What I Learned in July

Yes, I know there are still a couple days of July left, but tomorrow is Saturday Six day and Sunday will be Shafferland Shuffle day, so I'm coming to you today with the list of things I learned in the month of July!

1. My Fitbit can count steps while strapped to my shoe.

Early in the month, I switched up my exercise for the day and worked out on an exercise bike. My Fitbit wasn't registering the movement when it was on my wrist, which was very disconcerting, because if I planned to spend a half hour on a bike, I wanted something to show for it! Ryan suggested I attach it to my shoe and see if it would catch the pedaling motion. And what do you know? It worked!

2. A K-9 on the police force is considered an officer.

Source

Marion, where we used to live, had an armed robbery of a McDonald's earlier this month, and in the process of the whole sad, fatal debacle, a K-9 {the one in the photo above} bit the suspect, who then shot the dog in the leg. As I kept up with coverage of the whole thing, I learned that the suspect, when caught, could be prosecuted for shooting the dog the same as if he had shot one of the human officers. I did not know K-9s were considered officers on their own, apart from their handlers. {Probably the rest of you knew that one!} In the end, the suspect committed suicide and the K-9 made a full recovery, but the information was still news to me.

3. Drinking coffee alone is no fun.

Ryan's mom has told me on more than one occasion that she is jealous of our coffee dates. She loves coffee as much as we do {Ryan gets it honestly!} but her husband doesn't, so she has her morning, afternoon and evening coffee on her own. And she's mentioned many times that it's just not as fun. This month, Ryan got some weird flu bug that took him down for a couple of days, and part of being "down" meant no coffee. {I seriously thought he was going to die. When one of us declines coffee, that is SERIOUS. To decline it for two days straight...well...} After my second day of doing coffee on my own, I told him I finally understood what his mom meant. It really isn't as much fun to drink it alone. {It also apparently means that after you use the "Mrs." mug, your husband brings you the "Mr." one for the next round so you can evenly use the cups. HA!!!}

4. I want to grow herbs.

When we went to my cousin's graduation open house, she had little party favors for everyone, in the form of little potted herbs. She'd painted the pots and handwritten markers to stick down in the dirt, and I came home with rosemary, because it reminds me of my days working with Lynne. She always had rosemary on her desk. Having my own potted rosemary plant has made me want to own {and successfully keep alive} other herbs. It feels like a rite of passage I'm coming to wayyyyyyy too many years after I should have.


5. I think I need to take a LinkedIn for Dummies course.

I started a LinkedIn account last week, because a teleseminar I listened to not long ago recommended it for speakers. I fear that in its current state, it may make me look worse rather than better. I tend to be the sort of person who, on these kinds of social media sites, can navigate my way around and figure it out, but I think I accidentally sent requests to my entire address book and I know I keep stumbling back to the same pages with no actual progress. So if any of you have tips, EMAIL ME! I need help!

6. I love Christmas shopping in July!!

So many stores/shops/online retailers have run great sales this month and I have knocked out a significant amount of Christmas shopping over the last few weeks. I'm sorry that I'm just now getting to tell you about it...but hey! There are still two days left in this month, so maybe you can still find some great deals!