What I Learned in September

One of my favorite posts every month: sharing the things I've learned! Here's the collection of useful and useless information I absorbed in the month of September!

1. The winner of the Super Bowl plays in the first game of the following season - at home. 

photo credit: Nita Echelbarger circa this time of year in 2012

OH STOP IT. All you football gurus out there just smirking and shaking your football-loving hands. REMEMBER! The only thing I know about football is that its arrival means I get to do some serious scrapbooking. LOL! I am actually learning more about it all the time, but this was the month I learned that little tidbit. At this rate, think how much I'll have learned by this season's Super Bowl!


2. Tree shearing is a thing.

Again. Perhaps all of you knew this. I had no idea. I was scrolling through my Twitter feed one day and saw that a Christmas tree farm I follow had sheared its final tree for the year. I just stared...completely confused. So I looked it up and found this very helpful blog post, written by another Christmas tree farm owner. I had no idea all this shaping work went into trees. Yes. I am admitting I am naive enough to believe trees just naturally grow perfectly. Who knew!?!?

3. The pie-making gene STILL has not overtaken my body.

It's sad, really, because my mother is one of THE BEST PIE MAKERS in the world, and pie just so happens to be Ryan's favorite dessert. I can bake the daylights out of cookies and brownies and cakes. Pie? It's my baking fail. I tried making a fake pie this month - meaning I sort of pressed/pieced the crust into the bottom of a 9x13 pan and poured the filling over it. Tasted great. Looked like it was pressed and pieced. One day, people. One day I will conquer the pie.

4. Another name for zucchini is courgette.

DID YOU KNOW THIS!?!?!!? I most certainly did not! Learned it from Tamar's blog. Had to look it up to see why I didn't know this, and apparently courgette is the British word for it. Fascinating. I had no clue at all. I also have no clue how to pronounce courgette, so I'll stick with zucchini.

5. Stenomasks are just odd-looking.

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We watch a lot of crime documentaries, and one night, while watching a courtroom scene, I noticed a woman in front who looked like she was doing a breathing treatment. I had to Google that! Turns out she was wearing a stenomask. Ever heard of it? I hadn't. It's a machine that allows court reporters to take notes with their voices...but no one outside the mask can hear them, and noises from the room don't make it into the microphone. Who knew??? I think it would make me wildly claustrophobic.

6. I no longer like candy corn.

I'm not sure if I should be sad or relieved about this discovery. I mean, come on. Peanuts and candy corn! This is the fall snack staple! Ryan loves it so much, and I bought a bag of candy corn to mix with peanuts for him. When I mixed them together, I sneaked a tasted and learned that somewhere along the course of my clean eating adventures, I have stopped liking candy corn. I am glad I don't have to worry about resisting it, but there's a little corner of my heart that is just sad.  

7.  Not sure if it was the operator or the blender, but I am officially a Pinterest fail at making my own powdered sugar.

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If you missed the post of my utter failure, you can read it here. I'm still shaking my head.  

That's a wrap for me and learning in September! Here's to a new month of absorbing new information!

 

Why I Can't Play Sports

That title probably leads you to imagine it's because of my lack of talent.

And to an extent, you'd be right. What? Basketballs are supposed to go inside the basket? Striking out is not the goal of softball? Tennis balls are supposed to go back and forth between two people over a period of time?

All news to me and my uncoordinated self.

But the truth is, I can't play sports because I am way too competitive at heart. If I care even a little tiny bit, I care with my whole heart, and my blood pressure starts doing routines that would put Olympic gymnasts to shame.

It's funny, really, because I don't even understand most sports. But when I do understand, suddenly I'm an assistant coach with all the passion.

It made for an interesting night last night.

Ryan and I went to a charity game in town. A CHARITY GAME, PEOPLE. His hospital (organization at large) against the other big hospital in town. The game was raising money for the Alzheimer's foundation, and we thought it would be fun to go cheer on our friends who were playing.

It wasn't the warmest night, but we layered up and took jackets and headed to the ballpark.

We found our way to concessions for hot chocolate and cookies:

We made it as far as the National Anthem:

And then it began to rain, and that was the end of our time in the seats. Everyone rushed to the back of the stadium to stand under the roof. But the game went on, and our team rocked.

Inning after inning, we scored all the runs. At one point, we were up 17-0. SEVENTEEN TO ZERO!!!!

I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped up and down like a crazy woman, cheering away.

It was a very good date.

Ryan hung out with his co-workers:

And we were great cheerleaders.

And then suddenly...

...the other team started scoring. A lot.

I had to engage breathing techniques, and then I had to just go stand behind a post and not look.

At the last minute, we lost by a run.

HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!??!

Yes, I know it was a charity game. Yes, I know the money raised happened because of runs scored, regardless of which team scored them.


I think I forgot to mention that to my face.

So in the end, we were freezing, had sore feet from standing the whole time, and we somehow went from being up 17-0 to losing by one run.

This is why I can't play sports. Or watch them. It's not that I'm too dumb to understand or that I lack all necessary skill. It's that I care too much. {Do you believe that, Ryan?}

Even so, I loved our date night out. We had a lot of good laughs, despite the madness. And it makes for a good story for the scrapbook, right??

And perhaps this is a very appropriate verse for thinking about the other team! 

Gifts that Keep on Giving

I know you've seen them already: the little memes popping up on social media, scaring you to death with how few weeks remain between here and Christmas. I know!!! It's still September, for crying out loud. Why are we talking about Christmas?

Well.

Because it's just a dozen weeks away. Gulp.

I've actually been working on some gift ideas for a post that will come out later, in a much more appropriate time frame to discuss such things! Someone asked me for a post like that last year, but I didn't have the time I needed to put together a good one, so I started early {months ago} this year and have been adding to it as I get inspired.

Meanwhile, I thought I would throw this idea out to you, because it's something Ryan and I have begun to do, and it's working well for us. Maybe it would work well for you, too!

When I was single, I dreamed of my someday when I could buy gifts for a husband, wrap them up, and put them under a tree. It was one of those dreams that I felt would somehow make marriage more complete for me.

And then, of course, we got all crazy and got married 23 days before Christmas, which threw off our entire Christmas season - in a most delightful way. We barely got the house decorated and pulled off purchasing gifts for our family. I had no time to lovingly dream up perfect gifts for Ryan. Oh, we did gifts that first Christmas. Don't get me wrong. And they had their own brand of loveliness that I really will always cherish. But I still felt like my offerings were rushed and lacked the Bekah-ness I wanted to pour over them.

The idea came to us during our second anniversary getaway. We'd gone to Chicago for a long weekend, and part of our adventures included our first ever trip to IKEA.That was where we met Mo. {If you're new here, you don't know that Mo is our couch. If you've been around a while, you know Mo.} We fell in love with Mo and felt his presence in our home would be the crowning touch of perfection for our lounging and entertaining needs.

Problem. Money. {Isn't it always for most of us?}

Even though, in the world of couches, Mo was pretty affordable, we didn't exactly have all that cash just hanging out waiting to be spent. So we decided he would be our Christmas present to each other. We would skip buying all the little gifts, determining we didn't really need a bunch of little things and were probably buying each other gifts more to give gifts than because we needed them.

We came home, put our existing couch and loveseat up for sale, combined the money we made from them with the money we would have spent on each other, and Mo came home to live with us a couple of months later.

We love our Mo. I thought of it the other night, when we had Ryan's dad and step-mom over for dinner. When we migrated to the living room after dessert, we had so much room to just hang out and talk. I thought of it last week, when we had our niece and nephews for the day and the first request Jenna had upon entering the living room was for me to pull out the couch and make it a bed. I think of it every Sunday when we come home from church, change into our jam-jams and pull Mo out into a bed and crash for naps and TV watching all day. I thought of it for the two weeks I lived on it, day and night, following gallbladder surgery.

Mo was a great gift. A great, practical gift that has made our home more functional every single day for almost two years now.

So last year, we did it again. No, we didn't buy a new couch. Quite the opposite actually. Christmas arrived about a month after we started our new clean eating and workout program, and our gift to each other that year was a new set of weights. {Complete with a little holder to keep them stored neatly, because you know how we are with our OCD!!}

Coming into that adventure, I owned one set of purple five pound weights, and that was it. So we took our money and gifted each other with a nice, heavy-duty set of weights so we could do our workouts at home and make them count.

And we're still using them. We pull them out for every video workout and even though we have improved our fitness, those things don't get any lighter with the passing of time! When I look at the HUGE changes we've made in our eating and fitness over the last year, I see what a great gift we gave in the establishing of a "home gym." It was more than a set of weights. It was an improved life that has served us well in just feeling better about ourselves and loving the time we have together more.

We haven't figured out our Christmas gift for each other this year yet, but I love what we've started. And these are just a couple of ideas. There are always more.

In case you need to get your creative juices going....

* Buy a set of Fitbits {or comparable brands} and let them inspire you to become more active! {This was actually my birthday present from Ryan - at my request - and he has one he got through work. It has been a HUGE help to me in monitoring my activity, especially on the days when I write and tend not to move around much.}
* Go on a trip together and enjoy the memories you make. {We do this for our birthdays and I look forward to that annual trip!}
* Buy something for your house that you can enjoy together. {TV, fancy coffee pot, outdoor furniture, etc.}
* Splurge on something that allows life to be a little simpler for you. {Amazon Prime membership, GPS upgrade or installation for your car, etc.}
* Treat each other to bikes or kayaks or a state park membership if that's your thing: something that allows you to have an adventure together.
* Buy season tickets to something you love: sporting events, concert series, plays/musicals and be each other's year-long dates.
* Treat each other to something you know the OTHER wants to do, but do both activities together. {Maybe she'd love a massage and he wants to zipline, but you both do both things.} {If you pick that, zipline first. HA!}
* Make over a space in your home. Use the money to buy new paint or window treatments or flooring or whatever so you can have an updated, functional space you can enjoy together.
* Speaking of upgrades, if you've been married a while, you might be so over the things you got as wedding gifts that are wearing out. Pool your resources and upgrade to something new that you both love!

Happy gifting the gifts that keep on giving!

Snickerdoodles

I don't think I've ever posted a podcast and a recipe on the same day, but the way I look at it, we'll keep you company while you bake. And if you need a taste tester, call me!

This week, we're laughing at our own quirks. And yes, they are many. Hope you enjoy! And laugh!

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And now...on to the recipe!

Well, it's been almost a month now since my mom's cookie and canvas birthday party, but some of you are still drooling over that table of cookies! I had a request for the snickerdoodle recipe, so I'm here to deliver!

{Side note: all my "old" recipes - the ones I posted back in the day before I married Ryan - are linked in a list down the left side of the blog, clear at the bottom. There is actually a snickerdoodle recipe in that list, and it is quite good, but it uses shortening, and I'm trying to get away from using shortening in my cooking, so I went on the hunt for a new cookie. All my "new" recipes - the ones from Shafferland - are under the "Our Recipe Box" tab at the top of the page. I'll put this one there.}

I do love a snickerdoodle. In fact, it may be my favorite non-chocolate cookie. I love the cinnamon sugar, the little tart "bite," and the crunchy outside/soft inside. I love how it melts in your mouth and how great it tastes with milk and coffee alike.

And let's not forget how amazing the house smells while you're baking snickerdoodles. {Why do you think they make candles based on them?}

So here's my new snickerdoodle recipe. Delicious and cinnamony and sugary and worthy of its own huge stack on any cookie buffet.

Snickerdoodle Supreme Cookies

* 1 cup {2 sticks} butter
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
* 1 Tablespoon of vanilla
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 3/4 cup flour

Cinnamon Sugar Coating
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

In a stand mixer, beat butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy - 2 or 3 minutes. Add in egg, egg yolk and vanilla, and beat for another minute, scraping the sides as necessary. Add baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and mix thoroughly. Add flour and mix carefully. In a separate bowl, mix white sugar and cinnamon and stir until combined. Take a teaspoon of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Then roll the ball into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes.

A Few Tips:

* Like I said, I am working to get away from using shortening, so I've moved to using butter.

* I cannot separate an egg to save my life, but I do have a handy dandy egg separator tool from Pampered Chef that was one of the best investments I have ever made in my culinary career.

* As always, I use real vanilla, rather than imitation. {I feel like you probably know that about me by now, but maybe we just met! In that case, I want to make sure you know!}

* You may also remember that I have rather recently {actually during the cookie baking marathon that was my summer} fallen in love with parchment paper and use that instead of greasing my cookie sheets. Cleanup is SO MUCH EASIER with parchment paper on the cookie sheet.

* I am liberal with the cinnamon sugar coating. If I run out, I just make more. No lightly dusted cookie here! COAT THE THING.

* Don't overbake. I don't like a crunchy snickerdoodle. Gooey on the inside....slightly crunchy on the outside.

* You must eat at least one warm from the oven. It's basically a rule.

Six Months

This past week marked six months since we took possession of our new home in Kokomo. Man, that seems like a lifetime ago.

This first dance in our new living room?

A distant memory.

Last week, I watched our niece and nephews one day, and randomly, our niece said to me, "Do you ever miss your old house?"

Her question took me by surprise, mostly because I figured it was out of sight, out of mind for her. We hadn't mentioned the move all day, and I have no idea what made her think of it. But I didn't hesitate for a second before saying no.

My own answer surprised me.

I think there's something very God-orchestrated about leaps of faith. Leaving our old house and moving here was one of our biggest leaps of faith ever in our marriage.

I still remember the night of our last living room dance in our old house:

So many tears. So many goodbyes. Painful tugging of heartstrings. Walking away from where we began.

But coming here was right, and we knew it. And we knew that in time, the pain of goodbye to something we loved would be replaced with the joy of hello as we enjoyed our new home.

And we have been enjoying the daylights out of this new home. I'm pretty sure one of us says at least once a day, "I love our home."

We can do here what we couldn't do there. We can be part of relationships - friendships and family alike - that we were too far away to be part of in Marion. We can spend time together, morning, noon, and night, that we couldn't have when work was a 45 minute drive from home. We can entertain and host people in ways we couldn't before. {Ironically our new house is smaller by a few square feet, but the layout is such that the space is actually more usable.}

Every single person who has come here to see our home remarks that it just looks like us. And that makes us so happy. We want people to walk in and feel comfortable here. We want it to be a refuge for them like it is for us.

Our old house is so loved, both by us and by its new owner. We've driven by it a couple of times when we've been back in town, and the new owner is caring for it well. We've heard that he is carrying out his vision for it: inviting people over and allowing it to be a refuge for them like it is for him. That makes our hearts so happy. His world is fully engulfed in that city in ways ours never was. He can make such good use of that home and allow it to minister in ways we couldn't really do. The love and care and purpose my grandparents and I put into it is being carried right on, without interruption. Mission accomplished.

As for us, we're loving fall in our new home. I've decorated, and we're content to enjoy the view of pumpkins, the scent of spice, and the soft of blankets while we make ourselves at home in our home.

Six months in, and no regrets. This is home. I can't imagine it any other way.

The Shafferland Shuffle

Quick note at the start of today's post to say the winner of the $25.00 gift card to the Simply Bliss Boutique is...........{imaginary drumroll}.........TAMAR!!!!!!!!! I'll email you, Tamar, to get the info transferred to the good folks at Simply Bliss!

And now...for our week!

* Last Sunday was a perfectly lazy day in Shafferland, and we loved it. Napping, scrapbooking, football, sunset walks...that's a good day.

* I spent most of Monday writing and editing, so it was a day of laptops and coffee! Ryan and I had to run some errands that evening, so we stopped to buy some pumpkins so I could decorate the outside of the house. {NOTE: I did not buy all these pumpkins. LOL!!!} And at the last minute, I found out I needed to make a breakfast food for Ryan to take to a carry-in on Tuesday, so I made maple bacon sweet rolls. Pretty tasty!

* Tuesday was dental appointment day, so I had to make a quick run to Fort Wayne and back. I got my usual Starbucks post-dentist reward, and they accidentally made it cold instead of hot. Kinda pretty though, don't you think? That night was our first "Tuesdays at the Table" event, and we had Ryan's dad and step-mom over. It was a great night!

* Wednesday, I had our nephews and niece all day. We stayed so busy!! {AKA I had all my steps in early in the day!} They even got to go hang out with Ryan at the hospital while I did my carpool run. They thought that was pretty cool! And when the day was over, I took a nap. Whew!

* Thursday morning, I walked into the living room to find Braeya licking the daylights out of the carpet. Turns out one of the kids' snack puffs had gotten ground into the carpet and she was having a snack! HA!!! I spent the day writing and reading, and saying HELLO to our mums, which finally bloomed!

* Friday was another long day of writing, and I pulled out the old-school note-taking skills! Ryan and I took advantage of the gorgeous evening for a walk and then squeezed in a date night, complete with a trip to Starbucks for our reward drinks. That was the good news. The bad news was that the barista didn't hear me tell her {twice} that I had a reward, so I bought my drink!

* Yesterday was a massive baking day in Shafferland. I made a whole sampler platter of fall deliciousness {to share...no giving up the eating changes!} and the house smelled so good! AND I put up a new Lindsay Letters piece of art. I think it completes the house for fall!

The Saturday Six

One.

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Several years ago now {I prefer not to count how many, because it will make me feel old and I am not interested in that today}, I had some dear friends that lived just around the corner from my Marion house. Amber was in my ladies Bible study, but she would also come over just to hang out a lot, because I had cable and they didn't, and she had a few must-see shows. I would watch their kids {just two at that time} upon occasion. They felt the Lord leading them to move to Hong Kong to teach in an international school, so they moved! They now have four kids, and were it not for the beauty of social media, I might have lost them entirely. Last week, Amber posted this article about a project Nate {her husband} volunteered with. I know you don't know them, but I wanted to share because I do know them, and also because this project was a new one to me, and it seems to be doing great things!

Two.

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You all know of my love of Fixer Upper and all things HGTV, and I suppose it would be fair to say I get caught up in the styles of {most} typical decorating schemes. But even so, I do have a deep appreciation for people who can find the style that reflects THEM. I like to think our coffee bistro kitchen is that way. Maybe not what everyone else would do, but totally Shaffery. And that is why I love this woman's turquoise and white Pyrex inspired kitchen. First of all, I love that she collects Pyrex from the 50's and then I love what she did with it. Check it out!! {The photo is the before, so click over to see the after!}

Three.

Ryan and I are pretty excited that IKEA is coming to the north side of Indianapolis next year. So I read this article to learn all the tricks of the trade for finding the best deals once a trip to IKEA is no longer a whole day trip!

Four.

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Earlier this week, I did a post on the new vest I just got from the Simply Bliss Boutique, and they are providing a $25.00 gift card to their boutique. Reminding you that the chance to enter that ends tonight, so head over to my original post to leave a comment/entry if you wish! A few of you mentioned you would like this vest better in an olive color {mine is stone - kind of a khaki color}, and I wanted to let you know that they do carry the very same vest in olive, as pictured above!! 

Five.

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I fear if Ryan and I actually did have a son, I would be the mom receiving this phone call from school. 

Six.

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Earlier this year, I read a book by Johnnie Alexander called Where She Belongs, and I reviewed it here. One of my favorite things about the book was its small-town setting and lovable characters. So when book 2 of the Misty Willow series, When Love Arrives, came out this fall, I had to read it! Had to see what happened to these dear people I loved from book one! 

In the opening pages, Dani Prescott is hiding outside a children's hospital, secretly photographing one of Ohio's most eligible bachelors. Not because she has a thing for him, but because she's angry with him. In a TV interview she'd found online, Brett Somers vehemently blamed Dani's mother for causing the plane crash that killed his parents years earlier. But Dani's mother, the pilot of that plane, died in the crash as well.

Dani got her pictures, but before she can leave, Brett discovers her and, having no idea he was the subject of her photo quest, strikes up a conversation with her and even asks her out. She says yes. And then he asks again. And again. Brett and Dani are careful to keep their respective secrets, but they also find themselves wildly unguarded in ways they've never been before. Adamant that they are not dating, a friendship grows, but feelings and secrets grow with it, leaving them in a most precarious situation.

Novels can sometimes approach matters of faith very awkwardly, containing conversations that seem preachy and unnatural, and in this book, I think Johnnie handles that aspect beautifully. Both Dani and Brett are struggling heavily with their attitude toward God {as you might imagine after losing parents in such a horrific tragedy}, and the friends and family members that surround them handle their anger and confusion with such a natural grace. I think there's much to be learned in these pages about walking alongside a wrestling heart.

Though a few of the scenarios are a bit predictable, and the book is in no way suspenseful, there were a few twists and surprises I didn't see coming, and something about the tender vulnerability of Dani's heart made me identify with her and cheer for her wholeheartedly. The parts that some might deem too typical were actually endearing to me.

The book is certainly feel-good and yet has a depth to it. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to this little town and this family and am excited to see that book three is due out next summer!

Thanks, Revell, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tuesdays at the Table

How many times do you say the same thing we do? We really need to get together sometime. The offering of interest and desire to be part of other people's lives, while not quite making a commitment to a specific time and place to do that.

I guess I shouldn't presume myself to be a representative for the masses, but truly truly truly when we say that, we mean it. We have these friends and family members we really do want to get together with, but we know the biggest obstacle to making that happen is schedule. We're busy, they're busy, and it usually seems like our busy schedules don't match. And so we just keep saying what we should do, you know, sometime, and there it ends.

For me, there's a weird comfort even in hearing the sentence. Like somehow knowing that I matter to someone enough to even say it is good enough. Even if the getting together never happens. At least the words were spoken. But I'm trying to do better than just spoken words.

That's how Tuesdays at the Table came to be.  Tuesdays aren't as busy for most people as weekends tend to be, so maybe our chances of finding people with openings in their schedule would improve.

This week was our first hosting, and I was excited. I spent Monday evening putting up the fall decorations on the porch and planting mums {it turns out that company is the best motivator for completing decorating projects}, and I pieced together a menu that I felt reflected the advent of fall nicely.

We set our little farmhouse looking table for four...and I got more excited than I should have to use our real glasses. {Ryan and I drink pretty exclusively out of "adult sippy cups" because we usually take our water into the living room and SOME four legged member of this family thinks uncovered cups are an invitation to partake.}

{We did have plates and bowls, but it was buffet style serving, so they were on the counter.}

Chicken pot pie soup...a Pinterest experiment that made Ryan nervous and me excited. Especially when it turned out well!

Biscuits on the side {the "crust" of the pot pie if you so chose to use it as such}.

Zucchini bake to throw in some more healthy. {The soup actually was pretty healthy itself!}

And when our bellies were almost full, we fired up the coffee pot and pulled out the plate of applesauce cookies with apple cider frosting. Fall on a plate.

We sat around the table and told stories and then we migrated into the living room to softer furniture and more stories.

No one was in a hurry. Just a leisurely evening of talking and coffee and cookie consumption.

They'll all look different, I know. But it was a fine start to welcoming people into our home, and I'm looking forward to all the Tuesdays. I am sure it'll take forever to invite everyone we've had the sometime we need to conversation with, but that just means we have a good excuse to keep having company and sharing food around the table.

I throw it out there because maybe that's what it takes to end the sometime we need to conversation. Maybe you just pick a day and declare it dinner day and start asking until someone says yes. And then you keep asking until you run out of people, and then you start over.

Maybe?

Linking up!!