbor gave me three cucumber plants and a couple tomato plants that are also doing well. And I have transplanted several bell pepper plants outside, that are doing okay, but not growing as fast as the others. 

As far as my herb garden goes, I currently have basil, rosemary, chives, and some catnip. Of all these, the chives are the only one that I started from seed. The others were either given to me or purchased. I have also planted several flowers around the house that I may share in an upcoming post. 

-Miss Ellaneous 

Green Thumbs: My First Attempt at Growing a Garden

My dad has grown a garden every year since I can remember. When I was younger, I would usually help him plant the seeds and then not visit the garden again until time to harvest the crops. I have strung more green beans and shucked more corn than I could ever eat. However, I never took much interest in gardening back then. I believe it was because my dad's garden was "his" and I was always afraid of doing the wrong thing and killing our food. Plus, I thought of processing the food more as a chore or something that I had to do, instead of something that I wanted to do.

A lot has changed since then. Now, I have moved out of my parent's house and am living (and preparing food) on my own. I work for a nonprofit organization where one of the biggest parts of my job is to purchase produce from farmers to give to those less-fortunate within the state. A combination of these factors are what have got me thinking about food on a daily basis. I see it from both sides of the spectrum...from farm to table, so to speak. I see the struggles that farmers face. I know how much work they put into a crop just to potentially see it all destroyed by insects or the weather. I understand more now about how difficult it can be for a low-income family to provide fresh, nutritious meals for their children. When a 6-pack of Ramen noodles is cheaper than an apple, you are going to choose the Ramen over the apple, because one apple won't feed your entire family.

All of this being said, I feel that there is no better time than now for me to start growing my own food. I currently live in a subdivision and have a small yard, but it should be plenty large enough to grow the amount of food that I will be able to consume as one person. Most of my plants are going to be grown in containers. I currently have planted Swiss chard, bell peppers, yellow squash, and tomatoes, and am starting a small herb garden (all using organic practices).  If I have extra, I will give it away, either to friends or the local food pantry. I have already begin sharing seeds and seedlings with friends and family who are also interested in gardening.

In the future, I would like to grow more produce so that I will be able to share more of it. For now, I think it's best that I start small, though, since I don't really know 100% what I am doing. I would like to get to a point where I am knowledgeable enough about it that I can teach others how to grow their own food as well. People need to have more of a connection with their food. Even if they don't grow it themselves, they should at least know where it came from and what it had to go through to get on their plate.

There is so much more I could say about this and so many more directions that I could go with this post, but I don't want to overwhelm you, so I'll stop for now. I'll leave you with a photo of my heirloom crooked neck squash seedlings that I planted on March 13th. It's amazing how much they have grown!

I'll be back soon to update you on the status of my garden. Feel free to comment if you have any questions or are interested in starting your own garden. I can help refer you to some of the resources that I have been using for help. Hint: reading Vegetable Gardening for Dummies is a good first step!

Until next time, 

-Miss Ellaneous 

Lemon Bars

Do you have a favorite dessert that you used to have as a kid? If you're like me, you probably had LOTS of favorite desserts growing up. Although ice cream was probably my all-time favorite, I also really loved the lemon bars that my grandmother used to make. They had just the right amount of sweet vs. sour.

I had a couple lemons sitting on the counter from grocery shopping last week, so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have my grandmother's recipe, so I found one on allrecipes.com and made that one. This definitely isn't a healthy recipe (it calls for 2 sticks of butter, just in the crust!) and lots of sugar! I used real cane sugar, because I'm trying to eat healthier. I can feel you judging me, but please remember that small steps in the right direction still matter! And there is fruit in there!

All in all, the lemon bars turned out pretty well. I haven't had any complaints from anyone who has tried them. Next time, I will try to put more of the lemon mixture and less of the "bar," or the crust part at the bottom.

The recipe I used can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/10294/the-best-lemon-bars/?internalSource=staff%20pick&referringId=1995&referringContentType=recipe%20hub

                                                                                                                            -Miss Ellaneous

Finishing up the Challenge and the Year

Day 29:

I had to wait until I had a photographer to get the full effect of this picture. Here is my newest blanket scarf.

Ha! It's actually an afghan that my Grady gave me for Christmas. I really like it. The colors are gorgeous and it keeps me warm and cozy in my chair.

Day 30:

I thought about combining these posts since I just posted a photo of myself, but then I realized there's another aspect of my life I wanted to share. I brought all my friends books back from my mom's house which meant I had to buy a bookshelf. After perusing all of the discount stores in Richmond, I settled for a Walmart shelf because it would fit into my car and my budget. So here I am contemplatively looking at my books. Fair warning, I have more books in my apartment than this. I was an English major.

Day 31:

How is it already the last day of the year?! And this challenge is almost finished. We all did pretty well. I'm proud that we all made it through the challenge (I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that you will all finish). The challenge actually says to reflect on 2013, so I did. It was fun to look back at what was only two years ago.

In 2013, Martha S. got married to Marvel's Dad (well it was before Marvel, the dog was in the picture, but it's a good psuedonym for her husband). Unfortunately Captain couldn't be at this event because she had just gotten a new job. I'm sure the picture would have been more fun with her help as well. Wasn't it cool that I happened to wear Martha's other wedding color to go well with the two bridesmaids (Miss Ellaneous and Farmer's Daughter). It was such a nice wedding. Of course I only had one real-life wedding and movie weddings to compare it to.

I also spent the summer of 2013 in England. This photo is from a trip to Dublin that some of took one weekend. It was jam-packed and included a crazy chance meeting with one of the travel buddies old elementary school friend who had moved to Ireland. In this picture we had just decided to use our bus passes to ride until we felt like getting off. We ended up in a park.

Now for a picture of 2015 to really reflect.

In January, I was housesitting and there was a kitty. In February, I hosted an Un-birthday party which turned into a sleepover. In March, I walked to Sonic. In April, I moved to Union City. In May, I met a sloth. In June, I moved into my own apartment. In July, I learned to be a super VISTA. In August, I and some other lovely ladies welcomed the freshmen. In September, we went to First Friday and had Ale8. In October, I hiked the Pinnacle on Mountain Day with my co-workers and Gunner. In November, the freshmen bonners gave me cookies and nice words. In December, I saw a friend graduate; it seems that all of my friends are slowly graduating college.

Well that's all for this year. Until next year.

Cheers!

Days 8-14

I must apologize once more for being late on my posts. I have been taking the photos daily for my updates, but haven't been uploading them on time. I'm sure most of you have learned to expect this from me by now, so hopefully you won't be too upset!

Day 8: Wrapping Paper

Like all of the other Twenty Somethings, I like to find deals wherever possible. This photo is of all the wrapping paper that I have leftover from last year. I always go shopping after Christmas and stock up on wrapping paper to use the following year. It saves me quite a bit of money that way...plus, it makes gift wrapping much easier to already have the supplies you need on hand.

Day 9: Peace

This photo was taken at our fourth-annual Christmas Party. The cute mug belongs to Martha S. (who kindly brewed me some coffee to go in it).

Day 10: Christmas List 

It has been a long time since I wrote down a list of what I wanted for Christmas. I remember writing letters to Santa when I was younger. I would go through the Toys "R" Us catalogs and circle everything that I wanted. Each year, I would wish for a dog...specifically a Dalmatian (I was obsessed with 101 Dalmatians & spotted animals ie. ladybugs). Of course, I never got everything on the list (unfortunately, no puppy), but a girl can dream, right?!

Now that I am older, my mom still asks for suggestions of what to get me for Christmas. Whenever I see something I feel like I can't live without, I send her a photo/link so that she can see it.  This book, How To Catch A Frog, is an example of the types of items that I wish for.

Day 11: Green

I recently decorated the bulletin board in my office. It was filled with thumb-tack holes and wasn't very pretty to look at, so I bought this cute polka-dot fabric from Walmart and stapled it on. It was a very hastily made project, so it's not one of my best...but at least it serves its purpose of adding a little splash of color to my work space.

Day 12: Joy is...

Joy is going home to this little cutie every night. Although he is technically my sister's dog, I have become very attached to him in the short amount of time we have spent together. After a hard day at work, he is there to greet me at the door and smother me in kisses. He brings a lot of happiness into my life, and I dread the day that I will no longer be living with him.

Day 13: Presents!
These are all of the gifts that we opened at Martha S.'s house last night. I would have included a photo of the gifts under my tree, but unfortunately there are no longer any gifts left under it, since I took most of them to the party, and haven't wrapped any of my other gifts yet.

Day 14: Hot Drink 
This is my cheap dollar store reusable coffee cup that I take to work with me in the mornings. This morning, I had hazelnut coffee and added some Italian sweet cream. It was delicious!

That's all for now, folks! Hopefully, it won't be another week before you hear from me again. 

-Miss Ellanous

Day 7: Shopping!

Today, I went shopping for some Christmas Cards to send out for the office. I ended up finding some really cute ones at the Dollar Tree that were very budget-friendly ($1 for 16 cards).

                                                                                                                     -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).

Day 5: Red

My snack at work from one day last week. Lots of red!

Miscellaneous

Sunday night, I got a flat tire. I'm pretty sure it happened after going up a gravel driveway that had been washed away in spots due to all this rain we've been having. My valve stem was torn, which allowed the air to escape my tire, while the tire itself was still perfectly fine.

Anyhow, today I went to Tire Discounters and got the tire repaired for free. I was pleasantly surprised that they offer free valve stem replacement for the lifetime of your tire if you buy four from them (which I did about a year ago). And to think I was gonna go to Walmart and pay $20-$25?! Which would still have been a cheap fix by the way. So far I have gotten lucky to only tear up my car in fairly minor ways haha

Since summer work has come to an end, I've been looking for small ways to make money until I land another job. One of my bright ideas was to sell green beans from our garden. My dad had way more beans than he cared to fool with, so I offered to take them off his hands. I picked 25 gallons of beans in approximately five hours. My plan was to sell them online. I had someone interested who asked me to pick all the beans and then call them back and tell them how many I had. When I called back, they said they had already bought some. Bummer. So we ended up taking them to the Amish auction instead. 

Tonight, I helped my parents put up corn. My job was to cut corn off the cob, which wasn't too difficult once I got the hang of it. I came close to cutting myself a couple times, but fortunately no trips to the ER were necessary. My mom took a picture of us cutting up the corn, but I don't have a copy of it to share with you quite yet.

P.S.   

I now have the blogger app on my iPad, so hopefully you will be seeing posts more often from me. I hated the hassle of dealing with my ancient laptop to post frequently before, but now I don't have that excuse. 

Until next time, 

-miss ellaneous