The Saturday Six

One.

If you struggle with the need (not a desire, but a need) to never disappoint anyone, well, you're probably going to disappoint yourself, because that's just pretty much impossible. But I get the whole people-pleaser mentality. Have that bug myself! This post is beautifully worded, offering freedom from an impossible goal!

Two.

Gone on a good virtual home tour lately? I hadn't, so I read this post from Between Naps on the Porch. THREE homes on one property. I love the guest cottage the best.

Three.

Ryan!?!!?!?! This one's for you! Remember when we got our Surrender sign, and you said you wished you knew how wood burning art worked? Found a tutorial! It's not written by the lady who made our sign, but I'm guessing the technique is close enough!{And anyone else intrigued by how wood burning works...check it out!}

Four.

A short, but meaningful read about the importance of making memories with your kids. I have great childhood memories and hope Ryan and I provide good memories for our nieces and nephews!

Five.

Any Aldi shoppers out there? This is a cute way to keep track of your quarter! 

Six.

Source

Last summer, I read Lynette Eason's book Without Warning, which was the second book in a series called Elite Guardians. I'd missed the first book, but easily jumped into book two, and it was a heart-stopper for sure! I read the book in the car as Ryan and I drove home from Kansas from my niece's wedding, and I kept jumping every time he slammed on the brakes!


So when I saw that book three in the series, Moving Target, was releasing this winter, I had to get it. To refresh your memory, these books tell the stories of a group of young women who serve as bodyguards. Each book focuses on a different member of the Elite Guardians, and this time, it was Maddy McKay's turn.

Maddy and the guy she's been dating {he stops just short of willingness to define the relationship further}, Quinn Holcombe, vanish one evening after having dinner together. Their friends discover the news a day later when both of them fail to show up at Quinn's birthday party and they all realize no one has heard from them in a full day.

Though Maddy is a bodyguard and Quinn as a muscle-laden investigator, they've both been abducted by a mysterious {and apparently very strong!} man. They awaken from their drugged stupors and begin a fight to stay alive and figure out who has targeted them, and more importantly, why. They suspect their abduction is related to a string of deaths, and they're determined to not become the next victims, but instead bring justice to those who have already died.

Much like the second book in the series, this one is full of twists, nail-biting moments, surprises, and I would highly recommend not reading it right before you go to bed. {I finally closed it because it was so real, I knew I'd have nightmares if I kept going! But when daylight returned, I cracked it back open and read ferociously until I finished the book!}

Also like the second book, Moving Target had a clear faith base to it, but the storyline wasn't cheesy or watered down. I appreciated the author's ability to weave the two so well. And I learned at the end that the fourth book in the series comes out later this year, so I'm looking forward to that! {One other note: if you've not read the first two books, you won't be confused when you pick this one up. Though I recognized characters from the previous book, the storyline itself stands alone enough that you won't be lost.}

* Revell provided a copy of this book to me at no charge. All opinions are my own. *

Healthier Hot Chicken Salad

Several years ago - seven, to be exact - I posted a recipe for hot chicken salad. I first learned about this culinary delight from my friend Marie, who knew me well enough to know I would love it and brought me a generous serving of it one evening. I asked for the recipe immediately and during my desert months in 2010, this was one of the few things I could make, because it was easy and though I was capable of little else, I could mix up a hot chicken salad.

If you like a good full-fat, mayo and fried onion laden dish, check out the original recipe and please excuse my photography. I will not deny that the original version is delicious, but these days I've adapted it to make it healthier. It doesn't taste exactly the same, but I think it's still pretty yummy, even all healthed up. :)

I made it last week and we gobbled it right up, so I thought I would put the updated recipe out here for you, just in case you were looking for something new to try that isn't loaded with mayo and friend onions. :)

Healthier Hot Chicken Salad

* 3 cups of cooked shredded chicken
* 1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
* 1 cup slivered almonds {1 1/2 ounce package is about right}
* 2 cups celery, chopped
* 1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
* 1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, except green onions. Spread in an 11x7 baking dish and sprinkle green onions on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

A Few Tips

* I take frozen chicken and boil it (straight from its frozen state) on the stove until it is cooked through, then shred it in my stand mixer. Works like a charm.

* Personal preference: I put the seasoned salt in the chicken as it's shredding rather than adding it to the whole dish later. You can definitely add it as you're mixing everything together if you prefer. I just like how it clings to the chicken as it shreds, so I add it then.

* If you can't find slivered almonds, you can use sliced instead. You just want to make sure your pieces are smaller than whole almonds. That's the goal.

* If you can't find low-fat cheddar, you can substitute mozzarella instead.

* The Greek Yogurt isn't quite as creamy as the mayo, but it really does work well, and I think the flavor is still excellent.

* I thought I might miss the fried onions, but the green onions were a pretty good substitute!!

* We eat this plain to save carbs, but you could serve it on buns if you prefer.

* I like it that this dish is easy to dress up (we eat ours with asparagus or other cooked vegetables) or dress down  with chips or something if you prefer.

Enjoy! :)

The Amazing Human Body

Thanks so much for all the kind words regarding my mom yesterday. She apologized for "spoiling" my post with her rules about pre and post op pictures. {hee hee hee.}

I. Am. Absolutely. Amazed. at her progress in 24 hours. Amazed, I tell you!

I'll be the first to tell you I was a science failure in school, so I don't have a commanding comprehension of how the human body works, but being married to someone in the physical therapy world has helped me understand its ability to heal and adapt after surgery.

So I sort of had an idea of how things would go for Mom, but even "sort of an idea" didn't prepare me for how well she would do in the first twenty-four hours.


When I got to the hospital yesterday morning, she was already in a therapy session, and when I walked in, she looked totally normal! Dressed in her own clothes, with her hair done and her glasses on, she was up in a chair, stretching her leg!


I stayed for a while and watched while she got up to walk for the first time. It was painful for her, but she powered through. She took it nice and slow, one little step at a time, and she actually would have gone longer than she did, but they reminded her it was just the first of many sessions, so she needed to take it easy, and she did listen and take a rest!


Though I promise to spare her the posting of any therapy photos or videos, I will share this one I took of her with some of her flowers...can you even believe this was less than 24 hours after surgery??

I left right before lunch so I could come home to work for a while, and when Ryan and I went back after work, I was shocked to my very core. She got up for walk, and she just powered through the whole hallway at breakneck speed, compared to her morning speed! It hadn't even been twelve hours, and she was walking as fast as she did before surgery. Maybe even faster!


It truly does amaze me how a person can be up and moving so soon after having whole new PARTS put in! The body is an amazing thing, and I am grateful God built in all the things He did to make such healing and adaptation possible. As Mom told the hospital chaplain yesterday, she's grateful for the knowledge and skill of the medical community, but she's also grateful for God's help and healing! Great teamwork between the two!

We're excited to see her on the road to recovery. This waiting for surgery thing was so drawn out that she had a lot of time to overthink it and worry, and I didn't blame her. I would have done the same! So we're just excited for her that the day has come and gone and now she can get well soon!

Brain Mush

I sat on the living room floor last night and said to Ryan, "I have no idea what to blog about tomorrow." He said I could do something of spiritual significance, and then remembered I probably have no brain cells left with which to be profound in any way.

Truth!

So...yesterday Mom had a hip replacement. And she told me I was allowed to document the day {NOT the surgery itself}, but I wasn't allowed to embarrass her. And my sister told me I wasn't allowed to post the dorky selfies we took. So I have very little blog-worthy material for you to enjoy today.

Nevertheless, I'll fill you in!

Mom has been waiting on this hip replacement forever. It's just kind of been a long comedy of delays that weren't funny at all, so I guess that makes them just delays, and not comedies, right? She's been a fantastic patient leading up to it: doing all her pre-op exercises regularly, reading her long manual about surgery, and trying not to freak out about surgery.

When I arrived at the hospital yesterday, she was in the holding tank {what is the real word for that? I have no idea} in her pretty little gown and skid-proof socks, awaiting surgery. I got a picture together with her and dad, but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I posted it, so I won't. My birthday is coming up. I don't want to jeopardize my present. HA!

But I will tell you this, because it was hilarious. The surgeon came in to go over last minute details with her {SUPER nice guy}, and at the end, he said, "I always treat my patients like they're my own family." She did not miss a single beat before she said, "Yes, but do you LIKE your family?"

The entire room busted out laughing, including nurses tending to other patients. Good question! Legitimate!!!

They came to get her right on time and she went back into the OR, and I went to the little coffee shop around the corner because, well, obvious reasons.

 Best latte I've had (not homemade by my friend Mike) in a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time.

I took books and activities, but it was hard to concentrate in there, so I fear I wasn't very productive. Ryan had JUST walked in the door after work when the surgeon came out to meet with us. He said the surgery went very well and he thought she should feel like a whole new woman. Apparently her hip had been quite a mess.

I went down the phone tree and texted/called a bunch of Mom's friends and then we were able to go back and see her.

I was sorely disappointed, you guys. I was expecting a repeat of Ryan's post-op experience. Hilarity. Silly questions.

She was sleepy, you could tell, but she was 100% coherent and even kept saying, "I'm not saying stupid things am I?" Sadly, no.

My favorite part of the recovery room was when she said her hip hurt {well you had surgery, you know!!} and Ryan asked if she needed to move it a little. He moved around to that side of the bed and started maneuvering her leg, right as the nurse showed up. She just kind of stared at him and I was like "Ummmm he's a therapist. He knows what he's doing." {Although right before that I was like, DON'T BREAK HER! SHE JUST GOT THAT!!!}

The nurse just laughed and said "Well I know he's family and we can't tell family not to do something..." but you could see relief on her face that he had training at least. HA!

We stayed until she got settled in her room and then we let her have her space. After all, she had a pretty major surgery.

Interesting side note: Ryan's mom is in the hospital too, so we got to visit them both!!

So there you go. My least picture-represented blog post ever. And I'm not even sure it makes sense. But my brain is mush. So there's that. I'll try to be more with it tomorrow!

Meanwhile, we are so thankful the surgery went well and are eager to see Mom up and around without pain!

Freezer Meal Palooza

I had a lot of paloozas this weekend. Phoebe AND freezer meals in the same day. But before I tell you about the freezer meal adventures, here's a little bundle of laughs for you. Wait til you hear the new word Ryan has concocted for his Shafferland dictionary. Cracked me UP!

Take a listen here!

Now. Back to freezer meals.

So my mom is getting ready to have surgery soon, and she is the resident chef at their house. And when I say that, I mean my dad couldn't cook if he had to. Toast...maybe. Apparently he has recently learned to make oatmeal. And possibly he could pour milk on cold cereal. After that? It's burgers and buffets all the way, because he just simply cannot cook. {No judgment, Dad. You have many other gifts. LOL!!}

So with Mom down for the count, I thought it would be helpful if she had some meals she could warm up as needed. I know some of her friends and neighbors will probably stop by in the weeks following with random meals and food gifts, so I have no idea when she'll come upon a day when she needs something and doesn't have it. Enter the freezer meals.

Also, Mom had expressed to me that because there are just the two of them, she didn't need big 9x13 servings of things. Totally understandable! So I took that concern into consideration when preparing the meal palooza.

One other little twist in this story is that my dad is a very picky eater. I promise I'm not trying to be mean to him in this post. It's just true and he'd admit it! So I was challenged to think of things that made good, healthy, balanced meals, in individual portions, that my dad MIGHT eat. {And if not? No worries. More for Mom!}

This past Saturday, whilst I had Miss Pheebs all day, I also cooked all day. Ryan had to work, so I just organized the kitchen in the best way I could think to do it and created thirty single-serving meals to freeze and transport to their house. Thought I'd tell you what I did and how I did it, in case you never need to know for yourself!

* First, I created three menus and did all the shopping for ingredients I didn't already have on hand. (I just used spices and such that I had here, but I shopped for all the main ingredients.) Ryan and I did that the night before, so everything was good and fresh.

* I also went to GFS (Gordon Food Service) and purchased containers that had individual wells so I could portion out the servings. and freeze them.

* The first meal was the sloppy joe meal. I made Mom's sloppy joe recipe, with three pounds of ground beef, and when I portioned out the cooked meat, I ended up with eleven servings of sloppy joe meat. I put them in sandwich zip bags and flattened them for easier storage. Then I took a package of regular buns and pulled them all apart, put each bun in a separate sandwich bag, and paired the buns with the bags of meat. I put both sandwich bags down inside a quart bag to make the meal. I also bought an assortment pack of individual servings of chips to pair with the sandwiches.

* The second meal was the meat loaf meal. I made two meat loaves and while they were baking, I whipped up some macaroni and cheese that I baked when the meat loaves were done. I also got 3 cans of green beans to portion out. I was able to get five servings out of each meat loaf for a total of ten, and I had enough macaroni to get ten servings plus two taste-tester size portions for Ryan and yours truly. The three cans of green beans were enough for the ten meals, too. I took my containers and spooned servings of all three things into the wells and called it done!

* The last meal was the chicken nugget meal. I used 9 large chicken tenders, added cheesy potatoes (no recipe on the old blogaroo for this one yet) and made cooked carrots for the first time in my life, and that made the last meal. The chicken nuggets took the longest because I had to cut the tenders into pieces and coat them and turn them all individually. The cheesy potato recipe made plenty for me to have enough for my 9 meals and leftovers for Ryan. I used 2 pounds of carrots to cook, and I used them all in the meals.

* And then for dessert, I made chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles, and after reserving some out for us, I bagged the rest, four cookies to a bag, and froze those as well.

* I found this site from Pinterest, and if you download the label the lady made, you can actually edit the label and put it right on your meal. That's what I did!

So last night we drove all the meals over {stuffed into various boxes, bags, and coolers} and surprised her! And boy was she ever surprised!

The freezer meal palooza was a little gift from all three of her girls, actually. I was just the self-designated cooker. Ha! Glad we were able to do it for her and hope it makes recovery a bit on the easier side! I hear those physical therapists can really work you hard and I can only imagine that can make you hungry!

Phoebe-Palooza!

Yes, I know. We need to get a dog.

But until that sweet day comes, we love having Phoebe for a day. {And to be fair, I should say that "we" does not include Braeya. She gave us the stink-eye for most of the day. Well, when she came out from under the bed to see if Phoebe was gone yet.}

Ryan had to work, so I had the Pheebster by myself for the first part of the day. Please also note that I did not have plans to go anywhere, so I didn't actually put a lot of effort into getting ready.

Kisses. Sloppy wet ones.

Blogs are boring.

Cooking is boring. LOL!! Actually, for this one, she was tuckered out from whisking me around the neighborhood at high rates of speed. She's kind of like a Marmaduke at times. A very small Marmaduke.

Text from Ryan that he's coming home for lunch! Let's CELEBRATE!!!!

No table scraps = much sadness. {Braeya does get table scraps, but since I don't know the full scope of rules of what Phoebe is and is not allowed to have, I just withhold all scraps. I don't want to make her sick!}

More sloppy wet kisses.

After Ryan came home from work, we went for a long walk. And yes, those are shorts on Ryan on February 18th. In Indiana. Amazing, isn't it? I am dearly loving our weather right now. I fear we may pay for it sometime in March, but I'm loving it right now!

Holding hands {paws?} during a nap. Isn't it just darling? I'm sure Ryan LOVES it that I've called him darling.

Couch cuddles.

Laundry helper. And by helper, I mean she watched me fold it.

We wrapped up the night with a little bit of Bible study. She was all in. Literally.

Any day with the Pheebster is a great day. Love that girl!!!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Last Sunday feels like 100 years ago. This week has been full of not just busy activity, but endless mind activity. Friday night, I just tossed and turned because my brain was spinning and would not quit! So I'll be interested to see what all we actually did this week as I tell you all about it!

* Well, I guess last Sunday wasn't busy. A perfect, low-key Sunday, and now that football is over, it was a perfect, low-key Sunday of HALLMARK MOVIES! {Ryan's thoughts on that below.} We all just hung out, resting, and I made a clean version of Chinese food which wasn't too bad, except I messed up my rice to chicken ratio and had wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too much rice.

* Monday was pretty typical. Podcast editing, carpool duty, that kind of thing. But Monday night, Ryan came home with my Valentine roses a little early, which was delightful! And we delivered a new chair to my parents' house, which meant we probably should get Starbucks, since we drove right by it. I accidentally grabbed a drink that wasn't mine and although the rightful owner was gracious, the barista was not. I was dutifully put in my place and sent on my way.

* Tuesday was Valentine's Day, and even though I already told you all about it, the quick recap is that Ryan worked, I delivered brownies to the single girls at his work, we went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, had a hot date at Lowe's {hee hee hee} and finished up with frozen yogurt. Our first time to go out to eat on Valentine's Day was a success!

* My Valentine gift was a day late, which was totally fine, but when it arrived, I loved it! A sign that says "surrender" that goes above my new cross! I loved it. I also loved trying to take a picture of the two together and accidentally getting Ryan's noggin! Spent a lot of time in Bible study and prayer on this day. It was the day all the mind-spinning began!

* I had a couple of days this week when I didn't have carpool duty, and Thursday as one of them. So Braeya and I hung out at home and did lots of writing work. At the end of the day, I went to visit Ryan, and he was behind on notes, so I did selfies with Brutus in his office while I waited. And I got free chocolate from one of his co-workers.

* Friday, Ryan took this crazy picture of me when I was asleep. Apparently I slept ON MY FACE and had bangs sticking straight up. Good grief. Busy little day, though, including prepping for a new speaking date and much grocery shopping. {Friday night date included dinner at Sam's Club. We are the coolest people I know.}

* Yesterday, we had Phoebe all the live-long day!!!!!! Ryan actually had to work for most of the day, but I enjoyed having Pheebs home with me. I did some baking, and she just hung out in the kitchen with me. It was gorgeous here, so we went for a long walk after Ryan got home, and then Ryan continued working on taxes. We just elected not to make that a memory. LOL. 

The Saturday Six

One.

If you're feeling a little bit forgotten - even by God - read this post by my new friend, Jessica. God is in the details. ALL the details. Even your details, and her reminder here is gentle and encouraging!

Two.

A very honest article on beauty. Such a hard topic to address honestly, because none of us want to admit that it bothers us as much as it probably does. I just appreciated her words, including these: "There is no perfection in true beauty—there is only redemption. It’s black and white, the paradox of loving my imperfections. It’s when I throw my shame aside and slip on my broken boots."

Three.

Ryan's Valentine's gift to me was this beautiful handmade sign from the Etsy Shop Wildwood Home Studio. The shop owner lives here in Indiana, and she uses reclaimed wood to make the signs. Ryan ordered this sign custom-made to go with my Surrender Cross from RAD JOY, and it is just so perfect. Ryan said the shop owner was great to work with and he highly recommended her! I adore the quality of the sign and the fact that it has a history!   

Four.

I guess in some ways, this post goes along with the theme of the first link up here in the list, but I guess sometimes when a similar theme keeps popping up, it's for a reason. If you're struggling because you feel like God is only all about the BIG stuff and life seems very small, take an encouraging read here.

Five.

 Hey Rachel in North Dakota? I saw your mind blown comment from the Shuffle about the clean eating queso and mozzarella sticks, so I wanted to share with you (and anyone else whose mind was also blown) the links to those recipes. They both came from the Dashing Dish website, and if you've hung out here very long, you know I LOVE ME SOME DASHING DISH RECIPES! Now, some of her recipes are exclusive for members, and the queso is in that group, but I totally assure you the monthly membership is worth the price. We eat so many recipes from this site and I adore Katie and her ministry. So here's the recipe to the queso (quick tip: we did not find that this reheats well as a leftover. Next time I make it, I'll just make half a recipe because that's all we could eat in one meal). I have not tried this recipe, but she has a clean eating white queso recipe here...and it's not a membership recipe, so anyone can see it. The skinny crispy mozzarella sticks are not a member recipe either, so you can view it without a membership!

Six.

Source

I had seen some teasers online about a new book called Fear Fighting by Kelly Balarie, and since fear is something I struggle with way more than I should, I decided this would be a good one for me to read and review.


Here's the thing about fear. It is a big, bad, suffocating monster that cannot be cured through reading a book. I will tell you that and Kelly will tell you that. In fact, in the afterword of the book, she says, "I don't know your timeline, but I do know that God wants to handle these two words (ahem: set free) one-on-one, hand-in-hand, and in conscious partnership with you. He reserves the right to decide when 'set free' is achieved." And it's true. You can't read this book and find the magic formula for ditching fear once and for all. But you can read the book to find two really important things: a friend who genuinely understands how you feel in your fear, and some suggestions for how to attack the moments of fear that can stem from so many different sources.

Fear Fighting is the kind of book I imagine myself going back to on multiple occasions, to find the specific chapter to accompany my present fear, and reacquainting myself with the ideas in that chapter. Whether your fear comes from the need to be in control, a desire to please everyone in your path, worry, comparing yourself to everyone around you, the unknown, rejection (real or imagined), or the resurgence of your own past, Kelly has Scripture-based suggestions to help you combat what Satan intends to use to thwart you.

She shares honest, vulnerable stories from the span of her own life - times when fear has bested her and times when she's overcome through the power of the Spirit. She offers Scripture to speak against the fear, and at the conclusion of every chapter, she offers some specific take-away thoughts and challenges.

Fear may be a life-long battle for you. That's very possible. But its dominance can lessen over time if you're willing to let God step in and teach you how to lean on Him instead of into the fear.

People who don't struggle with fear (ohhhh how fortunate!!) don't always understand how debilitating and discouraging it can be, so to have a friend who does get it and is willing to offer the hope that has worked for her in a spirit of compassion is such a gift!

* Baker Books provided me with a copy of this book at no charge. Opinions are my own. *

Keeping the Goals Visible

Last year, in January, before I knew we were going to pack up our house and move to a new town, I became the queen of the webinar. I cannot tell you how many webinars I had to be part of during my years in Financial Aid and radio, but I can tell you they were one of my least favorite things. I hated sitting still and quiet for an hour or two, usually right after lunch, with my mind juggling all the things that really needed to be done back at my desk. But self-employment will lead you to view things a bit differently, and suddenly webinars were my training ground.

I found all kinds of free ones and not only printed out the presentations, but took pages upon pages of handwritten notes. Some were helpful. Some were not. But one piece of advice I remember from one webinar early on was that people who keep their goals documented in a visible location are more likely to actually accomplish those goals.

Hmm.

I intended to do a magnificent job of that very thing, post-webinar-watching. But then we bought a house and I had to pack us up and move us and unpack us, and by that point, the main goal was to be done with house projects. DONE. And let me just tell you: a mountain of boxes is a visible goal. :)

I've slacked off on webinar-watching this year, but I circled around to employ that bit of advice, and I have to say, there just might be something to it! {And perhaps that is why the gentleman who said it is as wildly successful in the business world as he is!}

So I thought I'd pass along some of the things that have been working for me so far this year, just in case you need new ideas to motivate your own goals into reality.

First of all, I finally found the perfect day planner for me. {Yes. I still use a paper planner. And I love it.} And of course, I had to make it myself. I pieced together fragments of printables from around the web of Pinterest, and it's working out really well!

Scattered Squirrel is one of my favorite sites for printables, and I found this set of monthly planner printables that I just loved. I'm grabbing a picture of the March sheet since I've not yet written on it.

In the last few days of each month, I sit down with the next month's paper and pray about what I should focus on that month. For example, in January, it was establish a new routine. We had just come away from the holidays and I am not even sure I can claim I had a routine. So for the entire month of January, that was my main focus. In every area {time with God, eating, working out, working, our home, etc.}, I wanted to create a sense of routine.

Then in the other sections of this sheet, I write down any special dates I need to remember throughout month {big birthdays, holidays etc.} And then I make goals in three specific areas of my life. So again, in January, my three areas of focus were work, health, and me. In my work life, in January, I wanted to record 3 Conversation Cafe podcasts, tweak my book proposal, and work on launching my website. And because I wrote those things down and looked at them every day, I was able to check them off by the end of the month!

I picked three things from the three lists and made those my top three goals for the month. (In January I completed 2 of the 3 and only missed the 3rd one because of all the time that ended up devoted to Ryan's surgery instead.)

I also make a list of things I want to do around the house that month, which in January, involved decorating for winter.

Because I'm highly motivated by checking things off a list, this works really well for me!

Similarly, I found a printable here that gives me a two-page-spread weekly plan that helps me keep track of my everyday tasks.

Cards to mail. My workout. Home chores. Writing work. Appointments. You name it. I can't tell you how many times I've finished my tasks only because they were written down and I wanted the joy of crossing them off!

And my newest thing is this really cool gift my sister gave me for Christmas.

It's a board that says at the top, "Things that Inspire." There are six clips beneath it, and I use it to keep track of my six next pressing items. So for example, right now the first clip holds notes for what I need to do for my next Conversation Cafe interview, the second clip holds tasks for my book proposal, the third holds notes for a luncheon where I'm speaking next month, and the fourth holds notes for a bridal shower where I'll be speaking in a few weeks. {Currently these are the most pressing things.} This is a good way for me to remember that just because something may be a few weeks down the road doesn't mean I can overlook it right now! This sits right beside my chair in the office, so I'm very aware of the work ahead of me and it keeps me on task when I'd rather nap or Pinterest or something along those lines.

I have to say, I'm doing a much better job about staying organized and pursuing goals when I can see them right in front of me every single day. It brings accountability and encouragement in equal doses!

Maybe you're not driven by the visual as much as I am, but if your current system isn't working for you, perhaps one of these ideas can inspire you!! :)

Chicken Nuggets

Remember that time {a month ago} when we lived on a diet of chicken everything because Ryan's gallbladder just up and quit on us? Nothing will spur the desperation of finding new ways to eat chicken like being forced to eat chicken at e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. m.e.a.l.

Not only that, but we couldn't eat any form of spicy chicken. The chicken tacos made him sick. The chicken tortilla soup made him sick. We didn't even attempt buffalo chicken. Nothing good could come from that.

So I was a wife on a mission to find healthy, bland, non-fattening, non-threatening ways to cook chicken.

Thank goodness my mom had gifted us with a "Healthy Choices" cookbook for Christmas! Like a good old-fashioned, spiral-bound cookbook with recipes that avoided sugar, white flour and artificial everything. Ryan begged me to get it out right away and hunt for things to make. Don't have to ask me twice! I was as sick of chicken noodle soup as he was! {Although I did find a recipe in this cookbook for homemade chicken noodle soup that was quite yummy!}

I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade chicken nuggets, and decided to give it a whirl. He loved it. And I learned post-surgery that he didn't just love it because it was a different way to eat chicken. He actually genuinely loved the flavor. WIN! And I loved knowing we were eating real chicken {I'm still scarred by the pink whatever videos from years gone by that showed the not real chicken in various nuggets} and knowing what was in the breading. And speaking of breading, I loved that it's not a heavy, fried, breadish breading. AND it's a pretty quick and easy thing to make. So I think now we're up to WIN WIN WIN WIN or something like that.

I've modified the recipe to fit what we had on hand, and here you go! Homemade chicken nuggets that are flavorful, easy to make, and not bad for you!

Chicken Nuggets

* 1/2 cup wheat flour
* 4 teaspoons seasoned salt
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
* 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts or tenders {fresh or defrosted}

Combine the flour, seasoned salt, paprika, and poultry seasoning in a gallon size bag, close tightly, and shake/knead to combine well. Cut the chicken into nugget size pieces and dump in the bag with the seasoning. Close tightly and shake until meat is well coated. Generously spray a skillet with cooking spray and cook chicken on medium heat until cooked all the way through. Serve with dipping sauce if desired.

A Few Tips

* I make my own seasoned salt, and the recipe is here. If you don't want quite so much salt, you could cut down the amount you use.

* Keeping your nuggets smaller will allow them to cook faster, if you (or your kids) are in a hurry to eat.

* Spray the pan well and don't cook on high heat. I've messed up in both those areas and lost half my coating on the bottom of the pan. AND it was super fun to wash later. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

* I use tongs to turn the meat, and I tried to turn it fairly often to keep it from sticking to the pan.

* If you're making a large batch of this and have a big pancake griddle, you can cook it faster.

* This does reheat very well. It never gets super crispy like heavily breaded nuggets, so you don't have to worry about sacrificing the crisp in the reheat.

* Ryan always dips his nuggets in sauce if he gets them at a restaurant, but he doesn't dip these. He likes the flavor just plain.

* We serve these with green beans or asparagus to keep the meal cleaner, but you could easily serve it with whatever side (to make it fancier or more casual).

* To give credit where credit is due, this recipe in its original form was submitted to the cookbook by Lucia Lapp from Benton, IL.