What We Did This Summer

Yesterday I saw the first hints of brown on cornstalks. And it was cool enough that I actually wore jeans all day and only got overheated when in a very small room with very poor ventilation. It feels like fall is coming, and if the transition is anything like spring to summer...well...there won't be a fall. There will be summer and then there will be winter.

But for now I hang onto summer, and I feel this is a good time to do my official "What we did this summer" post, as a nod to back-to-school essay assignments from days of yore.

We didn't enter the season with a specific bucket list (although how fun would THAT have been???) but I feel like we made the most of our summer!

Here are some of the things we did - not all-inclusive by any means..

We drank coffee on the porch...though not as much as I would have liked. (I blame the direct shift from winter to summer with very little pleasing middle ground of weather.)

We grilled out...though not as much as usual, because Ryan's grill finally gave out. It became more of a smoker than a grill. We've been on the hunt for a good sale all summer. Haven't found it yet.
We hiked a beautiful (and rugged) state park. Possibly our favorite one so far.

We also survived the tunnel. Please make a note of it.

Ryan learned to roast coffee beans. Now he needs more free time so he can hone his craft!

We spent some time with our bonus girl. Not as much time as last summer when she lived with us for a month, but we still had fun!

We went to a drive-in movie. It was the perfect night for such things.

I took pictures. :) But then that was every day.

We walked in the kidney walk. A first for us, and I'm so glad we did it.

We went to the strawberry festival! (The one that almost didn't have strawberries. That would have been awkward.)

We went to several graduation open houses...including our niece's. I call it the weekend of cake.

We were part of the patriotic program at our church. Ryan sang, I narrated, and we both made a whole gaggle of new friends.

We watched fireworks on the Fourth of July. It was a plan B adventure, but we had fun!
We had a fire pit date, complete with roasted hot dogs and s'mores.

We went to the county fair. (Not pictured: elephant ear and fried mushrooms.)

We welcomed a new nephew!

A deer came to visit our yard. Yes! Bambi!

We hung out with Abe. I call this piece Three Shiny Noses.

We had our first Airbnb experience (and second...and third...and they were all good)!

We explored an outdoor art exhibit! We didn't understand most of it, but we felt very cultured.

We met our new great-niece! And she learned to like us!

We saw (almost) our whole wedding party.

We stood in three states at one time. (Not pictured: getting lost trying to find this location.)

We spent a day at a water park. Please make note of my taco bowl hat. LOL!!!

We visited the lake!

I learned to use a power washer!

And oh! There was one more thing:

Yes, it has been a very good summer! I'm not ready to let go of it just yet, but if fall is half as fun as summer, it's gonna be great!

Recipe Roundup!

If you've been reading here for a while, you know that I have done a lot of recipe posts over the years, mostly so I have a place to find the things I love to cook!

The recipes I posted about in my single (and early married) years are in a list down the lefthand side of the blog in between the blogroll and the archives. The recipes I've made since we started eating a bit better are found under the "Our Recipe Box" tab at the top.

The reason I haven't posted recipes lately is not at all because I haven't been cooking. On the contrary! I have been cooking more than ever! But I've been making a ton of Dashing Dish recipes, and since they're not mine, I can't post about them in the same way. But we've found some real winners, and I wanted to at least point you toward them!

(Some of the recipes are for members only, but I'll go on record - again - saying I think her memberships are totally worth the monthly price. And I'm usually the girl who refuses monthly memberships ENTIRELY.)

Here are some recent Shafferland faves!

* Roasted Parmesan Summer Squash Chips - These are an easy and delicious side dish to just about anything. Last week I made it using zucchini, because that's what I had on hand. It was also very good!

* 5 Ingredient Creamy Chicken Stuffed Peppers - We had a surplus of green peppers last week, so I made this (even though it calls for red peppers) and we loved them!

* Clean Eating Taco Salad with a Baked Taco Bowl Shell - This was one of the recipes my sister requested that I make when we visited Kansas. I think my brother-in-law was a little nervous about the healthy stuff descending upon their house, but he liked this one!

* Skinny Big Mac Salad - A huge favorite here right now. We're having it this week, in fact. I could use the dressing on just about anything. I love it!!

* Sheet Pan Chicken Strips and Zucchini Fries - This is one of Ryan's favorites. I will admit that cutting up the zucchini takes a while, but the taste is outstanding!!

* Spicy Sausage Skillet Lasagna - Another of Ryan's favorites. My sister requested this one when we were in Kansas, but I didn't end up getting to make it because we had a surplus of leftovers from the other meals. I left everything for her to make it after we left, and she called it a winner!

* Clean Eating Blueberry Scones - Ryan actually told me he could eat these every day of his life. There are two versions of this recipe - one with oat flour and one with almond flour. We've had both, and the almond flour is my favorite.

* Almond Joy Pancakes - We made the coconut flour version and it was delicious. 

So there you have it! Some of our recent favorites. I love Katie's recipes so much! :)

Arthur the Anteater

We will admit up front that our storytelling this week was kind of "SQUIRREL! SQUIRREL" laden, but we hope you have fun listening anyway! Our trip to surprise Odie, a fun memory from my parents' 60th anniversary trip and more! Happy podcast Tuesday!

Listen here

Now.

I bet you're wondering about the title of this post!!

When Ryan and I went to work on my parents' house a couple of weeks ago (you remember the power washing...) I also did some sorting through things of my childhood. My mom had been cleaning out some storage areas to get rid of things she no longer needed, but she saved a few things for me to look through when I had time. While Ryan installed a new light fixture, I had time. (No one ever asks me to attend the electrical adventures.)

I thought I'd tell you about a few of the treasures I found, and I'm starting with this one:

An Anteater Named Arthur.

Have any of you ever heard of this book? It was such a staple of my childhood. (Proven by the fact that the book could really use a staple or two to stay together now!) Written by Bernard Waber and showing a copyright from 1967, it's probably not on any must-read list now, but I read it (and heard it read) often as a kid. Fun fact: you actually can get it on Amazon!

Despite the fact that the book isn't that long in its entirety, it's broken up into small stories inside, each told from the perspective of Arthur's mother: Sometimes Arthur doesn't understand. Sometimes Arthur has nothing to do.  Sometimes Arthur is choosy. Sometime Arthur forgets.

And then there was my mother's favorite chapter: Sometimes Arthur's room is more than I can believe.

Here's a little fact from my childhood that you may find hard to believe: I was the messiest kid ever. My room was 100% disaster 100% of the time. I never made my bed. I didn't hang up my clothes. I threw my shoes in piles in the closet. My desk had so many piles, it couldn't be used at all. My file cabinet drawers wouldn't close. My bookcase actually fell over one time because I piled too many things up high. (This was before we knew that everything had to be bolted to the wall.) I had a tiny path from one side of my room to the other, but the room itself was tiny, so the path was indeed miniscule.

It drove my mother nuts. And now, from the perspective of adulthood, I have to say if I'd been my kid, I would have driven me nuts too, so she was absolutely entitled.

The messes never bothered me. I truly did not care.

Mom cared. And every now and then, when she reached her saturation point with my horrific housekeeping, she'd greet me on a perfectly good Saturday with this news: "I need you to do an Arthur on your room today."

I would flop over the nearest table or chair with the greatest of dramatics and mourn the loss of my perfectly good Saturday.

Because, you see, the whole point of the "Sometimes Arthur's room is more than I can believe" chapter of the book was that Arthur and I had similar housekeeping skills. His room was also a disaster. He also saw nothing wrong with it. His mother also saw everything wrong with it. So one day she asked Arthur if he was a magician, and when he quickly agreed he was, she asked if he could make things appear and disappear. He said he could. So she told him she would leave the room, close the door, and when she opened it again later, she wanted to see a lot of appearing and disappearing going on.

And of course, because Arthur was the model son, he cleaned up his entire room and Mother Anteater found it spotless when she opened the door.

Thanks a lot, Arthur.

And so it was that I spent more than my fair share of perfectly good Saturdays doing an Arthur on my room. I hated every minute of it and refused to admit that the clean room at the end of the day felt even the slightest bit good.

I'm not sure how old I was when it happened, but one day I woke up and decided I was tired of living in a mess. I cleaned my room and kept it that way from then on. And while I will not claim to be the best housekeeper on the planet (in terms of vacuuming, dusting, etc.) I will claim to be pretty organized now! I like a place for everything and everything in its place.

I usually have a couple of pile-spots in the house that I'm working on sorting - none ever as quickly as Ryan would probably prefer, but he's gracious. But for those of you who have messy kids, I stand as a ray of hope that maybe one day they'll wake up and hate messes. It happened to me!

The no-longer-bound-by-adhesive Arthur book came home with me.

It's a memory I have to keep.

Surprise!!

First of all...a very happy anniversary to my parents today! Sixty-four years! That's pretty remarkable. I've shared this picture on the blog before, but I like it, so I'll share again!

Today I have a fun story for you. :)

One thing I never expected when I started blogging was that I would actually make some friends through this little space. I was so terrified of the whole idea when I started that I actually panicked whenever someone I didn't know would leave a comment. How did they find me? What was their ulterior motive? (Watch Dateline much, Bekah?)

But it's true that I've made some good friends through blogging, and I've had a chance to meet a handful of them in real life. And that handful increased this weekend!

A few years ago, I "met" a friend named Odie, who started reading this little blog after finding me through a link-up I'd joined over at Kelly's Korner. We talked through blog comments, then email and texting, and now I feel like I've always known her!

Many months ago, I began to read the story of a beautiful project unfolding in Odie's world: a new house! (There is a link on the left side of their page that tells more of the house story - it really is a beautiful, faith-boosting story!)

It was so much fun to get to live vicariously through her as this house went from being an idea to being a full-fledged reality! I loved it.

Just a little over a year ago, Ryan and I began to wonder if they would have a house-warming party once the house was complete. I found an email address for her dad and messaged him about it. (It felt so weird to say, "Hey, I'm this girl your daughter met on the internet...can I invite myself to a party you may or may not be having?") He was SO gracious to me and we've been working for the last year to plan a surprise for Odie at the party they did indeed plan to have!

The party was this last Friday afternoon, so Ryan took off work at lunch time, and we hopped in the car to drive to Ohio!

Ryan was exhausted, so once we got through Indianapolis, we switched drivers so he could take a nap. He only intended to sleep a few minutes, but he was out for over an hour! By the time he woke up, we were coming into Cincinnati, and oh! Did I mention it was rush hour? I don't know that I've driven in city rush hour traffic for about five years. Prayer life increased!

We did have onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnne little stop to make before we went to the party. Just one.

What? Is that a Duck Donuts? Say it isn't so!! How did we find that?

We even had a few orders to get for friends. Yeah, we definitely looked like piggly wigglies getting out of there!

For those of you who need to live vicariously...

With happy bellies, we drove away and headed toward Odie's party!! I was pretty sure the surprise hadn't been leaked, because the day before, she'd sent me a whole video house tour so I could see it all. :)

I didn't get a picture of her surprised face, but she compared it to the Bekah-40th-birthday-party surprise face, so just reimagine that! :)

It was so good to see her in person!

You guys, her house is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL! She wanted it to look like a beach cottage, and it absolutely does. There are many pics on her blog, but here are a couple I snagged. Picking a favorite part feels like picking a favorite child, but I was awfully fond of these two areas!

Ohhhhhhh that shower! :)

They invited us to have some snacks there before we started our trip back home, and they were delicious.

What fun it was to make this trip, to see this miracle of a home, and to meet our friend! We loved every second of it!

(We also found a Skyline for a snack on the way home. Because you know...when in Cincinnati...)

So fun!

Odie, we were so happy to meet you. So excited with you for this house the Lord has provided. And SO happy the surprise worked! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

What a full week we've had! It was a great mix of normal and out-of-the-ordinary. :)

* We started off the week with a difficult shock, when we got to church Sunday morning and found out our pastor has begun his retirement earlier than expected. It was hard news to hear, but the gentleman who has come to serve in the interim did a fantastic job with the service and it was a very Spirit-filled time. (So much so that I totally forgot to take a picture!) Ryan and I were invited to our Sunday School teacher's house for lunch, and I didn't want to be that guest, so I didn't take any pictures there, either. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and company, though! We stopped for coffee on the way home and enjoyed the rest of the day home together. Ryan replaced the rope lighting in our kitchen, since several of the lights on the old rope had burned out. And look at this: he left his dessert unattended on the ottoman and Braeya ate a good chunk of the top layer before I even saw her. Sigh. That girl.

* I had a big writing day on Monday, and I accomplished quite a lot! I had several things due to the church that day (for the conference we're speaking at this fall) and I am pretty sure I had everything submitted on time! I made Asian chicken and zoodles with peanut sauce for dinner, and they were pretty delicious!  And check out this big old pile of garden goodies my parents shared with us! YAY!

* Among the garden goodies were some green beans. I have never cooked an actual good-tasting batch of fresh green beans before. Many fails. No successes. I was determined to figure it out, and Tuesday became my winning day for that! Even Ryan raved about them! In the not-healthy category, I made a batch of Texas sheet cake cookies for Ryan's carry-in the next day. (They were so good.) We also went back to my parents' house that night so Ryan could install a couple more lights for my dad.

* Ryan had a visitor at work on Wednesday! His sister brought her new baby in to see him and all his co-workers. Braeya and I worked on some more writing projects that afternoon. Oh wait. It was just me doing the working. She did the napping. I remember now. And another keeper recipe rolled out of the kitchen that night: chicken stuffed peppers! (It's a Dashing Dish recipe.)

* Remember when we went to Kansas and I bought the thrift store shirt, only to find out my sister had donated it in the first place? Wore it on Thursday. Had to send her a picture. Twinsies!!! Ryan and I ran some errands that night, which included a coffee-shop-stop and a Christmas ornament find! (We get an ornament every year that sums up our year. Since we're reading through the Bible together this year, I wanted to try to find a Bible ornament. I had been searching everywhere online with very little success, but look what I found at Hobby Lobby!!)

* Friday was SUCH FUN!!!! Ryan took off work at noon and we drove over to Ohio to surprise my blog-friend Odie at her housewarming party! She had no idea we were coming and was completely surprised. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! Her new house is so beautiful, and we felt very love by her family and friends as we basically crashed the party. :) We may or may not have also stopped at Duck Donuts on the way....just sayin'.

* Ryan had to work yesterday, but last night we hosted game night for our high school friends! It had been a long time since we'd been at a game night! (We actually missed the last one they hosted, so it had been extra long for us.) We didn't win anything, which was no real surprise, but we had fun!

So it was a fun week, and we appreciated the opportunities we had! :) Hope your week was a good one too!