The Shafferland Shuffle

Greetings from an almost fully decked-for-Christmas Shafferland. WHAT?!?!?!!? I know! I was surprised, too!

* Last Sunday was Ryan's grandma's 90th birthday party. I know I already told you about it, but it really was a beautiful party for her. She's the kind of person who has spent her entire life (and still spends her life) doing for others, so to watch her sit back and soak up something done just for her was pretty amazing.

* Monday morning we were up bright and early (okay, early) working out, and then it was back to watching Mom work out! It was her first regular weekday in the rehab hospital and she did a great job with her walking and stair-climbing and all that! I took our lunch to the hospital, and Ryan and I just ate with her! :) 

* When I stopped to visit Mom on Tuesday, I found her weightlifting. Uhhhh that is so NOT my mom, so I made her pose for a picture. (She is so over my documentation of this, but I told her one day she'll thank me. She assures me she will NOT.) Anyway. She got some gorgeous flowers that day, and when I got home, my own version of flowers were waiting on me. OUR CHRISTMAS CARDS ARRIVED!!!!

* Wednesday we went to visit Mom and I got a little carried away with her wheelchair. It's like a glider, and I can't stop zipping across the floor when I sit in it! And you know what it was more fun than? Working out after work! Because that's what we did! Oh that stupid stair-stepper. It hates me, and I hate it!

* Thursday brought another round of therapy for mom, and in the afternoon, Ryan called to tell me they were taking her back to the main hospital for a quick x-ray. I went along as her partner in crime, and it was one cold, miserable day to be out getting x-rays, let me tell you! (She's okay. It was just a precaution thing that turned out to be nothing. Except freezing.) In other exciting news, that night, Ryan hung our new foyer light. We found it at IKEA a couple weeks ago!!!

* In late-breaking news, we are actually now hosting Thanksgiving, so I decided I wanted to go ahead and decorate for Christmas. I normally don't do it before Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be so cozy for our meal, and since we don't host Christmas, it gives me a chance to let a few folks see how we decorate. It was a whole weekend project, but I got started on Friday. Braeya helped, and we got most of it knocked out. (Partway through, I got so tired and wanted to quit. You've been there before, right?)

* Yesterday was MISERABLE here in Indiana. Cold, rainy, stormy, YUCKY. Ryan had to work, so I alternated between visiting Mom and doing a little more decorating. And last night? We got our live tree!!! We'll tell you more about that next week, but it was fun! We planned to decorate him last night too, but he was quite soaked from the aforementioned Hoosier misery, so he's currently drying out. Can't wait to get him all gussied up.