The Saturday Six

One.

One of my artist friends shared this link on Facebook this week. Portraits done mostly in shadow, featuring only the light on the face. I couldn't even fathom having this level of talent!

Two.

Even if you're not a gardener (I'm not!) you can appreciate the thought, beauty, and work of this blogger's garden plots! WOW! It's almost like scrapbooking for gardeners!

Three.

Tamar's Ice Castles post made me want to go on a road trip RIGHT NOW. I normally am not a sucker for seeing anything involving cold weather (at least not as much as I am for visiting warm, sandy beaches), but her pictures were BREATHTAKING!!!

Four.

If you have any friends or family in your life that are expecting a baby, this is a pretty funny gift for dad-to-be. Kind of wish I would have known about it before now. I can think of a couple of friends I'd have given it to!

Five.

I don't like bananas, so banana splits don't do much for me, but even I will admit these banana split bites are p-r-e-t-t-y cute!!!

Six.

Tomorrow starts a new month, so here's the next round of daily readings if you're doing that plan this year. (We're still in Matthew!)

What I Learned in February 2020

February was kind of a wash for me in many ways, and apparently learning was one of those ways. I don't feel like I learned very much this month. (Or maybe I did, and it fogged right back out with the cold meds.) It may not be much to offer, but here were the few things I did pick up throughout the month.

1. Elvis was only 42 when he died.

I know it was a different era, but when I think about pictures I've seen of Elvis toward the end of his life, he always looked much, much older to me than 42. Anyone else think that? (Maybe I'm just in denial about what 42 looks like, since I'm about to be 42.) When Ryan and I spoke at the Valentine's banquet earlier this month, the entertainer for the evening did some oldies love songs, including an Elvis collection. He was the one who taught me this information, which promptly blew my mind for the rest of the night.

2. Our dryer has an enhanced touch-up setting. 

Ryan's cousin, Kevin, is on the maintenance crew at our church, so he and I hang out and shoot the breeze many times a week. In one such random conversation, we talked about our mutual disdain for ironing, and he told me about a setting on his dryer called enhanced touch-up. He said the dryer has a water line attached, so steam feeds into it and helps cut out wrinkles - and odors, too. (He's also a full time firefighter, so coming home with smoky smelling clothing is a regular thing for him.) I told him that sounded like a great feature, and I wished we had it.

Guess what?

WE DO!!!

I came home and looked at our dryer just for funsies, and right there it was! Enhanced touch-up. We've owned this dryer almost four years and NEVER KNEW THIS. (In our defense, the washer and dryer came with the house, so we didn't really research their capabilities.)

3. You can increase the speed of your YouTube videos.

Okay, so maybe I'm the last person on earth to know this one, and if so, just smile, pat my head, and move on to #4. Abagail (the one I'm filling in for at the church) sent me a YouTube video to watch this week. It's podcast-style, and I sat down to watch it, but it was 44 minutes long! I didn't have enough time to watch it then, so I told her I'd have to watch it later. She told me she usually speeds them up to watch them.

Wait. What??

She told me in the settings for the videos, you can speed them up, so she finds a faster speed that's still understandable and watches videos that way to maximize her time.

Who knew????

4. Lightning strikes can begin at the ground and go up. 

On our day of fun at home, Ryan and I watched some episodes of Dirty Jobs. In one of them, Mike was helping a guy install a bunch of lightning rods on a property, so they were talking about all things lightning. I confess I wasn't paying super close attention, but I did hear them say that lightning strikes can start at the ground and go up. I had no idea. I thought they always came out of the clouds! I looked it up, and indeed it seems to be true! I'd have to do much more research on this one to feel completely educated on it, but I still learned a little something.

***

And now, in the land of accountability for February...

I confess I was nearly as much of a failure in my February goals as I was in learning things. Ryan was sick the first couple of weeks of the month, and I was sick through the middle of the month, so I sort of lost my motivation to do anything besides sleep.

My exercise and eating habits were mostly terrible, but I confess those to you as a side point, because I didn't officially have those on my list of goals for February. Here's what did (and did not) happen this month.

* Finish the details for my/our upcoming speaking engagements.

My day in the ski lodge (on February 1) was my main prep day for these events. I spent almost that entire day writing and tweaking for our February speaking engagement (at the Valentine's Banquet) and the retreat I'm speaking at in March. I spent more time on them here and there throughout the month, and I felt pretty good about what I accomplished! I will add that working full time makes this a whole different adventure. I'm used to being able to devote multiple days at a time to these opportunities, but I've had to find a new way to manage the time.

* Archive two more months of old blog posts. 
I barely got this one done, but I did! I archived one month's worth right at the beginning of February, lost the bulk of the month, and did the second month's worth just this week. I did find a few good treasures of stories in there! I'd completely forgotten about some of them! (Another reason I love blogging.)

* Work on our closet!

Well...there's always tomorrow, right? We did look into pricing some closet organizers when we were at IKEA this month, but that project will have to be down the road a bit. (Still fun to dream!) Because of feeling so lousy so much this month, we did not get the closet cleaned, but I really do hope to work on it tomorrow while Ryan works on the bathroom. Since tomorrow is the last day of the month, I could yet accomplish this goal! (Please note that the closet in the photo is an IKEA store model and not our actual closet.)

* Finish the Atlanta scrapbook. 

This was a January goal that ended up being deferred, because I had to use January to hurry through a couple of other BIG albums, so I could order them on a sale. I'm quite happy to report that in February, I did finish that Atlanta scrapbook and I stayed current on my 2020 chronological book. I'm happy to mark this one off my to-do list, and now I can work toward another book!

* Enjoy two more at-home dates. 

Well, thanks to our sickness, this one was a fail. I actually have one planned for tonight, but that will be the only one we squeezed into our February. We just didn't feel like doing much this month on the nights we were home, because we were trying to rest, get well, and conserve energy for the nights we had plans to be other places.

Even though this was a list-fail, I will say that we had some really wonderful outside-of-home dates this month, and we did really enjoy being together on the nights we were home, even if we were not feeling well and not enjoying a planned date.

* Work on vacation planning.

Yes! I did this! We have dates planned out for our first trip of 2020, and I have started my research on places to stay and things to do while we're gone. I have far to go in laying it all out, but I'm so happy to have the first steps completed! (It's always exciting to know where we're going and be able to be specific in my dreaming.)

Dreams and Goals for March 2020

As you'll see tomorrow when I talk about my germ-infested February, the hitting of all goals...*ahem*...failed a bit for this past month. I didn't fail at everything, but I sure didn't create as much of a success story as I did in January.

But March is a new month, and I have high hopes, people! High hopes! May I share?

* Stay well. Seems obvious, right? But I didn't set it as a specific goal in February, and look what happened!! So heading my list of goals for this month is to STAY WELL.

* Finish details for the women's retreat in March. I'm speaking at a women's retreat in March, and while I have my talks written and ready, I need to do some final work on the event. I have some props to purchase, a Power Point to update, and I want to make sure I have the material committed to mind! And - of course - prayer! Lots and lots of prayer!

* Archive three more months of blog posts. For the last two months, I've set a goal of archiving two months, and I've barely achieved that. This time I want to up my game and see if I can do more! Sometimes I don't overachieve enough. (And sometimes I need to KNOCK IT OFF with the overachieving.)

* Finish the guest bathroom overhaul. We started it in earnest last night, and Ryan has a goal of completing it in two weeks. I believe it can be done, but I also believe we're the Shaffers, and renovation surprises hit us WAY too often. So I'll set the goal for the end of the month. I will say I think it's going to look amazing, and I can't wait to see our vision take shape.

* Finish my 40th birthday scrapbook. How is it EVEN possible that I don't have this one done? I have the party part done, but I got clear to the actual birthday and never finished it. One good day or two good evenings, and I can knock this one out. I'm sure of it. I also want to try to keep up on my regular chronological book. I've kept up with it so far this year. Don't want to lose momentum!

* Enjoy two more at-home dates. I had planned for us to have two at-home dates in February, but between sickness and being away from home, we technically haven't done any so far in February. I do have one planned for tomorrow night, though, so we'll get at least one in before the month is over. Hopefully in March, we can get back on track with two special dates in our home!

* Finish well with my temp job. I only have a couple of weeks left in my temp job! How is it possible that I've been working at the church for ten whole weeks now? (I'm sure Abagail is thinking the same thing about her beloved maternity leave! How could it be almost over?) I'm working hard to make sure everything is organized and in order for Abagail's return, and in many ways, the decisions I make now are made fully with her in mind. But I still want to finish well and do a great job with the tasks entrusted to me.

I think that should keep me busy for a month...don't you?

What Skill Do You Wish You Had?

Miss Phoebe stayed at our house Saturday night, and we took her back home Sunday morning before we went to church. As we drove through town, we went by a pie shop that recently closed. I was sad when I heard it was closing, because I had it on my list of places I planned to go someday, but closing day arrived before someday. 

The business is for sale (per their scrolling sign) and I said to Ryan, "Boy wouldn't that be a fun thing to do? If only I could make pie!" He agreed it would be somewhat of a necessary component to owning a pie shop. 

All pie-shop-owning aside, I do wish I had mad pie-making skills. Ryan loves pie, and I must admit I enjoy eating it too. (I mean...I'm not going to turn down cupcakes or cookies or nearly any other form of dessert, but I do like pie!) But I've never been a great pie-maker. I've tried to learn. My mom has always made delicious pies, and I tried to learn from her, but alas, I never perfected the skill. 

It's the crust that gets me, I think. I've tried multiple recipes, and none of them have been dismal failures, but none have been amazing. And fluted edges? Forget it. The edges always look like a hungry toddler was left to her own devices. OH! And rolling everything out evenly? Hasn't happened yet. Lumpy crusts all the way around - too thick in the middle and stretched thin on the sides. 

I may need a pie-making hands-on tutorial. 

(By the way, if you've given up dessert or sweets for Lent, you may want to stop reading now. I don't want to cause you to stumble in the first five minutes of your day.)

While we're talking about culinary skills, I also would also love to one day be an expert in making ice cream. A while back I asked a friend of mine for her homemade ice cream recipe. I'd eaten ice cream at her house once (YEARS ago) and I still remember how delicious it tasted, so I wanted to have the recipe. She graciously shared, but alas, I don't own an ice cream maker, so that puts a bit of a damper on that. I love a good bowl of ice cream as much as I love pie (bonus points for having both) so I'd love to acquire this skill.

Is it true that if you have a great base ice cream recipe, you can accessorize it easily? Candy bars here? Cookies there? A little flavoring on the side? Maybe I don't need a pie shop as much as I need an ice cream shop. (It's possible I've looked for ice cream shops for sale before...)

It's not all about food for me. One day I'd love to learn to crochet, too. I went to a craft night at church this past weekend and sat with some ladies who were working on blankets, and they were both so fast and talented! I'm such a sucker for soft blankets and pretty patterns, so I can absolutely see myself loving this skill.

Or maybe I just want a skill I can use while talking 800 miles an hour to the person beside me. (I took scrapbooking to craft night and found it hard to journal and talk at the same time.) 

And of course, I'm always telling myself I need to learn to do more with my camera. I've gotten lazy about learning new settings and skills, and I know I would love my pictures even more if I took the time to learn more than I know now.

How about you? Any skills you wish you had? Anyone want to be my personal pie teacher? 

Let's Bring Back Happy Mail, Shall We?

Anyone else miss the days of getting fun mail?

I sure do!

When I was a kid, I had so many pen pals. (This was back when my time was abundant and stamps were much cheaper than they are now.) I would run to the mailbox every day to look for fat envelopes stuffed with notebook paper and scribbled stories from people I'd never met in real life.

And then I grew up, ran out of time, stamps became expensive, and mail began to mostly consist of endless junk and bills. I missed the good old days.

But every now and then, a good old day pops up from nowhere.

Want to hear a story about just such a day?

It all started a few weeks ago when our pastor wanted little cards paperclipped inside the bulletins each week. I needed somewhere in the vicinity of 500 paperclips a week to make this project work, so I did something I've never done in my lifetime: I ordered 4000 paperclips.

What? Have you never seen 4000 paperclips in one place?

I joked around about the paperclip saga with my friend, Julie, and she asked me if she could get me paperclips for Christmas. Would it be too soon, she asked?

I told her that surely, somewhere out there in the great wide world, someone made paperclip art.

Just a few days later, Julie sent a text. "Did you get any happy mail today?"

I FORGOT TO GET THE MAIL!!!!!!!

This never happens. Even though my box is nearly always stuffed with bills and junk, I still rush out to check it each day. And yet I'd forgotten to check the mail.

I threw on shoes and a coat and scurried to the mailbox in the dark - and sure enough! A delightful bubble-wrapped mailer sat atop the junk and bills.

And inside?

Isn't that just the best?

Paperclips! Coffee! Happy mail!

Such a simple little thing - but such a big smile on my face as a result.

What if we brought back happy mail?

I'm thinking we might inspire a whole host of smiles...

Ryan and Bekah's Day of Fun

You know what I really appreciate? A good, fun day with Ryan, even if it's low-key and not spectacular in forward planning. I feel like our world has been Pinterest-trained to believe that in order for something to be fun, meaningful, and lasting in memory-making, it was to be meticulously planned. I disagree. And this past Saturday was proof-positive of that.

Ryan had been scheduled to work, but they didn't need him, so he got to spend the whole day with me! It was a beautiful treasure that I appreciated.

We got up craaaaaaaazy early and went to church to pray with a team of people from our church who were heading out on a mission trip. We had two people from our small group on that team, and one of my women's ministry leaders is on it, too, so we thought it was important to go support them on their sendoff!

After they got on the road to the airport, Ryan and I headed down to the church office so I could work for a little bit. Remember that printer/copier I selfied with this past week because I won all the battles in a single day? It showed me who was boss on Friday. It just said no and shut down completely. Red screen of death. I had to call the company, and they had to send a repair guy, and the whole thing was out of commission the entire day. The repair guy walked out the door one minute before the office closed on Friday. Normally I would have stayed to finish working, but I needed to get home to see Ryan for a bit before I had to be at craft night. So I worked on Saturday instead! Yesterday was a big newsletter distribution day at church, and none of them had been copied yet. So we got all that done, and I didn't take a single picture of it because it wasn't part of the day of fun. ;)

Our next stop was breakfast, which is one of our favorite things to do whenever we have a Saturday off together. This time we decided to try a little local place that we've been to before, but we hadn't been back since new management took over. OH my goodness. We like the new management very much. Or at least their cooking. I guess we didn't actually meet them. Ryan got this omelet that was filled with biscuits and gravy and covered with gravy. It was Heaven on a plate for him. I got a mini omelet (with no biscuits or gravy) and we both thought it was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had.

Oh! Yeah. And I didn't do my hair on Saturday, either. So just overlook that, if you would, please. If you'd gotten up when I did, you wouldn't have done your hair either.

We came home, put on our DVR'd shows and I got busy scrapbooking. Ryan got busy on an assembly project. Oh yes. Project time has returned to Shafferland. We will be doing some updates in our guest bath, and that includes a new vanity. (The one in there currently is just the standard plain one that came with the house when it was built.) We picked up the new one at IKEA  last weekend before we came home from our Valentine's date. Ryan loves a good assembly project, so we both had our respective perfect days. And we enjoyed all kinds of conversation amid the TV watching and project progression.

Phoebe also came to spend the day with us while her people went to a wedding, so you'll see her in some of these pictures.

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL, so we took advantage of the weather and went on a long walk with Pheebs.

We had to take a trip to Lowe's, too, which worked out, since they're pet friendly. She was super popular in there. Everyone wanted to pet her!

She ended up spending the night, so after we got home from Lowe's, we were all big old couch potatoes until bedtime.

We love having her, and we loved having a day together! Let's have more low-key days together!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Last week of February, coming right up! AND it's leap year! How strange is it to have a February with five Saturdays?? We're doing better here in Shafferland. The germs are on their way out, and we are grateful.

* Last Sunday was a quarantine day for us. I thought maybe a whole day at home would do me some good and allow me to be able to work the full week, so I stayed put. Ryan ran out and got sustenance for us, and Braeya distanced herself on the sun porch. Even though I was down for the count, I sure appreciated the sunshine!

* And the sunshine continued into Monday! We had a GORGEOUS fiery sunrise that made it a lovely start to the day! Ryan surprised me by coming to have lunch with me - took me out to Subway, even! (I told him he'd get extra points for that after spending Friday night and all day Saturday in Indianapolis with me and all day Sunday taking care of me!) Monday night I had a women's leadership team meeting, and we had a great time together. This group is SO creative, and I love hearing their ideas!

* After a lousy night of sleep (partly thanks to a vocal four-legged member of the family), SOMEONE spent my entire getting-ready time on Tuesday sleeping right in front of my face, all cozy in the middle of the bed. Oh, Braeya Jo. I felt positively awful on Tuesday (no fever...just a full head that made me feel foggy) but my backup had taken the day off, so I reported for duty. I was there over two hours before I realized I had Ryan's coffee cup. Like I said. Out of it. I crashed on the couch that night - next to someone else who was still napping hard.

* One of the groups that met at church on Wednesday had leftover coffee, so they dropped the carafe off for me to enjoy the extra. My day was actually great (and I felt SO much better) but with that thing sitting on my desk, I kind of looked like I was having a day. Actually, part of the reason my day was so great was because I won every single fight the copier started with me that day. It was so monumental, I had to document it! That night I helped Ryan with taxes. I am profoundly grateful for all the hard work he puts in on taxes, but the couple of hours I have to do my part make me palpitate!

* I really started to feel human again on Thursday. I did laundry, I met with a friend for lunch...I even cooked a whole meal! (And ate extra veggies.) Ryan brought home Valentines from the gym...they had an exchange there like back in the days of school. Somehow I even ended up with one, even though I don't go there! Bonus!! Ended the night with a manicure and chalked it up to my most productive day in a long time!

* When I arrived at work on Friday, I found a wreath in the office - a prototype for an upcoming women's ministry project. It's so pretty!! That evening I went to a women's craft night at church. Everyone brought her own project to work on. There were some really beautiful pieces being made in that room! (And I was scrapbooking. Because it's what I do.) Ryan did his own version of craft night while I was gone: visited all the home improvement stores and researched projects. LOL!

* Yesterday was long and full and fun! We got up super early and went to the church to pray with a team of people headed out on a mission trip. Then I had to work for a little bit (copier died on Friday and didn't get fixed until quitting time so I had to stay to copy some things) and we went out to breakfast! Ryan got a biscuit and gravy omelet that was basically life-changing for him. We came home and he worked on a project while I scrapbooked, and THEN Phoebe came to visit! We had the best day with her!

The Saturday Six

One.

I confess that I have not tried this recipe, but it does look really scrumptious to me. Air fried pickles? Does that count as dinner? We did make a blooming onion in the air fryer last year and really liked it! This has to be fairly similar, right?

Two. 

This was an interesting post about what the blogger would and would not choose to purchase/do in her home if she had it to do all over again. (It actually inspired yesterday's post about things we have done to our house that I've loved. So far I can't really think of anything we've done that I've hated.) How about you? Any great (or poor) decisions in your home styling?

Three.

If you need some ideas for a spring capsule wardrobe (yes, those really are still a thing!), here's a post with some inspiration for you! (In addition to being ready for spring temps, I'm ready for spring clothes!)

Four.

I'm all for tiny living, but this might even be too tiny for me. (And I'm not sure driving from Alaska to Argentina is for me...)

Five.

This post is a few years old, so I don't know if all the pricing information is still accurate, but I'm sharing it anyway. Ryan and I haven't yet been to the Ark Encounter, but I hope to get there eventually! This post has some tips for getting the most out of a visit!

Six.

I haven't tried this, but it intrigues me SO MUCH. Spend a few hours making freezer meals to carry us through a month? You have my attention! Here is the link to the fascinating story of how the blogger did it, and in the comments, you can find a link to the recipes and plan.

The Best Decisions We Made With Our House

I read a post this week (which is already nestled in the Saturday Six for tomorrow, so I'll link to it there) that inspired this post! The writer recounted the best (and worst) decisions she and her husband made when building their home, and it made me think about some of the decisions we've made with our house!

When Ryan and I were first married, we had grand dreams of one day building our own house. We picked out floor plans and dreamed up all sorts of ideas of making that place absolutely ours. Ultimately, it wasn't meant to be for us. God kept closing all the doors, so we left that dream behind and decided to purchase an already-built home instead.

My mom teased us that we were the only people she knew who bought a move-in ready house and spent a year redoing most of it. She was kidding-not-kidding.

We've been here almost four years now (WHAT?!) and I still love the decisions we made in updating our house to make it our home. We may stay here forever or we may move one day. Either way, we've made our updating choices to impact our life, not our potential resale value.

Here are my top five favorite changes we've made!

1. Opening up the space between the kitchen and living room.

Not everyone loves an open floor plan, but we do. When we first walked through the house back in 2016, the biggest drawback to it (in our opinion) was the wall between the kitchen and the living room. It didn't go all the way to the cathedral ceiling, so it wasn't load-bearing, but it blocked out all kinds of light and the ability to converse easily. Ryan declared on the spot that if we bought this house, that wall was coming down. And it did - within 24 hours of gaining possession of the house.

We love being able to talk between the rooms, and the amount of light that flows through the house now is amazing in comparison to what it had been! Because of the layout of the kitchen, it really is still a separate room from the living space, but it's so much more efficient the way it is.

Bonus good decision: making this change before moving in. I was so eager to move that I asked Ryan if we could wait a year to remodel anything. He convinced me that this was a messy enough renovation that it would be better to do it before we moved in all our stuff. And he was so right. I would have really hated that obstructed year.

2. Finishing off the garage.

One of the compromises we made with this house was forfeiting a dining room. We have an eat-in kitchen, but no dining space. We thought it would be okay, because our old house did have a dining room and we never used it. But our life in this house and city is much different, and we do more entertaining here. Since we can't fit many people in the kitchen, Ryan came up with the idea of finishing our garage to be able to use it as an extension of the house.

We did a floor-finishing treatment (made for garages), had whole thing insulated and drywalled, and finished out the ceiling, too. We painted the walls, and when we need a large space, we just move the cars, clean the floor, and set up our tables. We've hosted parties, holidays, craft nights, and more out there in the garage. With enough advance preparation, we can balance out the temperature pretty well - even in the summer and winter!

3. Adding a stone feature wall.

It was an idea I saw on Pinterest before we moved, and I wasn't sure Ryan would like it. But he did! After he took down the wall between the kitchen and living room, he worked for several weeks to turn that wall into a beautiful stone feature that gives so much personality to the house! He liked it so much that he carried it into the kitchen, too, using the same materials for our backsplash. We get so many compliments on that stone, and I love the texture it brings to the house!

4. Refinishing the cabinets in espresso.

When we moved in, the house had builder grade oak cabinets with really old-fashioned handles and pulls. We did the quick-fix immediately: change the pulls and handles to something more modern. But a couple of years after we moved in, Ryan found a kit for refinishing existing cabinets at a very affordable cost. (The cabinets themselves were in GREAT shape, so it was silly to tear them down.) We chose espresso for the color, since that seemed to fit our coffee personalities so beautifully.

We love those cabinets. They contrast with the floor now, bring more personality to the kitchen, and look a million times better than they did!

5. Adding a sun room.

This was our most recent addition. and we still love it. Our back patio was really not usable as it was...very poorly designed. It was surrounded by a privacy fence, which sounds nice, but the truth was, we couldn't see anything out the back of our house because of the fence. We were able to save up for a sun porch and transform that area into something we can use and enjoy every single day.

We love being able to sit out there in almost any season. (It does get a little toasty on the hottest days and chilly on the coldest, but for the most part, we can use it.) We love feeling like our house is bigger even when the door is closed - just because we can see another room out there beyond the glass. We love being able to sit on the porch even if it's raining or super buggy.

***

So there you have it! Some of our favorite changes and upgrades. How about you! Have you made changes to your house that you are so glad you decided to make?