Fun Night with Friends

To start off your Tuesday, I have a new episode of Spill the Beans for you! A virtual birthday party for Ryan! Hope you enjoy! :)

 Listen here!

While we have moved most of our entertaining to Tuesday nights (for Tuesdays at the Table), we do still have other occasional company on other nights of the week. We're not exclusive to Tuesdays. ;)

We have some dear friends that we made probably six months or so before we moved. We met them through church, and they just became fast good friends, and they were hard to leave! We've kept in contact with them all these many months since we've been gone, but their busy schedules and our busy schedules were such that we haven't been able to meet up like we used to!

They have four kids, so a weekend was a better fit for them to come see us, and this last Friday night, they did just that!

Our menu plan was a huge hit with the kids. It's one we have done before, but it was fun and I absolutely recommend it for having kids over for dinner: make your own pizza bar! (The only downside of this is getting everything cooked in a quick fashion. Trying to cook pizzas for 8 people in a single oven is a little tricky.)

For appetizers, I made pizza stuffed crescents (with extra marinara sauce to dip them in) - and for those trying to watch their carb intake, I made some of these Dashing Dish cauliflower breadsticks. (I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!!)

Then for the pizza, I set up this little buffet in a corner of the garage. 

I bought cans of pizza crust and cut most of them into quarters. (Halves for the guys.) I put them on parchment paper so we could write the pizza creator's names next to each square. I put out a bowl of sauce and then sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, spinach, onions, cheese, and black olives. Everyone could put whatever toppings they liked (and the amount they liked) on their square and then we baked them.

Food is more fun when you get to put your personal touch on it, right?

Sorry those pictures are dark and just all-around bad-quality. I was sort of doing a million things in that moment.

For those of you who might be new here and are not sure why we're fixing food in the garage, let me catch you up! Last summer, Ryan and I finished off our garage and we use it as a spare entertaining space now. We figured 8 people wouldn't fit neatly in our kitchen, so we set up tables and chairs in the garage where everyone could eat comfortably and spills didn't matter.

We kept it very casual - disposable plates, cups, and silverware. :)

AND we kept the pizza theme going with dessert: candy shop pizza!

After dinner, we broke out the Jenga game and played. I had never played that before, and I was truly terrible!

The kids were great and seemed to have a good time - and some even asked if I would give my recipes to their mom, a compliment I considered to be the ultimate win!

And just for fun, thought you might like this video. (It's slow-mo in the middle, so wait for it!)

50 Months and a "B" Themed Date!

Yesterday we celebrated 50 months of marriage. Nice, clean numbers like 50 make me want to go back to the beach. And while yesterday was stunning by ANY Indiana winter standard...it wasn't the beach.

The sad part of yesterday was that we had to spend way too much of the day apart. Ryan had work, of course, and I had to go back to the dentist!

You guys!! I got the best report I have ever had since all this dentist-y stuff started! She said I'm almost completely healed up, I had great hygiene (THANK YOU, THIEVES!!) and my x-rays showed no decay. Three cheers for that!

After the dentist visit, I drove over to the station to see my friends and ended up staying TWO HOURS. It was so good to see them! On the way home, I stopped in the old stomping grounds of Marion to go to a viewing. {That was my second viewing in two days. I fear I'm becoming my parents.} Then, when I was almost home, Ryan called and said one of his friends needed to borrow our car for the evening, so I met up with them to drop off the car. Ryan and I went to ANOTHER viewing {yes, this makes THREE in two days} and then we could start our date.

I'm pretty sure when I wore my pretty dress 50 months ago, I didn't envision this milestone with a day apart, a dental bib and two funeral homes!

We tried to take our monthiversary photo and Braeya kept moving around and distracting us, so we had to trash the whole first set of attempts...except this one. This kind of summed up the day well.

But we got a keeper, too:

Now. For the B date!

If you missed it last week, I wrote about my decision to do a series of alphabetical dates throughout the year. Ideally we'll do these every other week, but I thought the monthiversary would be a nice day to sneak in a low-key alphabetical date. This one wasn't nearly as involved as the "A" date.

First up? BBQ DINNER.

I gave Ryan a choice from two BBQ restaurants in town. We'd been to one before, but not the other. He decided on the one we knew and loved, so we went there and had our food in just a jiffy!

We got a platter dinner to split and brought it home so we could eat it while we rested, because it has been a very busy week. {It was DELICIOUS.}

Then the next part of our low key home-date was BORROWED BOARD GAMES. We don't really own any, so I borrowed Sorry! from one of his work friends and we got busy playing.

At the end of round one...it was close!

I'm red. He's blue. He won.

Because of course.

He also won rounds two and three.

He tried to look genuinely sorry as he slid the pawns into home. I told him the game was representative of my love life before I met him. SO CLOSE - and then someone else won the guys. SORRY! lol!!!!!

Even though I lost all the rounds, and the day was crazy chaotic, the date was fun! Proof that they don't have to be crazy convoluted to be fun. BBQ and board games at home = much fun!

Happy monthiversary, Ryan! The last 50 months have been the best! :) I love life with you. Not sorry one little bit!

Back to Life as We Know It

Well, my friends, gallcation is over. {Apparently, being male, Ryan preferred to call his a "gallcation" rather than a "gallternity leave."}

Friday afternoon, Ryan picked up his surgeon's note and HR clearance to return to work today. He's definitely had a rougher go of it than I had where the pain has been concerned. We'd been told that was a possibility. I believe the kind way the surgeon phrased it was, "Those who have tighter stomach muscles have more pain." Yeah. I'm pickin' up what you're layin' down there.

So no more afternoon dates that look like this:

Sad indeed, isn't it?

But my goodness, what an unbelievable privilege it was for me this last week to have the freedom to serve Ryan at home. We had dinner with his family last night to celebrate his sister's birthday, and I think every single person there asked him if I had been a good nurse. He kindly said yes, while I sat beside him and shook my head vehemently NO. Was I a willing nurse? Absolutely. But willing and good are two TOTALLY different things, and let's not misrepresent!!

But even though it's not my natural gift, I did thank God multiple times a day that I was home and able to take care of Ryan and also have time to spend with him. We had many good talks, a lot of rest, a lot of quality time, and I was just thankful.

We reintroduced foods and learned that he can handle everything he could before the gallbladder conked out. {Whew! Gotta get back on an eating schedule. I "helped" him with reintroduction and that was a lotta treats in one week!}

And on Saturday, we got to see our favorite girl!!

PHEEBS!!!!!!

She came over to play, and partway through our time together, we were invited to hang out with our friends Mike and Angie - to play more virtual reality games. We just packed Phoebe up and took her with us, and we had a GREAT time!

Mike made his famous lattes:

 And Phoebe hung out in my lap while we played. It was such fun! {Ryan won...bet you can't tell.}

A good and fitting conclusion to our week. Fun, togetherness, treats, healing, rest, laughter, friends...and now a return to reality for everyone!

And as a fun piece of useless trivia: it was two years ago yesterday that I landed in the ER with the beginning of my gallbladder diagnosis!! Full circle, baby.

The Shafferland Shuffle

I feel like I should begin today by thanking you profusely for all the many prayers, texts, messages, and gifts you've showered on us this week! We've eaten well and this girl is grateful for the break in cooking as so many brought meals this week! Thank you!

And now...a  slower look at our week.

* Last Sunday was the last day before Ryan's surgery, and we were grateful to have the day at home with no obligations! Ryan caught this super cute picture of Braeya peeking out between the curtains. I baked zucchini bread to keep us going throughout the week, and we ended the day with Ryan's last meal before surgery: Subway on flatbread!

* Monday was Ryan's surgery, and though you've already read about that, I have to say again how grateful I am for the way God worked out the timing and carried my nervous heart through the day! Ryan was brave and cool throughout the whole thing, and I was thankful for my parents, and Ryan's dad and step-mom, who sat with me and kept me distracted throughout surgery and recovery. And I appreciated our friend Shawn, who drove a fairly good distance to check on us that night!

* By Tuesday morning, Ryan was doing much better in the nausea/alertness departments. He was up and drinking coffee that very morning! We took it easy on food that day, sticking close to chicken soup and other things we knew would be safe, and that night, Ryan's boss and his wife delivered dinner to our doorstep, which was a lovely blessing! The day itself was dreary and blah, so it was nice to be home together all day!

* Wednesday was another dreary day, so we enjoyed most of it at home, looking at the pretty flowers my family sent Ryan. Our friend Troy brought over our lunch (and we had enough for several leftover meals!), which was delicious, and that afternoon, Ryan thought he was ready for a little outing. So of course: Starbucks!! On the way home, he wanted to stop by his work and see his friends, so we did that, and it really seemed to do his heart good! Made me happy!

* By Thursday, Ryan was feeling well enough to spend a few hours in the office and get some things done he'd been wanting to try! He also got brave enough to try eggs for breakfast. Eggs had been on the NO list prior to surgery, so that was a big step! He rested a lot that day, which was good for him, and that evening, our friends Mike and Angie stopped by with homemade lattes for them. Their labeling is prizeworthy!!

* Friday morning we watched the Inauguration, and then went to the surgeon and HR offices to get Ryan's clearance to go back to work. I'm happy he's progressing so well but sad to think about our time together coming to an end! We did a little shopping while we were out, and that night, he wanted to try fast food and see how that settled with his tummy. We went to Wendy's, he got his favorite meal, and other than being really FULL from how much he ate, he felt great! YAY!!!!

 * Yesterday was our last "down" day before returning to normal. And guess what?! We got to spend most of the day with Phoebe!! She missed us, I think! And we got a surprise invitation to go hang out with Mike and Angie last night so we could play virtual reality games again. We packed up Phoebe and took her with us - and I think she had fun!

Linking up with Tamar

A Little New Year's Fun

Are you more of a stay-at-home-and-go-to-bed-early on New Year's Eve kind of person, or do you prefer big parties with lots of people and even more food?

I fall somewhere in the middle. I like being at some sort of celebration to ring in the new year, but the bigger that celebration gets, the more nervous I feel. This year, our New Year's Eve celebration consisted of the two of us, a couple of friends, and their kids. And. It. Was. Perfect.

We'd planned to get together with our friends Mike and Angie over Christmas, but it didn't end up working out schedule-wise, so we rescheduled for New Year's Eve instead. Since they have kids, we went to their house, so the kiddos could go to bed on time in their own beds, and we could just hang out, drink coffee, eat snacks, play games, and talk!

Mike and Angie are fabulous cooks, and Mike went all out with a full New Year's Eve menu: cabbage, pierogis, shrimp, and sausage.

Oh, and did I mention these are the friends of ours who have a coffee bar in their kitchen and sometimes bring us lattes?

Why yes. It is a happy new year.

Netflix had a thing where you could pick when YOU wanted it to be midnight and you play a countdown for your kids. So we did a countdown dance and toast to "midnight" about 8 p.m. and the kiddos went straight to bed. {Impressive!}

And then the games began.

So you've seen those virtual realities, right? Well, Mike and Angie have one, and we spent the ENTIRE NIGHT passing that thing around, playing games. It started with an app that was supposed to help you conquer your fear of heights. Ryan has no fear. I have lots of it. So here were our experiences.

And then we played this interactive game that was flat-out HARD. It's called "Keep Talking and No One Explodes." So the person wearing the virtual reality is in a room with a briefcase that has a bomb attached. You have to describe what you see, and the rest of the players go through this manual and read the directions to you of how to diffuse it before it explodes. There are DOZENS of wires and codes and such, and you're working against a timer and occasional distractions. It's pretty intense! I was sweating a couple of times when it was my turn!

For the record, I was the only player who, by the end of the night, had not successfully diffused at least ONE. So I don't think I have a future with the FBI or anything.

{Bet you can't tell who was successful...}

We played until almost midnight, and then it was time to pour the sparkling grape juice and welcome 2017!

It really was the perfect, low-key night. We appreciated Mike and Angie opening their home to us and being so hospitable with food and games and fun! :)

Happy New Year!!!