the giraffe life

At the end of July, I challenged myself to pay an additional $1000 on my mortgage by the end of year. And when my payment scheduled for tomorrow goes through, I will have paid off an extra $1150! This makes me so happy :)  But I'm not stopping there. With the last two mortgage payments, I'm aiming for $50 extra each month to end the year with a total of $1250 of extra principal paid. :) This will be a little difficult because we are fast approaching an expensive time of year (partially because of birthdays and partially because of Christmas), so I'm trying to spread out the spending for a change. When we first started buying Christmas gifts for nieces and nephews (side note: shouldn't English have a plural word that lumps nieces and nephews together like "siblings" does for brothers and sisters?), we bought each child an outfit, a book, and a toy or two. Then as the number of nieces and nephews increased, we stopped buying presents for our siblings to co

Inspired by Erin's post  over at His and Hers, I thought I'd end the week with a brief (but oddly funny) post about what people type into google to find this little space of the internet (I used google analytics to find this info). Most of the search terms make sense (potato soup, flyers quilt), but some just made me wonder how many pages of results the person must've waded through to finally come across my blog . .  trader joe's giraffe finding game : No idea what this is in reference to, but I may google this myself to find out! cauliflower and : And what?!  yoda sur wii : Star Wars virgin here, so I don't think I've ever mentioned Yoda? why are potatoes bad for giraffes? : Not sure, but now I'm intrigued . .  vegetable broth milk : I've been known to search google for random ingredients that I need to use up, so I can kinda understand this one. Still a funny phrase though :) how do I make giraffe rice? : I dunno, but it sounds difficult.

Ever walk into a room and notice a plastic bag moving by itself? It happened to me last week . .  linking up for Wordless Wednesday

Over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I watched The Bucket List , a movie about two men with terminal illnesses that set out to achieve some lifelong wishes before they die. It got me thinking - I should make a list of things I want to accomplish, set some goals for life. (I'm usually a one goal at a time kind of person - like graduate high school, graduate college, land a great job. Not an overarching, I want to accomplish XYZ while in the workforce and will achieve it by doing this and this  goal-setter.) There were a few ideas for my list that came to mind immediately, things I should certainly include. But I put it off and then life got busy as it tends to do. Then I attended a meeting at work last week where my supervisor asked for suggestions because my company is revising its vision and mission statement. It's a process similar to creating a bucket list and goal setting in some regards, and reminded me of my own bucket list plans. I've been thinking about it

I've been in a stretch of excellent reads lately. Three of the four books on this list come courtesy of Janssen's list of her favorite audiobooks. If I Stay : Heart-wrenching, but so good. Mia and her family are in a terrible accident one snowy morning, and Mia finds herself transported out of her body, watching the aftermath. She figures out that she has to decide if she wants to stay or go before she'll return to her body. This is not a plot-driven story by any means. It's all about the characters - who they are, who they were, what part they played in Mia's life. This is one of those books that leaves you feeling bereft afterwards because you're leaving characters that feel like real people behind. Ender's Game : I saw a movie trailer for this (it's been on my to-read list for a while) and requested it from my library immediately because I much prefer to read the book before seeing the movie (or inadvertently hearing about the movie). It'

I like how he thinks. Quote card made by Cathy and available for download here .

Summer has almost come to a close, and so has gardening season. Here's a look at the garden bed: The cucumber vines have all died back, but the tomatoes, peppers, and marigolds are still going strong. The tomatoes are a big tangle of vines. I think next year I'll buy another tomato cage and separate the plants a little more. Hopefully that'll make picking the tomatoes easier too. (This year I put all four plants around one cage which has proven to be a little chaotic.) But they're still producing mightily (averaging about 50 - 70 a day). The pepper plant is  finally  doing well. We have 6 peppers growing! I planted some radish seeds last week since our first frost date usually falls around mid-October. This variety of radish needs 24 days til harvest so we should have plenty of time. It's nice to squeeze in a little more growing right before the end of the season. It's almost the end of days for the Black-Eyed Susans: And a similar fate is co

I haven't been a vegetarian long (it'll be a year at the end of this month), but one of the toughest adjustments for me was finding something to eat when going out to eat. Sounds silly, right? But plenty of restaurant meals revolve around meat, so it can be a challenge. And yes, i t's easier to control exactly what goes into your food when you make it at home, b ut sometimes I just want to let someone else do the cooking for me, you know? I feel like I'm improving at finding satisfying options, so I wanted to share the wealth! Order a regular dish, but ask for the meat on a separate plate One of my favorite dishes is pasta, but it's tough to find a meat-free pasta meal. So after checking with the server to make sure the sauce isn't flavored with meat (and cheese if you're strict about rennet), go ahead and order the fettucini with meatballs or whatever, with the meatballs on a different plate. My husband loves this option because he scores extra l

I don't think the octopus is going to make it through the night! Wordless Wednesday link up

Last week , I talked here about some ways that I cut costs to save money, but that only goes so far. Sometimes what you really need is a little extra money. That's what today's post is about. None of these things will make you rich (or at least they haven't made me rich) but they do put a little wiggle room in the budget. Recyclebank Recyclebank is a website where you can earn money by learning about green actions, making pledges to green your life, and recycling. In my area, they weigh how much the whole community recycles, and I get a portion of that amount credited to my account (usually between 50 - 100 points a week for just recycling). You need very few points to cash in for coupons (about 25 - 50 points), about 150 - 300 points for a yearlong magazine subscription, or 2000 points for a $10 gift card. Since I recycle every week, most of points are easily earned. If you have a Whole Foods grocery store nearby, you can also earn points if you recycle there. 

Mr. Giraffe and I hosted a family gathering at our place a few weeks ago. You may have seen the  dirty dishes  :) My main contribution was homemade macaroni and cheese. This is my grandmother's recipe, so I may be biased, but I think it's delicious. Rich, cheesy, and creamy. In other words, not a health food, but scrumptious! It was gobbled up and raved about, so I thought I'd share the recipe here.  Homemade Macaroni and Cheese • 2 1/2 cups pasta • 2 tablespoons butter • 1/4 cup flour • 1 teaspoon dry mustard • 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1 teaspoon onion powder • 1 - 2 teaspoons pepper • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 - 1 1/2 cups grated American cheese • 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese • 1/2 cup half and half (feel free to use milk) • 2 cups milk Directions Preheat oven to 375º. Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. Put cooked pasta in a 9x13 baking dish. Over medium heat, melt butter and add flour to make a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add spices

We bought 21 pounds of apples this weekend and someone sent fruit flies the memo. So, some of the apples are hanging out in the crockpot now because the lid makes it an impenetrable fortress (for fruit flies at least). :) linking up for Wordless Wednesday

It's Labor Day - yay!  I'm lucky to work for a company that gives us Labor Day off, but there are definitely plenty of people who don't have that luxury. I noticed the discrepancy especially when I worked as a waitress - any day the Post Office and government offices were closed, we'd be busier that usual - and I'd be busy thinking jealous thoughts of them! So I'm savoring this day off with yummy food and some lazy couch time (we're thinking about watching The Bucket List ). Here's a few links to keep you company, and enjoy your day! Fill the Silence - a tumblr of random facts to help you fill a conversation lull (or just to read and email to people who will be as excited as you to read them) Most Common Birthdays - fascinating! How popular is your birthday? September 16th is the most popular, and NYE is nine months prior . .  Labor force around the world (infographic) - So interesting! And I wish 40 vacation days was the norm in the US. Old