The Shafferland Shuffle

* No surprise to anyone, I'm sure, last Sunday was a lazy day of rest. I love not even feeling guilty about saying the words "lazy day" when speaking of a Sunday! Much rest, a lovely sunset walk, and discovering that the HUGE bush in our yard finally sprouted the first of what promises to be hundreds of purple flowers! YAY!

* Monday was a writing day for me, and apparently a busier one than my writing days usually are, because I actually did something I NEVER do and hit 20,000 steps by the end of the day. WHAT!?!? Ryan and Braeya did some bonding, and Ryan was so excited about his dinner salad that he requested a photo of it specifically. {I won't lie: it was a good salad.}

* Tuesday morning was extra beautiful, so we had breakfast on our porch, and it was just flat out lovely. After work, we went to the Howard County Fair, where Ryan got his lemon shake-up, and I got my ice cream. {And we shared mushrooms.} We had fun hanging out with my friend Amber and ended our night at the brand new Hydration Station that just opened last week!

* Wednesday was the day I spent most of my daytime hours in the hog barn at the fair - a phrase I was sure I would never say - waiting for our niece to show her hog in Mini 4-H. Ryan had to miss it {work, you know} and when she asked where he was and I said he was at work, she said, "Well next time I see him, I'm going to STEP ON HIS TOES!" For the record, she saw him on Friday and ran right toward him and gave him a giant bear hug. No toe stepping. LOL!

* On Thursday, I listened to a very helpful teleseminar, and Braeya was utterly bored by the whole thing. Slept right through it. I made our turkey burgers for dinner and we went for another walk with another stunning sunset. On the days it didn't rain this week, the sunsets were magnificent.

* Friday night, we went back to the fair when Ryan got home from work and had fun walking around looking at all the sights and sharing an elephant ear. We had planned to have more treats, but we were so full from the elephant ear {couldn't even finish it, actually!} that we didn't have more than coffee.

* Yesterday, Ryan worked, but he actually got out at noon, and we had fun running errands, which included a stop at a produce stand for some fresh sweet corn. First of the year for us! Ryan spent a good chunk of the afternoon washing the car, and when he was done, he put that mitt out on the sidewalk to dry. When I walked out later, I saw it out of the corner of my eye and absolutely thought it was a dead animal. WHEW!!!

The Saturday Six

One.

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Stumbled across a new {to me} blog last week that has some delicious looking healthy recipes on it. Thought I would pass it along your way in case you're in need of some new recipes!

Two.

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If you were a child of the 70's/80's/90's, this is a fun list to scroll through. Might recognize some of your own toys! :) And if you're extra fortunate, you might still own them!

Three.

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I know, I know. I just showed you a tiny house in LAST week's Six. But I might like this one even better!! 

Four.

My jewelry box fell apart after about 20 years of use. THE NERVE. I should pause and say that I'm not a "real" jewelry girl in that I see no personal point in spending our money on actual gold and silver and gems. No judgment toward those who love real jewelry, but it doesn't zing me. I'd rather fund my scrapbook addiction than get diamond earrings. So my jewelry is mostly stuff I've gotten at Cato or home parties. And I love it. I do love wearing jewelry EVERY DAY. I just don't need it to be expensive stuff. Last week we finally finished making my new jewelry hangers. We painted blocks of wood {the top one is actually board intended for house numbers...we got it at Lowe's and the bottom one was a scrap wood square we found at this house when we moved in} and Ryan added hooks to them so I could hang my necklaces and bracelets. I love having them out where I can see them, and I love it that the project was CHEAP! 

Five.

I did some editing to one of my Pinterest boards this week, and I thought I would share the board with you here, in case you need some inspiration! I know everyone uses Pinterest differently, but for the most part, my goal is never to 100% recreate an exact look that I find on there, but rather just to be inspired to find something fun to use as a creative springboard. Even though our guest room isn't done, I went through my Guest Room board and edited it to show how the pins inspired me to work on our room! If you have a guest room that needs some help, maybe you'll get some ideas!  

Six.

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My favorite kind of fiction, when I was growing up, was pioneer fiction. I guess that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows of my deep love for TV shows like Little House and Dr. Quinn, right? But in my recent reading days, I've ventured away from historical settings and into more contemporary settings, for the most part. Now and then, though, I like to expand my horizons and return to my first love of a setting in days gone by.

This week, my book of choice was Mary Connealy's No Way Up, a book set in the wild ranching west in the late 1800's. This book is the first in a new series by Mary...The Cimarron Legacy. Mary is an award-winning author who loves writing romantic comedy with cowboys, and the cowboys certainly saturated No Way Up!

Chance Boden is the beloved patriarch of the successful Cimarron Ranch, but he is concerned for the future of the Ranch, since his three grown children seem to be more interested in their own dreams {and arguing with each other} than pursuing a future in the family business.

Chance alters his will to declare that his three children must move to the ranch and stay there to run it for a year, or they will forfeit their entire inheritance, but before he can deliver the news to his children, Chance is caught in a terrifying avalanche. His life is spared by the quick actions of one of his hired hands, Heath Kincaid, and while Chance spends time recovering, Heath begins to suspect that the avalanche was intentionally set and the danger hasn't passed. Determined to spare the lives of the three Boden children {one of whom happens to be a beautiful young woman}, Heath sets a plan in place to figure out what's happening and why.

I admit I was nervous to read in this genre when I haven't for so long, but Mary's writing drew me in quickly and I didn't even have to mentally adjust to a different time period. The suspense is present, though not breath-stopping, and I enjoyed the touches of family life, romance, and yes, even some giggles along the way.

In the last quarter of the book, I stumbled a bit with a section that brought in new characters and caused me to get a bit lost, but I have a feeling that was more on me as a reader than on Mary as a writer.

Book two in this series is scheduled to release next February {and there were a good number of loose ends awaiting a neat bow when the book concluded}, and I learned on Mary's website that there's also a prequel novella available for this series if you're interested in more of the back story!

If you like western books with a faith base, check out this new series - and perhaps you'll wander your way through more of Mary's books!

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

 

Seasoned Turkey Burgers

I loved it when my mom made hamburgers when I lived at home. She didn't buy the pre-made burgers from the store. She made her own patties, and they were always thick and juicy and ruined me for those pre-formed {and if we're honest: kind of chewy} burgers.

Of course I always ate them slathered in mayo {oh how I loved mayo!!} and with a big helping of chips or fries.

So things have changed just a little bit. :)

Ryan and I use ground turkey instead of ground beef now, but if you just can't handle turkey, you could use beef in this recipe. {I personally can't tell the difference with the brand we buy, which is Jennie-O. It browns pretty well, it's flavorful, and I don't find it to be dry at all. {Turkey can be dry, you know.}

So turkey burgers are one of my favorite things to make when I'm working hard to go get fast food. I add some seasoning and serve it with lots of non-mayo toppings, because I've learned these things actually give it TONS of flavor without the extra fat. {Who knew?}

Turkey Burgers

* 1 pound of ground turkey
* 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Mix all seasonings in with uncooked ground turkey. Form into four equal sized patties and cook on stove top or grill until cooked through. Enjoy!

 A Few Tips

* Ryan and I buy turkey in three pound packages and I separate it out into one pound portions and freeze it that way. Then I can grab a pound at a time for whatever I need.

* I hate touching raw meat, so I wear either a plastic glove or a plastic sandwich bag over my hand to mix the seasoning into the meat and form the patties.

* If you don't like any one of the seasonings I mentioned but you do like something else, you can certainly substitute your favorites!

* If I use a bun, I get the little 100 calorie thin buns, but sometimes I just serve the burgers on a bed of spinach and skip the bun entirely. I never thought I would be okay with that, but I have learned to adjust to it! You can also use romaine lettuce leaves to make a lettuce bun.

* I usually add onion, tomato, and my favorite: dill pickle sandwich spears. {I have to get the kind in the refrigerated section that have all the garlic in them.}

* Sometimes I make guac and add that, and other times we just stick with good old mustard and ketchup.

* If I have cheese slices on hand, I'll put one on for Ryan. If not, I just sprinkle some shredded cheese on top.

* I usually serve this with veggies or sweet potato chips/fries.

Hope you enjoy!

Hometown Date: It's Fair Week!!

It's one of our favorite weeks of the year...fair week! Howard County has a great 4H Fair...one of the best around, I've heard from many people who attend multiple county fairs each year.

I was looking back at some of my posts from our other years at the fair, and we've had some fun memories and made good traditions, I see! The first year we went together, Ryan got me on the Ferris Wheel, which was a feat in and of itself, since I'm not a lover of rides. The second year was apparently all about the food...and last year, Ryan got roped into riding a crazy swirly ride with our friend Shawn's kids!

This year, the night we went called for rain, and it actually never came, but we were trying to hurry all night, just to make sure we had everything done in case it DID rain.

Ahhhh... a beautiful sight to behold coming into town!

Ryan's favorite thing every year is the LEMON SHAKE-UP!! We had his refill cup in tow so he could visit that place first!

{That's ice cream in my hand, and if you ask Ryan, he'll tell you he only got ONE BITE, but I assure you that is so not true. He got WAY more than one bite.}

My friend Amber walked around with us, and I did get my picture with her, but I am pretty sure she'd just prefer that I keep that off the blog, so I will, but I have to tell you how much that picture cracks me up because it was taken right after I got the ice cream, and I don't think I've smiled that big since our wedding day. LOL! I was a little TOO excited about that treat!

We ran into one of Ryan's co-workers when we visited the {fried} veggie place, and she let us sit with her!

We wandered through the livestock barn, because our niece was showing a hog this year and I wanted to see it, and on the way, I found this cow sacked out in a bowl of food. HA! This is my kind of nap!

When we finally found the hog, we also found our niece! She was excited to crawl right in and show us the ropes! I was excited to stay OUTSIDE the gate.

{Fun fact: Ryan showed hogs his whole growing-up life. I am sorry I never got anywhere near the barn back then! I tried to find a picture of him from those days, but was unsuccessful. He's probably happy for that!}

Anyway, by the time we made our way through the hog barn, we decided to call it a night and head home. Except...we got sidetracked. Imagine that!

When we were growing up {in Greentown, where the fair is held}, we loved going to the Comet Cone, and for those of you not from around here, that was a little local burger and ice cream place. It closed several years ago, and I always wanted someone to buy the building and resurrect the Comet Cone. Well, someone bought it and while they didn't bring it back as it used to be, they did remodel it and rename it! It's now called the Hydration Station, and we decided to stop by for coffee before leaving town!

Delicious! We just got fresh brew, but I had some caramel added to mine and it was pretty heavenly. And because we hadn't enjoyed enough treats, Ryan may have had a muffin with his coffee!

 I hope they do really well, because I would love to see a fresh start for a place with such great memories!

We took Amber home, and that was the end of our evening at the fair! The next day, while Ryan was at work, I went back to watch the actual hog showing adventure. That was completely new to me, because I wasn't a 4-H girl growing up.

Poor girl, she was SO EXCITED to do this, and then something got rearranged in the schedule and we all had to wait about four hours for her turn. I don't know if you've ever hung out in a hog barn for four hours {with kids} waiting for your turn, but it's quite an experience.

You do sweaty selfies:

You visit other pigs {this one was my favorite}:

You practice for when you get big and it's your turn:

You sack out in the back of the stroller with your cowboy boots on the wrong feet:

You do your prep work:

And FINALLY, you hear your turn called!

So I came home smelling like pig - not the bacon kind - and very sweaty, but I was glad I went and got to see a whole new side of the fair!!

Grace...Is Now

One of my favorite parts of each morning is scrolling through the posts "on this day" from all my years on Facebook. I enjoy seeing what I've been up to over the past few years and watching my journey. You know how all the versaries make me so happy, so to see them neatly organized for me while I drink my coffee and plan my day is about the best thing ever.

Yesterday, the thought I shared "on this day" in 2010 included words to Selah's Unredeemed song. "Life breaks and falls apart, but we know these are places where grace is soon to be so amazing. {Would love to know when the SOON part hits...}"

I remember 2010. Yes. Life indeed breaks and falls apart, and I was in the throes of it that month. And I had heard just about all I could bear of hang in there and all things work together for good and all the other good Christian answers. I knew they were true. I just couldn't bear them when I wanted an actual date and a time of when grace would soon be so amazing.

Anyone there today?

We've ached for some of our friends so much lately. People our very own age, losing spouses to cancer. When I think about them and I consider my own dreams for Shafferland, and all the items on our bucket list yet to be crossed off, I can't imagine knowing the whole list itself could be crossed off because of an ugly disease.

One of my friends wrote to ask me to pray for her husband because something was not right and they were hoping for answers soon, and before she even wrote me with the answer, she wrote to tell me he was gone. My jaw dropped clear to the floor when I read that email.

Life breaks and falls apart. Oh yes it does.

And in 2010, mine broke and fell apart, and I'm pretty sure some pieces rolled so far away that I never found them. The only sufficient answer, I felt, was for a guarantee of a specific time when it would all be fixed and I could do things like smile and breathe and eat more than four chips at once.

{Be careful what you wish for on that chip thing.}

For me, the grace I was seeking the most came two years later when Ryan entered my life. But let me tell you...there were buckets of grace poured over me even before he became part of my days.

Grace was amazing when I got the job at WBCL. Grace was amazing when I published my book. But you know what else? Grace was amazing when I opened my eyes every morning.

I didn't see it as grace then. I saw it as another day to be endured. But it was grace. Grace kept me going when my heart wanted to die. Grace urged my co-workers to cover for me when all I could do was sit at my desk and cry...when working wasn't an option. Grace sent friends to drag me out of the house and make me participate in something. Anything. Grace shuffled songs on a radio playlist so I heard every lyric I needed to in the right moment. Grace ordained sermons and devotions on pages of books published decades ago.

All grace.

Grace was amazing much sooner than I recognized it as such.

And so it is for you. If life is breaking and falling apart, and you just want to shake my shoulders and scream "WHEN? WHEN IS GRACE SOON TO BE SO AMAZING? TELL ME!"

Now.

Right.

Now.

Look. It's there. All grace.

Let's Talk About STUFF

It's podcast Tuesday!! Hope you enjoy our adventures and the jobs we have dreamed of having!

Click here to listen. 

And now, let's chat, shall we?

This past weekend, on the Saturday Six, I linked to an article that talked about the growing trend that adult kids do not want to inherit all the stuff their parents have. And their parents are taking it personally, feeling that the rejection of their stuff shows a lack of love from their kids.

A couple of you left comments about your own thoughts on that, and it made me think even more about this topic and where I stand on it, where Ryan stands on it, and why we feel the way we do!

I've made no secret over the past year or so that I have been in an intentional mode of paring down. Letting go of things. Less is more, right? After I left the station, I went ruthlessly through our entire house and eliminated all the things we didn't use. We had a huge rummage sale and made enough money from that sale to pay for our Great Getaway of 2015 last fall. Then we moved, we pared down again, letting go of things we didn't need so we had room in our new space to breathe.

I have done the same thing with my clothing, adopting the capsule wardrobe philosophy and getting rid of 3/4 of the clothing I owned. When new things come in now, something must go. I even went through my jewelry and let go of the pieces I never wore.

Even in all the paring down, we're not minimalists.  Not truly. We still have a LOT of stuff, and we're certainly lacking for nothing.

So this brings us back to the original question. Do we want to inherit more stuff? And if we don't, does that mean we're disrespectful to our parents and what they might want us to have?

Fortunately, Ryan and I have similar thoughts on this topic, so that's good! At least we agree!

We do not want to bring more stuff into our house for the express purpose of bringing more stuff into our house. We don't want to clutter up our space with more things just because we "should" take them.

But whenever the time comes {many years down the road of course, because all our parents are going to live a good long time}, and we need to divide the material possessions of our parents' households, I think these are some good rules for us to live by:

* If there are things that hold deep, beautiful memories for us, and those things physically fit in our house with out creating messes and clutter, then I think those things should move into our home. {And we would want to offer that same opportunity to all of our siblings for things they may want for the same reasons!}

* If there are things that could replace something we own, by providing an upgrade, then I would be all for making a swap. That way, we aren't bringing additional items into our home, but we would have the opportunity to improve upon what we have. {For example, if we had a chair that was falling apart and we could replace it with one that wasn't, then I would be fine getting rid of what we have and bringing in something better.}

* If there is something that we aren't particularly attached to, but we know an extended family member or friend has always admired it, I think it would be great to gift it to them, knowing it will be loved and treasured and will allow fond memories to be fostered in other households, too!

* For the day-to-day items, I would love to find people who might just be starting out and could use the blessing. My mom and aunt cleaned out their parents' house when I was a senior in high school, and I ended up with a treasure trove of the things no one else wanted: everyday dishes, towels, baking pans, other kitchen utensils, and things like that. A few years later, when I established my own home, those inheritances were HUGE in helping me afford to get started. I think it's great to pay that blessing forward to someone else who is starting out or starting over!

Our home already has a smattering of pieces that have come from both our families and represent our heritage. We love those pieces and are so glad they are part of our story. If we're able, along the way, to add to that collection, with little items here and there, I will love that too! But I don't want to create wall-to-wall clutter out of feelings of obligation.

So that's where we stand on it. How about you? Do you want to inherit more things? Do you feel pressure to be willing to take stuff?

Garage Makeover

Tamar, this post is especially for you!

When Ryan and I moved into this house, we were so excited about our new garage. It was one of the upgrades for us. We left behind a detached 1 1/2 car garage for an attached 2.25 car garage. Yes, I know 2.25 is not a thing, but I just made it one. We rejoiced at simple luxuries like walking inside during a rainstorm without getting wet. Going into the garage without putting on shoes. You get the idea. We loved it and had not a single plan in this world to do a thing to it other than organize it {which Ryan had already done} and enjoy it.

And then...Mommapalooza 3.0.

We hosted Ryan's family and mine for Mother's Day, with every intention of eating at folding tables on the porch, but we did NOT intend for the day to be cold and cloudy. At the last minute, we had to move the party inside to keep all our guests from freezing while they ate. And while we did fit in our living room, it was a tight squeeze and not overly comfortable.

It's a common problem in his family, because there are so many of them. And we realized, as we pondered this conundrum, that nearly everyone in his family serves big family meals in their garages.

You see where this is going, don't you?

We do love our garage, but it was decidedly a garage. Our niece informed us it smelled like a garage, and it was only half finished. Apparently when our house was built, the requirement {or common practice, I'm not sure which} was that any wall that touched a part of the house had to be insulated and drywalled, but that was it. So we had a literally half-finished garage with unidentified splotches of who-knows-what on the floor.

More than adequate to function in every way we needed. Still a luxury to us. But, as I said, decidedly a garage.

So Ryan cleared out the entire thing {all freshly organized, though it was!}, and we started with insulation. We hired a company to come and spray a skim coat of insulation on the open walls. {I say this as though I know what I'm talking about.} They were in and out in less than half a day, and when they left, our walls boasted a lovely base coat of insulation:

Ryan and I purchased rolls of insulation and spent a couple of nights adding that over the top of this skim coat. {I rolled them out, measured, cut, and fluffed them, and Ryan hung them.}

We were stunned, even with just this much done, at how much more finished the room looked and how much more controlled the temperature felt! Whaddya know?!? Insulation works!

Ryan can drywall and mud, but he hates both very much, and at this point, doing that project on our own would have taken weeks, so we elected to hire it done. Sometimes the value of your time and sanity makes hiring a project worth it, right? These guys came to our house over the course of two days, but in total, they were there less than 8 hours. They put up drywall in the remainder of the garage, mudded and sanded it, repaired some areas on the existing drywall, and textured the ceiling to match the inside of the house. It was impressive, and Ryan said it was worth every penny.

The next step was to paint the walls, and if you heard the podcast a couple of weeks ago, you heard about the giant paint debacle that landed us hosing down great quantities of ourselves and items in the garage. It was insane. The paint color we used was the same as the one in our master bathroom. It's a Valspar color called Wet Pavement, and the Lowe's guy told us it is actually one of the most popular paint colors they sell. {Who knew??} It seemed to us to be a nice, neutral, inviting color.

The painting took wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more time than we anticipated, but it looked so nice when it was done. {Incidentally, we also painted the ceiling a white coat before we painted the walls. We were hoping to get out of it, but the fact that the drywall on the ceiling was done years ago meant there were discolorations under the texturing, so we had to paint.}

Our next plan was to do an epoxy paint treatment on the floor so it looked more finished as well. I did a whole separate post on that, which you can find here if you missed it, but let's just say the prep work on that took about a week. The floor has to be crazy clean and crazy dry, so Ryan did a lot of washing, scraping, degreasing, and who knows what all, and then we had fans on it for days, making sure it was 100% dry.

The paint itself went on in about two hours. Ryan rolled the paint on the floor and I threw in the confetti-like chips that give it some personality.

Then that had to dry for several days. We couldn't walk on it, put our stuff back, or park on it while it cured.

But the after look of that was just amazing, in our opinion.

 Once that fully dried, our only chore was to move back in! Ryan wanted to switch some things up and around to make the layout work better for what he needed, so he had fun reorganizing everything.

As for me? I just wanted a pretty wall in the garage. One pretty wall. One spot that we could use as a focal point when we have parties and gatherings.

So working together, we came up with the idea to paint a couple of chalkboards on one wall, and Ryan even went the extra mile to put frames around them to dress them up a little bit! We used two old windows our friend Shawn gave us {THANK YOU, SHAWN!!!} on either side, just to add to the overall look.

And now? It's done. Officially done. I think it looks incredible, especially when you compare it to what it looked like before!

That only took a month. WHEW! Exhausting!!! But we do love it. And for you comparison junkies....here are the side by side before and after pics. {Click to enlarge.}