The Saturday Six

One.

I am SO STINKING EXCITED for my friend Allison Mills, whose home and decorating are featured in the November/December issue of Midwest Living. Allison was one of my youth pastors back in the day, and we've kept up our friendship lo these many years later. She is a treasure...the sweetest friend, and I am unbelievably thrilled for her that her work is featured! CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Two.

I am probably TOO excited that all the Christmas movies are back on Hallmark, around the clock. They have been for a few days now, so you probably already knew this, but in case you didn't, I wanted to be sure to tell you! I know it's too early for some of you to be on board with Christmas movies, but I welcome the lighthearted background noise for my days!

Three.

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Found this tutorial to make your own faux zinc letters/numbers. I have purchased these cardboard letters/numbers at Hobby Lobby before, but I have never seen this paint treatment done on them. Hmmm...thinking of some garage decorations...

Four.

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Last week, my friend Kari and I went to a craft show, and one of the women had several felt Christmas trees with ornaments for sale. She said that last year, she made one for her toddler age son, and it saved her by giving HIM something to play with while SHE was busy decorating the actual tree. I've seen them on Pinterest before, and I decided to add the idea (and a few similar ideas) to the board I blogged about a while ago: making gifts for kids. I think it's great to have play ideas for kids that actually require them to use their own imaginations instead of playing with electronic things, and these ideas help. Felt snowmen, Christmas trees, fall trees, even Mr. Potato Heads...all give kids something to do when you're otherwise occupied. And if you don't have a lot of room to store toys, felt folds up into a pretty compact box! This is also great for homes like ours, that don't have a lot of kid-friendly toys around. AND - you can make travel sizes, too, for the car or hotel room fun. Make them for your home, make them for gifts...whatever. I just like it that they don't require much skill! :)

Five.

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Oh. My. Word. This. All day long.

Six.

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Ryan and I finished reading a devotional book together this week, so I wanted to tell you about it! It was actually a housewarming gift from my parents, but when we received it, we were still working through another book, so we waited a little bit to start it!

Devotions from the Front Porch is part of a series of gift/devotional books published by Thomas Nelson. The chapters in this book were written by Stacy Edwards, and the greatest travesty, I think, is that her name is not on the cover! {WHAT!?!?!} But she wrote a BOOK, for Pete's sake, so I'm giving her some credit here. :)

Hands down, this is a stunning gift book. Every single page has full color photographs of life on (or as seen from) the front porch. (Hence the name...) The photos are well done and extremely pleasing to the eye, and it's not often you get a book with beautiful pictures to match, so that is definitely a bonus.

Each devotion begins with a Scripture verse, is followed by some of Stacy's thoughts, and ends with a little two-sentence prayer. {Those things are combined with the beautiful photograph to make a two page spread for each devotion.}

Is it the deepest devotional book we've ever read? Not by a long shot. In fact, we came into this book after having studied Beth Moore together, so it was a pretty big change of depth. But please don't misinterpret that as a criticism. I think there is a time and place for deep devotional reading that takes you through big chunks of Scripture and devotional thoughts designed to make you consider the message thoroughly within your heart. But I also think there is a time and place for lighter reading that sparks a topical thought within you and leaves you feeling hopeful and uplifted.

Some of us need a little bit of both of that in every day. Some are in a place where something light and short is all their hearts and attention spans can handle - and if that's you, that's okay!

This book may not dive deep, but it's full of scripturally sound thoughts that combine real-life experience, and sometimes even a little humor. Each reading is completely relatable and makes for a perfectly sized reading-on-the-go. The topics center around home, neighborhood, family, coziness, safety, hospitality, and all the things you would associate with a front porch devotional.

It really was a perfect housewarming gift, given the subject, and I love it that we were able to enjoy it together and can enjoy it together again later, when we come back to the book.

A hardback book with a ribbon bookmark, combined with the color photographs, makes this a great choice to give for a hostess or housewarming gift!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for choosing this for us. We enjoyed reading out of it every morning before work, and we'll enjoy it again, too! :)

10 Best Investments of 2016

Last week, during the last game of the World Series, I paced rapidly through the house, racing against the midnight hour to get my 10,000 steps in. As I did so, I said to Ryan, "I have to say, this Fitbit is one of the best investments I made this year."

And boom. A blog post was born in my head.

Friend Wayne, if you are reading right now, please accept my apology for all the things your wife might be about to buy because I'm about to say they were good investments. :)

This blog was never meant to be a review blog, and at the core, it still isn't. But I think when you find a good thing, you should tell other people about it, so Ryan and I put our heads together and came up with our best investments of the last year. Our thoughts...coming your way! {In no particular order, by the way.}

1. Garage Makeover. This one has several sub-points, but it's best summarized as the great garage makeover of 2016. It took us a whole month to clean out the garage {aka empty it} and clean the garage {aka scrub every inch of it multiple times}...and then add the insulation, the drywall, the ceiling, the paint job, and the Rustoleum floor treatment. There were several times in that month that I thought I might lose my mind. There were probably an equal number of times when Ryan was convinced I actually had lost my mind. It was not a fun month. It was not a low-stress month. But having a finished garage that functions as both a garage AND a spare room that we can use for entertaining, parties, projects and more is SO WORTH ALL THE HASSLE. {If you missed the recap of what all we did, you can catch it here.}

2. The Fitbit. Ahhhhh the investment that sparked this entire post. About a month before my birthday, my sisters came up with the idea to get Fitbits as an accountability tool. Never one to be left out of a party, I asked Ryan if we could get one for my birthday gift. So he did all the research {he is the BEST researcher, if you ever need one!!!} and we settled on the Fitbit Charge. I have worn it faithfully since receiving it, and it has definitely taught me a lot about how much I DON'T move!! {The life of a writer, right?} Because I have it, I am really dedicated about getting to my full 10,000 steps each day, and I do get up and purposefully move around more than I ever did before. {Mine does not calculate heart rate...and I didn't want that tracked, so it was by design that we chose this one. They do make ones that do track your heart rate, however. The only problem I've had with mine is that in six months, the band wiggled loose and I now have it held together by tape. Classy. But the device itself marches on!}

3. Rosie. You remember my post about Rosie, right? She's Ryan's early Christmas present to himself...an iLife vaccum that runs around and sweeps our whole house without any intervention from us. She's not loud...she does my work for me...and Ryan gets the well-swept house he likes to live in. Win, win, win! Call us lazy if you like, but this has been a huge benefit for us!

4. Riding lawn mower. When we moved to this house, we brought our trusty push mower with us. Both Ryan and I had push mowers when we got married, and it's all either of us had ever used to mow our grown-up house lawns. We fully intended to carry that on at our new house, because the yard is not THAT big. Ummmmmmmmmmmmm until we mowed it the first time. And that is when Ryan began to look for a riding mower. It's not that the yard is bigger than it looks. It's that the hill on one side is WAY STEEPER than it looks - especially when you're hauling a non-self-propelled push mower in 100 degree heat/humidity. Ryan's boss was getting rid of his mower and sold it to Ryan for a super reasonable price, and Ryan said that was one of THE best purchases of the year. It has saved him a lot of hassle. And I love that for him!

5. Battery powered leaf blower. When we got married, Ryan owned a gas powered blower, and I owned an electric blower. His was heavy to haul around and mine was always tethered to a wall. Annoying and annoying. Ryan saved up and bought a battery powered blower, and it was his first submission to this best-investment list. It's not heavy, it's not restricting, and it gets the leaves and grass clippings away from the lawn. He gives it all the thumbs up.

6. Lemongrass Spa everything. I was speaking at a retreat this year and one of the ladies in attendance asked if I'd ever heard of Lemongrass Spa. I had not, and took her catalog when she offered it to me. It sat on my desk for several days, and then I took a look. Lemongrass Spa makes skin care products and makeup that are over 95% natural, and they're also gluten free. {I'm not in need of gluten free, but it's a nice offering for those who are!} I ordered the basic skin care set, because I had come to realize the need to watch what I was putting on my skin, and immediately, I was hooked. I signed up with the company on the double, and I am not telling you about this for any sort of personal gain, but because I haven't found one thing yet that I don't like. And I feel good about everything I'm using, because I know it doesn't have all the creepy scary stuff in it! One of my favorite investments of the year. {And if you do have questions - let me know!}

7. Set of weights. We technically made this purchase in 2015, but it was still within the last 365 days, so I'm counting it! Last year, this was our Christmas gift to each other: a set of hand weights to keep in our home, so we could do our workouts to get healthier. We use those weights almost every day, and the physical changes we have both made in the last year are proof enough to me that this was a great and worthy investment. We don't have to worry about a gym being open when we want to work out or the weight we need being in use elsewhere. So glad we did this!

8. Our stone wall. Much like the garage makeover, the stone wall makeover was a time and labor intensive project, but Ryan declared it worthy of the list. And he is the one who did all the work, so he should know! When we moved into this house, we took down half a wall between the kitchen and living room, and Ryan installed this AirStone feature that looks stunning. It took him many, many, many long hours, more than a few frustrations, and many boxes of stone, but the end result is one of the most-complimented parts of our house. It really is an upgrade, and I'm so glad we did it. {And I'm so glad it's done!!}

9. New blinds. When we moved into the house, most of the blinds on the windows were custom shades that pull down {NOT the rolling kind} and then push up to the tippy top of the window. It's great because they don't have cords and rods and they don't block any view during the day. But the sliding door had an old fashioned vertical blind. I know some people really like vertical blinds, and that is completely fine, but I am not a fan. I was willing to live with it, but Ryan treated me to a new set of blinds that match all the rest. They slide up and down, they help with temperature control, and we love them. Definitely a treat, but one we're glad we sprung for.

10. And finally...the IKEA bed. We have a guest room now!!! A first for us! And while the room is devoted to being a guest room, it's not a room we use every day and I'm so glad we chose to get the bed we did. It came from IKEA and sits in the room as a twin bed. It takes up very little room, it doesn't have bulky head or foot boards, and sleeps comfortably, we're told. But it also has a trundle that slides out, so it can easily sleep two people if we have two guests. PLUS, it has large drawer storage, which is really helpful. I'm glad we don't have a huge bed swallowing the room. I'm glad we have space for more than one person. This bed was totally worth it.

So there you go! Our list of top ten investments from the last year!

Perspective

I decided many months ago that I wanted to write the Shafferland story. I think I was driven to make sure our story was committed to paper in case either one of us ended up forgetting who we were and how we lived. {Yes. Too much Notebook.}

I wrote the story of our first year a while ago and immediately launched into preserving the second year, but then life began to happen and I stopped writing. For some reason, this week, the writing bug bit {HARD} again, and I've been sneaking to the computer every spare minute to relive year two through blog posts, journal entries, and scrapbook pages so I can transcribe the story for posterity.

People, this is why I'm such an advocate for scrapbooking and journaling. So many things were hidden in those pages that I'd forgotten. I remembered much, but I'd forgotten much, too. Feelings and prayers, Scriptures and quotes, ups and downs, the funny and the heartbreaking - they were all waiting for me in words and pictures.

The particular part of our story I'm writing right now is exhausting me as I relive it. In no particular order, here were some of our obstacles in our second season:

* Double commuting
* Polar vortex
* Job stresses
* Double home ownership
* Low self-esteem {okay that one was just me}
* Plumbing replacement

Daunting enough in list form. But each point carried sub-points that added about 150 pounds of emotional weight to each of us.

Job stresses weren't just "job stresses." They were weights that made Ryan hold his breath to see if his very job would hold and weights that sent me home sobbing every. single. day.

Double home ownership wasn't just about the inconvenience of owning two homes. It was about drowning beneath betrayal from people who had committed to buying Ryan's old house and then moved out instead, leaving us not only stuck with a house, but spending spare dollars we didn't have to repair damages they left.

It was all-consuming. So many questions. So many decisions. So much unknown. So much hurt.

As I sorted through the pages of my journal, I stopped cold on these words, written on February 23, 2014:

Bring the right people for the {Greentown} house and bring the right house for us. Give us direction about where we should go. Bring us HOME.

Of course in my mind, all this bringing and giving would happen in short, orderly fashion. Isn't that ultimately the hope of all our prayer requests when we utter them?

In reality, it would be five more months before we received an offer on Ryan's house, and it would be another 141 days {five months, roughly} before we signed the house over to its new owner. But in that long, daunting, ten-month span, God would indeed answer the cry of my heart: the right people bought the house. We still smile when we drive by and see how they continue to make it their own. We are grateful it can bless them, and we are simultaneously grateful to be out from under the deep stress of owning two homes.

And in fact, exactly two years after I wrote this prayer in my journal {two years TO THE DAY}, we received word that the appraisal on our new house, our now house, was complete. And in less than one month from that day, we would own the house and be mid-renovation already.

In those two years, God did bring the right house. He did give us direction. He was lining up the buyer for the house we had shared the first few years of our marriage. He'd freed me to be a stay-at-home wife.

It wasn't short or orderly, but it was complete.

This is why I love to journal. I have, as Ann-Voskamp wrote in The Broken Way, "God-Amnesia." I forget what I know to be true. I lose sight of the journey we've walked together. I need to be reminded of His faithfulness - not just in the ANSWERS, but in the journey that LEADS to the answers. The journey matters as much, if not more, than the answers.

I sit here today, grateful for that hard year we lived. I'm not sure how we survived it with smiles on our faces, as I look back over the consistent crushing blows of that year. But we did survive it, and we are stronger and more unified as a couple and in our faith today than we were before the year began.

I'm also profoundly grateful for the answers. They came slowly, but God was faithful in the journey. 

Pictures!!!

If you missed yesterday's post, and you like to read Ann Voskamp, go check it out, because I'm giving away her newest book, The Broken Way, and the accompanying study guide and DVD {both of which release later this month}.

In other news, I thought we could all use something lighthearted and fun today, so GUESS WHAT!?!?!? We got our pictures back! :)

Because we got engaged in the fall, Ryan and I have a tradition of always having a photo shoot sometime in the fall. Annual family pictures, if you will. Ryan's mom has always taken them for us, and she always does a great job, but this has been a busy fall for her with all of Ryan's grandpa's health issues, so we decided to give her a break and hire a photographer.

Jessi MacNulty took them, and she was so much fun to work with. And in even faster time than promised, she had them edited and returned to us...and I thought you might like to see a sampling. I'll hang onto the ones that are in contention for the Christmas card, so you won't see those today. :)

Happy browsing! :)

Hope you enjoyed!!!!

The Broken Way {& A Giveaway!!}

First up today...we have a brand new Spill the Beans out. If you'd like to live vicariously through the date in which Ryan serenaded me through the mall's Christmas tree display, or you'd like to hear what it's like when yours truly tries to forage her way alone through Lowe's, do not miss this week's podcast.

Click here to listen.

And now...for the book lovers in the crowd!

A few years ago, in 2011 to be exact,  this writer named Ann Voskamp showed up in all our lives and taught us how she learned to live fully by counting One Thousand Gifts. Maybe you took the dare that year, or one of the years that followed.  Counting out One Thousand Gifts of your own and recognizing God in the tiniest of moments. My counting came in the year after my deep, dark desert, and my one thousandth gift transcribed in the notebook was one you know well: Ryan Shaffer.

In these years since, Ann's been writing away on her blog, teaching us from her well of wisdom in her recognizable, lyrical voice. And as you might have heard, just a few weeks ago, she released a new book: The Broken Way.

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I was eager to see this new book and discover what Ann had been learning in this meantime between books, and I wanted to read slowly so I could fully digest and savor. This wasn't a book to fly through, and I knew that going in. Ann's style is careful and thoughtful, and to read too quickly is to miss out. So I've been snacking on a chapter at a time, underlining, considering, contemplating, and learning.

The first words I underlined were from page 15: "Maybe this broken way is making something new. He is making all things new." And oh, how I learned that firsthand in my desert. That brokenness doesn't lead to the end, but it leads to something new. And if He could make all things new for me, I know He can do it for you. {And probably He will do it for me again after a desert I haven't yet walked.}

Here's the thing.

Most of us avoid brokenness. We don't want to look broken and needy in front of others. We don't want to look broken and needy to God. We don't even want to see broken and needy in the mirror. So we avoid our brokenness.

I did.

Before my desert, I avoided it. I wanted to be the strong one. The rock. The invincible one. But after the desert, I learned to own broken. I was incapable of hiding how broken I was, so instead of avoiding it, I embraced it. And the craziest thing happened: I learned that other people identified with my brokenness far more than they identified with my pretend wholeness. If I was brave enough to admit my broken places, they felt safe enough to join me there, and healing began. Broken people, gathered together to hurt over similar wounds began to heal together through seeking God's Face and receiving God's grace.

But it only happens when you are willing to let people see how and where you're broken.

And that's what Ann does in this book. She opens the doors to her heart and lets you see the things that have broken her. The pain of cutting. The disappointment of family dysfunction. The unrelenting sting of death. Watching her kids wrestle with hard things. Facing fears. Much more.

She says the things most people want to, but are either afraid to or don't know how to say. She gives permission to hurt. Permission to grieve. Permission to be broken.

A few other thoughts I underlined:

"Who knows why God allows heartbreak, but the answer must be important enough because God allows His heart to break too." - p. 55

"Don't waste a minute on anything less than what lasts for all eternity." - p. 95

"Love pries open your chest and pulls open the door of your heart so someone can walk right in and make this mess that remakes you into something more beautiful." - p. 131

"Be brave and do not pray for the hard thing to go away, but pray for a bravery that's bigger than the hard thing." - p. 167

"Don't we all have to unlearn fear before we can truly learn to love?" - p. 214

I had two main lines of thought as I read this book. The first was how I wished it had been written back when I was walking my own broken way. Seeing these words might have given me the courage to be braver sooner. At the very least, they would have given me comfort that I was not alone in my brokenness.

The second thought was that even though I'm not walking the most broken way right now, these words still break me. There are still things about my heart that are too calloused and need to be more tender.

So...if you are in a place of deep brokenness right now, and you need to know that it's okay to break, and you need to know that someone has walked a broken road and lived to tell about it, this book is for you. If you know someone who is broken in two right now, and you want to understand them, but their own words fail them, read this to get a glimpse of how they might be feeling.

And because we never live free from a future of brokenness, if you want to know how to break better next time, read this book.

I want to pause to say that I think there's a need to be careful with books like this...books that sail to the top of charts and are gobbled up by readers simply because the authors are best-sellers and are put on pedestals of faith. I've pulled back from reading some authors I previously read without question, because I've felt a conviction to be more careful about just automatically accepting teaching. I read this book with a guard up, hoping I wouldn't find anything untrustworthy from Ann, whose writing has taught me so much. I asked for discernment as I read, too, praying for the Lord to show me if there were patterns of thought taught within that I shouldn't adopt.

Personally, I did not find that to be the case with this book. I came away convicted about a handful of things that I need to work on, comforted in knowing I did some things well in my own previous brokenness, and I learned things about the Lord I'd never before considered. That was my experience with this book. But I urge you with this and all books you read, to read with discernment and not just accept ideas as truth because the person who wrote them has been given a platform. The Bible alone is the measuring stick for every word authors write.

I also want to pause and say that if you've never read Ann Voskamp before, her writing style is very distinctive. She crafts words in such a lovely and poetic way, but the style doesn't let you speed through the pages and grasp every word to its fullest. So, read slowly. Don't let the poetic nature push you away.

And as promised...it's giveaway time!

I have one copy of The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp and will have {after its release later this month} one copy of the study guide with DVD to give away to one of you! :) 

If you would like to enter to win, leave a comment with one thing {could be a verse, a quote, piece of advice...whatever} that was helpful to you in a time of your own brokenness. If you comment anonymously, please make sure to leave your name and a way to contact you so I can get in touch with you if I draw your name!

I will leave the drawing open through Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. ET and will announce the winner at the start of the Shafferland Shuffle on Sunday. I'll mail the entire gift pack your way after I receive the study guide and DVD following their release later this month.

* Zondervan and The Blythe Daniel Agency provided me with a complimentary copy of The Broken Way and will also provide me a complimentary copy of the study guide and DVD to accompany the book. The gift pack is also provided by them. All opinions in this post are my own and I was not required to provide a favorable review. *

In Case Company Seems Overwhelming...

When I hosted my third Thanksgiving, I was still a whippersnapper, fresh out of college, and excited to be trusted with a family holiday of that magnitude. In all fairness, when I say I "hosted," I should confess that my mom and aunt brought all the food except the stuffing and the ice cubes. I stood in my kitchen, dutifully stirring the stuffing {Dressing? Whatever.} and my Uncle Jerry stuck his head in the doorway and said, "Seems like you're enjoying this a little more this year!"

Apparently my previous attempts to mask my utter panic over hosting a major holiday the previous years had not entirely fooled him. He was right, though. Something about year three didn't scare me nearly as much as years one and two. {And rightfully so, since I was only in charge of two things!}

And just for funsies - some throwback pictures to that first year of enjoying my hosting:

But if you're not used to hosting, it can be that way, can't it? The panic about the house looking presentable enough. The mystery of how to make all the dishes magically conclude cooking at the same time. The dance of working and socializing simultaneously. Sometimes it can only be learned through experience. Trying over and over until you figure it out.

Sometimes the biggest problem is just deciding what to fix that will make everyone happy, meet all dietary restrictions, and coordinate well together. 

We just hosted our fourth "Tuesdays at the Table" and I wanted to share with you today our four menu plans {so far} in case you need some ideas. {And Ryan thinks the record should show I have learned to cook more food than the stuffing and the ice cubes. HA!}

Week One: 
The first Tuesday, we hosted Ryan's dad and step-mom, and yes, I was nervous to cook for my in-laws! We've had them over for a meal before, but I did feel the self-imposed pressure to prove Ryan had chosen a wife who could cook well. And even though it wasn't really fall-feeling outside, it was fall, so I wanted the food to reflect the season in some way.

* Chicken Pot Pie Soup
* Biscuits {From a can...I haven't advanced to biscuits from scratch yet}
* Zucchini Bake
* Apple Spice Cookies with Coffee
{I made the cookies the day before, I started the soup a couple of hours prior to dinner so it could simmer, and then shortly before dinner, I put together the zucchini bake and slaved over those canned biscuits.}

Week Two:
Our next guests were Ryan's grandma and her husband, and again, I felt the need to prove he had a wife who could cook well for him! I also wasn't sure what to fix for the woman whose tried-and-true cooking I have enjoyed immensely at holiday gatherings! So this time I went for breakfast with a fall-feeling twist.

* Pumpkin Pancakes with Syrup
* Breakfast Casserole {this version is a crock-pot recipe and is a bit cleaner-eating}
* Amish Friendship Bread with Coffee
{I had the friendship bread in the freezer, so I just got it out to thaw the day before. I put the breakfast casserole in the crock pot at lunchtime and let it cook itself all afternoon. I whipped up the pancake batter shortly before dinner and cooked the pancakes right before we ate.} 

Week Three: 
This time we had friends with kids come over for dinner! I wanted to make something that was fun for the kids and tasty for everyone. We also had to reschedule this dinner for a Friday {Ryan ended up with a last minute class to attend on Tuesday} so I wanted something that was fun for a weekend.

* Pizza stuffed crescents for an appetizer
* Pizza bar {Canned pizza dough, pizza sauce, pepperoni, turkey pepperoni, sausage, tomatoes, green pepper, green onion, white onion, mushrooms, black olives, cheese} - everyone could build their own pizza with whatever they wanted on it - and however much they wanted of each topping.
* Candy shop pizza with Coffee
{I made the candy shop pizza early in the day, though it easily could have been done the day before, I cut up all the pizza toppings earlier in the day, but that could have been done the day before, too. All I had to do right before dinner was put everything out, cut the canned dough into portions for everyone, and throw together the pizza stuffed crescents.}

Week Four:
Our fourth Tuesday brought some friends from out of town!! Dear Shari, that I met through blogging/working at the station and her husband came to visit, and we had the best time together. She wanted me to keep it as low-key as I could, and she even brought dessert to share!

* Shredded pork loin with BBQ sauce {The sauce is homemade and purchased from one of Ryan's patients' churches. DELICIOUS, but I have no idea what their secret is!}  
* Asparagus
* Roasted Sweet Potatoes
* Shari brought an apple pie with ice cream, and of course, we had coffee.
{The pork cooked itself all day in the crock pot, and the BBQ sauce came from a jar. I cut up the sweet potatoes about an hour before dinner and tossed them in the seasoning so they could cook. I made the asparagus right before we ate, and dessert was all a gift!}


A few other notes:
* I work hard to NOT stress about over-cleaning the house. Rosie runs every morning, so the floors are swept, and I run a dustcloth over the house before company arrives. And I clean the bathrooms. If we see cat hair on the couch, we lint-roller it, and that's the extent of our cleaning stresses. If something's out of place, it's out of place, and that's okay. {OH! And Ryan always cleans the front window because he sees dirt that is invisible to me, and it bugs him.}


* If we have kids over, I tell their parents to load up the car with whatever they love to play with, because we're boring. I want them to feel free to bring their own toys, books, movies, whatever they want.

* Sometimes things get messed up. {Shout out to pizza night when the oven was OFF for the first twenty minutes the pizzas "baked." Embarrassing? Yes. Anything I can do about it? No. Laugh it off and hand out more appetizers.}

* HAVE FUN. We do these nights because we want to open our home and spend time with friends. So we focus on that. We laugh, we tell stories, we catch up...and that's the whole point. It's not to impress them. It's not to win points. It's just to have fun. And you can only have fun if you allow yourself to do so.

The Shafferland Shuffle

HAPPY DAYLIGHT SAVINGS DAY!!! IF YOU'RE UP EARLY, GO BACK TO BED FOR ANOTHER HOUR!!! :)

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I started our Halloween happenings. I made his Charlie Brown costume while he watched football, and we decorated our pumpkin cookies together. It was so much fun! We even had little taco stuffed pepper jack-o-lanterns for dinner to complete our celebration!

* Monday was Halloween, and "Charlie" went to work! :) I didn't dress up, but I did find a little trick-or-treating shirt to wear. Our only trick-or treaters were our niece and nephews, but they were little cuties!! We went to my parents' house that night to work on projects for them, so I guess technically, we went trick-or-treating.

* Tuesday was November 1, and it was THE most beautiful day! Sunny, blue skies, and warm enough to wear a sleeveless dress. WHAT?!?!? We hosted Tuesdays at the Table that night with our friends Wayne and Shari, and we had the best time. Pulled pork and veggies, Shari's homemade apple pie for dessert, and even Braeya made an appearance for a while. It was great!

* Wednesday was our 47th monthiversary, and Ryan had to go to Indianapolis for a meeting that day. I took brunch to his co-workers, and that night, we went on a little date! Voting, coffee, Lowe's, and a Christmas tree tour at the mall. It was a great monthiversary!

* Thursday was a writing day for me. I accomplished a lot, but I got behind on steps, so after work, I went for a walk and found myself rewarded with the most beautiful sunset! Ryan and I enjoyed an evening at home, which made Braeya SO HAPPY.

* Friday, I got a fun surprise of FUN MAIL! There is not nearly enough fun mail going around in this world, is there? After work, Ryan and I went back to my parents' to do some more work, and that resulted in yours truly taking a trip to Lowe's for more supplies that WILL have to be a podcast story, because oh. my. word. It was classic Bekah, through and through.

* Yesterday morning, I went to a Christmas bazaar at a church and an open house at a bakery with my friend, Kari. I have decided I love bakery open houses. Samples are a pretty wonderful thing! That afternoon, Ryan worked to winterize the house...cutting back the bushes and all those chores. And last night, we went to our nephew's birthday party. He's such a cutie and the party was so well themed {as it always is...my sister-in-law rocks the party themes}!

The Saturday Six

One.

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I don't know how many of you are immersed in the adult coloring world {ahem, Shari}, but if you are, here are a couple of pages you can print for Thanksgiving. I know every family does Thanksgiving differently, but if your gathering is the hang-out-all-day-together kind, this might be a fun thing to have on hand for people to do while they wait...for the meal to digest so they can snack again. :)


Two.

I probably should have said this FIRST, but I didn't. I feel it is part of my Shafferland blog duty to remind you that tomorrow is time change day. I still hate everything about changing clocks as a general principle, but at least this is the half of the change when I get more sleep and magically transform into a nicer person!! Three cheers for extra sleep!!!


Three.

Our anniversary is coming up in less than a month, and while I think I know what I'm getting Ryan, I confess that this anniversary has stumped me. I have always gotten a gift that matches the traditional/modern gifts for anniversaries. {First anniversary is paper, and I got a piece of subway art that recounted our first year's adventures. Second anniversary is cotton, and I made a canvas print using a photo from one of our trips and a quote Ryan loves. Third anniversary is leather, and I got him a leather desk caddy which turned into our remote boat. LOL!} The fourth anniversary gift is fruit or flowers, and that is proving quite challenging for a December anniversary. But meanwhile, I stumbled upon this article, which offers some really great suggestions for anniversary ideas in general!

Four.

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Hey book lovers!! If you haven't already seen this...check it out!!! A Christian Fiction blog scavenger hunt! It runs through Sunday, so you still have one more day to participate. You start at the first stop {HERE!} and follow the posts...each one will give you the link for the next one. At the end, you enter the message you pick up along the way and you'll have a chance to win great books. And many of the stops along the way have their own extra giveaways. You'll have a chance to meet authors you've maybe never heard of, and learn new fun things about authors you know and love!  

Five.

Isn't this a cute DIY project? The fabric part would be beyond the scope of my skills, but maybe you're smarter than I am!! :)  

Six.

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Earlier this year, I read the first book in a new series called Prince Edward Island Dreams. I know. It's obviously a winner already, says this Anne of Green Gables junkie. The book, The Red Door Inn, combined the swoon-worthy island with another swoon-worthy element: a bed and breakfast. I loved the book and literally chomped at the bit for book two to release...which it just did. 

Where Two Hearts Meet picks up shortly after book one ended, and I have a confession to make. I actually fell in love with the cinnamon rolls in the first book. {This is new. I have never before fallen in love with fictional food. When you can make your non-existent FOOD memorable, you're a good author.} And much to my utter delight, they were the first thing featured in book two, chapter one. My mouth is actually watering right now as I write about them.

They were featured because Caden Holt, cinnamon-roll-baker-extraordinaire from book one is the leading lady of book two. Caden had helped her father run his bakery on Prince Edward Island, but now she's the executive chef of the Red Door Inn, treating guests to cinnamon rolls and other culinary delights...though she has no formal culinary training.

The Inn, still new and finding its place in a tourist-laden island, is in financial trouble. It needs a new roof, and of course the recurring bills keep doing what they do best: recurring. The owners, Seth and Marie, are desperate to keep the Inn afloat, and when they get word that a travel writer will be visiting and might feature the Inn in a magazine, they hope against hope that this will fix everything.

Adam Jacobs checks into the Inn for a couple of months and mentions in passing that he's a writer, so Marie and Caden are certain he is the writer. Marie assigns Caden the task of making Adam fall in love with the Inn and the island, but before she can get busy on that, Caden finds herself unexpectedly falling into some feelings of love herself: for Adam.

But no one ever loves Caden. With the big 3-0 looming not too far away, she's aware that she's the awkward and invisible misfit. She hides in the kitchen and impresses with her baking, but no one ever sees her. And someone like Adam would certainly never go for a girl like her. Even if he's forced to spend large quantities of time with her.

But Adam has a few secrets of his own - ones he'd rather not confront, but something about the Island and the girl named Caden makes him begin to do just that.

SO many other things I could tell you about this book and its captivating story, but I won't because then you wouldn't need to read the book. And you do need to read the book.

Maybe it's because I saw so much of myself in Caden...maybe it's because I love bed and breakfasts...maybe it's because I really love cinnamon rolls...maybe it's the lure of the Island...I don't know, but I do know book two was as captivating as book one, and hold me back come summer of 2017: book three is on its way!

* Revell sent me a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own! *