The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy September, happy Sunday, and happy 69th monthiversary to my handsome husband! :) It's quite a little day and weekend, isn't it?

* We celebrated last Sunday too...a birthday party for our nephew! Ryan's brother and his wife always throw great parties for their kids, and this one was no exception. Superhero themed, fantastic cake, fun games...it was fun! I was on picture duty and the kiddos gave me lots of great fodder. Not hard to do at all!

* I tried some new recipes on Monday, which were delicious, and one of them called for caramelized onions. I'd never done that before, and they turned out deeeeeeeeeeeelish! Ryan went to the gym that day, so I worked out at home and would like the record to show that I made it all the way through the 30 minute video without stopping. (In this circuit of workouts, I have to write down when I have to pause each time. And for the first time, I didn't pause!) When not cooking or sweating through a workout, I was busy in the office, prepping for a big writing day.

* Tuesday was the day I finally got the inspiration for all my devos that are due, and I was so happy to have them written. Thank you, God! When I was done writing, I met up with my friend Joyce, who is co-presenting with me at our church's conference next month. We worked on brainstorming our session! Then I went to the eye doctor and got a happy report from him! Ryan also had a coffee meeting that night - with one of his friends. It's so weird to both of us to go out separately for coffee, so the fact we both did it on the same day was REALLY weird.

* Ryan's mom and sister came over for lunch on Wednesday. We don't often have lunchtime company on a weekday, but they were both in town, so we invited them over, and it was such fun! Braeya ran for her life when they arrived (because they are so scary, you know) and literally the moment I shut the door behind them, she sauntered out from under the bed, crawled up behind me on the couch and resumed being queen of the castle. Oh, that girl. I made another new recipe that night - lots of peppers and onions. I felt so fancy and home-ec-y.

* Thursday was my dental checkup. First time I've gone six whole months between appointments since my oral surgery a few years ago. I feared bad news or a lecture, but I got all the thumbs up! I felt that deserved a coffee on the way home, so I stopped at one of the little shops we'd visited on a county tour earlier this year and got a delicious latte. I also got to see my friend Sheryl on the way home. We had lunch together! Hadn't seen her in almost two years and that was too long. It was so nice out Wednesday night that we ate our dinner on the porch and watched TV on Ryan's laptop. :) Livin' the dream, right?

* Friday...ohhhhh Friday. Ryan and I had our wellness checkups first thing in the morning, and boy did we garner some podcast fodder for you there! Tune in on Tuesday! On the way home, we stopped for our Starbucks rewards. (That was how Ryan bribed me to go in the first place. I'm such a toddler.) When I dragged our trash can back to its corner, I found this really pretty rose on the bush. I found it before the beetles did, so I thought I better take a picture!! :) And we rounded out our Friday by helping out a friend! Well. Ryan helped. I supervised. He did some caulking above a garage door. (No idea why no one thought to ask me for that project! HA!)

* Ryan had to work yesterday, so I worked too! :) I taught my fourth class at the Marion Public library, and when I got back home, I took some senior pictures for a friend. (I have never done that before and made SURE she knew I'm not a professional at all.) Ryan and I did a bunch of errands and chores last night, and look what we got! A new grill! Ryan's died at the very beginning of the summer, so he wasn't able to grill at all this season. We've had our eye on one and it finally hit a big enough sale that we could get it! And on the way home, we stopped at a coffee shop for fresh brew, and they had a little beehive in there! How fun was that!!

So that was our week! We're excited for today and the chance to celebrate these months of marriage and life together!