What's Up Wednesday

If you're a regular participant in the What's Up Wednesday posts, then you know that I'm all out of kilter. The hosts for that link-up do it on the last Wednesday of the month, I believe, and this is definitely not the last week of January. But it's a busy week around here, and I needed a little something fun for today, so I'm early to the party (that I hardly even attend, usually).

1. What we're eating this week.

This is a strange, strange week in Shafferland eating. Lots of just plain meat and veggie meals, because I am busy almost every single night and don't have time to cook proper meals. This is the first time we've encountered a week quite like this since I went back to work, so it is different for us, but we'll be just fine! I am throwing in a pot of chili later in the week, just to mix it up. And I guess we did have tacos, so it wasn't a total cooking fail. We've also enjoyed a couple of pieces of mouth-watering Texas Sheet Cake that one of Ryan's co-workers made. I won't lie; I could have eaten the entire pan.

2. What I'm reminiscing about.

Christmas. But only because I'm scrapbooking. I found out this past Saturday that Picaboo is running a free-extra-pages sale until next Monday. I have two books completely done and ready to order. I have two more I would like to finish between now and then so I can cash in on the best sale they run. So right now I'm barreling through the busiest photo month of the year, trying to knock out that final quarter of 2019 for one of the two books. (I would be much closer to being done if I hadn't taken a three hour nap on Sunday.)

3. What I'm loving. 

My new haircut! As I mentioned in the Shuffle post on Sunday, my hair was so long and thick that it was taking me 30-45 minutes to dry and straighten it. I don't have that much time in the mornings just for hair! So I'm excited for the shorter, healthier version of my tresses!

4. What we've been up to.

Finding our new year's routine! We're getting back to much more consistent clean eating, workouts every day, new Bible studies, prepping for the return of our small group, and figuring out how our days run most smoothly now that I'm back at work. We've had to make a lot of adjustments on who does what at home so we can get everything completed without either one of us utterly burning out.

5. What I'm dreading.

I'm not gonna lie: my 5K tonight. I made a goal to run one every single Wednesday, and the first three have been BEASTS. The last one was a crazy uphill mental battle, and I don't imagine I've improved in the last week. Hopefully tonight will go well, but I'm a bit scared!

6. What I'm working on.

Two talks for speaking engagements. Ryan and I are speaking together next month at a Valentine banquet and I still have a lot of work to do on that talk. I'm speaking at a women's retreat in March, and though the bulk of the work is done on the talks themselves, I need to finish up discussion question lists for them.

7. What I'm excited about.

Our church's new season! As I told you yesterday, our new pastor is here and working, and we are all filled with much hope and joy to have him after so many months of being without a pastor. I have no idea what is ahead for us, but it's so refreshing to feel the air of excitement!

8. What I'm watching/reading.

I had hoped to squeeze in a second book this month, but with the talk prep and the scrapbooking, it's probably not going to happen. So I read The Gray Chamber by Grace Hitchcock earlier this month and really enjoyed that! We are behind on almost all the shows, but Manifest...New Amsterdam...Undercover Boss...

9. What I'm listening to.

I discovered that the office can be a very quiet place if the furnace shuts off for a while. (ha!) I've actually been listening to my former work buddies from the station! It's like old times again!

10. What I'm wearing.

I didn't have a lot of work appropriate clothes when I took the job. When you've lived in jeans/yoga pants and graphic tees for four years, going back to work is kind of a closet shock! I was very fortunate that my shopping-loving sister retired from her job and had a closet full of clothes she didn't need anymore, because she is knee deep in a yoga pants and graphic tee season of her own! She sent two big bags of clothes for me, and I've had fun trying them out!

11. What I'm doing this weekend.

Scrapbooking. See point #2.

12. What I'm looking forward to next month.

Valentine's Day! I have no idea what we're going to do, but I do love a good date!

13. What else is new?

For some weird reason, our house is super dry lately. We've lived here almost four years and have never noticed this as a major issue before, but we've been waking up with dry noses and sore throats. So we bought a humidifier! It's so cute and little - and I'm just hoping it doesn't end up making my hair all tropical in size.