Posted in Musings, tagged Garfield, Long Winter, Savvy Entertaining, Shanna Hatfield on March 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Did you read the Garfield cartoon in yesterday’s paper?
I loved it so much, I had to share it this morning.
It has been a long winter and I can completely and totally sympathize with Jon. Should the sun decide to shine here again, there are a few of us who might need a refresher course in what it looks like!
She Who Can’t Wait for Sunny Days to Return
Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Family, Musings, tagged Blog humor, Captain Cavedweller, Model A Cars, Savvy Entertaining, Shanna Hatfield, Vintage Cars, Vintage Costumes on March 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This is my brother.
(The mechanically inclined one, not the cowboy one.)
I was born his senior year of high school, so talk about crashing the party…
He has always had a love of cars and began restoring vintage cars way back before I was old enough to beg him to let me drive his Mustang (which he still has not).
Anyway, he got into dressing the part to go along with the cars he was showing.
Last fall, he competed in a contest for best Era Image and took third place. I thought his costume looked pretty snazzy and we were all excited to see this picture in print.
Although he never let me drive any of his cars, he did let me go with him a time or two.
Of course, costumes were required.
The reason I look so particularly happy in this photo is because:
1. It was mid-July and boiling hot.
2. We skipped lunch.
3. I had a hot date that night with Captain Cavedweller and we were running late.
My brother completely restored the gorgeous Model A car behind us. I think the etched glass (and the color) are my two favorite things about it.
Big, hearty congratulations, Kim, for placing in the contest and thanks for all the times over the years you let me tag along.
She Who Still Wants to Drive the Mustang
Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Entertaining Ideas, Home and Garden, Valentine's Day, tagged Gift wrap, Gift-Wrapping Ideas, how to wrap gifts, Savvy Entertaining, Shanna Hatfield, Valentine's Day on February 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Back when Captain Cavedweller and I were first together, he would bring me gifts wrapped in things like paper bags or a plastic sack from the grocery store.
Once duct tape was even involved.
After that, I keep a supply of easy gift-wrapping supplies on hand and he knows where to find them.
Getting the gifts is awesome, but it boosts the excitement level up a notch when they come in pretty packaging.
Someone once said to me that she thought people could either get the gift or the wrapping and a card, but not both.
I think people should be able to do both without breaking the bank. Today, I’m going to share some tips on how to wrap gifts inexpensively.
In fact, here are five gift-wrapping ideas that you can do in five minutes and only spend five dollars (for all five!).
You can find this little video on You Tube.
So, for the gift-wrapping challenged – you can do this. Go out there and make your sweetheart’s Valentine present look fantastic!
She Who Loves to Wrap Gifts
Posted in Books, Captain Cavedweller, Contests, tagged book giveaway, Captain Cavedweller, contests, Fifty Dates with Captain Cavedweller, New Release, romance, Shanna Hatfield, Valentine's Day on February 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I have a new book out that I’m so excited to share with you!
Fifty Dates with Captain Cavedweller is the actual, honest-to-goodness details from the fifty dates I went on with my beloved in 2013.
If you’ve been married, or even in a relationship for a while, there comes a day when you wake up and realize somewhere along the way you’ve lost the zing.
I had one such moment at the end of December 2012.
Deciding it was not okay to continue the direction our relationship was headed, I made a plan of attack and informed Captain Cavedweller he was coming along for the ride.
We could count on one hand the number of times we’d gone out on a date in 2012 and that was just wrong.
I fell in love with Captain Cavedweller the first time we met. People used to refer to us as the perpetual honeymooners. Then we just settled into the monotony of everyday and the flames burned down to sparks and from there it was a short trip to old and boring.
What we needed was to carve out time each week to spend together doing something different or fun, something out of the ordinary.
Of course, I decided right away to take notes of each date for later use.
Those notes and photographs turned into Fifty Dates with Captain Cavedweller. The book offers my honest thoughts and feelings about each date. Some are humorous, some are frustrated, but it’s all there. And I will make note this book is squeaky clean so you could let your teen read it without any worries.
Just before Valentine’s Day seemed like a perfect time to share this little labor of love.
For now, the book is offered in e-book format on Kindle only, with paperbacks set to be available in a variety of outlets beginning next week. Oh, and the e-books are only 99 cents.
Check it out and let me know what you think of our Fifty Date project.
And, as promised, I’m doing a giveaway this week. So in the comments section below, share your favorite thing about Valentine’s Day (is it the candy? Flowers? Cupid? Exchanging Valentine greetings?) and you’ll be entered in the contest for an opportunity to win an autographed copy of the book! The contest is open now through Friday at noon (Pacific Time).
I’m also doing contests all this week on my writing blog at shannahatfield.com. Pop on over and check it out for the chance to win more prizes!
Without further ado…
Fifty Dates with Captain Cavedweller – Waking up one day to discover they’d gone from perpetual honeymooners to a boring, predictable couple, author Shanna Hatfield and her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller, set out on a yearlong adventure to add a little zing to their relationship.
This G-rated journey through fifty of their dates provides an insightful, humorous look at the effort they made to infuse their marriage with laughter, love, and gratitude while reconnecting on a new, heartfelt level.
Here’s a little excerpt:
***
Date Eight
Blown Away
There are a few things that Captain Cavedweller gets really, really excited about.
One of them is football.
From magazines talking about football to watching games on television to attending local high school games, he can’t get enough. He’s even been known to sit and watch reruns of football games if he happens to find one airing in the summer months.
Because of his football obsession, for his birthday I purchased season tickets to the arena football games that take place an hour away.
Today’s big date, hosted by CC, was to drive to the city to pick up the tickets, visit a couple of car dealerships since we are hunting for a new vehicle, and then take me out to eat.
Picking up the tickets was fun. The team members were so gracious and friendly and let those attending know they truly appreciate the support of the game.
Car shopping also went pretty well considering we never saw a single car salesman. Generally, we can barely get out of the car before one swoops in, trying to talk us into vehicles you would never see me ride in dead or alive.
Apparently, the forty-mile-an-hour winds coupled with frigid temperatures kept them inside the showroom where it was warm and toasty, and their hair wouldn’t turn into a wild snarled mess, resembling something created by Medusa’s own hairdresser.
Once I started crying and begging for mercy from the wind (okay, I wasn’t crying, but the wind did make my eyes water. A lot.), CC offered to take me to the mall. I was not in a shopping mood at this point, much more interested in sitting down somewhere warm.
Since it was late afternoon and we still hadn’t eaten lunch, we went to a barbecue restaurant. That would be my first pick once in a blue moon. However, the moon was not blue that day…
***
You can find the book on –
Savvy Entertaining 