The Producer Era: A Look Back

To be perfectly honest with you, when I took the job as Mid-Morning producer four years ago, I really didn't entirely know what a producer did. I had been friends with Jamie, who did the job before me, and I knew a few things from her stories, but when people asked me...So...what does a producer do?...I had no idea.

It just so happened that right around that time, Oprah's network ran a series of specials that I don't even recall by name now, but they peeked behind the scenes at what made her show tick. It showed all the facets of what happened off-camera, so I sat down one Saturday and watched an entire marathon of this show.

Now.

I'm not entirely sure why I thought a day of Oprah behind the scenes would help me know the ropes of producing a Christian radio talk show, but it was the closest thing I had at the time, so I went for it. The first episode I watched chronicled the  arrival of one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood at that time. {I'm not trying to be all secretive and elusive by not giving you his name. I just don't remember who it was.} He was going to make this grand entrance, and the producer assigned to that show worked intently to get everything to work seamlessly.

By the way, when I say "grand entrance," I mean Oprah's show was on the road and they were taping outside and he was ziplining in or something crazy like that. And when the cameras rolled, something went wrong and he crashed into something and cut his eye open.

The last scene I remember was the show's producer having a meltdown, as she contemplated the weight of having a botched show AND botching one of Hollywood's golden boys.

{To be fair, the show was salvaged, although I do think they redid the beginning with a normal, walking entrance, and if memory serves me correctly, he wasn't as badly hurt as the amount of blood would first lead a person to believe.}

So that's what I went to WBCL believing a producer did: arrange ziplining grand entrances by guests who may need an EMT by the end of the show.

May I just tell you that while I did some wild and crazy things in these last four years, I have not yet had to deal with a bleeding guest.

But here have been some of my favorite moments of producer-dom. {Is that a word? Is now!!}

* One of my first events: a sticker stop in Lima, Ohio, where I washed car windows in the rain!

* My first concert: Laura Story and David Crowder...and I almost threw up on stage waiting to throw the fling rings. I was so nervous!

* My first major on-air blooper: when I really messed up the introduction to one of the first guests I ever interviewed.

* The end of my first week of Share: when I actually found myself tired of talking.

* The day I had to drive Bebo Norman from the station to a church: and I may have gotten lost and been unable to open the van door.

* The day I played Mickey Mouse and met Point of Grace in the church bathroom, holding Mickey's head in my hands.

* Getting lost with Lynne on a college campus in Granville, Ohio.

* When I let my friend and co-worker Jeri talk me into running a 10K...but all work aside, you should re-read this post just to relive the post in which I introduced Ryan to the blog world!

* Ummmmm...remember this one? SURPRISE!! Bekah gets engaged! How many girls get to claim that one in their work memories?

* The day I nailed a speaker with a fling ring and got caught by Big Daddy Weave.

* The night I stopped for coffee after working a concert in Ohio, and they gave me the senior discount.

* When Lynne says you need to visit the food trucks as part of your work day. Tough job.

* The attempted vacation day that ended with a disastrous and soggy concert attempt. Pretty much the whole key word of that day was attempt.

* All the photo shoots...Lynne just made those fun. Period.

* My first hour long interview...with the lovely Annie Downs.

* Co-hosting BLT with Ryan. We fell in love with doing radio together on this day. If God ever opened this door for us to work together like this...we'd be thrilled.

* Helping build a house: something I never anticipated being assigned while working in radio!

* Meeting some of the Women of Faith team...a delight!

While not a comprehensive list of everything I've gotten to do under this job title, it is certainly a testament to the joy and goodness this job has been. So grateful.

One week to go. Much to soak up!

Things They Didn't Tell Me Before Surgery

I'm about to wrap up my two week gallternity leave, and while I admittedly balked at the doctor's recommendation of two weeks off work, I now see the wisdom in it and am glad I took it. This week has been much better from a discomfort perspective, but it's been {just as the doctor promised} a fight against fatigue and apparently - loss of brain cells.

They didn't mention that part before surgery. The part about losing my ever loving mind. The part that left me wondering just what all they took out while I was under. Did part of my brain go the way of all the earth alongside my gravel pit of a gallbladder?

Here's what happened.

I was given clearance to drive beginning 24 hours after surgery, but I knew myself well enough to know that probably wasn't a good idea. After my two dental surgeries, I was pretty groggy long past the prescribed time, and I had some major depth perception issues that made me steer clear {ha!} of the wheel for a while.

So after this surgery, my first time to hit the road solo was five days post-op. I drove about fifteen minutes away from home to meet some of my co-workers for lunch. I didn't drive again until this past Monday. It was our monthiversary and I so wanted to make that coconut cream pie for Ryan.

Alas, I didn't have all the ingredients I needed, and while Ryan offered to do any shopping for me that I needed, I didn't want him to know what I was making for his surprise, so I said I would do it myself.

In the early part of the afternoon, I prepared to go. I grabbed my purse and thought I better check to make sure my wallet is in there. Allow me to interrupt myself to say...where else would it be?? I'm not the kind of person who loses things, and even if Ryan had taken it out to get something from it, he would have put it right back. It was a ludicrous thing to check, but for some reason, the worst possible thing I could think of right then was to be at the store without my wallet. I found it safely in its spot and then messed around rearranging things and finding lip gloss - and all the important things any girl does before she shops.

At last, I climbed in the car and drove to Meijer. I sat in the parking lot and thought about the store - which, while not the biggest Meijer on the planet, is also not overly small. I was tired and still feeling so groggy, which frustrated me. As dumb as it sounds, I was just not in the mood for a big store and a long wait in line - which is almost always the case there. So I turned around and drove clear to the other end of town to a grocery store.

Since I wasn't familiar with their layout, it took me a little bit to find everything, but I did. I got in line and waited behind the nice lady buying her groceries. Another lady got in line behind me as I laid my purchases on the belt. I pushed my purse open to grab my wallet.

And it wasn't there.

Because when I went through the crazy rigamarole at home to make sure my wallet was there, you see, I had actually removed it from my purse and left it on the couch.

Oh good grief.

When the cashier reached for my items, I turned red and said, "Yeah...about those. I left my money at home. I'll be back."

And y'all, I fled that store as fast as my sore little body would let me go, went home, got that stinkin' wallet, and went right back to Meijer. No WAY was I going back to the first store! I was too embarrassed!! I found my stuff, got in the super long line and got out as quickly as I could.

I blame it on the gallbladder.

Who am I kidding? I blame everything on that surgery. Can't wake up? Probably because of the gallbladder. Hungry? Side effect of surgery. Tired? Need to nap after surgery!! No brains? They obviously took them out when they took out the gallbladder!

Please love me...your slightly less intelligent than she used to be friend.

{PS - but the pie was fabulous!!}

The Saturday Six

One.

Anyone else ever accidentally reheat buttered breadsticks on a pan with holes? Yeah. It's time to clean the oven. That's your cleaning and organizing challenge for this week! Have an oven or microwave that needs a little spiffing? This is your week!!

Two.

Last Monday, when we were trying {somewhat in vain} to get quick answers from medical and insurance offices, I happened upon this devo by Scotty Smith. It was another faith-boosting moment for me. In the face of people who didn't answer their phones {half the calls} and those who had no clue of an answer {the other half of the calls}, it was good to be reminded that all of it was in God's timing and He's never late. EVER. 

Three.

Source

Like to read? My friend (yes, my real life friend!!) Sarah Forgrave has a free e-book (short story length) out called Running to You with a Valentine's Day theme to it! You can go here to learn how to get it!

Four.

This week on BLT, we talked about times in life when we THOUGHT we looked good and then upon later reflection, we changed our minds. Above is one of my favorites. Yeah. That's me. It was when I first really discovered blush. And scissors.

Five.

Source

For when you feel like you can't start because you're not ready...Shauna Niequist's truth that you're never really ready, but that shouldn't keep you from starting.

Six.

Source

Best. Thing. Ever. Check out this article. This would completely be a Bekah thing to do. Bravo, Mr. Irby. Bravo.

Warmth for the Weary

I was talking to one of the guys at work this week, and I think he accurately summed up our start {yes, start} to winter. He said, "I'm just weary. Already."

It's true. The Polar Vortex of 2014 is not far enough in the rear view mirror, and we haven't forgotten those bitter temps, those icy roads, those banks of snow. And guess what? They're back!

I know not all of you reading are midwesterners, so maybe you all are just kicked back enjoying some sun and sand somewhere. {And if so...jealous!!!!} But if you are stuck in the cold that has descended over 2015, you probably feel the pain! It just started, and already the work commutes start early and end late. Cars creak when started, and quite frankly, I don't blame them. I would creak too if I was a car sitting out in that cold all day. Carpets are filled with salt tracked in from outside. Getting ready in the morning requires the extra time of layering up in coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and boots.

And it's wearying. It's started and we don't know how long it's here to stay.

So I thought, on this Friday, if you're weary from snow and cold, we could hang out for just a bit and tell funny stories and catch up...and drink coffee {obviously} and have some fun! Curl up and hang out for a bit?

* Obviously if you're hanging out, you know I have to talk about Braeya, which means you have to see a picture of her. Ryan texted this one to me earlier this week. {Yes, we are one of those couples who will text each other from one room of the house to the other. HA!!!} He'd just gotten out of the shower, and she made a beeline for a drink. She has a water dish. Clearly it doesn't matter. This is more fun. Ohhhhhhhhhhh this girl.

 * New Year's resolutions...how are you doing with yours? One of mine was to exercise regularly. Haven't started that one yet. I lost the first few days because of being sick...the choice was breathe to exercise or breathe to breathe, so I went with option two. But in truth, I've been so excited about how well I'm doing with the others, that I'm okay to ease into the exercise one.

In other resolution news, I've done WAY better with my time with the Lord. Been more diligent about it. And I love that. And we've done really well with healthy eating - Dashing Dish has been coming to my rescue big time. I love that site. LOVE IT. And the fact that I haven't been taking time at the gym means I actually have time to cook, which has helped. I've also done really well with my water intake, and that makes me pretty happy. So for being just a week in, I'm pleased. And I feel better - and feel better about myself. All good things.

* Want to hear a funny story? Okay, so you know Ryan and I are sort of hot-blooded people. We both have broken internal thermostats. It works out well, because we're not fighting over temperature all the time. And we know that the temps have kicked way down to sub-zero, but my goodness did our house ever feel cold! Like seriously cold. Every night we were diving onto the couch, burying ourselves under the electric throw I got for Christmas, and sort of fighting over who had to get up to get the next cup of coffee, because neither of us wanted to get up.

We could NOT figure out why we were so cold. I mean this is US! We are not cold people! A couple of nights ago, Ryan put his hand on the heater in the living room. Nothing. My heart sank. Was it broken? BROKEN?? He sort of disappeared out of the room for a while and came back with a sheepish look on his face. I asked what was wrong and he said "Ummmm, it's possible the breaker was turned off."

Yep. The Shaffers have not had heat this winter in the living room and JUST NOW FIGURED IT OUT. Ohhhh....us.

{Ryan's post-discovery look.}

* Has anyone tried the new Flat White latte from Starbucks? My friend Amy's son told me about it and said he heard it was pretty good. Ryan's co-worker got one yesterday and hated it, so after three drinks, she gave the rest to him, and he said it tasted like warm milk. He said if his name was Braeya, he was pretty sure he'd have loved it. But he's not Braeya. So I guess I won't be trying it. If I'm spending five bucks, I want to love my drink!!

* And finally - what is your I'm-stuck-at-home-because-it's-too-cold-to-leave time waster? Mine {this time} is hunting for house plans. I have always loved looking at floor plans. I may or may not have once purchased a book of them at a garage sale. Now there is the magic of Pinterest and its house plans. I am in love with one pretty little cottage I found. It has built-ins. BUILT INS, I say!!!

Thanks for hanging out with me today. Be warm. Drink coffee. And tell me your stories.

Lincoln Park Zoo Date!

Our first big adventure in the land of Chicago was to head to the Lincoln Park Zoo...which was exceptionally exciting for two reasons: it was free...and it contained Christmas lights. Yes please!!!

We'd thought about taking the train from Schaumburg, where we stayed, into the city, but we were new to the train thing and the thought of trying our maiden voyage at night just sort of seemed like a recipe for disaster, so we elected to drive.

While it was not without its issues...

...it was a fairly uneventful, and Ryan did a great job getting us there safely.

We had to park about a mile from the zoo, in a parking garage, and we were really excited about it, because it was well-lit and seemed very safe. For the girl who watches wayyyyyyyyy too many Lifetime movies and Dateline documentaries, this was very good news.

We bundled up and walked to the zoo on a relatively gorgeous December Chicago evening.

I think it's pretty amazing that this zoo has free entry - and man, was it ever gorgeous all decorated for Christmas. I can't even imagine the hours it took to put up all the lights in the trees!

We were pretty chilly early on - so we stopped by the fancy pants hot chocolate stand and got peppermint {Ryan} and caramel turtle {me} hot chocolates. They were SO GOOD!!!

We made our way through the zoo, enjoying the music, the lights and the atmosphere in general.

We even found a really cool architecture thing with the city in the background and had fun with some photo opps...and other fun angles of the city skyline.

They have a farm section in the zoo, as well, so we paid a visit to that area. Ryan, who grew up on a farm, had some opinions. LOL!!!!

 They had a barn where you could help feed the cows, so Ryan returned to his roots....

 And I tried my hand at it too!! {I had the camera on the wrong setting - hence the blur. My fault!!!}

After we looked through all the zoo, we stopped by the last thing I wanted to see...ice sculpting! I'd seen this done on our cruise ship a year ago in the summer, and I loved it so much, I wanted to see more!!

We got there JUST when they were starting....

It was SO COLD, and there was a crowd gathered round, but I wanted to stay and watch! They were working on a penguin, and he had one little wing that kept falling off, so they had to reattach it multiple times.

 Cutest little penguin in the world!!

It was right about HERE that we got a huge surprise. A gentleman and his wife sneaked up beside us and told us we were about to see a proposal - and the ice sculpture was all part of it!!! They were trying to stay hidden in the crowd, but they wanted to take pictures!

Here's how it happened.

After sculpture was nearly done, the artists called out "randomly" to the crowd, asking for a volunteer to help them iron off the excess snowy powder. They "chose" a young woman and "allowed" her boyfriend to come up with her. They gave her the iron and showed her how to polish the sculpture:

 And as she worked on the front part, she uncovered something hidden inside:

 ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

By the way, she said yes. :)

We saw a proposal last year on our anniversary trip too. Happened at the Colts game, down on the field.

Must be the theme of the anniversary trips!

We made a quick stop in the gift shop for a souvenir and then we trekked back to our car in the parking garage to come home.

Except....

...y'all, we LOST OUR PARKING TICKET.

If you are new here and do not know us, let me just tell you that I am ultra responsible and the only person I know of who is 50 times more responsible than I am...is Ryan. He is completely organized and never loses anything.

But there we were, at like 9:00 at night, in the dark, in the cold, in a parking garage that is no longer attended by a real person, ripping our car apart, looking for {and praying for} that ticket. We both combed through {and under} {and around} that vehicle more times than I can tell you.

I panicked. Not only was I looking everywhere for someone ready to kill us {stupid TV shows!!!} - but I just knew we were going to have to spend the night in that parking garage until someone came back to work the next day! Or should we call 911? WHAT TO DO???

Well, it turns out that at the gate, there's a nifty little button on the machine for folks who lose their tickets. Unfortunately it means you have to pay more, but it also means you don't have to get killed, call 911, or spend the night in a sketchy city parking garage!!

We were so rattled and so relieved, we punched in the address to go back to our hotel and started driving.

Know where we ended up?

TRUE STORY!

We put the wrong stinkingaddress in the GPS and ended back up at Dell Rhea's!! {Ryan said to tell you he was a little upset they were out of chicken. HA!!!!!} A half hour LATER, we finally made it to our hotel. What a DAY!!

Despite its rather eventful end, it was SUCH a fun date. So thankful to have had the chance to experience this with Ryan!!

Please Try to Follow My Brain

I am going to tell you right from the start that today's post is going to be one of THE most wild goose chases I've ever sent you on as far as a thread goes. I have all these things I want to tell you and it's entirely possible they are in NO way related. But I'm Bekah, and I sure am going to try!

Earlier this week, Ryan and I met up with my/our friend Olivia. I was in Olivia's wedding a little over 3 years ago, and now she lives too far away to see very often. :( But she was in town and graciously offered to plant herself at Starbucks to meet up with anyone who wanted to see her.

Twist my arm.

Olivia is also now a mom to one of the cutest little girls on the planet, and she was there too! We've met her before, but it's been a while, so when we arrived, she gave us that wary I'm sorry...do I KNOW you??? stare.

But of course, she warmed up to Ryan in no time.

It was a combination of his charm and his possession of a book. She's a sucker for books.

So I tried my hand with the book thing...and it worked!!

The book I read with her had something to do with hippos. I didn't actually read the book because reading kids books really freaks me out.

It's the whole rhym-y mcrhymerson thing. I get this really weird voice and start to sound something like Flo from the Progressive commercials.

Who, by the way, I've been told I look and act like.

So while we read, I pretty much just pointed to the pictures of the hippos and said to her things like "Where's his eye?" I could sort of say that in a normal voice.

Hold that thought for one second. I'm coming back to it.

But before I leave our lovely evening at Starbucks, I feel compelled to show you this photo Ryan took. It's either a selfie that 2/3 of us were unaware we were in or a photobomb of a picture of us reading. Either way, it makes me laugh.

 And this is me with Olivia. I am so proud of the mom she is. She does a great job. I was so impressed with how she didn't wander off into the whole "who's a good wittle girl..." baby talk, but rather, just calmly addressed her daughter as a person and seems to be doing a remarkable job of intentional parenting. I knew she would. She's just good like that.

Okay. So now back to my weird baby reading voice.

I was freshly aware of my weird octave-higher Flo voice when...I had to not only use it, but preserve it.

One of our work girls, Dana, is having a baby, and last night was her baby shower at work. During the day at work, they brought around one of those recordable storybooks and wanted different staff members to take a turn recording a page.

A rhym-y mcrhymerson page.

So I shut the door to my office and pressed record...and sing-song-in-a-Flo-screech that little poem. I shut the book and declared myself done forever with children's books.

And then came the shower.

All the work ladies gathered round and they opened up that book and listened to every. single. page. All the on-air guys, with their deep, honed voices...and Lynne with her smooth delivery, and then {imagine this part two octaves higher} there was Bekah screeching out the poem in sing-songy rhyme.

So we've learned my next career is not to make children's audio books.

I HAVE, however, discovered what it might be. My next career, that is.

Do you know Penelope from Saturday Night Live? {To be fair, I do not actually WATCH Saturday night live, but someone told me about her and I found all the clips online and watched them. And laughed hysterically.}

My secret talent? I am Penelope. I can do the voice, the face, and even come up with my own versions of her material.

I realize of all the talents I could have in life, this is perhaps not the best one, but it is way better to witness than my poetic delivery of baby books.

Here's one of my faves. You should watch.

And thank you for following my brain. You may rest now.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday started out as the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day, when Ryan and I locked ourselves out of our house on our way to church. My parents came to the rescue and brought us  a key!! Thanks, Mom! But despite the debacle that was the start to Sunday, we did manage to pull off a yummy breakfast for our Sunday School class (cream cheese Danish and crock pot breakfast casserole) so that was good. We rested up the rest of the day, and that night, Ryan even gave me a back massage complete with cocoa butter! {I'm longing for the post-house-sale-day when I can go get a massage, so he was helping me get to that day!}

* Monday I came home from work early because I was feeling super sick {anxiety - boo!!} so I made sure to curl up by the fireplace and get extra rest! Ryan did another night of work at the Greentown house...hoping this can be the LAST one of those {PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!}. Actually, it has to be! He returned the borrowed mower to my parents! Then he came home to take care of me. He's good like that. We did have the MOST stunning sunset that night. The only time I hate living in town is when my sunset view is obstructed!!

* Tuesday was Veteran's Day, but neither of us get that day off, so we went to work, and that night we went to the gym. The track was closed, and all the machines were full, so I had to wait in line for a bike. I do like a bike workout, though, so the wait was worth it. As was the apple pie we baked when we got home! HA!!! : ) {Serving of fruit, right?}

* Wednesday at work, I did one of my LEAST favorite chores {ready for how dumb this is??}...I dealt with all the little boxes that had to be broken down. Why I hate that so much, I do not know. But I wait until the stack of boxes is about waist high before I deal with them. And since Ryan and I hit the mid-week missing each other slump, I sent him silly selfies to cheer up his day. By the time we got home, we were ready to work out, eat, and CRASH, which we did. Jammies, fireplace, blankets, YES PLEASE!!!!

* Fort Wayne got some snow on Thursday morning...I was kind of hoping this little ring around the tree outside our office window would reflect the sum of the winter snowfall, but I have a feeling I'm SO WRONG about that. The snow was actually beautiful as it fell...all snow-globey. {And so thankful it wasn't the 6-12 inch dump other parts of the state received!!} Lynne went out for lunch and I ordered some BBQ from Shigs in Pit, which is probably my most favorite BBQ place ever. I ordered extra so we could have some for dinner that night. Pretty sure I got wife of the year for that.

* Friday was our IT guy, Marion's, last day at work. I hate goodbyes. I just hate them. Marion has been a treasure to work with for the past 3 years {he came to WBCL right after I did}, and we will miss him so much. After work, I came home {no thanks to the world's longest train that backed up traffic for stinking ever} - and finished cooking dinner to take to Ryan's mom's house for dinner. We made beef, broccoli and rice and dessert and had dinner with her and Allen. Ryan hooked up some electronics for them and I just enjoyed their lovely home, which could {and should} be in a magazine!!

* Yesterday, Ryan had a long day planned - had to work in the morning and then had to help some friends replace a water heater in the afternoon, so I got up early and went to work with him. I set up a little office in the dining room of the hospital and did some writing while he worked. And then I did some shopping while he did the water heater repair. We had date night at Hacienda and came home in time to watch a movie! :)

Those Crazy Shaffers

I feel a little guilty, because for the last two days, I've poured out the core of my heart, and you have been so gracious, which I thoroughly appreciate...and now I'm bringing you a story from the crazy part of our life. Seems abrupt.

Just about as abrupt as it seemed when it happened, let me tell you!

Our Sunday School class has a fellowship time before we actually study anything. And by fellowship, of course, I mean {in part} breakfast. Last Sunday was our day to take breakfast to class. We have a pretty big class, and I hate the thought of running out of food or of anyone being hungry. So this time, I planned to make a breakfast casserole in a slow cooker and two 9x13 pans of cheese danish. Hoped that would be enough!

I put the casserole together on Saturday, and Ryan got up in the middle of the night to turn it on, and then I got up early Sunday morning to put together the danishes and get them in the oven. And of course, as I'm sure many of you know firsthand, sometimes cooking does not go as smoothly as it should. Such was Sunday in Shafferland. I don't know if it was because I hadn't had coffee yet {I know, GASP!!!} or if it was because Ryan was catching a few extra ZZZ's at that time, but I just could not get it together. It took far too long to put together two simple danishes.

And then, of course...that put me behind for getting ready...and as the clock ticked closer and closer to our departure time, I was still slapping on jewelry and makeup and trying to be ready promptly.

And at last, we were.

Coats: check. Crock pot: check. Big bag housing the two 9x13s, the forks, the plates, and the serving spoons: check. Two Bibles: check. Journal: check. Purse: check.

Feeling quite satisfied, I pulled the door shut behind me as Ryan simultaneously said, "Did you grab keys?"

No check.

Yep. Two Shaffers in their mid-thirties on the front porch of their house with breakfast for an army and no keys.

Fabulous.

So I did the only thing I could do. I texted my mom and asked if she could come over after church with a key. And being the good mom that she is, she said that would be too long for us to wait, and she left home immediately to bring us a key.

{Insert mom of the year award here.}

I texted to her, Thank you. We feel really bad.

She answered, Just wait until we do this {and other things} over and over. LOL!!

Good comeback, Mom! I texted back, It's really not helping that this happened before coffee.

We deposited our food in the Sunday School room and headed into church, where I kept my phone in my hand so I could sneak out to get the key from Mom when messaged to say she arrived. By that time, I had consumed coffee, so I decided to stop in the ladies room before going back into church.

My mind was clearly distracted from the events of the morning, and again, I was in the ladies room...so I didn't think I should even have to worry about this, but the lid to the toilet was apparently UP, and I fell in!

Oh my goodness. Are you KIDDING ME??? Not only that, but I still had my phone in my hand and when I tried to catch myself by reaching out to the wall, I dented the wall with my phone.

When I got back out of there, I texted Mom again, The day continues. I fell in the toilet. Who leaves the lid up in the ladies room?

I had to pull myself together pretty quickly, because Ryan and I were greeters, and no one needed a bedraggled, smeary mascara greeter girl welcoming them to church! Actually, greeting seemed to cheer me up, as did a sampling of our breakfast when we got to class.

And when it was all over, we carried home our scraped-clean dishes and let ourselves in with our borrowed key.

Thanks for reading today's adventure in Shafferland!

Sincerely,

The Responsible Adults. {Responsible for dented bathroom walls, that is.}

In Which Bekah Builds a House

Sort of.

Earlier this year, the station took on a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house for a family in Fort Wayne. We spent a few months fundraising for the house, and now, we're helping to actually BUILD the house. Each staff member takes a turn at the Habitat site for a day, and this last Friday was my day.

Terrified best describes how I felt about this assignment. I can {and will!} paint all day long. I have vision for furniture placement and picture hanging and all sorts of detail-oriented things. But hammers? Saws? Nails? TERRIFIED. Not my gift. I had been assured about a thousand times {from different people} before heading out to the site that it was okay that I was clueless, because they could train a person.

Well, perhaps they could train a person, but they had never taken on a Bekah.

The day BEFORE my visit to the site, Lynne and I talked about it on air and she joked that I would be kind of like Steve Urkel out there - "Did I do thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" I bantered back that if only I had a pair of suspenders, I'd do it. Well, don't you just know that my dad is the king of suspenders. My mom lovingly dug through his supply and found me a pair of Crayola green suspenders with SNOWMEN on them and dropped them off at the house.

I was so intimidated by the whole thing that I was far too chicken to actually wear them to the work site, so I made Ryan take my Urkel-esque picture at home before I left.

I packed the suspenders and some snacks in the car and headed north for the day. I arrived on site and went to check in. I knew my day was full where volunteers were concerned. {I think 25 was the max they could have on one day.} What I did NOT know until I arrived and introduced myself to the coordinator was that NONE of them had volunteered through the station. It was a whole group from somewhere else. And Bekah.

OH MY WORD. How glad was I that I had not shown up in my Urkel get-up?? Can you imagine????????

I cried. I will not even lie about it. I cried. A normal person would have viewed this as a beautiful opportunity to make new friends, but all I could think was that now 25 strangers who had no idea who I was or what I was there...were about to find out just how bad at construction I actually am.

One thing I do love and appreciate about Habitat is that they're a faith-based organization, so they began the day with prayer and I gathered my wits about me during the prayer.

This particular house is being built as part of a subdivision made up entirely of Habitat homes. I think it's actually a pretty brilliant plan. They had nine houses underway - all in various stages of completion. One had its slab poured on Friday. A couple of others are almost done. Carpet and appliances are in, and only minor finishing touches remain. It's really great for them that they're able to have so many properties in one area, because it allows them to have all their equipment and tools in a central location!

Here I am in front of the WBCL house - the one our family will receive!

Yes. That is me in a hard hat and safety glasses, holding a hammer and wearing an apron full of nails. Let the record show that the hammer and nails never got used by this girl, and the only injury I sustained the entire day was when I poked my eye out with my safety glasses. Only me. {Can we say together...did I do thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?}

Here was the WBCL house in the morning:

They partnered me with a guy and girl from the other group, and together, our job was to wrap the lower level of the house in Tyvek. {For those of you who, like me, are construction-challenged, Tyvek is a waterproofing material.} It was in a roll somewhere between 8 and 10 feet tall, and my job was to hold the roll and guide it in a straight line around the house and hold it still while the other two used the staple guns. It was easy and it was hard. Easy because...duh...it's ROLLING. Hard because it was awkward and heavy!

We worked on the WBCL house all morning and then ate lunch together as a group. {Subway: yummy!} We got back to work in the afternoon and started doing this same thing to another house in the area, but about an hour into it, the other group had to leave FOR THE DAY.

So that left me as the only volunteer! I asked if they had anything a non-non-NON-skilled laborer could do, and they gave me a nifty little magnet on a pole and had me pick up staples, nails, screws and other metal, tire-impaling objects around the site. That was actually my most fun part of the day!

Before I left, I took another picture of the WBCL house, which had gotten not only wrapped, but also had some interior walls added on the second floor!

On my way home, I stopped at Starbucks, and ended up waiting in line so long, my frappe was FREE!! That was a nice bonus!


So that's the story of Bekah building a house. If you need some Tyvek installed, give me a call. I have mad skills.{Ryan said maybe maddening skills is a better description.} My only request is that you put my safety glasses on me.

The Saturday Six

One.

This week on BLT, Lynne and I did a game show theme, and in our discussion of game shows, I may have confessed that as a child, I had a massive crush on Bert Convy, the host of Win, Lose or Draw. I do not know WHY I felt compelled to share this information as it is both ridiculous and embarrassing. Lynne apparently had a discussion about this information with Scott during their on-air segment, and the next day, I came in to find THIS hanging in my office. Scott's handiwork. LOL!!! {Anyone else out there ever have a game show host crush? Please? ANYONE?}

Two.

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Though I have seen some of these ideas before, I loved this post by Emily A. Clark, inviting us to use our memories to decorate our homes. I LOVE this concept. On all levels.

Three.

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Because Ryan and I NEED more ideas for road trips {HA!!!}...did you see this one? Guy and his family traveled around to visit locations from movies! We actually do have at least one of these in Indiana that I'm planning for. Maybe two. Maybe I need to learn more movie locations! {Or maybe people just generally don't make movies in Indiana. Probably that one.}

Four.

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I read on Natasha's blog this week that she visited New York and got to go to Central Perk. WHAT!?!?! It's a real place? Apparently until today...yes. It's a month long pop up coffee shop, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the TV show Friends. So I'm guessing I won't make it there before it closes. Maybe they'll bring it back and I can go!!!

Five.

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So I'm not sure why this post has mostly turned into a TV fest. Sorry about that! Anyway. I taught Ryan a bit of trivia this week...maybe you didn't know it either. We had the TV on the music channel one night and a Lyle Lovett song came on. So I said to him, "Did you know he was once married to Julia Roberts?" He did not know this. I said, "Know where they got married?" He did not. Answer? Marion. As in the town where we live. True story! Back in 1993, the two got married in a Lutheran church in our very town! {They are no longer married, by the way.}

Six.

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The year Ryan and I were engaged, we helped pack a couple of boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Last year, for whatever reason that I do not know...we didn't do it. But I'd like to again this year! If you're not familiar with it, you can read about it here, but even if you are, I know the collection dates tend to sneak up on a person. I read online that they are November 17-24 this year!