The Shafferland Shuffle-Til-You-Drop

My goodness. WHAT A WEEK!!!!!! Let's just say it went NOTHING like we envisioned heading into it, but it was really wonderful anyway!

* Last Sunday was Easter, and while you've already read about that, I'll recap by saying we went to church and then to my parents' house for lunch, followed by a visit to Ryan's family for an Easter egg hunt. We were really excited that the day was so gorgeous, because by evening, it was a raining, hailing, windy mess. That wouldn't have been good for an egg hunt!

* Monday morning we were at Lowe's BEFORE IT OPENED. And when it opens at 6:30 in the morning, I submit to you that is TOO EARLY. I spent the day painting our kitchen {and touching up other paint around the house} and then that night, our friend Shawn came over WITH COFFEE and helped Ryan reinstall some kitchen cabinets that had been taken down during demo. He was such a blessing. I never would have been able to wrestle those cabinets. It took them forever and they knew what they were doing!!

* Tuesday will be a multi-post event, but just to preview for you what is coming...that was the day we moved Braeya to the new house. T.r.a.u.m.a.-r.a.m.a. It was so awful. She cried, I cried, and I was pretty sure she might have a little kitty heart attack on us. But we got her moved. And MUCH to our surprise, Shawn {see Monday} offered to drive to our Marion house, get all the boxes I'd packed, and move them TO our new house. We had no idea we would have all those things so quickly, and it was such a blessing! By the end of the day, I was able to start setting up the new kitchen, which I sorely needed for some normalcy in my life.

* Wednesday I worked at the new house all day, trying to get the kitchen fully set up and functioning, and then that evening, we drove to Marion {in the rain} to take down our built in bookshelves and take apart Mo and pack up a few more things. We had some helped lined up for Thursday evening to haul over furniture, so we wanted to be as ready for them as we could be. When we arrived, we discovered a "sale pending" sign in our yard. THAT MADE US SO HAPPY!!!!

* Thursday morning, I had to take our car in for servicing, so I took advantage of the dealership's free wifi and caught up online, since we still didn't have access at our new house. That night we planned to have a caravan of friends who owned trucks help us move our furniture. There was a 100% chance of rain and heavy wind, though, so my parents urged us to go the box truck route instead, and they were wise with that idea. Our crew for that evening ended up consisting of Ryan's brother, my parents, and the two of us, and we loaded up and headed for our new home!!

 * We had unloaded as much of the truck as we could do on our own Thursday evening, and then Friday morning, one of Ryan's strong co-workers came over to help him unload the heavy stuff. I worked all day, unpacking boxes, setting up the closet and the bedroom and even doing a little decorating in the kitchen. We also got our living room furniture in place and had our first Mo slumber party that night!

* Yesterday was our 40th monthiversary, and we actually had the day together! A Christmas miracle! {And it actually felt like Christmas, as the entire day was an Indiana nightmare of wind/sun/rain/snow that literally cycled through every five minutes.} Ryan and I started a project of putting stone on a wall, and I made my first dessert in our new house! It was a perfect day at home together.