A Pinteresting September

Traveling with Jewelry

I don't have a bag for traveling with jewelry, and I knew I wanted to take several different pieces with me for my cruise dinners. So I went to Pinterest to look for inspiration. Found this idea: putting jewelry inside Press n Seal. This works GREAT. I put together all the sets of jewelry - a necklace, a bracelet, a set of earrings, and a ring - and then each night when it was time to get dressed for dinner, I was ready to go! Hint...don't use this method for jewelry with a finish that could pull off, like pearls. Here was my Pinspiration.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Photo from Pin

I had a hankering for chocolate chip cookies one day...and also cupcakes, so I searched good old Pinterest to see if chocolate chip cookie cupcakes existed. Indeed they did. So I made some! They were quite good - but I don't know if they blew me away enough to make them again and again and again. Here was my Pinspiration.

Chocolate Frosting

Photo from pin

Where there are cupcakes, there must be frosting, and I didn't have cream cheese on hand, so I had to search for a frosting recipe. I found this one and it was very good - tasted a lot like Texas Sheet Cake frosting. But it didn't pipe well. :( Here was my Pinspiration.

Mantel Decoration

I found this idea on Pinterest and decided to use a sifter in my September apple pie mantel decor. I don't actually own a sifter, so I had to borrow my mom's, and hers is not all painted with decorations, but I liked mine better anyway.  Here was my Pinspiration.

Mantel Decoration

 I got the idea to do an apple pie mantel from a dishwasher cover I saw on Pinterest! I tried to use the things in the picture {plus a few more things I thought of} as the decoration! Here was my Pinspiration.



Pumpkin Pancakes

After Ryan and I had pumpkin pancakes at the IHOP, I decided I needed to find a good pumpkin pancake recipe.  So I happened upon this one from Pinterest and we both loved it. It's a keeper!! Here was my Pinspiration.

Elmo Appetizer

I made a version of this original pin when we had company this month. The original pin was an Elmo face made with cherry tomatoes, black olives and veggie dip. Mine was a fruit version - strawberries, blueberries, and fruit dip. It was a little less polished looking, but still cute - and yummy! Here was my Pinspiration.


Amish Cinnamon Bread

Photo from Pin

I wanted to make some quick bread sort of spur of the moment, so I needed something that asked for ingredients I had on hand. Ran into this recipe and had everything in it, so it was my winner. It's not quite as flavorful as the original friendship bread I've made before, but it was still really good - especially warm out of the oven. YUM. Here was my Pinspiration.

Porch Decor

I've never decorated my porch for fall before...but this pin gave me the idea to do so. Mine doesn't look quite like this, but this is where I got my start. And it's where I got the idea to use a sign as part of the decor. Here was my Pinspiration. 

Porch Printable

Here is the printable I used for the sign on aforementioned porch. Pinspiration.

Chili Bar

I used a Pinterest find to inspire the chili bar we had this past weekend when Ryan's family came over! Here was my Pinspiration.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday afternoon, I got the itch to start decorating for fall! So I got on Pinterest to uncover some inspiration and then did something brand new...decorated the porch! I'm sure I'll add little things to it here and there, but for now, this is the start of the porch decor!

* Monday night, Ryan brought home two giant mums and a couple of pumpkins and I had so much fun potting the mums and getting everything arranged where I wanted it. And it was so wonderful that night to take a break and take a walk. Perfect night for that!

* Tuesday evening, we were busy fools...getting ready for company, mowing the yard, doing dishes and laundry - and I finally got around to taking Tia's suggestion to make a little "wood box" for the fireplace area. Loved the way it turned out! It was also season premiere night at our house - we watched the new Goldbergs show {the 80's throwback on ABC} and of course, the Duggars!!

* Wednesday night, we had some of my blognonymous friends over for dinner. They house sat for us while we were on our cruise, and we'd gotten them some thank-you gifts and wanted to have them for dinner as well. It was a gorgeous night and we were able to eat outside {hot dog roast and s'mores} and even play some games! {There was a kiddo at dinner, so of course there were games!}

* Thursday was our first day in the new studio at work! We have been watching the new room take place for several weeks now and it was such a beautiful thing to get to sit in that new seat and enjoy the results! Although I did have to wonder about this potentially subliminal message on my microphone control:

* Friday night, Ryan and I took date night to the park! We went to KFC for their little dinner special and took it out to the park to eat in the picnic shelter. After dinner, we walked around, enjoyed the perfect evening and took pictures. We went to Starbucks next {naturally} and had a great time just sitting there enjoying a leisurely evening coffee!

* Yesterday we started with breakfast in bed {yep - that was all Ryan!} - and Braeya tried to get in on that action. Too bad we don't share breakfast! And last night, we had Ryan's Dad's side of the family over for dinner. Really great evening that I'll have to tell you more about later! We really enjoyed chatting together and eating a chili bar and pumpkin dessert. Great Saturday!

The Saturday Six

One.

Source

Read this article this week and was SO convicted. Which driver's attitude do I most often display? And what would my reaction be if I were the writer of the story? Sadly, I'm not sure I would have responded as she did. I have so much growing to do.

Two.

 Source

Ryan and I watched the movie The Book of Eli last week. I will admit that I really don't like scary movies, and on my list, this was a scary movie...but it also has made me think. I don't want to say too much about it in case you've not seen it, but if you do watch it, I think you'll find it makes you really evaluate just how much we take for granted in this world and in our faith.

Three.


Want to absolutely DIE of the cuteness factor? Watch this sweetheart and her Dad. Melt.

Four.

Source

Want to die LAUGHING??? Read this review on Amazon for sugar free gummy bears. Many of the reviews are funny but the first one had me in hard laugh/sobs.

Five.

Fall is back, and that means so are the DeBrand caramel apples. Eat one slice of one apple and you'll be ruined for life - in the most amazing possible way. They are HUGE. I mean HUGE. I've only had one sample of one in my entire life and I've never recovered.

Six.

You might have seen this one circulating the web, but if not, and if you're a hymn lover like I am, watch it. Unbelievable goose bumps.

Hey, When Your Husband Says You Need to Scrapbook...

I started scrapbooking right after college. My first albums are now declared pathetic pages slathered with rubber cement {GASP}, hodge-podge applications of mismatched stickers, and pictures of all sizes randomly distributed over whatever background paper I happened to have on hand.

It's embarrassing, really. So much so that I don't even really want to talk about it.

But over the years, I poured myself into scrapbooking. I found my style...my groove in the thing. I found friends who had as deep a love for the craft as I did, and we'd get together on weekends, hunched over my rickety dining room table, gulping Polar Pops and licking brownie crumbs off our fingers. We'd rotate movies in the other room but the understood scrapbooking silence hung in the room. We could be together but in our own worlds...reliving memories.

My friends got married...started having babies...and scrapbook days were harder to come by. They either had to bring the kids along {which drastically reduces productivity} or hire a sitter {which drastically reduces supply funds}, so more and more, I found myself scrapbooking alone.

By that time, I lived alone, so it worked out. I could haul out all the supplies and if they stayed out a few days, no one cared. I could scrapbook in the evenings after work or all weekend if I had no plans.

And then I discovered digital scrapping, which allowed me to do twice the work in half the time, and I LOVED it. Another reason I loved digital scrapping...the chance to really write.

I could sit there and type out a whole story about an event - and it was done faster than I could have handwritten a little journaling box in the traditional scrapbook.

My scrapbooks became my books. My stories. My autobiography. The chronicles of vacations, weekenders, the year at large, milestones, and more.

And then I got married.

Suddenly, life became much busier. In a beautiful, welcomed way. I had real dinners to plan and prepare. While the addition of a husband meant the addition of help around the house and consequently less work for me in some ways, it also meant being more diligent about work.

I admit, I felt rather guilty about scrapbooking. Ryan would be hurrying around outside, trying to squeeze in yard work before dark, or dragging out the tool box to repair yet another thing that wasn't working quite right in the house, and I would be kicked back on the couch, sipping coffee and cropping pictures.

So I made rules. I would only scrapbook if it was a weekend when Ryan worked and I was home alone. Or during football games when he was busy watching and I was content to multi-task.

But here's the beautiful thing. One day when I apologized for scrapbooking {again} when I knew there were other, more pressing things to do, Ryan scooped me up in a hug, kissed my nose and told me he WANTS me to scrapbook because in doing that, I'm preserving our story. I'm keeping track of our life and we'll always have it to look at. "So, no guilt," he said. "Enjoy it."

After I was resuscitated...I smiled and said, "Well if you say I NEED to do it...who am I to argue??"

A PSA on Sitting on the End

I was a college student when a retired friend of mine from church invited me to go with her to hear a speaker brought in for some special services in town. The services were held in an auditorium that held about 2000 people, and we arrived early for a good seat.

And we found the perfect seats. A row right in the middle of the middle section – with an unblemished view of the platform and perfect hearing range. We settled in, the two of us, along with half a dozen or so of her other friends, all of whom were older and got around with the assistance of canes and walkers.

I crossed my legs carefully, not wishing to start a domino effect of crashing walkers and prepared to enjoy the evening.

Somewhere in the opening moments of his speech, it hit me. The intense waves of nausea, the hot flashes, the cold sweats, the pounding headache…and I knew…I had to get out. NOW. Not at the next break. Not if and when they had intermission. NOW.

In a less-than-graceful move, I climbed and tripped my way out of the row, clanking against walkers, knocking over canes, and probably stepping on poor arthritic toes...and rushed to the restroom, where I tried to cool down and feel better. Finally I felt well enough to drive home…and within a day, I was over whatever mysterious illness fell over me, but I’ve never recovered from the utter panic of being trapped inside a row with no escape route.

Seriously.

You can laugh. You can roll your eyes. You can mutter “Man, she needs therapy” {and you’d be right}  - but the fact remains – I have a fear of being trapped in the middle of a row with no escape route when I need one. And when I say fear, I mean fear. I don’t mean mild discomfort. I mean I will panic and cry and hyperventilate.

I say this to you today, not because I particularly enjoy airing my flaws and weaknesses to you, but because I want to say the following on behalf of my fellow middle-of-the-row panickers. It’s a PSA of sorts.

This past April, Ryan and I began attending a different church. A HUGE church. Our old church averaged about 120 on a Sunday morning and our new church averages about 1500. It’s kind of a spiritual culture shock to end up in a church where you can absolutely get lost from Sunday to Sunday. {And for a while, it’s what our hearts wanted and needed. No complaints. Just stating facts.}

Ryan and I get to the service early for the express purpose of picking out a seat that allows me to worship without panic. He would, I’m sure, sit much closer to the front and smack in the middle of a row, but he’s so respectful of my need to be in a hidden corner where I can get in and out if necessary, so we go early to pick a sort-of-back and definitely-on-the-end seat.

Recently, with attendance picking up, the ushers have been roaming the aisles, urging people to scoot in to the center of the pews so latecomers can find a seat. I get it. I really do. It’s hard in a church that size, to see who has room left in the row – especially when everyone stands to sing.

Normally I luck out and get to stay on the end. But one week I had to move to the center, and with no time left before the start of church to hunt for a new seat, I felt my chest tightening in panic, and as everyone else stood to sing 10,000 Reasons {one of my favorite songs}, I had hot tears running down my face, and my breath caught hard in my throat. I was hot from embarrassment, my knees started shaking, and for the rest of that service, I prayed for peace and failed to comprehend much of anything the minister said.

So as a person who panics in the middle of rows, I would like to gently ask ushers to consider that some people are on the end of a pew because they need to be there. The reasons are many {might have to leave early, might be pregnant and struggling with morning sickness, might need to get out to take medication at some point} and no explanations should be required.

It’s okay if you ask us to scoot in, because we know that’s your job, but when you pace the aisles and search high and low for spaces, it makes us nervous. And if we tell you we’re happy to stand up and let people go past us to the empty space, please understand that we’re not trying to be pains. We came early for an end seat for a very real reason, and we just need to keep it.

It’s okay for you to not understand and it's even okay with me {I'll just speak for myself on this point} if you think we're stupid because of it – but please don’t treat us differently because this is what we need for this day.

Ten Fingers

If you've been hanging out here for a while, you know I love visuals. Perhaps it's a sign that I'm just an overgrown kid...I'm not sure. But I love learning any lesson that comes by way of a visual.

And last week, I had a chance to learn something amazing from one of our listeners. She came to the Chonda Pierce night I worked last week - and pulled me aside to talk to me for a while. I've met her before...she is such a fun lady who can BUILD...not only in a demo-your-house-and-redo it sort of way, but apparently also in a fun-furniture sort of way!

She showed me a little visual she came up with to help one of her friends who was going through a tough time.

I

can

do

all

things

through

Christ

Who

strengthens

me.

She said anytime she needs to remember the strength of Christ in her life, she just holds those hands in front of her and says the verse.

You know what I love about this? It fits anyone in any circumstances.

When I spread out my hands over a keyboard to write...I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. 

When I cup Ryan's face into my hands to look into his eyes and tell him I love him...I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.

When I curl my fingers around a steering wheel for my commute...I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.

All of it. Every part of my day. Every work of my hands...


I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.

The Wedding Date

Remember the movie? Debra Messing? Dermot Mulroney? A sweet set of matching luggage and a ridiculously long plane ride? Oh - and the rented date?

Mine was nothing like that.

But last Saturday night, Ryan and I went on a date to his cousin's wedding reception. Ryan had to attend a work conference in the afternoon, so we weren't able to make it to the wedding. But I met him at work and we changed out of shorts and t-shirts into our wedding gear and headed over for the reception!

The decor was beautiful...a vintage theme...with gorgeous flowers.

...and our table card and candle {the wedding favor}...

After we sampled the appetizers, Ryan got curious about the tongs on the table. Here's his idea of a good use for them:

{Fortunately we knew everyone at our table. We were with all his siblings and another cousin. We were the only married, non-expectant couple at the table. Just to be on the safe side, I did not drink the water. Hopefully iced tea doesn't have the same effect, because I did drink the daylights out of that.}

Oh! And check out the cupcake display. Be still, my beating heart!

We ate dinner and then it was time for cake cutting. This is what happens when you try to take pictures from the back of the room. Kind of a hot mess of limbs and photographers.

Toasts followed....

And then we got up to dance. My first time to get to dance at a wedding when the married couples are invited forward to dance. And we don't even have a picture! Imagine it, though, if you would.

And just to help you, the song was "Everything I Do," and Ryan sang it to me, karaoke style, while we danced. He cracks me up!

And speaking of him cracking me up...here were some of his other evening antics:

 Doing the YMCA of course...

...and more karaoke, using the candle as a mic. That's his sister there in the back, cracking up at him.

The bride and groom danced {isn't her dress gorgeous?}

As for me...well...when I wasn't enjoying THIS date...

...I sure was enjoying THIS one.

The Covenant Promise

A while ago, I told you about my plane trip to Miami, and how scared I was to fly {as I always am} and I mentioned that God did a sweet thing for me on that plane ride. It actually was something that continued throughout the entire trip,and I wanted to tell you about it.

To explain what happened between God and me, I need to explain to you about my battle with fear, but that would take more blog posts than either of us have time for. I've always struggled with fear, and I'm not going to sit here and rake through my childhood looking for the defining moment to blame it on.

The truth is, fear is just "my thing." I am of the firm belief that everyone has a "thing" {a bent toward some sin} that they struggle with. Mine is fear. I'm not proud of it, I certainly don't LOVE it, and it's not something I think I'll ever get over. It's something that reminds me constantly of my dependence on the Lord - and that's probably good for me. It's something that He and I work through together on a moment-by-moment basis, and that plane trip was one of those moments.

My fear of flying used to be centered more around a fear of crashing {I watch too many movies about that sort of thing} - but anymore, that's not really my fear. I mean if I'm in a plane and it crashes, there's really nothing I can do about that.

My fear of flying now is probably more a claustrophobic thing. I don't like the feeling of not being able to get out. I like to sit on aisles and near doorways, in case I need to exit. Being shut in a tube and taken thousands of miles above the ground doesn't really give you much of an escape route. So my panic pre-takeoff is usually about "What if I need to get up and I can't because the seat belt sign is on?" Or... "What if I need to get out and I can't because, you know, we're in the sky?"

So that morning when we flew to Miami, my heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I'm surprised Ryan couldn't actually SEE it. I couldn't catch my breath, and there was no time to have a heart attack because we were already on the runway....

...I felt sick to my stomach and clammy and anxious and I turned my face away from Ryan, toward the window, and in a quiet whimper that I hoped couldn't be heard above the roaring engines and fans, I begged God to help me.

The sun was just beginning to rise, and as it sparkled through the window of the plane, God got my attention with this phrase: This is my covenant promise to you: you will not be sick on this trip. 

I sat in my seat and whispered the phrase "covenant promise" over and over.


Right about that time...the captain came over the speaker and said something mostly unintelligible over the garbled intercom, but the words I heard were "engine failure." I have no idea what he really said, but that's what I heard. We had already been waiting a while to take off, and I felt my heart pound again. Then a gentle whisper, covenant promise....

In the time that passed between the captains words and actually taking off, I calmed down entirely. And for the rest of the flight, I was okay. And in fact, throughout the entire trip, every time I struggled with feeling ill {like when I had some motion sickness on the boat} - I heard God's gentle whisper, Remember the covenant promise...

I love these little intimate moments we share. I love hearing His whisper.