Wordless Wednesday - 5 Minute Egg

I am the self proclaimed "Queen" of improvise.....soft boiled eggs and no egg cups?  Not a problem!

The Dog Can Never Resist the Camera........

No Egg Cups - No Problem, I used Shot Glasses Instead!
We don't drink very much so at least the shot glasses are getting some use!

September = Busy Season!

Fall and specifically September is always a busy time around our house - school starts back up and we have a bunch of birthdays during the month of September! My daughter has a birthday this month, so does my dad and my mother in law and I am now a Great Aunt with the arrival of my nephew's brand new son! Then there is always the school activities like open houses, school photos, girl scouts, and the school football games!

First Day of School Bus Line Up!

Country Gourmet Home Wickless Wax Melts

I have been so busy with my Country Gourmet Home business that I haven't had a chance to do any blogging on my site and I apologize! Country Gourmet Home just went through some major changes, including a brand new consultant plan, multi-level earnings from our downline team members and so much more!

 Of course the cat and dog always try to vie for being the center of attention. I think my cat wins the prize on this one though. I had set up a display so that I could take some photos of our Country Gourmet Home wax melts.....the pictures turned out pretty good.  I had this whole back drop display set up so that I could get the dark contract going as well as making it easy to edit the images. Several boxes stacked up covered by a dark green velvet type material. Once I got done taking all of my pictures I put the melts away and went to the computer to upload the pictures. Once I had the pictures uploaded this is what I found when I turned around to look at the kitchen table (where the display structure was still set up).

Jasper, the King of Our Castle!

Jasper.....who thinks he is all that!

Gotta love that cat - both he and our dog are an endless source of amusement at our house - never a dull moment around here!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Surviving the Spray Glue

M ondays, we all have them and for the most part we all hate them! Well maybe "hate" is a strong word, but I don't know a single person who likes Mondays. For me, Monday means that I have to go back to the Monday through Friday work grind, the kids go back to school and the normal chaos of the week is about to resume! The chaos includes, but definitely not limited to - homework battles, trying to listen to two kids tell me about their day while simultaneously cleaning up the house, feeding the dog, figuring out what's for dinner, making dinner and then if I am lucky squeezing in a little time for myself. Of course all of this is occurring before Daddy gets home from work.....it's no wonder I drink too much coffee each day! .....It's no wonder I drink too much coffee each day!

Our weekends are usually spent gearing up for the week ahead by washing clothes, doing the housework that was missed during the week, working in the yard (weather permitting), but for the most part the stress factor and "gotta get it done now" attitude is reduced by at least 50% - plus there is normally no homework on the weekends! I don't know about other parents but in our house homework is usually a battle and it is a battle that always seems to feature Mama because the kids always want the Mama to be their helper! I am sure that you are thinking, well why can't the kids just come home from school and do their homework right after school? That is a great plan, but in the real world (mine at least) I am not with them when they get home from school and the youngest one still needs my help and supervision and the oldest thinks she needs my help and supervision!

Last night was like any other typical Monday.....I get home from work and start cleaning up the house while listening to my oldest go on about how her art project had been ruined at school and what she needed help with to fix it. First, she is in middle school so several classes and grade levels share the art room, which I understand, but what I don't understand is how she can have class one day and her project is fine and then the next time she has art her project has been ruined! This is not the first time that we have had to scramble to fix a project because it had been ruined at school - lack of teacher supervision I guess. Anyway, this project involved taking an old book, dividing it into four sections and then proceeding to glue pages within each section together. The book she brought home had some 300 or so pages......out came the Elmer's Spray Adhesive! It seemed to be progressing pretty quickly using the spray adhesive and appeared to be drying rather quickly (including all over my fingers). What I didn't take into consideration is that although it was Elmer's Glue, spray adhesive has an over-spray! I quickly realized that the counter and the bar stool was covered in glue so I took a timeout to clean it up (which, by the way involved several methods until I found one that worked).

Contrary to what I thought, not all Elmer's glue is easy to clean up as shown on the glue residual still on the counter and my fingers this morning. We finally got the book glued and the sections separated by wax paper (the only thing I could think of that wouldn't stick) and the book is on it's way to school to be made into some sort of art project that I am still confused about what the final result will be.

The moral of my story:

A) Mondays will continue to be crazy. B) Spray adhesive sticks to everything (thus the word "adhesive" in the description). C) I don't like homework. and...... D) I signed up to be a Mom and it is still the number one job that I love (and sometimes love to hate)....

Oh and as I was putting the youngest down to bed she says "I think I will wear my new Easter dress to my Spring Program tomorrow"......oops, forgot all about that - looks like I will be leaving work early to make sure I am there to see my daughter sing in her Spring Program!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Had to Hire Some Extra Help!

I've been so busy lately I decided to enlist some extra help.  He works cheap, but was not easy to train.....

Not sure what my customers think ~ he doesn't have much to say, so there is definitely no "hard selling" going on!

He tends to take too many breaks (notice the t.v. remote) and he is somewhat of a narcissist.

~Keep Life Simple by Mixing It Up! TM

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Saturday Garage Sale!

Did you know that you can put together a garage sale in one day?  However you will probably only get about 4 hours of sleep in the process.  We started out the week committed to the garage sale thing and then life got in the way and it was one thing after another and our "weeknights" were filled with other commitments.  So I thought, what the heck we will push this thing out another week since all we had done was tables set up and boxes and bags stacked haphazardly on the tables........when I brought it up to my hubby on Thursday, he uttered the words which sealed my fate "I have to take the tables back to work next week!"    Yikes, since I didn't want to push it out even further or continue to look at the JUNK really great stuff, I decided I had better get busy setting it up, making signs, pricing stuff, putting an ad on Craigs List, etc.

Fast forward to last night in the wee hours of the morning (2 am) - the garage sale stuff finally ready to go and I was ready to go to bed, but wait.......insomnia struck!  My brain was filled with thoughts of what I still had to do in the morning, thoughts of what I had to do later in the day with my Country Gourmet Business, thoughts of eating a cupcake (I know, I know - my brain is random, what can I say). 

Since I couldn't sleep I decided to try an old family remedy get up and eat that chocolate cupcake!  Fast forward an hour to 3am - back to bed I went and I think I finally fell asleep at 3:30 (I couldn't see the clock, my eyes were closed).  Then to my much (dreaded) surprise morning came very fast and I woke up at 6:45 am. 

Coffee, coffee where was it?  My wonderful hubby (who got to go to bed at 11:30 pm) was making some (love you honey).  I am now on my second cup and just about ready to face the hoards of human traffickers traffic who want to by my junk nice stuff!  Happy Garage Sale Day!

Saturday at the Mall....

Yesterday started out like any other Saturday, kind of lazy, sleeping in (except for me), checking on Facebook posts & comments and writing a couple of blog posts.  That particular Saturday however was not to be our typical Saturday.....we had scheduled a mall marathon of school clothes shopping....just Mom, Dad and our almost 13 year old Diva in Training.  Of course we couldn't go to the local mall ~ no sir, we had to drive an hour and a half away to go to a "larger" mall with more shopping and spending options!

Now I have to tell you, first of all I am not now, nor have I ever been someone who enjoys shopping with others, my ideal shopping trip is solo.....I don't need anyone else to tell me if the pants I want make my rear look big ~ I know how to look in a mirror and I'm not afraid to use it!  Shopping with more than myself tends to drive me insane as I usually don't get everything done that I want to do, I guess I am not much of a collaborative shopper!

We dropped the youngest off at Grandma's house and finally hit the road around 11:30!  Traffic wasn't too bad and we made it to the mall after about an hour and twenty minutes.  The weather was warm (hovering around 80 degrees or so) but not to worry we knew there would be air conditioning!

Our first stop was productive (if video games count as school clothes)......Game Stop, really??  Not my idea of fun on any day, but I was out voted by little miss Diva and Daddy.  After a half hour in the store with not a chair in site, we were finally ready to go!

We wandered in and out of so many stores that I lost track of time and direction.....the only thing I didn't loose track of was my feet!  You see my daughter insisted that I had to wear my "cool shoes" and not my everyday comfy Sloggers (even the hubby voted for my cool shoes).

http://www.sloggers.com

My Sloggers are Blue, I'm thinking Zebra for the next pair???  Anyway I digress, back to the story at hand. 
Two pairs of jeans and one t-shirt later ~ we all decided to eat a late lunch.....Three people and one food court, hmmm....choices, choices! We decided to all get our food from the same place to save some time....Of course, I think only the D.I.T. (Diva in Training) got to eat where she wanted, Mom and Dad caved!
Got the food, sat down and realized, hey no air conditioning, isn't this fun!  My theory is the mall decided that with no air conditioning you can pack in the people and they will clear out quick and go back to shopping (which we did).

Back to the shops we went, like good little sheep following the D.I.T.  Finally, thank the Lord, we had a total of 3 pairs of jeans, 5 t-shirts, socks and shoes!  Time to EXIT the Mall!  At this point everyone was grumpy as we had been at the Mall for just over 4 hours!  Got on the Freeway and all voted to find the nearest Starbucks, which we found in record time.....we live in the Pacific Northwest where coffee shops and drive-through coffee stands can be found every couple of miles!

Starbucks was the highlight of my day!  Vente Cafe Mocha, yum!  Caffeine, yum!  Block everyone out, yum!

Look at these "Stats.... my body was in caffeine and chocolate heaven.
Thank you Starbucks!

Back on the road again, picked up the youngest from Grandmas, arrive at home, take off shoes, feed dog, hubby walk dog, feet up on couch and..........wait for it..........have D.I.T. try on the small fortune in clothes we just bought from the Mall now located an hour and a half away from our house.....by now you are already guessing the end of the story!  Jeans, fit, check.  Shoes, fit, check (we did try those on in the store).  Socks, fit, check.  T-shirts, fit........wait, back it up ~ all five t-shirts didn't fit it seems our D.I.T. is growing up!

Not only were they too small, the nice lady helping us at Aeropostle decided it would be a wonderful surprise to leave one of those BIG, WHITE, SECURITY TAGS ON ONE OF THE T-SHIRTS!  Why we did not set off the alarms when we left the store, I will never know!

The good news.....the T-shirts can be exchanged at stores in our local mall.

The bad news #1: I have to go back to the Mall.

The bad news #2:  Why did we drive an hour and a half away to go to the same stores that our local mall has???

The bad news #3:  I guarantee that the security tags will work when we go into the mall and we will set off the alarms!  It's Murphy's Law and it's the law of school clothes shopping!

Until next time.....

 I would love to have you enter my first ever Giveaway through Rafflecopter!  Since I'm new to this it still has really, really low entries so your chances of WINNING are great!

 

What is It?

We found this attached to our front porch this morning.....the spindle that it is attached to is less than a foot away from our front door!

To put it in the correct size perspective, the spindle that it is sitting on measures 1.5 inches from side to side.

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Smoothie Disaster....Wordless Wednesday

What happens when the Magic leaves your Magic Bullet or the bottom isn't attached properly......

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Blog OCD??

I love to blog, but sometimes it seems like I spend more time on the layout and design of my blog than I do on actual articles. I think I have finally figured it out - I suffer from Blog OCD with a little Blog ADHD mixed in!

I love to read other blogs and as I'm reading I find myself suffering from the "shiny blog syndrome". I love the article, but my brain starts thinking, ooh I love the font they are using or that layout is great! The next thing I know I am behind the scenes of my blog trying to mimic the look. Then the OCD part kicks in and I'm not happy until my blog looks "just right".

The good news is that I'm not a lost cause....I do get frustrated if it (the blog) doesn't come out the way I want it to, but I will close it down and leave it "as is" if I can't figure out how to get the look I want. Of course, I have usually already spent way too many hours (yes I said hours) before I get to the point of "I give up". 

Watching the World Go By....

Sometimes you just can't help but wonder what they are thinking......

~Keeping Life Simple by Mixing It Up!

 

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It's Gonna Be a Busy One.....

Today is going to be just "one of those days", I know it, but I'm not ready for it!  It's 6am in my neck of the woods and the family is still sleeping....I'm doing the mad typing on my blog in order to dash off a post before my day starts in earnest......

Let's see what's on my list of need to do.

1. School group class pictures today for my youngest ~ not usually a big deal but I have not even filled out the order form.  Also since Mama misplaced the order form for the fall picture taking session we don't have any school pictures to show for this year.  Thank goodness that the photographer is offering "Spring Portraits" along with the group photo, so at least we'll have school pictures - better late than never (a motto I quite frequently live by).  So first "to do" on the list is to fill out the order form (oops, just remembered that my first "to do" is to go put clothes in the dryer so she can wear her "perfect" outfit, so be right back).  Clothes in dryer - DONE.

My Goofy Cat Jasper

I just found the greatest toy on earth for my cat!  

The bonus ~ it was on clearance for only $6.00.

I just added a little catnip and I think I might have just saved my couches! 

 

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When I Was Growing Up.....

I had someone send me a joke the other day ~ one of those funny ones about what it was like when we were young versus how it is today.  It really made me sit back and think how different my childhood was from what my kids have today.  I grew up and went to grade school in the 70's and 80's, so those of you who are my age know what I am talking about.  I do wonder how much our technological advances are actually hurting our kids, both socially and physically, not to mention emotionally.

Following is the joke that started this whole contemplation.  I can't give anyone credit for writing it as I don't know who the original author is and I did clean up a little bit of the more colorful language.

If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious! When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda. I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty , I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

1. I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
   
2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
   
3. Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!
   
4. There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
   
5. Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car (if you were lucky). We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
   
6. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
   
7. There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please!
   
8. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
   
9. We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
   
10. You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your rear and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
    
11. There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!
12. And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
    
13. And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
    
14. And car seats - oh, please! Mom put you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place. 

There are a couple of more things that I would like to add to the list above:

1. We didn't have any malls or shopping centers when I grew up, if we went shopping we were going "downtown", which involved parking the car and walking from store to store.  
2. We lived in a neighborhood that was conducive to kids playing outside, almost every home had a swing set, all parents knew each other and when a Mom wanted you to come home she opened up the door and hollered your name until you came home.  Mom's voices could carry across at least 4 houses and sometimes more.  
3. A grocery store was a grocery store, period.  We didn't have super shopping centers like WalMart or Fred Meyers, there was no such thing as one stop shopping.  You went to the grocery store to get groceries, the hardware store to get hardware, the drug store to get drugs (prescriptions, shampoos, and things like that). 
4. Most moms knew how to sew and it was actually more cost effective to make clothes instead of buying them (today the reverse is true).
5. The Wish Book.....this was either a Montgomery Ward or Sears Catalog.  New catalogs came out twice a year, one in the Spring/Summer and one in the Fall/Winter and a special one just for Christmas.  Most kids Christmas lists were based upon finds in these catalogs.  If your parents had a charge card it was probably for one of these stores.  To order out of the catalog you either mailed in your order form or you placed a phone call.  If you were lucky enough to have a pick up center close by, then you drove to the pick up center to get your order once it came in.
6. Most neighborhoods had a local corner store, usually ran by a family.  We had a charge account at our local corner store and it was a big deal when you finally got old enough to walk (about a block) to the store, with a list from your Mom and have the store put it on your charge account.  
7. Most corner stores had a penny candy section and you could pick up a few pieces of candy for a penny each. 
8. We also had a neighborhood park with a duck pond and all!  Walking or riding your bike to the park carrying bread for the ducks along with warm pop to drink and sandwiches to eat was a rite of passage.  I think that the rule was that the oldest kid in the group had to be 11 or something like that.  We spent many fun hours playing at that park.
9. How about these games, how many kids know them today?  Red Rover, Fly Catchers Up, Dodge Ball, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Square Ball, Tether Ball or Forts.

As a society and as parents we are concerned about our children today. We hear reports about how kids are more overweight than they have ever been, more children get ADHD and Autism and our kids are having to grow up faster than they ever have before.  All I have to do is look at the list above and it is pretty obvious that our kid's are not living healthy childhoods.  Activity is something that is scheduled, i.e. soccer, dance, baseball, etc.  Maybe I do have to turn into my Mom and tell the kids that if they don't go outside and play they will be doing chores, seems like either way I win......I will either get a clean house or healthier kids.

Given my kids aversion to anything that is work related, I bet I can guess what my kids will choose, how about yours?  Just some food for thought....

  Hops that I am participating in today:

 

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Help - My House Spontaneously Generates Dirty Dishes & Junk Mail!

Seriously, what is it with Junk Mail, School Papers, Random Papers and Dirty Dishes?  Every time I turn around I swear my house is spontaneously generating this stuff.

One would think that with all of the dirty dishes that we generate in one day that we have a family of twelve, not four.  I washed dishes yesterday morning (both by hand and using the dishwasher) and this morning I am faced with a dishwasher full of clean dishes that need to be put away and two sink fulls plus of dirty dishes. 

I know I am not alone in this, I also know that I could keep up with them if I washed dishes two or three times a day, but I don't wanna do that, it would seriously mess with my Procrastinator's Club of which I am a proud member.  I've thought of switching to paper plates, plastic silverware and cups, but that would not be very "Green", not to mention expensive. 

What's a Mom to Do.........
I know from now on, eating shall not be allowed at our house, all mealtimes are to be at restaurants - o.k. one problem solved, now to tackle the paper problem.

Junk mail, bills, school papers, coupons, newspapers, magazines, artwork - sounds like the start of an advertisement for an office organizer, but in fact it is my kitchen counter and dining room table, both of which are merely receptacles for junk.  I think I have tried every system known to man to get the paper trail under control - ohhh light bulb moment - now I see the problem.....I have tried every system known to MAN, but not to Woman.

Let me don my thinking cap for a minute...... 
If I quit opening the kid's backpacks the school papers would stay contained and if I quit getting mail out of the mailbox, the bills and junk mail would not make it's way into the house and if I got a NOOK Color, I could read the magazines online.  I know what you are thinking - Nook Color is expensive, but you see if I quit getting mail I won't have to pay bills so I will have enough money to buy the Nook - problem solved!

I am so grateful that I was given the mind that I have so that I could solve these types of problems.....I think I will work on the laundry problem next and after that World Peace!

 

A Tidbit ABOUT ME:                                                        

I wear glasses and I have since 4th grade. I am nearsighted which means I can't see far away. I just recently had to get my first pair of bi-focals, what a pain those are!

 

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Kids and Forts

What is it about building forts that kids like so much? Both of my girls (especially the youngest) love nothing better than to build a "fort" in our living room. Quite often my hubby will come home from work to find that there is no kitchen chairs to sit in because they have all been used in the latest fort building endeavor.

Here is the start of the latest fort - notice the kitchen chair.....

The fort is done and provided hours of entertainment, notice the little face
peeking out of the window!

In case you are not a fort building expert, here are the tools that I find to be the most helpful when building "Inside Forts" (outside forts require completely different construction materials) :

1. Bed sheets, flat queen size work best
2. Large metal binder clips, for holding it all together.
3. Kitchen chairs or bar stools, for wall supports
4. Comfy throw pillows, for interior decor
5. Reading material, need to have something to do in the fort
6. Blankie, used for snuggling
7. Stuffed animals, after all you need visitors to your fort.

Remember when assisting with the "fort build" to make it big enough for an adult, after all you will probably be asked to visit so that your child can show it off (they tend to forgot that you helped them build it). 

If you help build it, they will play in it!  

Feel free to share your "Fort Stories" in my comments section.  Happy Fort Building!

A Tidbit ABOUT ME:

Shhhh, don't tell my kids but I like to build forts - just not every day....it is the clean up that I don't like!

 

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The Junk Drawer Before n After

 Another Before n After.....

I am sure everyone has a JUNK DRAWER, I'm just not sure everyone's is as bad as mine was.

Junk Drawer - Before

Now for the taadaa....

The Junk Drawer - After!

Still a lot of stuff and could use some editing.  I didn't want to spend money on any organizers so I used what I had on hand.  At least I can find stuff in it now......

Why we have so many pens/pencils and scissors I'll never know - oh wait I do know.....it's because they always disappear.

I think they go on vacation or something, probably hang out in the "land of lost socks" for awhile before visiting "how did this get here".

Junk Drawer

A major point of contention in our house is our "Junk Drawer".....while I am of the firm belief that everyone's house claims at least one of these, my husband maintains that most people don't have them.

So who is going to back me up and admit to that junk drawer? 

Some things that I find interesting about Junk Drawers:

1)  If you start it, they will come (stuff will show up in your drawer that you never put there and was previously lost for days, weeks and sometimes years).

2)  Junk Drawers are fertilized every night by the Junk Drawer Fairies, I know this is true because the junk in the drawer grows overnight.....Seriously, I am not kidding, this really happens.