Scarf Organizer & half baked

I have been debating on what to write about on the blog this week and I decided to go ahead and write about various topics including a DIY and icecream. 

Ben & Jerry's half-baked. This ice cream is awesome, it has lots of large, yummy pieces of cookie dough and brownie batter and it combines chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Another plus, many ice cream brands include high-fructose corn syrup in their ice cream, but B & J's does not. Ben & Jerry's is also committed to non-GMO and free-trade. I'm just sayin', you should try it! 

Secondly, my latest organizational and craft project. I LOVE scarves. I've recently bought a couple of scarves and as my collection grows, I continue to want a new organizational method for storing them. I found this idea on pinterest and I thought it was worth sharing on here too. 

Supplies I used: 

• hanger
• shower curtain rings
• electrical tape (other tape, ribbon or yarn could work too)
• ribbon

All I did was attach the shower curtain rings to the hanger using the electrical tape. Then, since I used a plastic hanger that could potentially bend from the weight of the scarves (wooden would be sturdier), I reinforced the hanger with ribbon. The ribbon also made it look cuter. I considered wrapping the whole piece in ribbon or yarn to make it more attractive but I thought the scarves would cover up most of it, so it wouldn't really matter. Here's the finished product: 

And now it's hanging in my closet...It feels good to be organized!

Go make one of these and then enjoy some Ben & Jerry's as a reward! :) 

-The Farmer's Daughter

Laundry Room Updates

As promised, here are the before and after photos of the laundry room makeover. I just wanted to put it out there that I am not trying to take full credit for the laundry room, as my sister did most of the work. Since the room is so tiny, we decided that it would be best if only one person was painting in the room at a time. Therefore, I was put on kitchen duty and was in charge of washing all of her dishes instead. Fun!

Anyways, I just wanted to share the transformation of the room with everyone since pictures of dirty dishes aren't all that exciting. Below are the before photos:

A close-up of cabinets before painting

As you can see, the color scheme wasn't all that bad in my opinion, but the wallpaper was outdated and peeling off in some spots. The red cabinets were painted by my brother-in-law and his sister when they were kids...that's why they aren't exactly professional quality. I wish my parents had let me paint on the furniture when I was little!

And now for the after photos. One of the photos shows the cabinets with only one coat of blue paint on them, which is why they don't look the best. I left before the second coat was put on, so I didn't get the best "after" photo.

It does look a little like a nursery, but I still think it's pretty. Also, the second hole above the knobs will be filled in once we can get a hold of some wood filler. They used to have handles, which is why there is a second hole there. 

Lastly, since I am random, I will leave you with a picture of a beautiful bug I found outside a couple days ago. I'm interested in figuring out what kind of insect it is, so if you know, feel free to leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-Miss Ellaneous

On a Bicycle Built for Two

In my last post, I promised the story of the tandem bike. Here goes.
Captain something fun came back with me to Louisville after the camping trip. Our plan was to go to the zoo on Saturday, which we did. The zoo didn't take all day so we decided to check out the newly opened walking bridge to Ind

iana.


On the way we saw all of these cool multi person vehicles. We decided to check out the prices with very little hope of finding a decent price. The vehicles we originally saw were expensive to hire and they couldn't ride on the bridge. Then we saw a tandem bike which was only $12 for an hour. Deal! After some false starts and a few wobbles we were off.

We made it across and back with a bit of time to spare. Naturally we wanted to spend the entire hour riding since we paid for it. We should have turned right instead of left, because we ended up walking the bike back. We knew it had been making funny noises and causing us a few problems but we thought that was our lack of skills. When the chain broke though we discovered that it just might be something more than our skills. 

I am happy to say though that we made it back right on time and that they didn't charge us anything extra for breaking the chain. 

It was a good experience and it taught us more about each other and friendship. If you want to learn about trusting sometime ride on the backseat of a tandem bike with them. You can't see where you're going or control the direction. All you can do is peddle. It requires trust and teamwork, which are two things that friendship requires as well. 

By the way if anyone can tell me the rest of the song this post title comes from, I would appreciate that. I kept singing that one line but I can't remember any more of it. 

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