Fall Date Night Ideas

Fact - I  l u r v e  my husband. 


Fact - I  l u r v e  going on dates with him.

(He is pretty studly, after all, and I love to show him off sometimes).

Fact - I  l u r v e  saving money.

(This is especially important because we both work so hard for what we have, and God calls us to be the best financial stewards we can be).

Fact - I  l u r v e  the season of fall!

Put it all together, and what do you get? We need a list of cost-effective fall date night ideas!

So, curl up with your blanket and cup of coffee, and get yourself situated by the fireplace, because here is a list of some fabulous fall date night ideas!  I'm going to make it my mini bucket list to accomplish all of these great dates with Dusty before the bitter chill of winter sets in!

1.  Take a hike! No, literally. Take a hike together.  Not only will you be forced to unplug from the technology of today's world, but you will also get to feel the accomplishment of a) working out, b) seeing some gorgeous scenery, and c) accomplishing a goal with your mate! Triple win, in my book, and all it costs is money for gas and snacks! Score!

2.  Find a pumpkin patch and go pick your perfect punkin together!  I know in our area, the cost of a pumpkin is between $0.50 - $5.00 depending on the size, but walking around the pumpkin patch and seeing everyone having such a good time is sure to do your heart good.  Plus, who doesn't love good fall decor?

3.  Go apple picking!  We are blessed to live in a Southern state that has a healthy helping of orchards, and for most places, you're looking at about $3.00 per pound of apples, which can be a lot of fun!  Just seeing the trees and how they're harvested can be interesting and not to mention delicious!  Tis the season!

4.  Host an in-house cooking session!  If you've chosen to go to either the pumpkin patch or the apple orchard, why not take some time to either practice your favorite recipes or try out new ones!  Can you imagine how amazing your home would smell while your fresh, homemade apple pie was baking?  Or how about the sweet anticipation waiting for your fresh apple cider to heat up?  Or, how about that scrumptious pumpkin pie that you were inspired to make after seeing all that orange goodness?  Sounds like an AWESOME date to me - and that is one example of teamwork that would produce sweet rewards!  (Har-dee-har, how did I get to be so hilarious?)

5.  Find a corn maze, and test your luck!  Some friends of ours in our small group told us about a farm near their home that offered a corn maze, a straw maze, and best of all - SQUARE DANCING!  Stop it!  We are definitely planning to hit that action up, and possibly even this weekend!

6.  Build a bonfire and roast s'mores!  This is fun for a romantic evening, but it is also fun for a group date night idea!  Throw in some cornhole, ladder golf, or can jam and some good conversation and you can make an evening of it!  If you don't have the space where you live, maybe that would be an awesome excuse to visit some friends - you can offer to bring the graham crackers, marshmallows, and good ole' Hershey's chocolate!

7.  One of the most fun romantic dates Dusty and I have been on was when he literally took me "camping" in one of the fields of land he lived on.  He knows that I'm a prissy camper at best - sorry, I love having access to an actual bathroom, and I'm not stoked about sleeping on the ground - so he set up our tent with an air mattress and it was within moderate walking distance of the house!  It was really fun to gather firewood together, roast hot dogs and make s'mores!  The stars were GORGEOUS, and the crisp fall air was perfect for snuggling up together! It gave us time to talk, and we even were woken up to see the BIGGEST deer either of us had ever seen!  (Apparently, he wasn't used to humans being in his stomping ground and decided to check it out since we weren't moving).  It was awesome!

8.  Have your own pumpkin carving contest! Now this one can turn out to be hilarious!  Set the rules and time constraints ahead of time, and once the timer is set, it's off to the races!  Now, if you are on the klutzy side, maybe you should stick to a pumpkin decorating contest. In my experience, ER visits are neither cost-effective nor romantic.

9.  Get in the Halloween spirit by either trying on costumes together or making your own!  There are so many hilarious costumes on the market and even more hilarious ideas, so I see this as a fairly inexpensive way to keep each other laughing!  Then, you'll be ready for Halloween parties or for the adorable kids that show up at your door!

10.  This one is a little bit unique, but how about taking the time to volunteer your time together?  From your local soup kitchen to county-level little league football teams, and local Relay-4-Life events to collecting Christmas gifts for children or elders in need, there is no time like this time of the year to give back to your community.  It is vital to give together.  It is massively important to make this a priority in your life, especially during the time of year that usually causes all of us to consider all of the things we're grateful for.  Why not show your gratitude for all you have by giving to those who don't have as much?  Best of all, this date will only cost you your time.  I can guarantee that your love for one another and for your brothers and sisters in the world will grow, and that, friends, is priceless.

Any ideas you'd like to add?

Ribs

That's A First!

This will be a silly post to most but for me, I felt the need to document one of the "firsts" of my life that occurred yesterday.

I was driving up and over the mountain Dusty and I live on going to pick up pizza and drinks for {DUSTYRibs} (our church small group of super awesome people!).  It was about 6:30pm, so there was one of the most glorious sunsets I've seen in awhile.

Example of the kind of sunsets God's been giving us lately in our area!

So, I'm driving and I get to a place where there's a residential section on my left and the wooded area of the mountain on my right, and I see a black figure that I genuinely thought was a German Shepherd frolicking in the woods.

The "dog" started to jog from one side of the ditch, down into the ditch, and then when he popped up on the side of the ditch closest to the road (and inadvertently, me in my adorable Honda Civic), I realized that this large dog was in fact a 

BLACK BEAR!!!!!

Source

Luckily for me, he saved me the most horrible phone call to Dusty saying that I had been hit by a bear and my car was totaled, because - let's face it - that probably would have been the case.  In my experience, bears are way more solid than dogs, and as safe as my Honda claims to be, I'm not 100% confident that I would have won that little altercation.  At the last possible second, the bear decided to stop, turn around, and bound back into the woods.

Well played, kind sir.  Many thanks from your girl, Ribs.

Needless to say, it was an experience that was simultaneously awesome and terrifying at the same time, and I was equal parts stoked that I actually saw a real live bear and horrified because he and I share living space much more closely than I'd ever anticipated.

So here's to firsts!  Live them, celebrate them, and in this case, I think I'm okay if there is never a second!
Ribs

Chasing Pavements

"Ohhhh, ohhhh, should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements....even if it leads nowhere????"

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Adele, anyone? You know you went there, too. I, personally, think that Adele is incredible and I love her range and the amount of control she has over her voice (and her accent, let's be honest), but that could be a whole post for another day.

I wanted to share a HUGE accomplishment that I recently achieved. I ran.

Okay, I realize you probably thought there was going to be much more in that weighty tease of a sentence, but seriously, that's it. I ran. For those that know me, I love a good trend every now and then and running has certainly managed to become one in recent years. For me, though, this was one bandwagon that I just could not bring myself to hop onto. Don't get me wrong, I respect everyone who is a good runner or those who really l o v e running, or even those who understand the health benefits of running. For this gal, I get winded running to my mailbox or playing with my dogs, and the only way you'll find me booking it is if someone is chasing me with a sharp object.

So, it may surprise you to know that I decided to challenge myself this year by signing up to be a member of my company's team in the 40th Annual Genworth Virginia 10 Miler/4 Miler race! I know it surprised me. I figured I'd start with the 4 Miler (since I didn't have a death wish) and I really thought I was going to train and do this thing!

Well, here come the excuses - life got in the way, I was busy at work, I was exhausted by the time I got home every evening, I am not a morning person, it's raining out, it's getting chilly, I don't want to get sick, after all....

I didn't train. I should have. This is where the power of God and community steps in.

On race day, two of my colleagues and I had developed our strategy. Pace ourselves. Start out with a slow jog with the goal of making it to a certain point down the street. Then, we get our Oprah power walk on. Then, we jog across the finish line at the end of 4 miles. Here was our view at the start.

Yep. There we were, standing like bulls in the shoot before a wild rodeo ride with more than 3,500 other people from our community and even other states. And, BOOM! The game changed. The last 10 seconds were counted down. The horn went off. The crowd starting moving. And we started running.

And I ran.

Photo Courtesy of TriDuo - Official Race photographer

And I kept running. I ran past the point we said we wanted to make it to. God and all of the people who lined the streets and cheered you on, rang bells, and shook pompoms just lifted me and somehow a non-runner found the strength and endurance to run.

I did have to power walk three times during the race, as there were some CRUCIAL hills on this course, but after I got up the hills, I continued to run and push myself past the limits I knew I had.

The funniest moment in the race was right after I had hit the two-mile mark. A pack of people on the side of the road started going bananas, so everyone in the pack of runners with me thought they were trying to encourage us, so we pushed harder. Then, we were able to see the real reason they were cheering - Julius Kogo, who ended up winning the 10-mile race for the second consecutive year, was hitting MILE 8 in the time it took our pack of people to reach Mile 2. Seriously. And he wasn't even winded. And he was smiling. He finished 10 miles in 47:34. Ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome.

His fastness and ability aside, I had to stay focused on my own performance. Somehow the other runners/walkers and I continued to encourage one another. We ran together. We power walked together. There were people pushing children in strollers and wheelchairs. There were husbands and wives encouraging each other and keeping pace with one another. There was an 85-year-old man running named Bill Draper who was the only person to run the 10 Mile race every one of the 40 years it has existed.  There was real and honest community happening before my eyes at every point of the race. And guess what?

Photo Courtesy of TriDuo - Official Race photographer

Photo Courtesy of TriDuo - Official Race photographer

I FINISHED!!!!!! I RAN/WALKED MY 4 MILE RACE IN 

54 MINUTES FLAT!!!

And I didn't even come in last place! I actually beat 234 people in my race, and I simply could not believe it! The sense of pride and accomplishment I felt completely outweighed the insane amount of self-inflicted pain my body would endure the next few days because of my lack of training.

The moral of this story? Do not fail to try to do something you sincerely think you cannot do. You will be blown away by what a little faith, prayer, and community can raise you up to do! And also, please, for the love of everything holy, TRAIN BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. Learn from me and avoid stupidity!

Have you ever "done the impossible?" I'd love to hear what you did!
Ribs

Lessons From A Donkey In A Well

I have no idea who to give credit to for this story.  I've seen it so many times and while it fills me with sadness at the beginning of the story, it lifts me up by the end.  Since I saw this again yesterday, I figured I'd share it with all of you in case you needed to hear this today!

Poor donkey!

Without further ado, I give you Lessons From A Donkey In A Well.

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.

That's right!

Ribs

So You Think You Can Meow?

If there is one thing anyone who knows me could say about me, it's that I have such a heart for animals. I've had pets all my life, and I am sure that has contributed to why I love them so much - they have literally always been a part of my family, and I genuinely cannot recall a single period of my life where we did not have pets.

CiCi and MuChi say, "Hello, everyone!"

There is little in the world to match the joy your heart feels when you come home from a long day at work to little faces who are literally dying to see you!  Wagging tails, spinning in circles, happily barking and jumping - that's what Dusty and I come home to, and there is just nothing better. 

On the flip side of this coin, though, lies a deep passion in my heart for fighting animal cruelty.  Because I have raised animals from babies to adulthood and I know the endless love they have for their humans, I simply cannot tolerate animal cruelty and I genuinely have no idea how someone could do it.  It makes me ill.  In fact, our local news has covered multiple stories lately about dogs that were found so neglected that their collars had never been adjusted from when they were puppies and were so embedded into their necks that the collars almost severed their trachea!  I mean, come on!!!!  These poor animals did not deserve this type of treatment, and I just cannot comprehend why someone would get a pet just to treat it like that.  (The same lack of comprehension goes for parents who choose to have children and then refuse to take care of them, but that's another story for another day).

This post is actually a happy one though, and it falls in the middle of the road between the joy of pets and the horrors that pets can experience.  This past weekend, Dusty and I were on a mission to "fall" for our home.  What this means for me is that I needed mums and a pumpkin for around our mailbox.  We stopped at a local nursery after church and picked out said mums and pumpkin and went to check out.  In the greenhouse, there was this little box or crate made of wood and metal.  Inside, there was the tiniest fluffy kitten!

I commented to the woman running the business that I loved that she brought her kitten to work and that it was so adorable, and she told us that it actually wasn't her kitten.  She said that on her farm, cats have kittens in her barns all the time and just leave them there, and that this particular kitten was rescued that morning.  When I asked her what she meant by rescued, she informed me that she has two pit bulls that do not do well with small animals, and often times, they are the ones who discover the left kittens in the barns.  She told us a long and drawn out story, but the bottom line was this:  she had to find a customer to take this kitten by the end of the day, or unfortunately, the kitten would have to be put down.

Obviously, I was horrified, but I am seriously not a cat person and I was thinking of who we could call that could take in this little baby when I heard Dusty say, "Well, okay, we'll take her."

Wait, WHAT?????

So that was that.  We brought home mums, a pumpkin, and a kitten.  Happy Fall, y'all!

I will say this with the utmost sincerity.  She has been such a little love.  While CiCi doesn't really know what to make of her and typically ignores her most of the time, MuChi is obsessed with her!  He thinks she's his baby, and even though it took him a few days to realize her purring was not her growling at me, he just loves her to pieces.  (Sidebar: MuChi also doesn't understand why "Aww, she wants to play with me!" ends up being, "Mom, why does she keep hurting me?" but every day is getting better than the last).  It's been really interesting to see how they learn to deal with each other and figure each other out.

Also, while I generally love the more predictable temperament of dogs over cats, this little princess royally whooped up on both of my precious pups in the potty-training department. 

Oh, you think I'm kidding?  I'm not.

So, the only obstacle we had to overcome now that everyone was getting along is - what to name her?  At first, I thought about naming her Kelly Clarkson, because let's face it, she is Miss Independent.  But, that was too cumbersome.  Then, I thought about naming her MiMi after one of my favorite characters in the Broadway musical RENT.  But Dusty vetoed that after trying to say, "CiCi, MuChi, and MiMi" in sequence (heck, even I couldn't do it more than twice).  Then, genius struck.

What's my favorite show? 

You KNOW this!

Who happens to be the host of my favorite show (who I also happen to adore)?

So pretty! (And I love her British accent!)

Do you see where I'm going with this?  If not, I'll be happy to help you along.  Meet the newest, purr-fect addition to our happy farm home, Little Cat Deeley!

Pretty much the story of her life at our house so far.

Clearly, there has been lots of catnaps. Dognaps? Okay, just naps.

Dogs with bones for being good to her? Cat with dogs.

The way kittens sleep absolutely cracks me up!

Is this not the cutest face???

Welcome to the family, Deeley!  In the few short days you've been with us, you have already stolen our hearts, and we are so happy to have you!  We went to a nursery to buy mums and a pumpkin, and we came home with the best fall addition to our home of all!  We love you, little girl!

Your Momma,

Ribs