Sunday Sentiments: It's the Little Things

 

Yesterday was a writing day for me. I hunkered down and worked hard to knock out some projects that were on a deadline, and it brought me MUCH joy. Also wrapped up in the joy? A whole sunny day! We’ve had some stunning sunsets around here lately, but each one has shown up at the conclusion of a rainy, gray day. To have a whole day of bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds was kind of amazing.

            Ryan was working on other projects all day, so when I finished the writing that had to be done, I turned my attention to a little project that’s been awaiting my time for the past 8 or so years. (As my sister said, “What’s your hurry?” Ha! Exactly!)

            My office bookcase holds a shelf of three-ring binders that contain everything from some studies I’ve written to book manuscripts to notes from Bible classes to recipes and probably half a dozen other things, too. I’ve tossed binder after binder onto the shelf, pulling from whatever random assortment Ryan and I have collected over the years. Some had pretty labels and others had none. Most had good, old-fashioned label-maker tape down the spine to identify the contents. Some of the binders were falling apart, others were new, and it all looked…messy.

            So yesterday afternoon, I pulled some Canva tabs on my laptop, created matching covers and spines for each binder, and heated up the laminator to make the sheets extra sturdy. I consolidated some materials, I threw away the things we truly don’t need, and I had a binder beautification project right there on the office floor.

            At the end of the afternoon, I set aside the non-matching binders to go in our rummage sale, stood back, and nearly cried with joy at my beautiful, matching binders.

            Going through each one reminded me of some projects I have started and could (should?) revisit to completion. They reminded me of hard work I’ve done over the years. They’ve reminded me of studies I need to complete.

            They’re an important piece of that little office space of mine. They’re the hub of my creativity, and now they look gorgeous.

            It’s the little things. It’s a day at home to write and a few hours set aside to knock out a project that’s been far too long in the making. I loved every moment.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Good morning, friends! This has been a harried week in our household, so I am not sure any of the pieces of today’s post flow with any particular grace, but I hope you enjoy them anyway! Have a wonderful weekend!

ONE. 

When I shared my monthly goals with you this past Monday, one of them included finalizing my garden and flower planting plans for this year. I happened upon thiswebsite through a blog hop this week and paused to consider planting wildflowers from seed. I’ve never done this before at any of our homes, but there are some areas here where I think it could work really well! I will have to give this some thought. Any of you plant wildflowers like this?

TWO. 

Tuesday I told you all about our Easter lunch, and I wanted to give you the links to some of the recipes we used! I made our ham in the slow cooker, not the oven, but I used this recipe for the glaze. Ryan LOVED IT. We have been using it for leftovers off and on throughout the week and will still have some to freeze and use later! I used this recipe for a healthier version of deviled eggs. They weren’t incredibly sweet, but I liked them. (And I liked them more and more a couple of days later after the flavors had married more.) We love Marie Calender’s razzleberry pie, but I made this healthierrazzleberry crisp version for our dessert. I loved it more than Ryan did. It wasn’t sweet enough for him. (He just added sugar and ate it anyway.) But I would 100% make this again. Keeper!

THREE. 

You know I love a good memory-making opportunity, and I especially love it when those opportunities center around food in some way. I’m happy that we have found a handful of ways to preserve some recipes from our family. Ryan and I have a handwritten recipe card from each of our moms that I’ve framed and hung in our kitchen. A few years ago, my mom, sisters, niece, and I all made copies of recipes (handwritten) to have in a book that we each have a copy of, and I love it. If you are looking for some ways to hang onto recipes, handwriting, and food memories, this post has some great ideas. It’s a meaningful thing to do – for a gift, or just in general!

FOUR. 

My favorite planner company just released its new covers for undated planners and journals. (I tend to buy mine on clearance in the winter, but I always love seeing the new covers when they release.) They have a 20% off sale for a few days, so if you need a new planner, check them out! PS – I am working on putting together a post about how I use my planner.

FIVE. 

I adored scrolling through thesecottagecore kitchens. I don’t know that any one is my dream kitchen, but elements of almost all of them are sweet Do you like any of these looks? I think the hardest part for me (if I were going to go full cottagecore) would be letting go of the matching look. But what I love most about these rooms? They are rich in story!

SIX. 

I might be sharing thisone more for Ryan than anyone else…hint hint. Remember how I mentioned one of my goals for this month was to work on our coffee station? Well…here is a GREAT inspiration for it, because I was planning to use the Hoosier cabinet we have as the base for the station! What do you think, Ryan?

            Here are this week’s capsule offerings:

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Monday, April 01, 2024

Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Wednesday, April 03, 2024

Thursday, April 04, 2024

Friday, April 05, 2024

Flashback Friday: Writing Your Story One Week at a Time

 

Today’s Flashback Friday post is a little bit different. Rather than giving you an idea of something you should write about, I want to remind you of why it matters.

            This week I went through a stack of pictures my Mom had uncovered and saved for me to look through. (Family historian for the win, right?) I had seen some of them before but others were new to me, and I had the best time sorting through them. I saw pictures of people I hadn’t seen in years, and I saw pictures of people who looked so different from the way I remembered them in their later years.

            I saw pictures of myself from interesting hair eras and got some good laughs out of that. (Showed them to Ryan and thanked him for falling in love with me…eventually.)

            As I sorted through them, I started to remember specific things about the moments represented in the pictures. Seeing the details brought back memories of things not even pictured, and I enjoyed thinking about them.

            The pictures tell a story, and I’m so glad she kept them. Even though the story of the event wasn’t written, the collection of pictures told me about the day.

            Our pictures tell our stories. They preserve our stories. It’s easy to want to push pictures away because we don’t like who we were or how we looked, but all of those pieces and parts of our lives matter, because they made us who we are today. Do I want to go back to being the girl I was in those pictures? Not a chance. But do I appreciate the person she was and the person she grew into? Absolutely.

            So I encourage you to keep the pictures and keep the stories. They matter. You matter.

A Day on the Road

 

Each month I share a “Day in the Life” post to try to chronicle what our days look like, even though no two days look alike. Today I’m not sharing an official DITL post, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into what a travel day looks like for me!

            Yesterday I had a meeting in Columbus (Ohio) for work, and I kept a mini-journal of what the day was like.

            Travel days mean packing the night before and getting up extra early to be in the car on time! I had to get up, shower, finish packing my bag, make my protein shake, and put myself together for my day out. Ryan was a huge help – carrying all the bags to the car, making my travel coffee, warming up the car (hello winter-in-spring), and peeling Cutie oranges in case I needed a snack on my drive. He really is the best.

            My drive was blissfully uneventful. It takes me about two hours to get there, and today the roads were clear and the weather gave me a little bit of everything between here and there. I spent the entire drive praying, and it was wonderful.

            The purpose of the trip was to participate in a planning day with my work team. There are about 30 of us who work on this team, and it’s always fun to see them. Since the majority of us work remotely, the planning days are our only chance to spend time together and get to know one another more. We shared things we’re learning, played icebreaker games, and had a baby shower for a couple of the team members who are expecting baby girls soon.

            We did a lot of brainstorming and working through questions, they gave out some awards, and we even got a really delicious lunch from Bibibop, which serves Asian bowls. I’d never had it before, and it was yummy!

            The only bad part of the day? No afternoon coffee! I was dragging by the end of the day, so before I headed home, I stopped at this cute little coffee shop nearby that I’ve come to love. They had me back in business in about two minutes flat.

            I started my two hour trek home about 4 p.m. but I stopped along the way to do our weekly grocery shopping. I told Ryan I have no idea why it seems like every time I stop at the grocery on my way home from Columbus, it’s bitterly cold outside. Brrrrr!!!

            When I got home a little after 8 p.m., Ryan had cooked our dinner and put mine on a plate, warmed it up, and covered it. He really is the best.

            It was a long day, but I was thankful for safety on the road and a chance to see my friends!

            And that’s what a travel day looks like (roughly speaking).

Celebrating 136 Months of Love

 

            136 months ago, Ryan and I stood on a beach in fancy clothes and promised to spend our lives together. 136 months later, we looked a little less fancy, the weather was far less desirable, and our schedule was much busier, but the love? Same. Better, even.

            The weather around here ranged from foggy to rainy to stormy to sunny. A true Indiana day: wait five minutes and it will change!

            Ryan and I were both off work Monday, so both of us had busy, busy days when we returned to the office yesterday. We tried to squeeze in phone calls and texts whenever we could, but we really didn’t get to talk much throughout the day.

            BUT! We were able to work out together after work. Boot camp was a small crowd this week, so we just talked and had fun all the way through the class.

            I arranged for a little treat for us after dinner. (We had leftovers at home.) There is a little shop called the White Cottage Candy Shoppe. Right about this time last year, it was a local restaurant and we went there for one of our monthiversary dinners. A few months ago, a new owner bought it and converted it into a candy shop and bakery – and yesterday was my first time to go inside. It is cute as a little button!

            I chose her famous chocolate eclairs and cannot begin to tell you how absolutely delicious it was. Everything about it was perfect: the dough, the custard, the ganache. My mouth is watering just telling you about it!

            We took it easy for the rest of the evening, watched some TV, and talked about our days.

            Was it an earth-shattering day? Nope. But was it a good day? Absolutely. Thank you, Ryan, for 136 months of grand and ordinary days.

Holiday Happenings: Easter in Shafferland

 

Today Ryan and I celebrate 136 months of marriage! Ryan, I love you so much! Thank you for being the rock you have been over the busyness of the last several weeks. I don’t know what I would have done without you.

            While we are busy celebrating, I’ll tell you about our Easter Sunday!

            We went to church early to help with the baptism service. I always love baptism services, even if I don’t always know everyone being baptized. Hearing their testimonies and witnessing their enthusiasm is encouraging to my heart.

            After that service, but before church, we went to the fellowship time. And then – it was time for church! Ryan was on the worship team, and I loved seeing him enjoy that opportunity.

            The service was so good, and we got our annual photo together before we came home.

            We were home for Easter lunch this year. I made ham, glazed carrots, homemade bread, deviled eggs, and we had razzleberry crisp for dessert!

            We also exchanged Easter baskets. I was so excited to give Ryan his basket…I got him a raft for the lake this summer, some candy, and Scooby Snacks – which he recently discovered he loves.

            He gave me the Bible I picked out to use when I’m speaking. I was so excited!

            We took Lexi for a walk that afternoon, and I made a skillet taco meal for dinner.

            The day was full and busy in its own way, but it was also wonderful and restful!

            I hope your day was equally restful.

Dreams and Goals for April 2024

 

Good morning, friends, and welcome to a brand new month! In some ways, I’ve been crawling toward welcoming this month with the hope of some slowness returning to our lives, and in other ways, this month has absolutely crept up on me without warning! Do I even know what goals I want to make this month? I have cobbled some together, and we’ll see how many I add along the way, once I get to know this month a little better.

            But for now, here are the things on my radar:

            ONE. Celebrate Ryan’s birthday! He kicks off birthday celebration season (three of the four of us in this house have spring birthdays) and I am so excited to celebrate him. I’m not sure yet what we are going to do, but I’m looking forward to it! I know that!

            TWO. Finalize my garden/flower planting ideas. It won’t be time to make actual purchases this month yet, because it’s still too cold, but I need to make my final determinations on what I want to plant in our garden and planters.

            THREE. Work on writing and speaking. Yes, this is a goal every single month. I have two (possibly three) events this month and while I’m ready for some, I’m not ready for others yet. I am setting aside some evenings to work on this exclusively!

            FOUR. Work on my little coffee bar idea. In this spirit of re-seeing our spaces, I have an idea to rearrange some of our coffee things – specifically the parts that are related to our latte-making. We have aspirations of doing a better job of making lattes at home, so we need to rearrange our areas where we keep all our supplies. I have a vision in my head. We’ll see if I have time to make it come true!

            FIVE. Do some organizing. You know how nearly every house has a junk drawer? Well, we do a pretty good job of not having one of those, but we do have some little projects that feel like a version of a junk drawer. None of them would take long to organize. I just need to take the time. I always feel so much better after I organize. Here’s to making it happen.

            I better stop there. I’m not sure I have enough time in the month to make it all happen if I keep dreaming big!