And...we're all snowed in!

Although I have had more free time in the last couple of weeks without school being in session, I have neglected to blog recently. But several of my fellow Twenty-Somethings have inspired me to write a post. My first week of the Spring semester is complete, expect we didn't go to school Monday or Friday. I won't ever have classes on Mondays this semester but Friday was a snow day! It was a nerve-racking drive to school in the snow on Wednesday but other than that it was a fine day. I now have a long list of readings and homework to do, and what am I doing instead...blogging. I did check some readings and assignments off my list yesterday during my snowed-in day, but I still have lots more to do.

I am attempting to stay warm on this cold day, but it is difficult in an old, drafty basement. I am missing my parent's wood-heated, warm home. I've been staying warm under a blanket on the couch though, and of course with a warm beverage. I went outside briefly yesterday and I also took a couple of photos on Wednesday during the first round of (very light) snowfall. Captain, Granny and I went sledding. It was fun! Enjoy my photos, I hope to take more soon!

I don't think Cruella is going anywhere anytime soon.

Couldn't see my steps until I shoveled them out

                                                                                                                         -The Farmer's Daughter

Meeting the Parents. AKA: My Trip to Maine

As you may already know, I went on a vacation over the Holidays. I apologize for missing several of the daily photo updates for December towards the end. I discovered that it became increasingly difficult to write on the blog without a computer and/or internet connection! That being said, I have a few interesting things to write about this upcoming month, so bear with me!

So where did I go on my vacation, you ask? I went to Maine! Jeff wanted to take me back to where he grew up so that I could see where he lived and meet his family. I had never been that far up north before, so I was excited to see a new part of the country. It was approximately a 15 hour drive, but it took us two days to get there and two days to get back. We decided early on that we were going to take our time so that we did not exhaust ourselves or feel rushed (it was supposed to be a vacation after all!). 

We made it!

I didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing because we were visiting family members most of the time (who were all really nice by the way). However, I did get to eat scallops, taste blueberry beer, and ate my very first whoopie pie! I also did some shopping at L.L. Bean and made a snowman while it was 50 degrees & raining back in KY! On our way back, I got to go to the beach, which is the only place I said I absolutely wanted to go. I've been to the beach several times before, but this was the first time going to the beach when there was snow covering the sand! It was also my first time hunting for shells at midnight!  

Our very first snowman together! Haha

Isn't he cute?

As you can imagine, I had many hours to be bored in the car. We sang karaoke and took silly photos. I colored in my new adult coloring book that I got for Christmas and did whatever I could think of to pass the time. 

We spent so much time together over the trip, we are now starting to resemble one another! LOL

I believe this trip brought us closer together, and I am very glad that I went. I'm also very thankful that I was able to be off work for a week with my "new" job! 

I know I'm a little late in asking this, but how was everyone else's holiday? What was your New Years' Resolution (and are you still sticking to it)? 

Until next time, 

Miss Ellaneous  

Day 27:Snow

Let it snow let it snow let it snow... Just kidding it's been in the 60's the past few days. So there is not even a chance of snow here. I decided that story characters count as snow too. My picture is of President Snow from the book/movie series The Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor as you go through the day.

Days 25, 26, & 27: My Christmas Day, Favorite Quote, and Snow

Day 25: This is the best picture I have of my Christmas Day right now. My uncle and dad took most of the pictures and I have yet to get access to either set.

Day 26: I don't reckon I have a favorite quote. I have quotes that I enjoy reflecting on during different situations. This happens to be on that I look to for motivation.

Day 27: Snow... bahaha; there is none to take a photo of. Maybe another day?

Day 27: snow

There is no snow in Kentucky and I doubt there is snow anywhere in the U.S. (I could be wrong though). For the picture today, I had to resort to a snow globe. My Grandy got this for Christmas.

Day 20: Snowman

Weather has been weird so there haven't been any real snowmen lately, but I still built a snowman for this day. Isn't it cute?

Okay it's a little creepy, but ya'll should be used to my weird ideas by now. 

In other news, at least it did flurry on Friday.

My car was not even running yet. No worries.

Snow, continued

Here are a few pictures from last week:

Callie enjoying the snow. 

My driveway the morning after the big snow. 

I spent a few hours out here shoveling away last week. I got the majority of the driveway cleared. I wish I would have taken an after photo so you could see all my hard work!

Also during the week, I started making a t-shirt quilt and did some reading. I will share pictures of my quilt after I actually start piecing it together, since it's just a bunch of squares right now. I spent a couple nights at my sister's house and did some shoveling in her driveway as well. I feel like I did other stuff too, but I really can't remember what it was at this point.

 I enjoyed the snow at first, but now I am starting to wonder if it will ever go away. At least now the roads are mostly cleared and school is back in session. I've found that it has been difficult for me to get back into a normal routine after doing what I wanted when I wanted and being lazy for a week.

Granny Eyre had a small get together on Friday night for all of us. All of the TwentySomethings were there, so I don't really feel the need to elaborate much on what we did. However, I will say that I enjoyed myself very much and was happy to get to spend time with my closest friends again. It has become more difficult to see one another since we aren't all in the same place anymore, but I feel lucky to have friends who make a huge effort to maintain friendships and stay close...if not in distance, then in our hearts. I love receiving letters from you guys in the mail and even something as simple as a Snapchat can make my day better. It's really the little things in life that matter the most!

As most of you know, Sunday was my birthday. It started out with my dad making breakfast for us. The Farmer's Daughter had spent the night with me. It has been awhile since I had a friend over to the house, so I was excited to have her company. Later in the day, I went to my sister's house for some birthday cake. We made a spontaneous decision to go out to dinner and a movie. My sister and her friend had been wanting to see 50 Shades of Grey, and I wanted to go to Applebees so that's what we did. I enjoyed my meal, and the movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't really know what to expect since I hadn't read the books. My sister and her friend loved the movie and said that they would buy it on DVD when it comes out and that they couldn't wait to see the others. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to my friends. It's all a matter of opinion I guess.

Last night we were having trouble trying to decide what to make for supper, so I suggested breakfast foods. My mom had given me a cow-shaped skillet and some pancake mix for Christmas and I had yet to use it. I think they turned out pretty cute, but I will admit that it was difficult flipping the pancakes. My mom suggested that I flip them into another skillet to brown the other side, and so I had an assembly line of pancakes! haha!

In other news, I had a phone interview yesterday for a job that I recently applied for. I think that it went well, but won't know until next week if I will be called in for an in-person interview. I will keep you updated on that as I find out more information, and am excited at the possibility of getting a job that uses my degree.

I apologize for being so random in my post, but I've never been the best with transitions. You all should know to expect that from me by now! Haha

Take Care, 

Miss Ellaneous

Cabin Fever

This post was actually written last Thursday....I was going to post it but I wanted to put the pictures in it and my internet was not behaving. So...you'll have to bear with me so I don't have to go back through this and fix all the tenses and such:

I don't know about you all, but I have cabin fever! I have been in or less than a mile away from my house (as in taking a walk) since Sunday early afternoon when I got back from church. I've taken a walk or gone outside to see the snow almost every day. But today I just stayed inside because it's been about 1 degree or cooler all day. I didn't feel like getting layered up and going out even though it might not have been as bad as I thought it might be. Even though I'm tired of being inside, I've been trying to get somewhat crafty for the last couple of days. Last night I made some rosettes out of an old wool coat that my mother had been using for fabric scraps. I'd never made these rosettes before but I was pleased with how they turned out. I've made one completed necklace and the rosettes for a second necklace (but it isn't attached to a chain or ribbon yet to make it a necklace). There is a really good tutorial on how to make the rosettes and necklace, here. Like I said, I used fabric from a wool coat on the first set of rosettes and I actually used felt for the second set. I think they both turned out nicely.

The red one is felt, the brown is the wool

Today my craft was to decorate a platter. I purchased some oil-based Sharpie paint pens a month or two ago online to start decorating my own mugs with. I decorated two mugs when I first got the pens in the mail but I hadn't set the paint yet (by baking them). This afternoon I started working on the platter and the items are presently still in the oven (they're cooling now from being baked). I stole the idea from someone on Pinterest. I bought a package of colorful (red, black, yellow, blue) fine-point paint pens on eBay and some medium point metallic colored pens from Walmart (here is a link to a large package of some that Walmart sells to show you exactly what I used). A friend gave me the platter. Here are some pictures of the stages of my work. In case you are interested, after using the markers, you let your design dry for at least an hour. Then you preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and bake your item(s) for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, you turn the oven off and let the items cool completely before taking them out. I have used regular Sharpies to draw on ceramic items before and bake them, but some of the colors fade and the design will still wash off after being baked..which is why I looked into the oil-based Sharpies which are made to last on glass and other surfaces. I'm crossing my fingers the designs do last with these paint pens. If you'd like to see where I got my idea for the design, go here to see hers.

1. I cut out letters from a sheet of "Print & Stick" project paper

2. I stuck them on the platter and make Sharpie dots all over it.
(This took much longer than expected).
3. I let it dry, peeled the stickers off and baked it. I couldn't get the final picture on here though

Snow Days are so good for crafting! 
The Farmer's Daughter

Snow Cream and other fun things

It is Wednesday. I didn't have class today for the third day in a row, which has been surprisingly not cool. I miss class and work and people and sunshine. The first snow day of my college career I was feeling a bit more optimistic about the whole not having class and work thing but now it's just getting old. I have had ample amounts of time to study though which has proven to be a good thing. Hopefully my exam score will further prove that. I made snow cream for the first time ever on Monday night it was yummy! I put chocolate milk powder in it and it was like eating a chocolate frosty from Wendy's. You all should try it sometime. Monday's adventures were hard because of all the snow and it just kept coming down. But yesterday was better. The snow was pact down really well and nice and slick so sledding was super awesome. Mr. President had sleds lying on his back patio that were free to use for students as long as we returned them back. It was very thoughtful of him. Something I have yet to do in this snow is build a snow man. Maybe tomorrow morning that can be a goal. And clean my room. Not having a roommate has not been good for my cleaning habits. In other news the CDL opened back up today. It was good to see my little friends even though most of them were home with their parents steal do to this weather. I shoveled snow with a child size shovel and a small broom today while at work. The broom seemed to do a lot better than the shovel. So now for some pictures of the great outdoors of Berea College.

Bummer

Only my aching muscles and the tractor's less full gas tank are to show for the hard work yesterday.

A reminder of what it looked like yesterday...

Snow Days

I wasn't sure what to say when The Farmer's Daughter suggested we make Snow Day posts. My snow days have been pretty lazy. I had already done all of my prep work for both of my jobs this coming week, and I don't have papers to grade. When the snow really started to fall, I was a bit upset because that meant I wouldn't get to use my lesson plans that I spent several hours putting together. And they were good this week. So when The Farmer's Daughter made the suggestion, I was not planning on following through because I didn't want to admit my laziness and I was bitter over the large amount of snow that caused school to be cancelled so many days.

Today though things are looking up. I still am here at the house and there's still a foot of snow covering the yard, but things are looking up. I could leave now if I wanted to do so. This morning I decided I was going to try to clear my driveway even if it took me all day...and it would have, especially once I discovered that there was no shovel to be found. Turns out, it's locked in the garage, which since I'm housesitting I have no access to. I spent about an hour with a broom and bucket clearing the short walk from the house to my car and the six inches right around my car.

Then a miracle happened. A neighbor came trudging across the yard and flagged down another neighbor with a tractor. As I type this, the tractor is clearing me a path out of the yard. I was envious of another neighbor who had someone on a tractor clearing his driveway while I was using a bucket and a broom, but now I'm a bit shameful of that envy. God provided me a tractor. I just had to do a bit of work myself.

You know, I think a lot of things in life are that way. Our selfish nature is to assume that things should be just given to us. I don't think that's how God always works though. Yes, some things, such as grace, are given to us freely even though we don't deserve it, but sometimes God wants us to get a bit dirty and sore first. That's what happened today. God wanted me to get out there and do some work myself before he sent along a tractor. The hard work made me even more thankful for the tractor, because my broom and bucket would have taken me a long, long time to clear that entire driveway.

This was taken sometime in the midst of the snow falling on Monday.

This was the last measurement I took. I'd say we got about a foot out here.

My efforts to clear a path with a broom and a bucket.

After the tractor made a couple of sweeps across the yard.

Hey Farmer's Daughter, I just saw my own sort of tractor pull! A tractor pulling snow!

Snow Day...and other news!

Today has been a long day. I have been somewhat productive..but it's been unusual because of all the snow and my mother has been in the house too because of course, she was off school. As I was thinking of making some coffee this morning shortly after getting up, I was also considering making some scones. I really enjoy scones and I think they're especially good with coffee. I have some raspberries I froze a couple months ago and I was thinking of making some more raspberry scones. I found a new recipe from Martha Stewart (the original Martha, not to be confused with our very own Martha S. on the blog) that looked pretty tasty so I decided to try it. I think they turned out nicely, but I don't know that I would use the exact same recipe again. The only reason I say that is that the raspberries were supposed to be kneaded into the dough, I think I would have preferred to mix them in or fold them in because by kneading them in, I had a couple of the scones with layers of berry on the bottom. The individual scones didn't want to stick together as well this way and didn't bake as nicely. I didn't actually end up eating any of them for breakfast because by the time they got out of the oven I was done with breakfast! But they'll be there for tomorrow...and hopefully the next day. Yum, scones!

Before they went onto the oven..I made them rectangular instead of triangular

I also tried to take a walk today...Ever since I can remember, I don't have any recollection of the snow being so high that I couldn't take a walk. Today I went outside with plenty of layers on and I wore my rain-boots since the snow was so high. I have snow boots which are more insulted but I thought the snow too deep for my shorter insulated boots (as opposed to my tall, cold rain-boots). Although I didn't get any snow inside my boots with the rain-boots, the rubber easily transferred all the cold from the snow onto my legs and feet. Nova also tried to come out in the snow and of course, she couldn't walk very easily. From her vantage point it was probably like trying to walk straight through the side of a mountain with every step she took. Unfortunately my walk was very short. I was also hoping to get the toboggan out and sled down the hill a few times, but I was discouraged with how deep the snow was and went back inside. I needed some friendly encouragement and camaraderie to get me going...but since I was by myself I couldn't seem to encourage myself enough. Since the temperatures aren't supposed to get any warmer, I should have another chance to go sledding tomorrow or even the next day. I'm planning on it!

Like Martha S., I also worked on catching up on some homework today. I finished some math home work that needed to be done and I have also been working on editing more of the wedding photos for the Ramsay's. Perhaps I can motivate myself to study a bit on my time off tomorrow. I'm not sure about you all...but my school has been called off for tomorrow too! It's a good thing...because I wouldn't be able to make it out if they did have class. I've heard prediction that the public K-12 schools in the area may be closed all week. Of course that means no work for me either...but we shall see what happens, they may go back Thursday or Friday.

In other news:

• I attended my first tractor/truck pull on Saturday. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. Even though they tried to control it, there were alot of fumes in that building. It was also REALLY loud. The beau and I wore earplugs the whole time. It was quite an experience. I think I would prefer to watch my next tractor/truck pull outside! We also went to the National Farm Machinery Show to look around, before the pull.  
  
• The weekend before last I tried The B.O.M.B. at Sonny's barbecue. I read an article on Facebook that Miss Ellaneous' sister had shared about a man from Richmond creating a sandwich for the Annual Pitmaster Showdown. The sandwich has a patty of macaroni & cheese, brisket, onion straws and sweet barbecue sauce, all on a bun. It was an unusual sandwich, but it was very tasty!  



You can't see it very well here, but this is the only photo I took

• I'm sorta getting the hang of the whole substitute teaching routine. I've now substituted for two kindergarten classrooms (once as the regular classroom teacher and once as the teacher's aid), one middle school special education teacher and one elementary school special education teacher. Each day presents new challenges, but I haven't been too overwhelmed with any of the classrooms yet. 
• It's Girl Scout cookie season!!

I know these as Samoas...they're my favorite!  

Adios for now!
The Farmer's Daughter

Life

It sounds like there are a billion fat ants, running across the tin roof above my head. The snow is what is making all the noise...while I'm sitting in my room I'm just listening to the snow on the roof. It must be really wet snow, because it actually sounds more like a light rain. I'd really like to take a walk soon--oh how I love walks in the snow, and when it's snowing! Okay, this was really just a distracting way to start out my blog post, but I really love snow and wanted to share that bit.

This is probably going to be a broad-topic post because I don't have any one specific event or thought to write on today. But I really thought it was time for me to write. Just so that there's some organization, I'd like to make a list of a few things that are on my mind:

• My Beau's Birthday
• My Obsession with Netflix
• Adventures Shooting a Wedding

My Beau's Birthday: 

As you probably all know, this past Wednesday was his birthday. We met up for lunch and I gave him his gift, but we hope to celebrate more this weekend. It's kind of funny, he was wanting to see American Sniper and I kind of passed it off as a guy movie I probably wouldn't like that well but I would see with him anyway. But I noticed all the good press it was getting and I decided to listen to what everyone was saying about it. Now I'm pretty pumped to see it. It sounds like it's a good movie, although it does look sort of depressing. (Hopefully we can do something happy after watching it). So I think we'll see "his" movie and get dinner to continue the celebrating this weekend..and we'll eat lunch with his family on Sunday. By the way...he now has an adorable little niece. Nieces are the best! 

We don't really see movies that often, but we've seen several recently. Last weekend we got to see "my movie". It was The Wedding Ringer. It was pretty crude, but I must say it had me laughing most of the time. Has anyone else seen it? 

I love collages..I wanted to share the birthday collage I made.

My Obsession with Netflix:

One of my Christmas presents from the beau was this awesome little device called Amazon Fire TV stick. It works similarly to Roku or Chromecast. It's a little stick that plugs into the HDMI input in your TV and it connects to Wifi and streams various applications onto your TV..like Netflix, Pandora, Crackle, (of course Amazon Prime shows & movies), and many more. I really love it..and I think I probably get a little too much use out of it. So I've been watching my fair share of Netflix in my room through my TV. I mostly watch shows, but occasionally I watch movies. I know most of you, if not all of you TwentySomethings have Netflix and I'd love to hear your recommendations. Here's a few shows I have been enjoying: 

1. Once Upon a Time. I absolutely love this show! If you know me, you know how much I love fairy-tale characters. It includes most of the fairy-tales we grew up hearing and it meshes them all into one big saga. I've slowed down watching it because there are only 3 seasons and I don't want to watch them all and have to wait until they put season 4 on Netflix. 
2. Gossip Girl. I kind of can't believe I've started watching this show, but I have watched a couple episodes so far. It's like a teenage soap opera but I find it pretty entertaining. 
3. Breaking Bad. I've heard so many people talk about this show and never really knew what it was about. The beau and I watched the first episode a couple weeks ago to try it out. The main character is a middle age man who is struggling to pay the bills with his wife and son so he decides to start cooking meth. He isn't the law-breaking, drug-dealing type, which is what makes the show so interesting- he's just a high-school teacher who is really good at chemistry and needs money. I'm pretty sure the beau likes it more than I do, but I think it's an intriguing show. 
4. Frasier. I think it's my brothers' fault I like this show. It's about a quirky, middle-aged radio psychiatrist and his family. It always makes me laugh, plus I understand most of the psychological references they make which I enjoy. 
5. Switch. The beau and I watched this movie a couple weeks ago and I thought it was a cute romantic-comedy. Jennifer Aniston plays the lead role and I think she's a good actress. Plus, the little boy in this movie is AdoRable! 

You might be getting tired of my Netflix list, so I'm going to stop now. But like I said earlier, I'm interested in hearing what you all enjoy watching on Netflix! 

The Wedding. 

Last Saturday I photographed the Ramsay's wedding. It was my first hired wedding shoot and it was nerve-racking! But it was also great getting some experience with something different than the usual portraits I like to do. Plus..I had help from a very lovely assistant, Martha S. I was so glad she was there to talk to, get advice from and have an extra photographer during the ceremony. It was a fairly traditional catholic wedding and at the reception they had a pig roast with potluck side dishes. Yummy! Anyway...I need to start editing the images so the lovely couple can see them!

Martha S., Photographer

Until Next Time,

The Farmer's Daughter

SNOW!

I love the idea of waking up to snow. After hearing about the snow predictions coming I was excited to see the results of the snow slowly piling up this morning. I also got to hear the soft taps of the snow falling on the roof at 5AM when my little pup, Nova, woke me because she wanted to go downstairs. I wasn't excited to be woken up so early, but I was happy to fall back asleep to the calming sound of the snow on the tin while cuddled up under several blankets.

I hope everyone else was also pleased to wake up to the winter...I mean fall..wonderland. My mother was off from school of course, so we took a walk in the woods this afternoon (one of our favorite snow-day activities). The dogs really enjoy running in the snow, eating it, and playing together in it. The llamas seemed to be shivering, they shouldn't have been cold though with their thick fleeces. Chester, the bunny, was sitting in the snow, unaffected by the cold. And you know I enjoyed it... Well, I just wanted to make this short post (between studying) and share some photos from my snow day. What did you get into today?

-The Farmer's Daugther