Happy Thanksgiving/A Little Christmas Shopping

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!

I'm not going to presume that just because a day has been declared the day of thankfulness that all of you are swelling with profuse thanks today. I've had some years when I would have dearly welcomed a one-day hibernation until this day passed. It was too hard to pretend to be all happy and thankful when life was hard, and I don't even like Thanksgiving food, to boot!

So if today is that day for you, if your heart is heavy for whatever reason, I send a little bloggery hug your way today. It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to struggle to be thankful. It's okay to know you have a million things you should be thankful for, but somehow you can only focus on what brings hurt.

But can I encourage you to find a moment sometime today when you sit until you think of one thing you are thankful for? Genuinely, legitimately thankful for? And then give thanks. It may not change everything, but it might just bring a measure of joy that you hadn't known was still inside you.

I know I told you this last week, but it bears repeating: I am thankful for all of you. You travel this way {some of you every day} to check in on the latest in our world. You love us. You encourage us. You welcome us into your lives with your comments or your own blogs, and I am thankful for you.

Someone else I'm thankful for on this day is the guy who has come to make an annual Christmas shopping trip way more fun than it should be. {Also...every day. He makes every day more fun than it should be.}

But anyway, yes, we did our Christmas shopping last Saturday. We awakened to the first snow flurries of the year, which seemed very appropriate for a Christmas shopping day. It was actually a pretty miserable weather day for driving around and running through parking lots and hauling packages, but that didn't seem to stop the greater population of Indiana from venturing forth to all the stores.

We started with a breakfast date, because everyone knows you can't shop on an empty stomach:

We concluded we looked terrible. TERRIBLE. But then again, it was early.

I was a bit ridiculous with my organization. I had made out lists of everyone we needed to shop for, and I had the whole thing sticky-noted and color coded and hole-punched! I took some ribbing from fellow customers and workers alike, but I stand by my system!

Ryan takes his shopping seriously:

We knocked out a lot of our list that morning {those stories are on the podcast if you missed it}, and then we stopped for a little lunch and blew back to our car:

You should have seen Ryan's hair.

We did more shopping, and at the end of our push/shove through an overcrowded Costco, I told Ryan I just needed a cookie. JUST GET ME A COOKIE.

{Also: somebody get me some lipstick!}

We had the best little date in the back corner of the Panera. Fresh brew and a snacklet.

I was thankful for the cookie, too, by the way.

Ryan, thanks for a fun day out, for dropping me off/picking me up at the doors and carrying the bags. You are a great shopping partner! :)

And thanks for all you do every day. I am so thankful for you! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

* I think we tried ALL the seasons this week, starting with our first real, beautiful frost last Sunday morning. Ryan took pictures of it all on his own! {A thousand husbandly points!} We got our first red cups of the season, and I replaced all the pictures in our living room wall collage, using the new ones we had taken this fall. Add about 29 pages of scrapping to that and it was a full Sunday!

* Monday was the same busy day Monday always is, but I had the added bonus of a whole new crop of Hallmark Christmas movies to watch, because I remembered there are TWO Hallmark channels! WOO HOO!!!!! In the afternoon, I had a fun treat: my friend Elisa came all the way from Fort Wayne to visit me and see our new house! Loved that! :) And that night, we saw the first of this week's spectacular moon viewing!

* Just as I was about to fix lunch on Tuesday, Ryan texted and asked if I was up for a lunch out at Wendy's. Don't have to twist my arm! I'll take a surprise, impromptu lunch date! :) We had Bible study that night and ran some errands while we were out, which included a trip to Lowe's...should we get this TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLAR lawn ornament?? And that night we contacted Fitbit about replacing mine...because I didn't think the taped together version would hold much longer. They were so great about replacing it!

* You already read about  my "interesting" Wednesday, when Starbucks was out of all the drinks I wanted, I almost put diesel in the car, and all kinds of crazy things happened. BUT! It was also the day all our Christmas cards arrived in the mail! YAY!! I am excited: ready to start addressing! Ryan found the latest update on Sonic when he was out and about, and he even pitched in to help work on the office wreath by being the official spray-painter! What a good work sport he is!

* After 2 days of working on website creation, I needed movies and naps! My brain was so tired by the end of Thursday, I couldn't think at all. Ryan came home from work and did what we hope is the final mowing for this year, and I went for a run/walk to clear my head. Gorgeous sunset and PERFECT running weather!

* Friday night, we had a first here in Shafferland: craft night hosted in the garage! It was sort of a random last-minute idea, but I invited a handful of girls over (most were Ryan's co-workers) to just have fun. Bring a snack, bring a craft, and come hang out for the evening! LITERALLY in the hour they arrived, the weather switched to winter, and we had a sudden temperature drop and horrible thunderstorms with tons of wind and rain, but we were cozy and warm little crafters in the garage!

* And yesterday, Ryan and I spent the entire day together - Christmas shopping! Yes, it's true! He had a day off work, so we headed to Indianapolis to shop and enjoy a whole day of fun {in the wind, rain and snow} together! We also had dinner at his cousins' house, which was a fun way to end the day! The only one unhappy was Braeya, who did not approve of our absence!

The Shafferland Shuffle

(Before we start peeking at the week, I wanted to let you know that the Ann Voskamp giveaway pack goes toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo: ASHLEY FEEMSTER!!!! I will email you, Ashley! Congratulations!)

* You would think that last Sunday would have been the happiest day of the year for me, what with the time change and all...but man, was I ever in a weird funk all day. I was not a fan!!! The day started well, though, with a leisurely breakfast together and church. We went to lunch with some people from the church we've been attending {which I think we can safely officially call "our new church} and that was fun! I love making new friends! It was such a pretty day that we took a walk that afternoon and wrapped up the night with podcasting!

* Monday was an equally lovely day. I am still reveling in all the beautiful, natural light we get in our house! :) Ryan had to run some errands after work, so I asked him to stop and get TP for us...and apparently he is expecting a digestive catastrophe to hit our house! :) He had to go back to work late at night to finish his notes, so I went with him and walked on the treadmill and watched Hallmark movies while he worked.

* Tuesday was election day, and since we'd already voted, it was just a Tuesday for us. We chose to spend our evening together with friends, hosting a Tuesdays at the Table taco night, and it was such fun. I'm thankful for chances to welcome people into our home. It is my happy place. After they left, we had to run to the store for butter so I could make a dessert for a carry-in at Ryan's work the next day, and I learned that apples sure look different from what they used to! LOL!

* Wednesday was writing day, and I had no intentions of leaving my jammies OR my laptop all day. And it worked that way until late afternoon when I found out we needed to go to a viewing that night. Whoopsie. I threw on blingy jewelry, tried to rock the pony, and hoped it would pass the test. And I was so emotionally spent from writing that when we got home, Ryan took over assembling our dinner, and I do believe it tasted even better because he did it.

* Thursday I baked pumpkin snickerdoodles for my friend Sheryl's birthday, and then that night, Ryan and I had a midweek date at a fancy dinner. I'll tell you more about it next week, but I borrowed a dress and Ryan pulled the full suit and tie out of the garment bag, and we had a great time at our dinner!

* Friday, Ryan was so busy at work that he didn't have time to come home for lunch, so I took lunch to him! We ordered a pizza that night, waited the appropriate time, went to get it, and found out the place was so behind, the pizza had just gone into the oven. So we came home, waited some more and went back. Ask me how excited I was to (literally) hang out in a dark alley while Ryan went in to wait for the pizza!! EEK!! Must have been a good pizza. He and Braeya both conked right out after dinner!

* Yesterday was CRAZY!! Started out early with  a trip to Sam's Club for a Christmas present. We had no idea it was like their Black Friday, and when we arrived 15 minutes before they opened, the line was already down to the end of the building. WHAT?!?!?? Ryan worked most of the day and then we had lots of errands to run, including a trip to see our dear Phoebe AND a birthday party for one of our friends. WHEW!

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!  

 

Christmas Shopping Palooza!

This past Saturday, we had a rarity in Shafferland: a Saturday off work with no plans. Gasp!! So we took advantage of the moment and planned a Christmas shopping extravaganza. We wanted to try to knock out as much of the shopping in one day as we possibly could.

Ryan is a blast the shop with...so I really looked forward to the day! We slept in a little and made breakfast at home. While we ate, we worked on our plan for the day, and then we headed out to shop!

Ryan thought we needed this:

I thought we needed these:

But then...we remembered we were there to shop for OTHERS and not for OURSELVES.

So with our point of view freshly realigned, we began to think of those we loved:

To those of you receiving this one this year, you're welcome.

After working hard on our shopping, and knocking a lot of it out of the way, we hit one of my favorites for lunch: Burger King! I love that place.

Yeah, I was wearing my Christmas shirt. The bottom says "I Really Tried." LOL!!!

We took a break in the afternoon to watch a movie. This one was Ryan's choice, but I admit to getting some good laughs!!

I admit, though, my most favorite laugh was this one. Ryan matched the theater seats! I was dating a head and pair of hands!

In the end, we didn't have the place to ourselves, but there were probably less than 20 people in there, so it was very lovely.

After the movie...a little more shopping and a little more fun!

We did our grocery shopping, got a pizza, and came home to rest and watch a movie on TV.

I loved the proof that we could have a fun, all-day date that didn't cost too much! {Shopping excluded.} We never left town, ate fast food, went to a matinee movie, and still had the time of our lives!